Infrastructure Services¶
About Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
The GARR Cloud services are delivered in the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) model.
This means that users can access fundamental computing resources—such as processing power, memory, storage, and networking—on demand, without having to manage the underlying physical hardware.
These services include:
- Virtual Datacenter (VDC): a customizable environment where administrators can manage resources and projects.
- Virtual Machines (VMs): flexible computing units that can be created, deployed, and managed directly from the cloud dashboard.
- Storage: attachable volumes to expand capacity and manage data efficiently.
Together, these components enable institutions and researchers to build, test, and deploy applications in a secure and collaborative environment.
Virtual Datacenter¶
Manage your own Virtual Datacenter, consisting of a set of resources:
- vCPUs
- RAM
- storage
- IP addresses
- routers
As administrator of the VDC you can:
- create projects
- assign resources to projects
- assign rights to users in a project
A user in a project can then:
- create, deploy and delete VMs
- create volumes and attach them to VMs
Learn more at Virtual Datacenter Quick Start.
Virtual Machines¶
Create and run virtual machines on the Cloud infrastructure.
Follow this tutorial to spawn your first VM.
Machine Types¶
The types of machines available are listed here.
Storage¶
The GARR Cloud provides two types of storage services:
Block Storage¶
Persistent disk volumes that can be attached to your VM.
- Ideal for structured data access (databases, file systems).
- Volumes behave like physical disks and can be resized or snapshotted.
Learn more at Storage Quick Start.
Object Storage¶
Designed to store and manage large amounts of unstructured data (documents, images, backups, datasets).
- Data stored as objects with metadata and unique identifiers.
- Highly scalable and resilient, accessible via APIs or web interfaces.
Read more at Object Storage quick tutorial