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Elastic Compute Service:Release notes

Last Updated:Mar 15, 2024

This topic describes the release notes for Elastic Compute Service (ECS) features and provides links to the relevant references.

2023

December 2023

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Operating system upgrade

  • Windows Server 2008 can be upgraded to Windows Server 2012 in the same language version.

  • Windows Server 2012 can be upgraded to Windows Server 2016 in the same language version.

2023-12-28

All regions

Migrate and upgrade the operating system of an ECS instance

eRDMA monitoring and checking

The diagnose tool and CloudMonitor can be used to check eRDMA.

2023-12-21

All regions

Monitor and check eRDMA

November 2023

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Network burst bandwidth

Specific instance types that belong to sixth-generation or later instance families support network burst bandwidths. Burstable bandwidth delivers enhanced burst performance during sudden bandwidth spikes in business demand.

2023-11-06

All regions

Network bandwidth

October 2023

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Disk

The minimum capacity of enhanced SSD (ESSD) AutoPL disks and ESSDs at the performance level 0 in the China (Hohhot), China (Guangzhou), and South Korea (Seoul) regions is 1 GB.

2023-10-30

All regions

Disks

Instant access

From 11:00 on October 12, 2023, canary release is performed by region to upgrade the instant access feature, and new snapshots of ESSDs at the performance levels 0, 1, 2, and 3 and ESSD AutoPL disks are instantly available after creation without the need for additional configurations.

2023-10-12

All regions

Use the instant access feature

Extended retention period of snapshots

The retention period of existing snapshots including manual snapshots and automatic snapshots can be extended to meet your requirements for data backup or audit compliance.

2023-10-09

All regions

September 2023

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Operating system migration

Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 can be migrated to Alibaba Cloud Linux 3.

2023-09-20

All regions

Migrate and upgrade the operating system of an ECS instance

Sharing of encrypted snapshots

Encrypted snapshots can be shared.

2023-09-01

All regions

Share a snapshot

August 2023

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Workbench

Workbench can assume the AliyunServiceRoleForECSWorkbench role to gain access to Elastic Compute Service (ECS) and Elastic Container Instance.

2023-08-28

All regions

Workbench service-linked role

May 2023

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Copy and Encrypt Snapshot

The Copy and Encrypt Snapshot feature can be used to create an encrypted copy of a snapshot within the same region or across regions to back up data or enhance security.

2023-05-25

All regions

Copy a snapshot

Snapshot sharing

System disk snapshots and data disk snapshots can be shared with other Alibaba Cloud accounts or within your organization based on resource directories or folders. The sharees can create disks by using shared snapshots to meet daily O&M requirements.

2023-05-25

All regions

Share a snapshot

April 2023

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Instance family

The g8a general-purpose instance family is released.

2023-04-21

Specific regions

Overview of instance families

Instance family

The c8a compute-optimized instance family is released.

2023-04-21

Specific regions

Overview of instance families

Instance family

The r8a memory-optimized instance family is released.

2023-04-21

Specific regions

Overview of instance families

Boot mode change of images

The boot mode of an image can be changed in the ECS console. The boot mode is the mode in which the system disk is booted during instance creation. Two boot modes are available: Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) and Basic Input Output System (BIOS).

2023-04-09

All regions

Modify the attributes and tags of an image

March 2023

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Maximum transmission unit (MTU) management

Jumbo Frames can be enabled or disabled for ECS instances.

2023-03-25

All regions

MTUs

Instance family

The g8i general-purpose instance family is released.

2023-03-21

Specific regions

Overview of instance families

Instance family

The c8i compute-optimized instance family is released.

2023-03-21

Specific regions

Overview of instance families

Instance family

The r8i memory-optimized instance family is released.

2023-03-21

Specific regions

Overview of instance families

Instance family

The g8ae performance-enhanced general-purpose instance family is released.

2023-03-15

Specific regions

Overview of instance families

Instance family

The c8ae performance-enhanced compute-optimized instance family is released.

2023-03-15

Specific regions

Overview of instance families

Instance family

The r8ae performance-enhanced memory-optimized instance family is released.

2023-03-15

Specific regions

Overview of instance families

February 2023

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Disk resizing

The partitions and file systems of disks can be extended for instances that run specific operating systems by using Cloud Assistant in the ECS console.

2023-02-22

All regions

Step 1: Resize a disk to extend its capacity

Operating system migration

Instances can be migrated from CentOS 7 to Alibaba Cloud Linux 3.

2023-02-14

All regions

Migrate and upgrade the operating system of an ECS instance

Operating system migration

Instances can be migrated from CentOS 7 or CentOS 8 to operating systems of the same version or a different version.

2023-02-02

All regions

Migrate and upgrade the operating system of an ECS instance

2022

November 2022

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Instance family

The g6r general-purpose instance family is released.

2022-11-17

Specific regions

Overview of instance families

Instance family

The c8y general-purpose instance family is released.

2022-11-15

Specific regions

Overview of instance families

Instance family

The c8y compute-optimized instance family is released.

2022-11-15

Specific regions

Overview of instance families

Instance family

The r8y memory-optimized instance family is released.

2022-11-15

Specific regions

Overview of instance families

September 2022

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

ESSD AutoPL

The ESSD AutoPL disk category is released. Alibaba Cloud provides ESSD AutoPL disks based on enhanced SSDs (ESSDs). ESSD AutoPL disks inherit the features and performance of ESSDs and decouple disk capacity from disk performance.

