Configure VB Studio to Use the Free VM Executor for Build Jobs and Pipelines

In a VB Studio visual application project, you use build jobs to compile the source code, package the visual application, and deploy it to a Visual Builder instance. The builds and pipelines run on build executors, also called VM build executors. These VM executors are Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) VM Compute instances dedicated to run VB Studio builds.

In some Oracle Cloud regions and data centers, VB Studio is available pre-configured with a built-in free account, which provides one free VM executor that you can use to run build jobs that package and deploy your extensions. However, there some limitations (see VB Studio's Free VM Build Executor) associated with the free VM build executor , so you may want to connect to your own OCI account instead, if you have one. See OCI Resources in VB Studio for more a more comprehensive comparison between the built-in free account, free tier account, and your OCI account.

To find out whether your VB Studio instance is connected to the built-in free account, follow these steps:

1. In the left navigator, click Organization .
2. Click the OCI Account tab.

   You should see a similar page:

   
   

   
   Description of the illustration vbs_built-in_free_account.png

   
   

Depending on your VB Studio's data center, you may or may not see the Built-in (Free) option.

What do you see?	What you need to do:
I see the Built-in (Free) option	If you're trying out extensions, no additional configuration is required. Go ahead and create your extension project. VB Studio creates the free VM build executor when you create your first project.
I see the Built-in (Free) option, but want to run builds without any limitations	Configure VB Studio to connect to your OCI account and add VM executors. If you're new to OCI, see Welcome to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
I don't see the Built-in (Free) option, but have access to an OCI account	The built-in free account isn't available in your data center. You should configure VB Studio to connect to your OCI account and add VM executors.
I don't see the Built-in (Free) option and don't have access to an OCI account either	You can still use VB Studio to create the extension project. To run builds, create an OCI account or the Oracle Cloud Free Tier account. The free tier account offers free micro Compute VMs that your organization's members can use to run builds. After creating the free tier account, create OCI resources as described in Set Up the OCI Account and get their details as described in Get the Required OCI Input Values. Then, Set Up the OCI Connection in VB Studio. If you can't create an OCI account or the free tier account, wait for the built-in free account to be available in your data center.

Before you create a project, note that in a VB Studio instance that has no projects and no VM executors, the first VM executor is created for you when you create the first project. If the project isn’t the initial one, the VM executor must be created manually.

Add the Free VM Build Executor Manually

If you're using VB Studio's built-in free account, the free VM build executor is added when you create your first project. Here's how to add the VM executor manually if you've deleted it or it wasn't added when you created the project:

1. In the left navigator, click Organization .
2. Click the VM Build Executors tab.
   If you see a VM executor of the System Default OL7 for Visual Builder template, the free VM build executor is available in your VB Studio instance. Ignore the remaining steps.

   
   

   
   Description of the illustration vbs-builtin-freevm.png

   
   

   If you don't see the VM executor, jump to the next step.

3. Click Create Free VM Build Executor.
   
   

   
   Description of the illustration vbs_freevm.png