The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for using templates to configure cloud resources. Embodiments of the invention include encapsulating cloud configuration information in an importable/exportable node template. Node templates can also be used to bind groups of nodes to different cloud subscriptions and cloud service accounts. Accordingly, managing the configuration of cloud based resources can be facilitated through an interface at a (e.g., high performance) computing component. Templates can also specify a schedule for starting/stopping instance running within a resource cloud.