• There is NO official Otland's Discord server and NO official Otland's server list. The Otland's Staff does not manage any Discord server or server list. Moderators or administrator of any Discord server or server lists have NO connection to the Otland's Staff. Do not get scammed!

How to get FREE VPS from Oracle Cloud

Gesior.pl

Mega Noob&LOL 2012
Senator
Joined
Sep 18, 2007
Messages
2,955
Solutions
98
Reaction score
3,351
Location
Poland
GitHub
gesior
About registration:
In last month a lot of people tried to register to mine crypto on free servers. Now many credit cards are not accepted in registration form. Probably, because these bank users tried to create multiple accounts.
I think it's still worth trying, as you can get free VPSes and it takes around 5 minutes to register.

Disclaimer: otservbr - vcpkg compilation - does not work on ARM processors, EDIT: read posts below, to find out how to compile otservbr on ARM processor, it's not easy, but possible

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is new always-free offer on Oracle site:
– AMD Epyc CPU: 2 servers, each with: 1 core, 1 GB ram, 50 GB HDD, 480 mb/s connection
– Ampere ARM CPU: 4 servers, each with: 1 core 2.8 GHz, 6 GB ram, 50 GB HDD, 1gb/s connection
– 10 TB/month transfer limit for all your machines together

These 4 Ampere servers you can combine into 1 server: 4×2.8 GHz, 24 GB ram, 50 GB HDD with 4gb/s connection!
You can also create 6 VPSes for 6 small projects.

Registration:
https://www.oracle.com/uk/cloud/free/
You will have to add credit card to account. Virtual/prepaid cards are not accepted. Revolut virtual card generated in smartphone application is not accepted, but physical Revolut card is ok.

It takes around 15 minutes to activate account after you register.
Wait for e-mail with information that account is ready to use (added 'free credits').

How to order free 4-core VPS and unlock internet access​

When you order any dedic or VPS, it always comes with all internet access opened by default. Here we get machine with almost everything closed (except port 22 for SSH). Every port is blocked in Oracle Cloud panel and in Ubuntu.
If you install nginx on it, it will say in webbrowser that site is offline. Follow next 13 steps to unlock all ports.

STEPS 1 - 6: Order server
STEPS 7 - 11: Disable Oracle Cloud firewall
STEPS 12 - 13: Disable Ubuntu firewall

ORDER SERVER
1. Go to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (https://cloud.oracle.com/) and login to your account. Click on Create a VM instance.
1641726568503.png


2. Click on Edit Image and shape.
1641726714341.png

3. Click on Change image.
1641726726695.png

4. Select Canonical Ubuntu and click Select image.
1641726768614.png

5. Click on Change shape.
  • Select shape Ampere
  • Unroll options
  • Change OCPUs number to 4, it will automatically change RAM to 24 GB
  • Tick VM.Standard.A1.Flex
  • Click Select shape
1641726815850.png

6. Scroll down to Add SSH Keys
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oracle Cloud servers allow login to SSH only by key. You cannot login using password.
If you don't have SSH key yet. You need to generate one on your computer:

How to Generate SSH keys in Windows 10 and Windows 11 (https://www.howtogeek.com/762863/how-to-generate-ssh-keys-in-windows-10-and-windows-11/)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Select option Upload public key files (.pub).
1641726990242.png

Your machine should change status to Running within one minute.
On right top side of page, there will appear Public IP address of your server. Copy it. We will use it later.

DISABLE ORACLE CLOUD FIREWALL
7. There will appear Virtual cloud network with some random name. Click on it.
1641727454645.png


8. Click on subnet name.
1641727484330.png

9. Click on Default Security list name.
1641727521818.png

10. Click Add Ingress Rules.
1641727585161.png

11. In source CIDR type:
Code:
0.0.0.0/0
Select All protocols and and click Add Ingress Rules.
1641728032676.png

DISABLE UBUNTU FIREWALL
12. SSH to your server:
1641728067674.png

13. Type:
Code:
sudo systemctl stop ufw
sudo systemctl disable ufw
sudo iptables -I INPUT -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables-save > /etc/iptables/rules.v4
to disable Ubuntu firewall and allow all connections.
1641728527345.png
 
Last edited:
@Gesior.pl - After modifying the firewalls, port 7171 is still showing as blocked. I've opened IPTables to allow all connections, disable ufw and added the ingress rule - but still nothing. Any suggestions?
 
