Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about Lambda compute platform.

Lambda is a privacy-focused compute renting platform. Unlike traditional cloud providers (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure), Lambda ensures your data, logs, and processes remain completely private—even from us.

Key Differentiator: Zero-knowledge architecture means we can't access your data even if we wanted to.

How is Lambda different from AWS/Google Cloud/Azure?

Feature	Lambda	Traditional Clouds
Provider Access to Logs	✗ None	✓ Full access
Provider Access to Data	✗ Encrypted with your keys	✓ Can access
Memory Privacy	✓ Hardware-encrypted (SGX/SEV)	✗ Visible to hypervisor
Zero-Knowledge	✓ Yes	✗ No
Egress Fees	✗ Free	✓ Expensive ($0.09/GB)

Who should use Lambda?

Healthcare orgs handling HIPAA data
Financial services with sensitive transactions
Legal firms needing client confidentiality
Researchers with proprietary datasets
Privacy-conscious developers
Anyone who values data sovereignty

What can I run on Lambda?

Virtually anything that runs on Linux:

Web applications & APIs
Databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis)
Machine learning workloads
Batch processing & ETL
Game servers
CI/CD pipelines
Custom applications

Privacy & Security

Can Lambda access my data?

No. Our architecture makes this impossible:

Client-side encryption: You encrypt data before upload
Hardware isolation: Secure enclaves (SGX/SEV) prevent hypervisor access
No keys on platform: Your encryption keys never leave your control
Blind orchestration: We manage infrastructure blind to contents

What if Lambda gets hacked?

Even if our control plane is compromised:

Attackers cannot decrypt your data (no keys)
Cannot access instance memory (hardware encryption)
Cannot read storage (encrypted with your keys)
Cannot inspect network traffic (end-to-end encryption)

How do I verify my instance is secure?

Use remote attestation:

lambda attest inst_abc123 --output proof.json
lambda verify proof.json

This cryptographically proves your workload runs in a genuine secure enclave.

Can you help debug my application?

Not by default (we can't see your logs). But you can grant temporary, scoped access:

lambda support grant-access inst_abc123 \
  --duration 24h \
  --scope "logs:read" \
  --reason "Debugging memory leak"

This creates an auditable access log.

What happens to my data if I delete my account?

All instances and volumes are destroyed immediately. Data is securely erased (DoD 5220.22-M standard). Backups are deleted within 24 hours.

Do you comply with GDPR/HIPAA?

Yes. Lambda is:

✓ SOC 2 Type II certified
✓ HIPAA compliant (BAA available)
✓ GDPR compliant
✓ ISO 27001 certified
✓ PCI DSS Level 1

See Compliance Documentation →

Pricing & Billing

How much does Lambda cost?

Starting at $0.05/hour ($36/month) for compute-1x instances.

Free Tier: 750 hours/month of compute-1x (runs 1 instance 24/7 free).

See Pricing →

Do you charge for data transfer?

No. Unlike other clouds:

✗ No inbound fees
✗ No outbound fees
✗ No inter-instance fees
✗ No cross-region fees

All data transfer is free.

What's the "privacy premium"?

Lambda costs ~$100-150/month more than traditional clouds for equivalent compute. This pays for:

Hardware secure enclaves
Blind orchestration infrastructure
Enhanced security auditing
Zero-knowledge architecture

For many use cases, this is offset by free egress.

Can I get a refund?

Prorated refunds within 7 days of instance creation. Running time is non-refundable. Unused committed hours don't roll over.

Do you offer discounts?

Yes:

Committed Use: Up to 40% discount for 12-month commitments
Volume: 10-20% for $10K+/month usage
Academic/Nonprofit: 50% discount with verification
Startups: Apply for startup credits

Technical

What regions are available?

8 regions globally:

US: us-west-1 (California), us-east-1 (Virginia)
EU: eu-west-1 (Ireland), eu-central-1 (Frankfurt)
Asia: ap-southeast-1 (Singapore), ap-northeast-1 (Tokyo), ap-south-1 (Mumbai)
South America: sa-east-1 (São Paulo)

What operating systems can I use?

Ubuntu (20.04, 22.04, 24.04)
Debian (10, 11, 12)
CentOS Stream (8, 9)
Rocky Linux (8, 9)
Fedora (38, 39)
Arch Linux
Custom images (bring your own)

Can I use Docker?

Yes! Docker works perfectly:

# Install Docker
sudo apt update && sudo apt install docker.io

# Run containers
docker run -d nginx

Kubernetes also supported.

How do I SSH into my instance?

# Using Lambda CLI (easiest)
lambda ssh inst_abc123

# Or standard SSH
ssh lambda@203.0.113.42

# With specific key
ssh -i ~/.ssh/my-key lambda@203.0.113.42

Can I get a static IP?

Yes. All instances get static IPs by default. They don't change unless you release them.

How do I resize an instance?

lambda resize inst_abc123 --type compute-8x

Causes ~30 seconds of downtime during resize.

Can I attach multiple volumes?

