Launch ScyllaDB 2026.2 on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)¶

Prerequisites¶

• Active OCI account (tenancy) with permissions to launch compute instances, and to subscribe to Marketplace images in the target compartment. See Managing Compartments.

• A VCN with a subnet to launch the instance into, and the ScyllaDB ports allowed by the security rules that apply to the instance - either in a security list attached to the subnet, or in a network security group (NSG) attached to the instance’s VNIC.

  Open each port only to the peers that need it: the inter-node ports to the other nodes of the cluster, the CQL ports to your clients, and keep the REST API port closed to anything outside the cluster. You also need TCP port 22 open, from your administrators’ addresses only, for the SSH step below. See ScyllaDB Security Checklist for the full set of recommendations.

• An SSH key pair. See Managing Key Pairs on Linux Instances.

• To use the CLI: the OCI CLI, installed and configured with oci setup config (see Configuring the CLI).

• ScyllaDB Image requires at least 2 vCPU servers.

• The image is an x86_64 image and supports the Dense I/O shapes, which provide the local NVMe storage that ScyllaDB uses for its data directory. On the first boot, the image formats the local NVMe disks with XFS, creating a RAID0 array over them if there is more than one.

Launching ScyllaDB from the OCI Console¶

1. Choose a shape. See Cloud Instance Recommendations for OCI for the list of recommended shapes.

   Other shapes will work, but with lesser performance. If you choose a shape other than the recommended ones, make sure to run the scylla_setup script.

2. Sign in to the OCI Console and select the region you want to deploy in.

3. Open the navigation menu, select Marketplace, and then select All Applications.

4. Search for ScyllaDB and select the ScyllaDB listing for the version you want to deploy. Listings are named after the ScyllaDB release, for example ScyllaDB 2026.2.

   Alternatively, open the ScyllaDB listings in Marketplace directly.

5. On the listing page:

   • Version – Select the package version to deploy. The latest version is selected by default.

   • Compartment – Select the compartment to launch the instance in.

   • Select the checkbox to accept the Oracle Terms of Use and the ScyllaDB (partner) terms and conditions.

6. Select Launch Instance.

   The Create compute instance page opens with the ScyllaDB Marketplace image already selected.

7. Configure the instance:

   • Name – A name for the instance.

   • Placement – Select the availability domain.

   • Image and shape – Keep the pre-selected ScyllaDB image, and select Change shape to pick the shape you chose in the first step. For a flexible shape, set the number of OCPUs and the amount of memory.

   • Networking – Select the VCN and subnet. If you keep your security rules in network security groups, select Use network security groups to control traffic and choose the NSG that allows the ScyllaDB ports.

     Assign a public IPv4 address if you need to reach the node from outside the VCN. A public address can only be assigned in a public subnet - in a private subnet, reach the node over its private address from within the VCN, through a bastion, or over a VPN.

   • Add SSH keys – Select Generate a key pair for me and save the private key, or select Paste public keys / Upload public key files (.pub) to provide your own public key. You need this key to connect to the instance.

   • Advanced options > Management > Initialization script – Optional. Provide the ScyllaDB configuration as user data. See Configuring ScyllaDB with user data below.

     The Console base64-encodes the script for you, so paste or upload it as plain text.

8. Select Create.

   The instance is listed as Provisioning, and switches to Running when it is up. Continue with Connecting to the instance.

Launching ScyllaDB with the OCI CLI¶

Launching a Marketplace image with the CLI requires that you first accept the image terms of use, which creates an image subscription in your compartment. This is the CLI equivalent of the terms-of-use checkbox in the Console.

The following steps use the us-ashburn-1 region as an example. Replace it with your region, or omit --region to use the region from your CLI configuration.

1. Choose a shape. See Cloud Instance Recommendations for OCI for the list of recommended shapes.

   Other shapes will work, but with lesser performance. If you choose a shape other than the recommended ones, make sure to run the scylla_setup script.

2. Find the OCID of the ScyllaDB Marketplace listing:

   oci marketplace listing list --region us-ashburn-1 --all \
     --query 'data[?contains(name, `Scylla`)].{name:name, id:id}'
   

   Example output:

   [
     {
       "id": "ocid1.mktpublisting.oc1.iad.amaaaaaa433yp7qakrqk5u3zu6ekylon4xrrflma3xcjug52xts4svplmjna",
       "name": "ScyllaDB 2026.2"
     }
   ]
   

   You can also read the OCID from the /marketplace/application/<listing OCID> part of the listing URL in the OCI Console.

3. List the available package versions of that listing:

   oci marketplace package list --region us-ashburn-1 \
     --listing-id <listing OCID> \
     --query 'data[].{version:"package-version", created:"time-created"}'
   

   Note the version you want to deploy - usually the most recently created one.

4. Get the package details of that version. The output holds the image OCID and the App Catalog identifiers you need in the next steps:

   oci marketplace package get --region us-ashburn-1 \
     --listing-id <listing OCID> \
     --package-version <package version> \
     --query 'data.{image:"image-id", catalogListing:"app-catalog-listing-id", catalogVersion:"app-catalog-listing-resource-version"}'
   

   Example output:

   {
     "catalogListing": "ocid1.appcataloglisting.oc1..aaaaaaaarw5vsfysh36clj4xasz5mhsemzs5wt4eea5tdywzbujopvjzsoxq",
     "catalogVersion": "2026.2.5",
     "image": "ocid1.image.oc1..aaaaaaaashyu5zg4s72zwanu73enkab4mitjkmifebglfvp4qwqdbalxmtgq"
   }
   

5. Retrieve the terms of use for that version. The response contains the EULA link, the Oracle Terms of Use link, a signature, and the time the terms were retrieved - all of which are required to subscribe:

   oci compute pic agreements get --region us-ashburn-1 \
     --listing-id <app catalog listing OCID> \
     --resource-version <app catalog resource version>
   

   Review the documents at eula-link and oracle-terms-of-use-link before continuing.

