> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://cockroachlabs.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Quickstart with CockroachDB Advanced

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This page shows you how to deploy a CockroachDB cluster on CockroachDB Advanced (free for a 30-day trial for your first cluster), connect to it using a sample workload, and run your first query.

To run CockroachDB on your local machine instead, see <InternalLink version="cockroachcloud" path="quickstart?filters=local">Start a Local Cluster</InternalLink>.

## Step 1. Create a free trial cluster

For this tutorial, you will create a 3-node GCP cluster in the `us-west2` region.

1. If you haven't already, [sign up for a CockroachDB Cloud account](https://cockroachlabs.cloud/signup?referralId=docs_quickstart_trial).
2. [Log in](https://cockroachlabs.cloud/) to your CockroachDB Cloud account.
3. On the **Overview** page, click **Create cluster**.
4. On the **Create Cluster** page, select **Advanced**.
5. For **Cloud provider**, select **Google Cloud**.
6. For **Regions & nodes**, select `California (us-west)` region and 3 nodes.

<Note>
  To create a <InternalLink path="plan-your-cluster-advanced#multi-region-clusters">multi-region</InternalLink> trial cluster, you can select 3 regions with 3 nodes per region, 9 nodes in total.
</Note>

7. For **VPC Peering**, use the default selection of **Use the default IP range**. Click **Next: Capacity**.

8. On the **Capacity page**, select 4 vCPU for **Compute per node** and a 35 GiB disk for **Storage per node**.

<Note>
  You can select up to 9 nodes, 4 vCPUs of compute, and 150 GiB of storage. The trial code will not apply to larger clusters.
</Note>

9. Click **Next: Finalize**.

10. On the **Finalize** page, enter your credit card details.

<Note>
  You will not be charged until after your free trial expires in 30 days.
</Note>

11. Name the cluster. The cluster name must be 6-20 characters in length, and can include lowercase letters, numbers, and dashes (but no leading or trailing dashes).

12. Click **Create cluster**.

Your cluster will be created in approximately 20-30 minutes.

Once your cluster is created, you will be redirected to the **Cluster Overview** page.

## Step 2. Create a SQL user

1. In the left navigation bar, click **SQL Users**.
2. Click **Add User**. The **Add User** dialog displays.
3. Enter a username and click **Generate & Save Password**.
4. Copy the generated password to a secure location, such as a password manager.
5. Click **Close**.

## Step 3. Authorize your network

1. In the left navigation bar, click **Networking**.
2. Click **Add Network**. The **Add Network** dialog displays.
3. From the **Network** dropdown, select **Current Network** to auto-populate your local machine's IP address.
4. To allow the network to access the cluster's DB Console and to use the CockroachDB client to access the databases, select the **DB Console to monitor the cluster** and **CockroachDB Client to access the databases** checkboxes.
5. Click **Apply**.

## Step 4. Connect to the cluster

To download CockroachDB locally and configure it to connect to the cluster with the SQL user you just created, refer to <InternalLink path="connect-to-an-advanced-cluster">Connect to a CockroachDB Advanced cluster</InternalLink>. Make a note of the `cockroach sql` command provided in the **Connect** dialog.

## Step 5. Use the built-in SQL client

1. In your terminal, use the `cockroach sql` command from [Step 4. Connect to the cluster](#step-4-connect-to-the-cluster) to connect to the cluster using the binary you just configured.

   <Danger>
     This connection string contains your password, which will be provided only once. Save it in a secure place (e.g., in a password manager) to connect to your cluster in the future. If you forget your password, you can reset it by going to the **SQL Users** page for the cluster, found at `https://cockroachlabs.cloud/cluster/<CLUSTER ID>/users`.
   </Danger>

   Where:

   * `<user` is the SQL user. By default, this is your CockroachDB Cloud account username.
   * `<cluster-name-<short-id` is the short name of your cluster plus the short ID. For example, `funny-skunk-3ab`.
   * `<cluster-id` is a unique string used to identify your cluster when downloading the CA certificate. For example, `12a3bcde-4fa5-6789-1234-56bc7890d123`.
   * `<region` is the region in which your cluster is running. If you have a multi-region cluster, you can choose any of the regions in which your cluster is running. For example, `aws-us-east-1`.
   * `<database` is the name for your database. For example, `defaultdb`.

   You can find these settings in the **Connection parameters** tab of the **Connection info** dialog.

2. Enter the SQL user's password and hit enter.

   <Danger>
     PostgreSQL connection URIs do not support special characters. If you have special characters in your password, you will have to [URL encode](https://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_urlencode.ASP) them (e.g., `password!` should be entered as `password%21`) to connect to your cluster.
   </Danger>

   A welcome message displays:

   ```
   #
   # Welcome to the CockroachDB SQL shell.
   # All statements must be terminated by a semicolon.
   # To exit, type: \q.
   #
   ```

3. You can now run <InternalLink version="stable" path="sql-statements">CockroachDB SQL statements</InternalLink>:

   ```sql theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-mocha","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}}
   > CREATE DATABASE bank;
   ```

   ```sql theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-mocha","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}}
   > CREATE TABLE bank.accounts (id INT PRIMARY KEY, balance DECIMAL);
   ```

   ```sql theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-mocha","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}}
   > INSERT INTO bank.accounts VALUES (1, 1000.50);
   ```

   ```sql theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-mocha","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}}
   > SELECT * FROM bank.accounts;
   ```

   ```
     id | balance
   -----+----------
      1 | 1000.50
   (1 row)
   ```

4. To exit the SQL shell:

   ```sql theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-mocha","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}}
   > \q
   ```

## What's next?

Learn more:

* Use the <InternalLink version="stable" path="cockroach-sql">built-in SQL client</InternalLink> to connect to your cluster and learn <InternalLink version="stable" path="sql-statements">CockroachDB SQL</InternalLink>.
* Build a <InternalLink version="stable" path="build-a-python-app-with-cockroachdb-django">"Hello World" app with the Django framework</InternalLink>, or <InternalLink version="stable" path="install-client-drivers">install a client driver</InternalLink> for your favorite language.
* Use a local cluster to <InternalLink version="stable" path="demo-cockroachdb-resilience">explore CockroachDB capabilities like fault tolerance and automated repair</InternalLink>.

Before you move into production:

* <InternalLink path="connect-to-an-advanced-cluster#authorize-your-network">Authorize the network</InternalLink> from which your app will access the cluster.
* Configure every machine from which you want to <InternalLink path="connect-to-an-advanced-cluster#connect-to-your-cluster">connect to the cluster</InternalLink>.
* Review the <InternalLink path="production-checklist">production checklist</InternalLink>.