---
myst:
  html_meta:
    description: Understanding cloud computing and cloud-init provisioning for Ubuntu Server deployment across cloud providers and infrastructures.
---

(explanation-cloud-images)=
# Clouds

Clouds are networks of remote servers providing services via the internet. They have become a popular way to manage storage, software and processing without the need to host physical servers yourself.

## Cloud-init

Cloud-init is the industry standard tool for provisioning clouds and is supported by most cloud providers. Here we provide a high-level introduction to the tool.

```{toctree}
:titlesonly:

About cloud-init <intro-to/cloud-init>
```

## Cloud images

Whichever cloud you use, you will need to use images compatible with that cloud. We call these **cloud images**.

* {ref}`Cloud images overview <cloud-images>` provides a high level introduction to the concept, along with links to the official sources of cloud images.

For information related to public clouds in Ubuntu, you may also want to refer to the official [Public Cloud documentation](https://documentation.ubuntu.com/public-cloud/).

For ease of reference, these links in the Public Cloud documentation will take you to the cloud images for:

* [Amazon EC2](https://documentation.ubuntu.com/aws/aws-how-to/instances/find-ubuntu-images/) | [Google Compute Engine (GCE)](https://documentation.ubuntu.com/gcp/google-how-to/gce/find-ubuntu-images/) | [Microsoft Azure](https://documentation.ubuntu.com/azure/azure-how-to/instances/find-ubuntu-images/)

```{toctree}
:hidden:

Cloud images <clouds/find-cloud-images>
```