Getting Started with IBM Cloud

Welcome to IBM Cloud

IBM Cloud is a full-stack cloud platform that combines Platform as a Service (PaaS) with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) to deliver over 170 products and services spanning compute, storage, networking, AI, IoT, blockchain, and quantum computing. Built on decades of enterprise expertise, IBM Cloud is uniquely positioned for organizations in regulated industries — finance, healthcare, government, and telecommunications — where security, compliance, and data sovereignty are non-negotiable requirements.

What sets IBM Cloud apart from other major cloud providers is its deep integration with Red Hat OpenShift, providing a consistent Kubernetes platform that runs across on-premises, edge, and multiple cloud environments. IBM acquired Red Hat in 2019 for $34 billion, and this investment has shaped IBM Cloud into the leading hybrid cloud platform for enterprise workloads. Whether you are running containerized microservices, legacy Java applications on WebSphere, or mainframe workloads connected to cloud-native services, IBM Cloud provides the connectivity and tooling to bridge these worlds.

This guide walks you through creating your IBM Cloud account, understanding the account structure and resource organization, deploying your first resources, and getting familiar with the IBM Cloud CLI and console. Every step includes both console instructions and CLI commands so you can follow along with your preferred workflow.

Creating Your IBM Cloud Account

To create an IBM Cloud account, navigate to cloud.ibm.com and click "Create an account." You will need a valid email address and an IBMid. If you already have an IBMid from other IBM products (such as IBM Support, developerWorks, or IBM PartnerWorld), you can use the same credentials to sign into IBM Cloud.

The Lite account gives you access to a curated set of free services with resource limits. These services never expire and do not require a credit card. However, Lite accounts cannot create VPC infrastructure, bare metal servers, or use paid service plans. To access the full IBM Cloud catalog, upgrade to a Pay-As-You-Go or Subscription account.

Account Types

IBM Cloud offers three account types, each with different capabilities and billing models:

• Lite: Free forever, no credit card required. Access to 40+ Lite-plan services. Cannot create VPC infrastructure or use paid plans. Ideal for exploration and learning.
• Pay-As-You-Go: Full access to the IBM Cloud catalog. Pay only for what you use with no upfront commitments. $200 credit for the first 30 days. Suitable for development, testing, and small production workloads.
• Subscription: Commit to a minimum monthly spending amount in exchange for discounted pricing. Best for enterprises with predictable cloud spending. Includes premium support options and custom contracts.

Understanding IBM Cloud Account Structure

IBM Cloud organizes resources using a hierarchical structure that provides fine-grained access control and cost allocation. Understanding this structure is essential before deploying any workloads.

Accounts and Enterprise Accounts

Every IBM Cloud user belongs to an account. For organizations, IBM Cloud Enterprise provides a multi-account hierarchy where a parent enterprise account manages child accounts organized into account groups. This is conceptually similar to AWS Organizations or Azure Management Groups. Enterprise accounts enable centralized billing, consolidated usage reporting, and account-level access control.

Resource Groups

Resource groups are the primary mechanism for organizing and controlling access to IBM Cloud resources. Every resource must belong to a resource group, and you assign a resource group at creation time — it cannot be changed later. The default resource group is created automatically with every account, but best practice is to create resource groups that align with your organizational structure: by environment (dev, staging, prod), by team, or by application.

# Create a resource group
ibmcloud resource group-create prod-resources

# List all resource groups
ibmcloud resource groups

# Set the target resource group for subsequent commands
ibmcloud target -g prod-resources

Regions and Zones

IBM Cloud operates in multiple geographic regions worldwide, including Dallas (us-south), Washington DC (us-east), London (eu-gb), Frankfurt (eu-de), Tokyo (jp-tok), Sydney (au-syd), Osaka (jp-osa), Toronto (ca-tor), and Sao Paulo (br-sao). Each region contains multiple availability zones (typically three) that are physically separated data centers with independent power, cooling, and networking. For high availability, deploy resources across at least two zones within a region.

# List available regions
ibmcloud regions

# Set the target region
ibmcloud target -r us-south

# List zones in the current region
ibmcloud is zones

Installing the IBM Cloud CLI

The IBM Cloud CLI (ibmcloud) is the primary command-line tool for managing IBM Cloud resources. It supports plugins for specific services like VPC infrastructure, Kubernetes, OpenShift, and Cloud Functions.

# Install on macOS
curl -fsSL https://clis.cloud.ibm.com/install/osx | sh

# Install on Linux
curl -fsSL https://clis.cloud.ibm.com/install/linux | sh

# Install on Windows (PowerShell)
iex(New-Object Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://clis.cloud.ibm.com/install/powershell')

# Verify installation
ibmcloud version

# Log in with your IBMid
ibmcloud login

# Log in with SSO (federated accounts)
ibmcloud login --sso

Essential CLI Plugins

After installing the CLI, install the plugins you need for your workloads:

# Install VPC infrastructure plugin
ibmcloud plugin install vpc-infrastructure

# Install Kubernetes/OpenShift plugin
ibmcloud plugin install kubernetes-service

# Install Container Registry plugin
ibmcloud plugin install container-registry

# Install Cloud Functions plugin
ibmcloud plugin install cloud-functions

# Install Cloud Object Storage plugin
ibmcloud plugin install cloud-object-storage

# List installed plugins
ibmcloud plugin list

# Update all plugins
ibmcloud plugin update --all

Deploying Your First VPC and Virtual Server

IBM Cloud VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) provides a software-defined network where you can deploy virtual server instances, containers, and other resources in an isolated environment. Let us create a simple VPC with a subnet and a virtual server instance.

