FAQ

This section addresses some Frequently Asked Questions related to the OrionVM Platform. If your question is not answered here or elsewhere in the documentation, please do not hesitate to contact us at support@orionvm.com.

Table of Contents

Security

What is the default username and password for my instance?

The default username for instances created from the OrionVM-provided CentOS, Debian, FreeBSD, or Ubuntu templates is root, and there is no default password. For security reasons, password authentication for the root account is disabled by default over SSH. We recommend the use of SSH keys to remotely connect to Linux instances on OrionVM.

For VyOS, the default username is vyos, and the password is vyos. For Windows Server instances, the default user account is named Administrator, and you will be requested to set a password on first login through the Out-of-Band Console.

How are instances logically separated?

As compared to a shared environment, where multiple users have access to the same machine, OrionVM uses the Xen Hypervisor to create isolated instances. This ensures that the resources utilized, such as Disk and RAM, are private to each individual user, despite multiple instances running concurrently on the same node.

Private networks are isolated to an organization and connect instances at the data-link level (L2). Additionally, private networks can bridged using L2 cross-connects to on and off-premises infrastructure. This can be used to create a public or private cloud experience tailored to your needs. For more details contact support@orionvm.com.

Are ports on public IPs blocked?

No. The OrionVM Platform uses Xen to expose public IPs directly to instances without any intermediate firewall or NAT stages. This simplifies networking configuration, as the IP visible from within the instance is the IP address used to access it via the public internet.

To enable port filtering, you will need to install and enable a firewall on your instance, or use an intermediate networking appliance such as VyOS or WatchGuard FireboxV.

Monitoring

Do you have any sort of monitoring tools for resources, such as CPU, RAM, and Disk utilization?

As a general overview of the performance of your instance, the OrionVM Platform displays CPU and IOPS usage history graphs. This is accessible by clicking on an instance on the Instances page and selecting the Usage tab.

Beyond that, OrionVM does not have visibility into the inner workings of your instance, therefore we do not know how much of a your disk space, RAM, etc. is being utilized. This provides you more security and privacy on the tasks running within your instance.

As a consequence we are unable to provide detailed monitoring information. If you require fine grain monitoring for your instances, we recommend the use of a third-party monitoring tool.

API

Do you have APIs?

Yes we do! The OrionVM Platform has an API through which you can provision and manage resources. More details can be found here.

Can we deploy using Command Line Tools?

Yes you can! OrionVM has Command Line Tools which you can use to easily provision and manage resources from the Linux command line. If enabled, instructions on how to download and install these tools can be found in the footer of any page on the OrionVM Platform, once you have logged in.

Templates

Can we update existing templates?

Yes! You can update an existing user-generated template by following the steps on the Templates page.

Are templates published automatically updated, or do we have to keep them up-to-date?

Instances created from a template are not automatically updated. You will need to regularly update your instances to make sure that they remain protected from newly discovered security vulnerabilities.

For Ubuntu and Debian, this can be done using the unattended-upgrades package, whilst on Windows this can be automated through Windows Update.