@Gesior.pl - After modifying the firewalls, port 7171 is still showing as blocked. I've opened IPTables to allow all connections, disable ufw and added the ingress rule - but still nothing. Any suggestions?
Did you run OTS on it? All ports are 'closed', if there is no application that use them.
 
Yes I ran it using screen ./tfs
Is that what you mean?
Yes. How do you test that ports are closed?
Check your config.lua, if there is an option bindOnlyGlobalAddress, it must be set to false.
If you still got problems, message me on Discord: Gesior.pl#3208
 
@Gesior.pl I tested with a site like Port Checker - Port Forwarding Test - Open Port Checker (https://www.portcheckers.com/) after opening the oracle firewall. modifying IPTables and disabling OS firewalls rules.

bindOnlyGlobalAddress was not in my config.lua so I added it - launched the server and still does not allow me to login.

Reinstalled the instance and followed everything directly again, reinstalled the server. Port 80 remained closed until installing Apache2 and then when the service was running, port 80 opened. After that, compiled the server and screened tfs, and tried to log in with no avail. I have added you on Discord, hopefully we can figure this out together!
 
Last edited:
@Extrodus problem was related to TFS 0.4 3777 'by fireelement', which binds to IP127.0.0.1, not 0.0.0.0 in case when it can't find interface with given IP (from config.lua). Replaced otserv.cpp code with original 3777 and it worked.
Cloud servers from Oracle does not have network interface with public IP (server does not know own public IP).

I did some benchmarks on OVH VPS and Oracle machines ( VPS/dedic benchmarks (https://otland.net/threads/vps-dedic-benchmarks.279425/) ) and Oracle ARM CPU is 3-5 times faster on single core than OVH.
 
@Extrodus problem was related to TFS 0.4 3777 'by fireelement', which binds to IP127.0.0.1, not 0.0.0.0 in case when it can't find interface with given IP (from config.lua). Replaced otserv.cpp code with original 3777 and it worked.
Cloud servers from Oracle does not have network interface with public IP (server does not know own public IP).

I did some benchmarks on OVH VPS and Oracle machines ( VPS/dedic benchmarks (https://otland.net/threads/vps-dedic-benchmarks.279425/) ) and Oracle ARM CPU is 3-5 times faster on single core than OVH.
I wish it wasnt 3-5 times more expensive
 
I wish it wasnt 3-5 times more expensive
You get 4 ARM cores for free forever and 1 core is comparable to 4 cores in OVH. For OTS it's best offer, as maximum number of players is limited by single core speed.
Even, if you don't use free offer. It's 2 cores (2*7$) + 8 GB RAM (8*0.75) = 20$ for server comparable with $31.28 8 vCore OVH VPS.

I've tested 8 vCore in OVH. It's same CPU as benchmarked 1 vCore VPS. Same single thread CPU score.
I will run Hetzner and Contabo benchmarks soon to compare their CPUs.
 
I host my site on this for free, cause my trial ended XD
Lifetime website hosting? Sounds good to me.
My site is written in node.js
 
Out of capacity for shape VM.Standard.A1.Flex in availability domain RpqU:SA-SAOPAULO-1-AD-1. If you specified a fault domain, try creating the instance without specifying a fault domain. If that doesn’t work, please try again later. Learn more about host capacity.

=(

Did anyone managed to get it working on Brazil?
Other than that, thanks for the topic! it's very useful, for OTs and for real-life projects!
 
Wow, seems like a scam....

Usually if something is too good to be true, there's some kind of catch...

Might host RealOTS on here if it's really free.
 
