Cloud Shell

Cloud Shell comes with 5GB of encrypted persistent storage for the home directory, so you can make local changes to your home directory, and then continue working on your project when you come back to Cloud Shell.

Cloud Shell is free to use (within your tenancy's monthly limits) and doesn't require any setup or prerequisites other than an IAM policy granting access to Cloud Shell. Your Cloud Shell includes a VM provisioned for you that executes in its own tenancy (so it doesn't use any of your tenancy's resources) and hosts your shell in an Oracle Linux OS while you're actively using Cloud Shell.

In addition to the OCI CLI, the Cloud Shell VM comes with current versions of many useful tools and utilities pre-installed, including:

• Git
• Java
• Python
• Oracle GraalVM JDK 17 and Native Image
• Most OCI SDKs, including:
  • Java
  • Python
  • Go
  • TypeScript and JavaScript
• SQLcl
• kubectl
• helm
• maven
• terraform
• ansible
• node.js
• iputils
• jqmake
• tmux
• vim
• NPM
• wget
• zip/unzip
• nano
• emacs
• pip
• bash
• sh
• tar
• nvm
• mysql-community-client
• mysqlsh
• Docker engine
• ipython
• oci-powershell-modules (x86_64 only)
• GoldenGate Admin client (x86_64 only)

To use Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, you must be given the required type of access in a policy written by an administrator in the tenancy's root compartment, whether you're using the Console or the REST API with an SDK, CLI, or other tool. If you try to perform an action and get a message that you don't have permission or are unauthorized, confirm with your administrator that you have been granted access.

allow group <GROUP-NAME> to use cloud-shell in tenancy

allow group <DOMAIN-NAME>/<GROUP-NAME> to use cloud-shell in tenancy

If you're new to policies, see Getting Started with Policies and Common Policies and Creating a Policy and Dynamic Group.

Keep the following limitations in mind when using Cloud Shell:

• By default, Cloud Shell limits network access to OCI internal resources in your tenancy home region only unless you have enabled the Cloud Shell Public Network. Your administrator must configure an Identity policy to enable Cloud Shell Public Network. For more information, see Cloud Shell Networking.
• Cloud Shell comes with 5GB of storage for the VM's home directory. This storage is persistent from session to session, but after 6-months of non-use, the administrator for your tenancy will receive a notification that the storage will be removed in 60 days. Starting a cloud shell session resets the storage removal timer.
• Cloud Shell does not support mounting additional storage.
• Cloud Shell does not scan user files for malware or viruses.
• Cloud Shell sessions do not allow for any incoming connections, and there is no public IP address available.
• The OCI CLI will execute commands against the region selected in the Console's Region selection menu when the Cloud Shell was started. Changing the region selection in the console will not change the region for existing Cloud Shell instances; you will need to open a new Cloud Shell instance to change regions.
• Cloud Shell sessions have a maximum length of 24 hours, and time out after 60 minutes of inactivity.

• Cloud Shell uses websockets to communicate between your browser and the service. If your browser has websockets disabled or uses a corporate proxy that has websockets disabled you will see an error message ("An unexpected error occurred") when attempting to start Cloud Shell from the console.

• Cloud Shell is designed for interactive use with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure resources. Users who need additional storage for Cloud Shell or want to run non-interactive long-running tasks are encouraged to use Compute and Storage resources in their tenancy.
• For maximum compatibility, Cloud Shell includes Python version 2 and Python version 3. Python 2 is the default that will run when you enter 'python' at the command line. To run Python 3, enter 'python3' at the command line.
• The following reserved words can't be used as the user name for a Cloud Shell user: oci, root, bin, daemon, adm, lp, sync, shutdown, halt, mai, operator, games, ftp, nobody, oci, systemd-network, dbus, polkitd, tss, and apache. Attempting to create a Cloud Shell session when logged in with a user name (or the part of the name before the @ sign if the user name is an email address) that is one of these reserved words will result in an "Unexpected Error" message.
• Entirely numerical user names (for example, "1234") are not supported by Cloud Shell.
• The Cloud Shell session time zone is UTC, and cannot be changed.
• Cloud Shell does not allow root access or the use of sudo, so packages that require root access for installation can't be installed. Many packages are available in versions that do not require root for installation; you can unpack and install these in your home directory.
• Cloud Shell does not allow the use of ping, since ping requires root access.
• Cloud Shell boots in FIPS mode, which might affect the behavior of some commands.
• Cloud Shell cannot generate PKCS#1 keys when using the openssl command, because Cloud Shell boots in FIPS mode. FIPS mode requires that Cloud Shell generates PKCS#8 keys.
• Network Sources are not supported for the Cloud Shell Service.
• For more information on Cloud Shell limits, see the Cloud Shell section in Service Limits.

When you first start Cloud Shell, the service creates a persistent block storage volume (5GB) for your home directory. The home directory volume is located in your tenancy home region. The machine running your Cloud Shell session is also located in your tenancy home region.

Changing the Console region selection, or logging in to the Console via a different regional URL will have no effect on where your Cloud Shell machine and home directory volume are located. To confirm your tenancy home region, view your Tenancy Details page in the Console.

When you start Cloud Shell, the service configures your Cloud Shell session with the currently selected region in the Console so that the OCI CLI is interacting with the selected Console region.

In the default bash prompt in Cloud Shell, the region that the OCI CLI is interacting with is echoed in the Cloud Shell command line prompt:

Any changes to the selected region in Console after you've started your Cloud Shell session will not have an effect on your active Cloud Shell session.If you want to change the region that the OCI CLI is interacting with, in Cloud Shell, you can either:

• Exit your current Cloud Shell session, then change the selected region in the Console, then start a new Cloud Shell session.
• Modify the currently selected OCI CLI profile via the OCI_CLI_PROFILE environment variable

For more information, see the "Managing Regions" section in Using Cloud Shell.

If you are a paid tier user, you can choose a default architecture (ARM (aarch64), x86_64 or No Preference) for your Cloud Shell sessions.

By default, the architecture preference is set to No Preference. When this is selected, your Cloud Shell sessions will be based on either the x86_64 or ARM (aarch64) architecture, depending on the hardware available in the region.

Selecting an architecture

To select an architecture:

Open the Actions menu, which is accessible from within Cloud Shell or Code Editor, and choose Architecture.

This will display the Architecure dialog:

The Architecture dialog shows the currently selected architecture.

To select your preferred architecture, select the appropriate radio button and then click the Confirm and Restart button.

Note

If a region does not support a particular architecture, you will not be able to choose that architecture.

Note

Before switching your Cloud Shell architecture, ensure that your tools and workloads are compatible with the architecture you are about to choose.

After a successful architecture migration, you will see this notification: