Templates
Every Joy region has Compute Fabric nodes with prepared templates for Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, Windows Server 2019, 2022 and 2025. Templates are verified per node — the deploy page and GET /api/v1/locations only offer operating systems whose template passed verification in that region. Templates are rebuilt monthly with current patches, the virtio drivers, cloud-init disabled (Joy configures the guest directly) and the QEMU guest agent installed and enabled.
What happens at install time
When you deploy, we make a full clone of the template (an independent disk, not a linked clone), resize it to your plan, set CPU and RAM, assign a MAC and reserve an IP from the regional pool, then boot. Once the guest agent answers, we use it to:
- write the static IPv4, gateway and DNS (netplan on Ubuntu,
netshon Windows); - set the root / Administrator password to a freshly generated one;
- set the hostname; regenerate
machine-idand SSH host keys; expand the filesystem; - install your SSH key (Linux) and enable RDP with NLA (Windows).
Do not remove qemu-guest-agent (Ubuntu) or the QEMU Guest Agent service (Windows) — password resets, "Reapply network", graceful shutdowns and live stats depend on it.
Reinstall
Server page → Reinstall → choose an OS → type the hostname to confirm. Or POST /api/v1/instances/{id}/reinstall with {"os":"ubuntu-22"}.
What survives
- The IP address(es), gateway and rDNS.
- The VM id, the hostname (unless you pass a new one), the plan and billing.
- Backups stored in Joy backup space.
What is wiped
- The entire disk, including all data and all snapshots.
- The password (a new one is generated and shown in the console) and SSH host keys (expect a host-key warning on your next connection; clear it with
ssh-keygen -R YOUR_IP).
Switching between Linux and Windows is allowed: Linux → Windows adds the licence add-on from the next invoice (and requires ≥ 2 GB RAM); Windows → Linux removes it.
Reinstall vs rollback vs rebuild
| Need | Use | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Undo a change from an hour ago | Snapshot rollback | seconds |
| Start clean, same IP | Reinstall | 1–2 minutes |
| Different region or size | New server, then destroy the old one | 2 minutes |
| Restore data after a disaster | Restore from backup | minutes, by disk size |
Custom images
Bring-your-own ISO is available on dedicated servers (via IPMI virtual media). On VPS we do not offer custom images yet; the practical alternative is to deploy Ubuntu, configure it with a script, and take a snapshot you can roll back to. Tell us by ticket which images you need — Debian and Rocky are on the list.
Troubleshooting
Reinstall stuck at "agent" — Windows templates can take up to five minutes on first boot; the job retries automatically once and then shows the error with a retry button. No network after reinstall — click "Reapply network" on the server page; if it fails, open the noVNC console and check the interface name against /etc/netplan/50-joy.yaml. Old host key warning — expected; remove the old entry.