# Create a VPC
ibmcloud is vpc-create my-first-vpc --resource-group-name prod-resources

# Create a subnet in zone 1
ibmcloud is subnet-create my-subnet my-first-vpc \
  --zone us-south-1 \
  --ipv4-cidr-block 10.240.0.0/24

# Create an SSH key (upload your public key)
ibmcloud is key-create my-key --public-key @~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

# Create a virtual server instance
ibmcloud is instance-create my-instance \
  my-first-vpc \
  us-south-1 \
  bx2-2x8 \
  my-subnet \
  --image ibm-ubuntu-24-04-minimal-amd64-3 \
  --keys my-key

# Check instance status
ibmcloud is instance my-instance

Assigning a Floating IP

To connect to your instance from the internet, assign a floating IP to its primary network interface:

# Reserve and assign a floating IP
ibmcloud is floating-ip-reserve my-fip \
  --nic primary \
  --in my-instance

# Connect via SSH
ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa root@<floating-ip>

Exploring the IBM Cloud Console

The IBM Cloud console at cloud.ibm.com provides a web-based interface for managing all your resources. The console is organized into several key areas:

• Dashboard: Overview of your account with resource summaries, spending, and recent activity.
• Catalog: Browse and provision services from the full IBM Cloud catalog, filtered by category, provider, and deployment type.
• Resource List: View and manage all provisioned resources across regions and resource groups.
• Navigation Menu: Access specific services by category including VPC Infrastructure, Kubernetes, Databases, AI/Machine Learning, and more.
• Manage: Account settings, IAM, billing, and enterprise management.

Working with Cloud Object Storage

IBM Cloud Object Storage (COS) is one of the most commonly used services, providing scalable, durable storage for unstructured data. COS supports multiple storage classes (Smart Tier, Standard, Vault, Cold Vault) and flexible data residency options including cross-region, regional, and single data center deployments.

# Create a COS instance
ibmcloud resource service-instance-create my-cos \
  cloud-object-storage standard global

# Configure the COS plugin
ibmcloud cos config list

# Create a bucket
ibmcloud cos bucket-create --bucket my-first-bucket \
  --class standard \
  --ibm-service-instance-id <cos-instance-id>

# Upload a file
ibmcloud cos object-put --bucket my-first-bucket \
  --key hello.txt \
  --body hello.txt

# List objects in a bucket
ibmcloud cos objects --bucket my-first-bucket

IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service (IKS)

IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service provides managed Kubernetes clusters with automated updates, built-in security, and integration with IBM Cloud services. You can deploy either standard IKS clusters or Red Hat OpenShift (ROKS) clusters depending on your requirements.

# Create a free IKS cluster (single worker, no VPC required)
ibmcloud ks cluster create classic \
  --name my-free-cluster \
  --zone dal10 \
  --flavor free

# Or create a VPC-based cluster
ibmcloud ks cluster create vpc-gen2 \
  --name my-vpc-cluster \
  --zone us-south-1 \
  --vpc-id <vpc-id> \
  --subnet-id <subnet-id> \
  --flavor bx2.4x16 \
  --workers 3

# Get cluster config for kubectl
ibmcloud ks cluster config --cluster my-vpc-cluster

# Verify connection
kubectl get nodes

Cleaning Up Resources

To avoid unexpected charges, clean up resources you no longer need. IBM Cloud resources are billed while they exist, not just while they are running (with the exception of serverless services that bill per invocation).

# Delete a virtual server instance
ibmcloud is instance-delete my-instance --force

# Release floating IP
ibmcloud is floating-ip-release my-fip --force

# Delete subnet
ibmcloud is subnet-delete my-subnet --force

# Delete VPC
ibmcloud is vpc-delete my-first-vpc --force

# Delete COS instance (deletes all buckets)
ibmcloud resource service-instance-delete my-cos --force

# Delete Kubernetes cluster
ibmcloud ks cluster rm --cluster my-vpc-cluster --force

Next Steps

Now that you have a working IBM Cloud environment, explore these areas to deepen your knowledge:

• IAM & Access Management: Configure access groups, service IDs, and fine-grained IAM policies to secure your resources.
• VPC Networking: Build multi-zone architectures with subnets, security groups, network ACLs, and VPN gateways.
• Kubernetes & OpenShift: Deploy containerized applications on IKS or ROKS with integrated logging and monitoring.
• Watson AI & watsonx: Explore IBM's AI services including watsonx.ai for foundation models, Watson Assistant, and Watson Discovery.
• Security & Compliance: Use Security and Compliance Center, Key Protect, and Hyper Protect services to meet regulatory requirements.

IBM Cloud's documentation at cloud.ibm.com/docs is comprehensive and includes tutorials, API references, and architecture patterns for every service. The IBM Cloud community at community.ibm.com/cloud provides forums, blogs, and events to connect with other IBM Cloud practitioners.