6. Subscribe to the image in your compartment, which accepts the terms retrieved in the previous step:

   oci compute pic subscription create --region us-ashburn-1 \
     --compartment-id <compartment OCID> \
     --listing-id <app catalog listing OCID> \
     --resource-version <app catalog resource version> \
     --signature <signature> \
     --time-retrieved <time-retrieved> \
     --eula-link <eula-link> \
     --oracle-tou-link <oracle-terms-of-use-link>
   

   The subscription takes some time to propagate. Verify that it is in place before launching:

   oci compute pic subscription list --region us-ashburn-1 \
     --compartment-id <compartment OCID>
   

   Note

   Launching immediately after creating the subscription can fail, because the new subscription is not visible to the Compute service yet. If the next step fails with a not-authorized or not-found error on the image, wait a few minutes and retry it - do not re-create the subscription.

7. Launch the instance, using the image OCID from the package details:

   oci compute instance launch --region us-ashburn-1 \
     --compartment-id <compartment OCID> \
     --availability-domain <availability domain> \
     --shape <shape> \
     --shape-config '{"ocpus": <number of OCPUs>, "memoryInGBs": <memory in GB>}' \
     --subnet-id <subnet OCID> \
     --nsg-ids '["<NSG OCID>"]' \
     --assign-public-ip true \
     --image-id <image OCID> \
     --display-name scylla-node1 \
     --ssh-authorized-keys-file <path to your public SSH key> \
     --user-data-file <path to your user data file> \
     --wait-for-state RUNNING
   

   For example:

   oci compute instance launch --region us-ashburn-1 \
     --compartment-id ocid1.compartment.oc1..example \
     --availability-domain ewbj:US-ASHBURN-AD-1 \
     --shape VM.DenseIO.E5.Flex \
     --shape-config '{"ocpus": 8, "memoryInGBs": 96}' \
     --subnet-id ocid1.subnet.oc1.iad.example \
     --nsg-ids '["ocid1.networksecuritygroup.oc1.iad.example"]' \
     --assign-public-ip true \
     --image-id ocid1.image.oc1..aaaaaaaashyu5zg4s72zwanu73enkab4mitjkmifebglfvp4qwqdbalxmtgq \
     --display-name scylla-node1 \
     --ssh-authorized-keys-file ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub \
     --user-data-file ./scylla-user-data.json \
     --wait-for-state RUNNING
   

   --shape-config is required for flexible shapes only. --nsg-ids is needed only if your security rules live in a network security group rather than in the subnet’s security list. --user-data-file is optional; see Configuring ScyllaDB with user data. To list the availability domains available to you, run oci iam availability-domain list.

   --assign-public-ip true requires a public subnet, and fails in a subnet that prohibits public IP addresses. Omit it to launch into a private subnet, and reach the node over its private address from within the VCN, through a bastion, or over a VPN.

   Note

   --user-data-file and --ssh-authorized-keys-file cannot be combined with --metadata in the same command - they are convenience wrappers around the user_data and ssh_authorized_keys fields of the instance metadata.

8. Get the IP addresses of the instance:

   oci compute instance list-vnics --region us-ashburn-1 \
     --instance-id <instance OCID> \
     --query 'data[].{public:"public-ip", private:"private-ip"}'
   

Configuring ScyllaDB with user data¶

The ScyllaDB image reads its configuration from the instance user data (the initialization script in the Console, or --user-data-file in the CLI). The most popular options are:

• cluster_name - The name of the cluster.

• seed_provider - The IP of the first node. New nodes will use the IP of this seed node to connect to the cluster and learn the cluster topology and state. See ScyllaDB Seed Nodes.

• post_configuration_script - A base64 encoded bash script that will be executed after the configuration is completed.

• start_scylla_on_first_boot - Starts ScyllaDB once the configuration is completed.

• device_wait_seconds - How long to wait for the local NVMe devices to appear before setting up the data directory. The default is 0, which does not wait at all. Set it to 300 so that setup does not fail with No data disk found, abort setup when the devices are not ready yet at first boot.

Example:

{
    "scylla_yaml": {
        "cluster_name": "test-cluster",
        "seed_provider": [{"class_name": "org.apache.cassandra.locator.SimpleSeedProvider",
                           "parameters": [{"seeds": "10.0.219.209"}]}]
    },
    "start_scylla_on_first_boot": true,
    "device_wait_seconds": 300
}

See scylla.yaml for information about the supported scylla_yaml options, and the ScyllaDB Image documentation for the full documentation of ScyllaDB image user data.

Connecting to the instance¶

Connect to the instance with the private key matching the public key you provided at launch, using the scyllaadm user:

ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa scyllaadm@<instance IP>

Use the instance’s public IP address if you assigned one. Otherwise, connect to its private IP address from within the VCN, through a bastion, or over a VPN.

The default file paths:

• The scylla.yaml file: /etc/scylla/scylla.yaml

• Data: /var/lib/scylla/

To check that the ScyllaDB server is running, run:

nodetool status

Next Steps¶

• Configure ScyllaDB

• Manage your clusters with ScyllaDB Manager

• Monitor your cluster and data with ScyllaDB Monitoring

• Get familiar with ScyllaDB’s command line reference guide.

• Learn about ScyllaDB at ScyllaDB University