Did anyone managed to get it working on Brazil?
Other than that, thanks for the topic! it's very useful, for OTs and for real-life projects!
In Germany A1 servers are also not available in AD-1, but I switched manually to AD-2 and it created. They probably run 3 separate datacenters in every location.
When you order server, change placement:
1643123496785.png

Wow, seems like a scam....

Usually if something is too good to be true, there's some kind of catch...

Might host RealOTS on here if it's really free.
I got account there for 2 months. I checked my account settings. They did not save credit card number I used to register.
Everything except 'always free resources' is blocked and there is button 'Upgrade account'. I clicked it once and they ask for credit card details there.
I thought it's a scam too, so I did not post about it on OtLand for over month, to check if they take anything from my credit card.
Some big corporations expect 'cloud services' business to go to over 1 trillion USD per year, so they are ready to spend any amount of money to get into that business.
 
Last edited:
Hi all,

I finally managed to get it working in Brazil VPS.
The step 13 returned me an error, though:

ubuntu@instance-20220216-1801:~$ sudo iptables-save > /etc/iptables/rules.v4
-bash: /etc/iptables/rules.v4: Permission denied

but I could do this:
sudo su -
iptables-save > /etc/iptables/rules.v4


When I go to Port Checker - Port Forwarding Test - Open Port Checker (https://www.portcheckers.com/) and write my ip + port 7171 (without anything running, just after doing the steps from this post), however, it shows the port is Closed. Did I do something wrong?

Also, do you know if there are any good tutorial on otland to setup an AAC + Database + TFS in ubuntu?
I'm horrible at such things like configuring nginx, so if there are some tutorials step by step that should work with current TFS + myaac (or other AAC) + mariadb (or other compatible db), I'll apreciate a lot!

Thanks so much!! 24gb RAM free vps forever
 
When I go to Port Checker - Port Forwarding Test - Open Port Checker (https://www.portcheckers.com/) and write my ip + port 7171 (without anything running, just after doing the steps from this post), however, it shows the port is Closed. Did I do something wrong?

A port is always "closed" if no service is listening. So no, you probably didn't, but it will appear closed if nothing is running on that port. :)

To test if it's actually open and forwarding, you'd need to start the server and test again.
 
About:
Disclaimer: otservbr - vcpkg compilation - does not work on ARM processors


I could actually compile canary repository here :)
In this case, we need to update the cmake to a newer version
1 - download https://github.com/Kitware/CMake/releases/download/v3.23.0-rc2/cmake-3.23.0-rc2-linux-aarch64.sh
2 - move cmake-3.23.0-rc2-linux-aarch64.sh to /opt folder
3 - sudo bash cmake-3.23.0-rc2-linux-aarch64.sh
4 - type "y" twice during the installation
5 - Add it to PATH
5.1 - vim ~/.bashrc
5.2 - add in the end:
Lua:
export PATH=$PATH:/opt/cmake-3.23.0-rc2-linux-aarch64/bin
5.3 - save it and reload using "source ~/.bashrc"

and also need to set this flag VCPKG_FORCE_SYSTEM_BINARIES=1
1 - vim ~/.bashrc
2 - add in the end:
Lua:
export VCPKG_FORCE_SYSTEM_BINARIES=1
3 - save it and reload using "source ~/.bashrc"


With this config, you should be able to compile otservbr on arm processors following their steps: Compiling on Debian or Ubuntu · opentibiabr/canary Wiki (https://github.com/opentibiabr/canary/wiki/Compiling-on-Debian-or-Ubuntu)

I hope it helps someone that also installed Oracle free VPS :)
 
Someone reported to me that he has lost access to his machines and all data after 30 days. I searched in Google and it's common problem - first reports from 2019.
Random people lose access to Oracle account after 30 days with message Your account has been disabled due to either tenant/user disable operation..

// my server runs for almost 4 months
// my friend made 4 accounts and run 4 core ARM on each of them to mine crypt - he has no problems for 3 months
 
well they already said somewhere on their website if your account is not being used at all it will be lost another thing never shut it down or you will not get it back xD
 
Back
Top