Oracle Cloud Free VM + SSH Account

What you get free

A credit/debit card is required at signup for identity verification only — you are not charged while you stay within Always Free limits.

Tip: "Always Free" AMD instances occasionally show as out of capacity. If so, create an Ampere A1 VM instead (usually available), or try a different region.

1. Create the account

1. Go to signup.oraclecloud.com and create an Oracle Cloud account.
2. Confirm the email and finish the phone + card verification. Choose Oracle Cloud Free Tier.
3. Sign in to the console at cloud.oracle.com.

2. Set up networking

1. Open Networking → Virtual cloud networks.
2. Click Start VCN Wizard → Create VCN with Internet Connectivity. Name it (e.g. proxy-vcn), leave defaults, click Next → Create. This creates the VCN, public subnet, internet gateway, and route table automatically.
3. Open Networking → Virtual cloud networks → proxy-vcn → Security Lists → Default Security List.
4. Add an Ingress Rule (TCP): Source CIDR 0.0.0.0/0, destination port 22 (add 1080 too if you plan to run a SOCKS5 UDP relay for Full VPN).

3. Create the VM

1. Open Compute → Instances → Create instance.
2. Name: proxy-vm.
3. Image and shape:
   • Image: Ubuntu 24.04 (SSH user ubuntu) or Oracle Linux 8 (user opc).
   • Shape: Ampere A1.Flex (1 OCPU / 6 GB) or AMD E2.1.Micro (Always Free).
4. Networking: select the proxy-vcn public subnet; Assign a public IPv4 address = Yes.
5. Add SSH keys: choose Paste public keys and paste the public key you generate in step 4.
6. Click Create.

4. Generate an SSH key pair (on your Mac)

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/oracle_proxy -C "oracle-proxy"
cat ~/.ssh/oracle_proxy.pub

Copy the output of the second command and paste it into the console's SSH keys field. Keep ~/.ssh/oracle_proxy — that's the private key you'll import into the app.

5. Verify SSH login

Wait for the instance to show Running, then copy its Public IP address.

ssh -i ~/.ssh/oracle_proxy ubuntu@<PUBLIC_IP>

Use opc@ instead of ubuntu@ for Oracle Linux.

Reserve a static IP (recommended): the default public IP is ephemeral. Open Networking → Reserved public IPs → Reserve, associate it with your instance, and use that IP in the app.

6. Add it as an SSH proxy site in Portus - Proxy Tool

1. Settings → Routing → Proxy Sites → Add Proxy Site.
2. Set Kind = SSH, Host = <PUBLIC_IP>, Port = 22, Username = ubuntu.
3. Tap Import RSA keys and paste:
   • Private key: contents of ~/.ssh/oracle_proxy
   • Public key: contents of ~/.ssh/oracle_proxy.pub
   • Enter the passphrase if you created the key with one.
4. Tap Save, then Test Proxy — you should see "SSH is reachable, authenticated, and forwarding."

7. (Optional) Enable Full VPN (UDP)

SSH alone carries TCP. To also tunnel UDP (QUIC, games, VoIP), install a SOCKS5 UDP relay (danted) on the VM:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y dante-server
sudo systemctl enable --now danted

Add a minimal /etc/danted.conf:

logoutput: stderr
internal: 127.0.0.1 port = 1080
external: eth0
method: username none
client pass { from: 0.0.0.0/0 to: 0.0.0.0/0 }
socks pass { from: 0.0.0.0/0 to: 0.0.0.0/0 }

Then turn on Full VPN (UDP) for this SSH site in the app. Portus - Proxy Tool reaches the relay over an SSH channel to 127.0.0.1:1080 on the VM.

Keep your instance alive

Always Free instances idle (CPU under 20%) for 7 days may be stopped or reclaimed. Keep light traffic flowing, or upgrade to Pay As You Go — you stay within free limits and are still not charged, but your instance is never reclaimed.

Security tips

• Keep SSH key auth only; disable password login (PasswordAuthentication no in /etc/ssh/sshd_config).
• Only open port 22 (and 1080 if you run danted) to the internet.
• Use the app's Test Proxy to confirm everything before relying on it.