Improved content and bulked out Productboard.

Author: adrianparker

src/pages/docs/octopus-cloud/dynamic-worker.md

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+---
+layout: src/layouts/Default.astro
+pubDate: 2025-03-02
+modDate: 2025-03-02
+title: Dynamic workers
+navOrder: 45
+description: Describes what dynamic workers are, how they work, their limitations and other worker type options available for Octopus Cloud
+---
+
+[Workers](docs/infrastructure/workers) are machines that can execute tasks that don’t need to be run on the Octopus Server or individual deployment targets. 
+
+There are 2 types of worker you can use in Octopus Cloud - external workers and dynamic workers. 
+
+The most flexible type of worker are [external workers](docs/infrastructure/workers#external-workers), which are machines, provided by the customer, accessed from Octopus Cloud via Windows or Linux Tentacle, via SSH, or via [Kubernetes workers](/docs/infrastructure/workers/kubernetes-worker). 
+
+External workers are recommended when the customer needs full control of
+- worker resourcing
+- worker configuration
+- worker life-cycle
+- installed software
+- the number of workers that are available 
+
+Our larger customers often prefer external workers for these reasons.
+
+The other type of worker available on Octopus Cloud are dynamic workers. 
+
+:::div{.hint}
+Self-hosted Octopus Server customers have access to a third type of worker, known as built-in workers. Built-in workers are processes that run on the same machine as Octopus Server. Built-in workers are **not** available to Octopus Cloud customers for security and performance reasons.
+:::
+
+## What you get with dynamic workers
+
+Dynamic workers are isolated virtual machines, hosted and created on-demand by Octopus to run your deployments and runbook steps. Dynamic workers are provided as part of your Octopus Cloud subscription. 
+
+Customers may choose between Windows and Ubuntu virtual machine images for their dynamic workers. Octopus provides a [dynamic worker pool](/docs/infrastructure/workers/dynamic-worker-pools) of these virtual machines from which, as required, your Octopus Cloud will lease a freshly provisioned dynamic worker VM. Leases are held for a maximum of 72 hours.
+
+## Limitations of dynamic workers
+
+### Resourcing
+
+Your Octopus Cloud [task cap](/docs/octopus-cloud/task-cap) determines the resources available to your dynamic worker. As at January 2025, dynamic worker virtual machines are resourced as follows. These specifications may be adjusted over time.
+
+| Task cap  | vCPUs (Qty.) | Memory (GB) |
+| -----: | ------: | ------: |
+| 5 | 2 | 4 |
+| 10 | 4 | 8 |
+| 20 | 4 | 8 |
+| 40 | 8 | 16 |
+| 80 | 16 | 32 |
+| 160 | 32 | 64 |
+
+:::div{.hint}
+We recommend customers who would benefit from scalable workers consider [Kubernetes workers](/docs/infrastructure/workers/kubernetes-worker) over dynamic workers. Kubernetes workers allow worker operations to be executed within a Kubernetes cluster in a scalable manner, allowing compute resources used during the execution of a Deployment process (or runbook) to be released when the Deployment completes.
+:::
+
+### Life-cycle
+
+Dynamic workers are created on demand and leased to an Octopus Cloud instance for a limited time [before being destroyed](/docs/infrastructure/workers/dynamic-worker-pools#on-demand). Dynamic workers are destroyed when they have been idle for 60 minutes or when they reached 72 hours of existence. All data written to disk is lost upon worker destruction.
+
+### Installed software
+
+Dynamic workers come with a small number of [baseline tools](/docs/infrastructure/workers/dynamic-worker-pools#available-dynamic-worker-images) installed. The version of baseline tools may be updated between worker leases.
+
+We do not recommend installing additional software on dynamic workers. Instead, we suggest you leverage [execution containers for workers](/docs/projects/steps/execution-containers-for-workers). Octopus provides execution containers with a baseline of tools pre-installed. Customers with specific software needs may also use [custom Docker images](/docs/projects/steps/execution-containers-for-workers/#custom-docker-images) to use as execution containers. 
+
+### IP addresses
+
+Dynamic workers are assigned IP addresses outside the static IP range of your Octopus Cloud Server. If a known/static IP is required for your worker, please consider provisioning your own external worker.
+
+## The future of dynamic workers
+
+We are interested in hearing from customers who have additional needs of dynamic workers. Perhaps you would value exclusive leases? You may be looking for better resourced dynamic workers, or a greater number of workers available in your pool? Please vote on our [More powerful dynamic workers roadmap card](http://www.example.com) and share more detail about how dynamic workers could better serve your needs.
+
+## Learn more
+
+- [Dynamic worker pools](/docs/infrastructure/workers/dynamic-worker-pools)
+- [Execution containers](/docs/projects/steps/execution-containers-for-workers)