docs/content/stable/yugabyte-platform/configure-yugabyte-platform/_index.md
After installing YugabyteDB Anywhere, the next step is to create provider configurations.
A provider configuration describes your cloud environment (such as its security group, regions and availability zones, NTP server, SSH credentials for connecting to VMs for provisioning, the Linux disk image to be used for configuring the nodes, and so on). The provider configuration is used as an input when deploying a universe, and can be reused for many universes.
{{<lead link="../yba-overview/#provider-configurations">}} Not sure what type of provider to use? Refer to Provider configurations. {{</lead>}}
{{< tip title="Automatic on-premises provisioning" >}}
If you are deploying on premises (private cloud), on-premises providers are created automatically when provisioning nodes. Refer to Automatically provision on-premises nodes.
{{< /tip >}}
Before you can deploy universes using YugabyteDB Anywhere, you must create a provider configuration.
| To Deploy universes to | Create provider | Description |
|---|---|---|
| - Private cloud |