# Create a CockroachDB Advanced Cluster

This page guides you through the process of creating a CockroachDB Advanced cluster using the Cloud Console. To use the Cloud API instead, refer to Create an Advanced cluster in the API documentation.

Only CockroachDB Cloud Organization Admins or users with Cluster Creator / Cluster Admin roles assigned at organization scope can create clusters. If you need permission to create a cluster, contact an CockroachDB Cloud Organization Admin.

## Step 1. Start the cluster creation process

1. If you haven't already, sign up for a CockroachDB Cloud account, then log in.

   Note:
   We recommend that CockroachDB Cloud Console users log in with Single Sign-On (SSO), optionally with two-factor authentication (2FA) enabled for the SSO provider. This prevents potential attackers from using stolen credentials to access or tamper with your critical data.

   CockroachDB Cloud Basic SSO supports SSO with GitHub, Google, and Microsoft. Cloud Organization SSO provides additional configuration and flexibility, and includes support for OIDC or SAML protocols, autoprovisioning, and limiting the email domains that can use a given authentication method.

   Visit your CockroachDB Cloud Console's account settings page and switch to SSO to improve the security of your cluster.

- If there are multiple organizations in your account, verify the one that is selected in the top right corner.

- On the Clusters page, click Create Cluster or, if you also have permission to create folders, then click Create > Create Cluster.

- On the Select a plan page, select the Advanced plan.

## Step 2. Select the cloud provider

On the Cloud & Regions page, go to the Cloud provider section and select your deployment environment: Google Cloud, AWS, or Microsoft Azure.

Note:

For more details about CockroachDB Advanced on Azure, refer to CockroachDB Advanced on Azure.

You do not need an account in the deployment environment you choose. The cluster is created on infrastructure managed by Cockroach Labs. For optimal performance, create your cluster on the cloud provider and in the regions that best align with your existing cloud services.

Pricing depends on your cloud provider and region selections. Refer to Pricing for details.

## Step 3. Configure regions and nodes

Select the region(s) and number of nodes for your cluster:

1. In the Regions section, select at minimum one region. Refer to CockroachDB Cloud Regions for the regions where CockroachDB Advanced clusters can be deployed. For optimal performance, create your cluster on the cloud provider and in the regions that best align with your existing cloud services. For example, if your application is deployed in GCP's `us-east1` region, select `us-east1` for your CockroachDB Advanced cluster.

   A multi-region cluster requires at minimum three regions and can survive the loss of a single region. Refer to Planning your cluster for the configuration requirements and recommendations for CockroachDB Advanced clusters.

   For clusters deployed on GCP, each region requires a `/19` CIDR block.

2. Select the number of nodes:

   - For single-region production deployments, we recommend a minimum of 3 nodes. The number of nodes indirectly impacts Your cluster's storage and compute capacity scale with the number of nodes. Refer to Plan your cluster.
   - A multi-region deployment requires a minimum of 3 nodes per region. For best performance and stability, we recommend configuring the same number of nodes in each region.
   - Single-node clusters are supported only for application development and testing, and are not available on Azure.

Refer to Plan a CockroachDB Advanced cluster for details.

A multi-node cluster cannot be scaled down to a single node.

You can add a maximum of 150 nodes to your cluster. To express interest in larger configurations, contact your Cockroach Labs account team.

Click Next: Capacity.

## Step 4. Enable VPC Peering (optional)

You can use VPC peering to connect a GCP application to a CockroachDB Cloud cluster deployed on GCP. A separate VPC Peering connection is required for each cluster.

VPC peering is available only for GCP clusters. For clusters deployed on AWS, you can configure AWS PrivateLink after creating your cluster. Azure Virtual Network Peering is not yet supported. Refer to CockroachDB Advanced on Azure.

You can use CockroachDB Cloud's default IP range and size (`172.28.0.0/14`) as long as it doesn't overlap with the IP ranges in your network. Alternatively, you can configure the IP range. Each region consumes a `/19` CIDR range from the CIDR range configured during cluster creation. If you add a region later, the region's IP range will be automatically assigned from the cluster's CIDR range.

1. In the VPC Peering section, select Configure the IP range to configure your own IP range.

2. Enter the IP range and size (in CIDR format) for the CockroachDB Cloud network based on the following considerations:

   - As per GCP's overlapping subnets restriction, configure an IP range that doesn't overlap with the IP ranges in your application network.

   - The IP range and size cannot be changed after the cluster is created. Configuring a smaller IP range size may limit your ability to expand into multiple regions in the future. We recommend configuring an IP range size of `/16` or lower.

     Note:

     Custom IP ranges are temporarily unavailable for multi-region clusters.

3. Click Next: Capacity.

   After your cluster is created, you can establish VPC Peering or AWS PrivateLink.

If you don't want to enable VPC Peering, leave the default selection of Use the default IP range as is and click Next: Capacity.

## Step 5. Configure cluster capacity

The choice of hardware per node determines the cost, throughput, and performance characteristics of your cluster. Refer to Plan your Advanced cluster.

1. On the Capacity page, select the Compute per node according to the requirements of the cluster's workload and Storage per node . Refer to Cluster sizing and scaling.

2. Select the Storage per node, up to 320 GiB per vCPU. Refer to Storage capacity and Pricing for details.

After your cluster is created, refer to: - Manage a CockroachDB Advanced Cluster - Establish private connectivity

Click Next: Security.

## Step 6. Configure advanced security features

You can enable advanced security features for PCI DSS and HIPAA compliance at an additional cost. These features are not yet available for CockroachDB Advanced on Azure. Refer to CockroachDB Advanced on Azure.

Warning:

Advanced security features cannot be enabled or disabled after cluster creation.

## Step 7. Enter billing details

1. On the Finalize page, verify:
   - Your cluster's cloud provider, regions, and configuration.
   - The hourly estimated cost for the cluster. The cost displayed does not include taxes. You will be billed monthly.
2. Add your preferred payment method.

3. If applicable, the 30-day trial code is pre-applied to your cluster.

   Note:
   Remember to delete your trial cluster before the trial expires. Otherwise, your credit card will be charged after the trial ends. You can check the validity of the code on the Billing page.

## Step 8. Name the cluster

The cluster is automatically given a randomly-generated name. If desired, change the cluster's name. The cluster name must be 6-20 characters in length, and can include lowercase letters, numbers, and dashes (but no leading or trailing dashes). A cluster's name cannot be edited after the cluster is created.

## Step 8. Select the CockroachDB version

When you create a new cluster, it uses the latest CockroachDB Cloud production release by default. All clusters are then upgraded automatically to each subsequent patch release of their major version as it becomes available. To learn more, refer to Upgrade Policy.

To select the cluster version:

1. Under Cluster version, click the version selector.
2. Select a CockroachDB version.

## Step 9. Finish creating the cluster

Click Create cluster. Your cluster will be created in approximately 20-30 minutes.

## What's next

To start using your CockroachDB Advanced cluster, refer to:

- Connect to your cluster
- Manage access
- Deploy a Python To-Do App with Flask, Kubernetes, and CockroachDB Cloud
- For a multi-region cluster, it is important to choose the most appropriate survival goal for each database and the most appropriate table locality for each table. Otherwise, your cluster may experience unexpected latency and reduced resiliency. For more information, refer to Multi-Region Capabilities Overview.