# Creating and managing instances

This doc outlines how to create and manage On-Demand Cloud (ODC) instances. For general guidance on managing your ODC instance's system environment, see [Managing your system environment](https://docs.lambda.ai/public-cloud/on-demand/managing-system-environment/).

## Viewing available instance types

To view available instance types, navigate to the [Instances page](https://cloud.lambda.ai/instances) in the Lambda Cloud console and click **Launch instance** to start the instance creation wizard. The first page of the wizard dialog lists all of the instance types Lambda currently offers.

You can also programmatically view available instance types by using the Lambda Cloud API. For details, see [List available instance types](https://docs.lambda.ai/api/cloud#listInstanceTypes) in the Lambda Cloud API browser.

## Launching instances

To launch a new instance, navigate to the [Instances page](https://cloud.lambda.ai/instances) in the Lambda Cloud console, click **Launch instance**, and then follow the steps in the instance creation wizard.

You can also launch instances programmatically by using the Lambda Cloud API. For details, see [Launch instances](https://docs.lambda.ai/api/cloud#launchInstance) in the Lambda Cloud API browser.

Instances might take several minutes to launch.

**Note**  
New accounts have a limit on the number of instances you can launch. This quota helps prevent abuse and increases automatically as you pay your invoices. If you attempt to launch an instance that exceeds this limit, you will see a notification that your quota has been reached.

### Use a different base image

In addition to the options provided through the Lambda Cloud console, the API allows you to use a different base image for your instance. For a list of available images, see the [Alternative images](https://docs.lambda.ai/public-cloud/on-demand/#alternative-images) section in the On-Demand Cloud overview. You can also programmatically list all available images by calling the [List available images](https://docs.lambda.ai/api/cloud#listImages) endpoint in the Lambda Cloud API browser.

### Automatically configure your instance at launch time

If you're launching your instance with the Lambda Cloud API, you can add launch-time configuration instructions using [cloud-init](https://cloudinit.readthedocs.io/en/latest/).

## Viewing instance metadata

### List your instances

To view a list of your running instances, visit the [Instances page](https://cloud.lambda.ai/instances) in the Lambda Cloud console.

You can also retrieve more detailed information about your instances, including their IDs, private IPs, and attached filesystems, by using the Lambda Cloud API. For details, see [List running instances](https://docs.lambda.ai/api/cloud#listInstances) in the Lambda Cloud API browser.

### View instance usage

To view your monthly usage, navigate to the [Usage page](https://cloud.lambda.ai/usage) in the Lambda Cloud console and then click the **Instances** tab.

## Restarting an instance

To restart one or more instances:

1. Navigate to the [Instances page](https://cloud.lambda.ai/instances) in the Lambda Cloud console.
2. In the instance list, click the checkbox for each instance you want to restart.
3. Click **Restart** to restart your instances. The **Restart** button is located on the right side of the page above the instance list.

You can also restart instances programmatically by using the Lambda Cloud API. For details, see [Restart instances](https://docs.lambda.ai/api/cloud#restartInstance) in the Lambda Cloud API browser.

## Terminating an instance

To terminate one or more instances:

1. Navigate to the [Instances page](https://cloud.lambda.ai/instances) in the Lambda Cloud console.
2. In the instance list, click the checkbox for each instance you want to terminate.
3. Click **Terminate** to terminate your instances. The **Terminate** button is located on the right side of the page above the instance list.

You can also terminate instances programmatically by using the Lambda Cloud API. For details, see [Terminate instances](https://docs.lambda.ai/api/cloud#terminateInstance) in the Lambda Cloud API browser.

**Warning**  
Do not use commands such as `sudo shutdown -h now` or `sudo systemctl poweroff` to try to terminate or suspend your instances. These commands will not work as expected and will cause your instances to go into Alert status, and **billing will continue**.

## Suspending an instance

At the moment, Lambda Cloud instances can only be launched, restarted, or terminated. To preserve state, we recommend using Docker to containerize your environment and performing regular backups of important data. For detailed guidance, see [Importing and exporting data](https://docs.lambda.ai/public-cloud/importing-exporting-data/).

## Next steps

- New to ODC? Check out the [ODC Overview](https://docs.lambda.ai/public-cloud/on-demand/).
- For more information on the endpoints available in the Lambda Cloud API, see the [Lambda Cloud API browser](https://docs.lambda.ai/api/cloud).