Encrypt a data disk - Block Storage| Alibaba Cloud Documentation Center

This topic describes how to encrypt a data disk. After a data disk is encrypted, both data in transit and data at rest on the disk are encrypted. You can follow the instructions described in this topic to encrypt data disks to meet security compliance requirements.

Background information

You can use one of the following methods to encrypt data disks:

Create an instance from an encrypted custom image that contains data of data disks. The data disks of the instance that were created from the custom image are encrypted. For more information, see Encrypt a system disk.
When you create an instance, click Add Disk to add data disks and select Disk Encryption and a key for each added data disk. For more information, see Encrypt a data disk while you are creating an instance.
When you create an independent disk, select Disk Encryption and a key for each disk. For more information, see Encrypt a data disk while you are creating the disk.

When you encrypt data disks, you must use the keys in Key Management Service (KMS). For more information, see Encryption overview.

Encrypt a data disk while you are creating an instance

Log on to the ECS console.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose Instances & Images > Instances.
On the Instances page, click Create Instance.
In the Basic Configurations step, find the Storage section and perform the following steps.

Note This procedure describes only how to configure the encryption settings while you are creating an instance. For information about other configurations of the instance, see Create an instance by using the wizard.
1. Click Add Disk.
2. Specify the category and capacity of the data disk.
3. Select Disk Encryption and then select a key from the drop-down list.
  
  After the image copy is encrypted, the KMS key used to encrypt the image copy is automatically bound with a tag. The key of the tag is acs:ecs:disk-encryption, and the value of the tag is true. You can view the key tag in the KMS console.

Encrypt a data disk while you are creating the disk

Log on to the ECS console.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose Storage & Snapshots > Disks.
In the upper-right corner of the Disks page, click Create Disk.
Specify the category and capacity of the disk.

Note This procedure describes only how to configure the encryption settings while you are creating a disk. For information about other configurations of the disk, see Create a disk.
In the Storage section, select Disk Encryption and then select a key from the drop-down list.

After the image copy is encrypted, the KMS key used to encrypt the image copy is automatically bound with a tag. The key of the tag is acs:ecs:disk-encryption, and the value of the tag is true. You can view the key tag in the KMS console.

Change the encryption state

After a data disk is created, you cannot change its encryption state. However, you can change the encryption state of data. The following table describes the procedures.


State change	Procedure	Windows Server	Linux
From unencrypted to encrypted	Log on to the operating system of the instance. For more information, see Connection methods. Manually copy data from an unencrypted disk to a new encrypted disk.	On the command line, run the robocopy command.	Run the rsync shell command.
From encrypted to unencrypted	Log on to the operating system of the instance. For more information, see Connection methods. Manually copy data from an encrypted disk to a new unencrypted disk.	On the command line, run the robocopy command.	Run the rsync shell command.