--- title: "Quick Start - VPC" description: "Have two instances privately \u0026 securely communicating over VPC in a few minutes" url: https://community.exoscale.com/product/networking/vpc/quick-start/ product: "VPC" section: product last_updated: 2026-10-26 --- > For AI agents: the documentation index is at https://community.exoscale.com/llms.txt. Every page is available as markdown at `index.md` or with `Accept: text/markdown`. # Quick Start - VPC ## Prerequisites - **Exoscale CLI** download the latest binary for macOS, Linux or Windows from [GitHub](https://github.com/exoscale/cli/releases/latest) - **Exoscale Account** sign in or [register](https://portal.exoscale.com/register). - **API Key/Secret** configured via the CLI with `exo config`. - **SSH Key** registered in your Exoscale account, to connect to the instances. ## First Steps via CLI ### Create a VPC Create a VPC named `my-first-vpc`: ```console $ exo networking vpc create my-first-vpc ✔ Creating VPC "my-first-vpc"... 0s ┼─────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼ │ VPC │ │ ┼─────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼ │ ID │ cdaa9663-634d-4abd-94a3-fc2b32c4854a │ │ Name │ my-first-vpc │ │ Description │ │ │ Default │ false │ │ Zone │ ch-gva-2 │ │ Created At │ 2026-09-09 07:31:15 +0000 UTC │ │ Labels │ n/a │ │ Subnets │ - │ ┼─────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼ ``` ### Create a Subnet Add a Subnet to the VPC with the chosen private IPv4 range: ```console $ exo networking vpc subnet create my-first-vpc my-first-subnet --address-family inet4 --address-space private --ipv4-block 10.42.0.0/16 ✔ Creating Subnet "my-first-subnet"... 0s ┼────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼ │ VPC SUBNET │ │ ┼────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼ │ ID │ d557ef4e-c481-4ba4-872e-4c6b53705be8 │ │ Name │ my-first-subnet │ │ Description │ │ │ Zone │ ch-gva-2 │ │ Created At │ 2026-09-09 07:32:39 +0000 UTC │ │ Address Family │ inet4 │ │ Address Space │ private │ │ IPv4 Block │ 10.42.0.0/16 │ │ Labels │ n/a │ │ Instances │ - │ ┼────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼ ``` ### Create and Attach Instances Create the first instance: ```console $ exo compute instance create instance-A --template "Linux Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 64-bit" --ssh-key my-ssh-key ✔ Creating instance "instance-A"... 21s ┼─────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼ │ COMPUTE INSTANCE │ │ ┼─────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼ │ ID │ 324d7bb3-0a1c-4bd8-abc5-9a1cd8109196 │ │ Name │ instance-A │ │ Creation Date │ 2026-09-09 07:34:26 +0000 UTC │ │ Instance Type │ standard.medium │ │ Template │ Linux Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 64-bit │ │ Zone │ ch-gva-2 │ │ Anti-Affinity Groups │ n/a │ │ Deploy Target │ - │ │ Security Groups │ default │ │ Private Instance │ No │ │ Elastic IPs │ n/a │ │ Public IP │ inet4 │ │ IP Address │ 85.217.161.236 │ │ IPv6 Address │ - │ │ Vpc │ │ │ Vpc Subnets │ n/a │ │ Private Networks │ n/a │ │ SSH Keys │ n/a │ │ Disk Size │ 50 GiB │ │ State │ running │ │ Labels │ n/a │ │ Secure Boot │ false │ │ Tpm │ false │ │ Reverse DNS │ │ │ Application-Consistent Snapshot enabled │ false │ ┼─────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼ ``` Attach it to the Subnet: ```console $ exo compute instance attach-to-subnet instance-A my-first-vpc my-first-subnet ✔ Attaching instance "instance-A" to Subnet "my-first-subnet"... 3s ┼─────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼ │ COMPUTE INSTANCE │ │ ┼─────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼ │ ID │ 324d7bb3-0a1c-4bd8-abc5-9a1cd8109196 │ │ Name │ instance-A │ │ Creation Date │ 2026-09-09 07:34:26 +0000 UTC │ │ Instance Type │ standard.medium │ │ Template │ Linux Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 64-bit │ │ Zone │ ch-gva-2 │ │ Anti-Affinity Groups │ n/a │ │ Deploy Target │ - │ │ Security Groups │ default │ │ Private Instance │ No │ │ Elastic IPs │ n/a │ │ Public IP │ inet4 │ │ IP Address │ 85.217.161.236 │ │ IPv6 Address │ - │ │ Vpc │ my-first-vpc │ │ Vpc Subnets │ my-first-subnet 10.42.145.150 │ │ Private Networks │ n/a │ │ SSH Keys │ n/a │ │ Disk Size │ 50 GiB │ │ State │ running │ │ Labels │ n/a │ │ Secure Boot │ false │ │ Tpm │ false │ │ Reverse DNS │ │ │ Application-Consistent Snapshot enabled │ false │ ┼─────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼ ``` Create and attach a second instance: ```console $ exo compute instance create instance-B --template "Linux Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 64-bit" --ssh-key my-ssh-key $ exo compute instance attach-to-subnet instance-B my-first-vpc my-first-subnet ``` ### Allow Traffic Between the Instances Create a Security Group that allows the instances to ping each other and accepts SSH connections from any address: ```console $ exo compute security-group create my-sg [...] $ exo compute security-group rule add my-sg --protocol tcp --flow ingress --port 22 --network 0.0.0.0/0 [...] $ exo compute security-group rule add my-sg --protocol icmp --flow ingress --icmp-type 8 --security-group my-sg ✔ Adding rule to Security Group "my-sg"... 24s ┼──────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼ │ SECURITY GROUP │ │ ┼──────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼ │ ID │ 699977e4-0403-478c-9b61-7dd347643e98 │ │ Name │ my-sg │ │ Description │ │ │ Ingress Rules │ │ │ │ dc712e4c-9998-4823-a49e-edc2413a8b53 ICMP SG:my-sg ICMP code:0 type:8 │ │ │ 718f4c0b-711f-4adb-a84b-29b67b458de3 TCP 0.0.0.0/0 22 │ │ │ │ │ Egress Rules │ - │ │ External Sources │ - │ │ Instances │ - │ ┼──────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼ ``` Add both instances to the Security Group: ```console $ exo compute instance security-group add instance-A my-sg $ exo compute instance security-group add instance-B my-sg ``` ### Confirm Private Connectivity Connect to `instance-A` over SSH and ping the VPC address of `instance-B`: ``` ubuntu@instance-A:~$ ping 10.42.13.243 PING 10.42.13.243 (10.42.13.243) 56(84) bytes of data. 64 bytes from 10.42.13.243: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.442 ms 64 bytes from 10.42.13.243: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.340 ms 64 bytes from 10.42.13.243: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.511 ms ^C --- 10.42.13.243 ping statistics --- 3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2032ms rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.340/0.431/0.511/0.070 ms ``` The Security Group blocks traffic on other protocols or ports until you add a rule to allow it. ## First Steps via Portal Portal is coming soon. ## Next Steps - [Inspect VPC Subnet attachments](https://community.exoscale.com/product/networking/vpc/how-to/inspect-subnet-attachments/index.md) - [Configure cross-Subnet communication](https://community.exoscale.com/product/networking/vpc/how-to/cross-subnet-communication/index.md) - [Use VPC routing rules](https://community.exoscale.com/product/networking/vpc/how-to/using-routing-rules/index.md) - [Explore the VPC API](https://community.exoscale.com/reference/api/networking/vpc/index.md)