---
title: "Instance inventory"
description: "Browse EC2 instances discovered from connected AWS accounts. Learn how synchronization, search, filters, columns, and agent status help you find servers."
---

> Full documentation index: https://docs.alpacax.com/llms.txt

# Instance inventory

The **Cloud instances** page lists every EC2 instance discovered across your connected AWS accounts.

## How discovery works

Alpacon syncs each connected account's inventory automatically—every 5 minutes by default. You can change the interval, pause syncing, or trigger an immediate refresh with **Sync now** from the [account settings](/integrate/cloud/accounts/).

Disconnecting a cloud account (see [Manage cloud accounts](/integrate/cloud/accounts/)) removes its instances from this list—the AWS resources themselves are untouched, but Alpacon stops tracking them as inventory. A server you already onboarded from one of those instances keeps running as a normal Alpacon server. Conversely, deleting a server that came from a cloud instance returns that instance here with an agent status of **Install agent**, ready to be onboarded again.

If a connected account's sync stalls for a while—for example because of a temporary AWS or credential problem—its instances show a **Stale** badge. The same badge appears on every instance whenever the account is not Active, while sync is paused, and on any instance a completed scan did not see. It clears once the account is Active again with sync running and a scan finds the instance.

## Browse instances

- **Search** by name, instance ID, or IP.
- Filter by **state** with the pills above the list: All, Running, and Stopped.
- Use the detail filters to narrow by **account**, **stage** (Managed, Installing, Discovered), or **region**.
- A **by-region** breakdown shows how your instances are distributed.

Each row shows:

| Column | Description |
| --- | --- |
| **Name** | Instance name (or instance ID if unnamed), with a state indicator |
| **Type** | Instance type (for example, `t3.micro`) |
| **Region** | Region and availability zone |
| **Public IP** | Public IPv4 address, or `—` if none |
| **Agent** | Agent installation status (see below) |
| **Last synced** | When this instance was last refreshed |

## Agent status

The **Agent** column shows where an instance is in onboarding:

- **Install agent**: ready to onboard; click to start. See [Install the agent](/integrate/cloud/install-agent/).
- **Installing**: installation in progress.
- **Managed**: the agent is running and the instance is a managed Alpacon server. The column links to the server.
- **Blocked**: something must be resolved before installing (see [install troubleshooting](/integrate/cloud/install-agent/#when-installation-is-blocked)).

## Related docs

- [Install the agent](/integrate/cloud/install-agent/)
- [Manage cloud accounts](/integrate/cloud/accounts/)
- [Servers overview](/use/servers/)

Source: https://docs.alpacax.com/integrate/cloud/instances/