Yes. No limit on volumes per instance:

lambda create volume --name data1 --size 100GB
lambda create volume --name data2 --size 500GB
lambda attach volume vol_abc123 --instance inst_xyz789
lambda attach volume vol_def456 --instance inst_xyz789

What's the maximum instance size?

CPU: 32 vCPU (compute-32x)
RAM: 256 GB (memory-32x)
Storage: 4 TB (storage-16x)
GPU: 4x H100 80GB (gpu-h100-4x)

Need larger? Contact sales@lambda.io for custom configurations.

Performance

How fast are Lambda instances?

On par with major clouds:

Metric	Lambda	AWS EC2
CPU Performance	100%	100%
Storage IOPS	40K+	40K+
Network Bandwidth	10 Gbps	10 Gbps
Encryption Overhead	~5%	N/A

Privacy adds minimal overhead.

Is there any performance impact from encryption?

Minimal:

Storage: ~5% overhead (hardware-accelerated AES)
Network: ~2ms latency (TLS overhead)
CPU: <1% (SEV/SGX overhead)

For most workloads, this is negligible.

What's the SLA?

Uptime: 99.95% (4.35 hours downtime/year)
Network: 99.9%
Support Response: Varies by plan

Enterprise customers can get custom SLAs up to 99.99%.

Backup & Recovery

How do backups work?

Take snapshots:

# Manual snapshot
lambda snapshot create inst_abc123 --name "before-deploy"

# Scheduled snapshots
lambda snapshot schedule inst_abc123 --frequency daily --retain 7

Snapshots are encrypted with your keys.

Can I restore to a different region?

Yes:

# Copy snapshot to different region
lambda snapshot copy snap_abc123 --to-region eu-west-1

# Restore in new region
lambda create instance \
  --from-snapshot snap_abc123 \
  --region eu-west-1

What if I lose my encryption keys?

Your data is unrecoverable without keys. This is by design—neither you nor Lambda can decrypt without the key.

Best Practices:

Store keys in encrypted vault (1Password, Bitwarden)
Keep offline backup in secure location
Consider key escrow for organizations

Account & Billing

How do I delete my account?

To delete your account:

Go to Dashboard → Settings → Account
Scroll to "Delete Account" section
Review what will be deleted
Click "Delete My Account" and confirm

Alternative: Use the CLI:

lambda account delete --confirm

Or contact support@lambda.io for assistance. All data is permanently deleted within 24 hours.

Can I transfer ownership of instances?

Not directly. You can:

Take snapshot
Share snapshot with another account
Other account restores from snapshot

lambda snapshot share snap_abc123 --with-account acct_xyz789

Do you offer enterprise agreements?

Yes. For $10K+/month commitments, we offer:

Custom pricing
Volume discounts
Dedicated support
Custom SLAs
On-premise deployment options

Contact sales@lambda.io

Troubleshooting

Can't connect via SSH

Check instance status: lambda status inst_abc123
Verify firewall: lambda firewall list inst_abc123
Check SSH key: lambda ssh-keys list
Try different key: ssh -i ~/.ssh/other-key lambda@ip

Instance won't start

Check quotas: lambda quotas
Verify billing: lambda billing status
Try different region
Check status page: https://status.lambda.io

High CPU/memory usage

# Check metrics
lambda metrics inst_abc123

# SSH in and investigate
lambda ssh inst_abc123
top

Export data from AWS
Create Lambda instance
Transfer data (scp, rsync, or upload)
Test thoroughly
Switch traffic
Terminate AWS resources

See Migration Guide →

Can I run Lambda and AWS in parallel?

Yes. Use Lambda for sensitive workloads, AWS for others:

AWS: Public-facing services
  ↓
Lambda: Backend with sensitive data

Support

How do I get help?

📖 Documentation: https://docs.lambda.io
💬 Community Forum: https://community.lambda.io
📧 Email: support@lambda.io
💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/lambda

Response times:

Community: Best-effort
Professional: 12 hours
Enterprise: 1 hour

Do you offer training?

Yes. Enterprise customers get:

Onboarding sessions
Architecture reviews
Best practices training
Custom workshops

Can I request features?

Yes! Submit feature requests:

GitHub: https://github.com/lambda/lambda/issues
Forum: https://community.lambda.io/features
Email: features@lambda.io

Zero-knowledge encryption
Hardware-backed isolation
No access to encryption keys

Can Lambda be subpoenaed?

Yes, but we can't provide plaintext data (we don't have it). We can provide:

Account metadata
Billing records
API access logs
Instance metadata (type, region, IDs)

We cannot provide:

Application logs
File contents
Environment variables
Process information

What laws does Lambda comply with?

GDPR (European Union)
HIPAA (United States)
CCPA (California)
PIPEDA (Canada)
SOC 2 Type II
ISO 27001

Still Have Questions?

Can't find your answer? Reach out:

Email: support@lambda.io
Forum: https://community.lambda.io
Discord: https://discord.gg/lambda
Twitter: @LambdaCompute

Next Step

Resolve issues with our troubleshooting guide.

Troubleshooting Guide →

Think Lambda, Think Privacy

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