2022-09-28

Specific regions

ESSD AutoPL disks

Cross-zone instance type change

ECS instances can have their instance types changed across zones to meet your requirements for different instance specifications and instance migration.

2022-09-22

All regions

Change instance types across zones

August 2022

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Anti-DDoS Basic Origin

The basic DDoS mitigation policy for ECS instances is adjusted and enforces new protection thresholds against DDoS attacks.

2022-08-31

All regions

Anti-DDoS Origin Basic

Instance family

The gn7e GPU-accelerated compute-optimized instance family is released.

2022-08-25

Specific regions

Overview of instance families

Workbench

The file management and multi-terminal features are added to Workbench.

2022-08-09

All regions

July 2022

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

ENI modification

The attributes of a primary elastic network interface (ENI) can be modified.

2022-07-28

All regions

Modify the attributes of an ENI

Instance family

Some general-purpose instance families, compute-optimized instance families, memory-optimized, Super Computing Cluster (SCC) instance families, and instance families with high clock speeds support a specific number of IPv6 addresses per ENI.

2022-07-28

All regions

Overview of instance families

Workbench

The system management feature is added to Workbench.

2022-07-22

All regions

Perform system management

Image replication

An encrypted image copy task can be canceled.

2022-07-19

All regions

Copy a custom image

Alibaba Cloud Client

Alibaba Cloud Client is a client provided by Alibaba Cloud that can be used to view, query, and connect to ECS instances, elastic container instances, simple application servers, and Alibaba Cloud managed instances.

2022-07-08

All regions

Overview of Alibaba Cloud Client

June 2022

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Operating system migration

Operating system migration reduces service downtime by retaining data stored on system disks. The following migrations are supported:

  • CentOS 7 to Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 or Anolis OS 7

  • CentOS 8 to Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 or Anolis OS 8

2022-06-17

All regions

Migrate a Linux operating system

Scheduled execution of commands

Cloud Assistant can be used to create and run commands on schedule. This feature is applicable to recurring tasks, routine maintenance, and one-time tasks that need to be completed at a point in time.

2022-06-02

All regions

May 2022

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Replication pair-consistent group

Replication pair-consistent groups can be used to batch manage multiple cloud disks for disaster recovery scenarios. Replication pair-consistent groups help ensure that the data of cloud disks in the same replication pair-consistent group can be restored to the same point in time to allow for disaster recovery of one or more instances.

2022-05-27

All regions

Overview

Managed ENI

Managed ENIs are ENIs that are managed by Alibaba Cloud services. When you create ENIs for specific Alibaba Cloud services such as Container Service for Kubernetes (ACK) and NAT Gateway, you can configure the ENIs to be managed by the services.

2022-05-20

All regions

Managed ENIs

April 2022

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Instance family

The g8m general-purpose instance family is released.

2022-04-08

Specific regions

Overview of instance families

March 2022

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Community image

Community images are publicly available. Custom images can be published as community images for other users to obtain and use.

2022-03-25

All regions

Community images

Session Manager

Session Manager is provided by Cloud Assistant. Compared with SSH and Virtual Network Computing (VNC), Session Manager makes your connections to ECS instances more convenient and secure.

2022-03-22

Specific regions

February 2022

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Instance family

Instance types are added to the gn7i GPU-accelerated compute-optimized instance family.

2022-02-09

Specific regions

Overview of instance families

January 2022

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Instance family

The d3c compute-intensive big data instance family is released.

2022-01-27

Specific regions

Overview of instance families

2021

November 2021

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Snapshot

The instance snapshot feature is updated to the snapshot-consistent group feature.

2021-11-30

All regions

Create a snapshot-consistent group

Instance family

The ebmgn6ia GPU-accelerated compute-optimized ECS Bare Metal Instance family is released.

2021-11-24

All regions

Overview of instance families

Instance family

The ebmg7a general-purpose ECS Bare Metal Instance family, ebmc7a compute-optimized ECS Bare Metal Instance family, and ebmr7a memory-optimized ECS Bare Metal Instance family are released.

2021-11-16

All regions

Overview of instance families

Instance family

The ebmg7 general-purpose ECS Bare Metal Instance family, ebmc7 compute-optimized ECS Bare Metal Instance family, and ebmr7 memory-optimized ECS Bare Metal Instance family are released.

2021-11-16

All regions

Overview of instance families

Instance family

The ebmgn7e GPU-accelerated compute-optimized ECS Bare Metal Instance family is released.

2021-11-15

All regions

Overview of instance families

Instance family

The sgn7i-vws vGPU-accelerated instance family with shared CPUs is released.

2021-11-15

All regions

Overview of instance families

October 2021

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Instance family

The g7se storage-enhanced general-purpose instance family, c7se storage-enhanced compute-optimized instance family, and r7se storage-enhanced memory-optimized instance family are released.

2021-11-02

Specific regions

Overview of instance families

September 2021

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Cloud Assistant

The Operation Content and Result Delivery feature can be used to deliver O&M task execution records to Object Storage Service (OSS) and Log Service for persistent storage.

2021-09-28

All regions

Use the Operation Content and Result Delivery feature

Instance family

The vgn7i-vws vGPU-accelerated instance family is released. This instance family comes with an NVIDIA GRID vWS license.

2021-09-15

All regions

Overview of instance families

August 2021

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Network Connectivity Diagnostics

The Network Connectivity Diagnostics feature is used to diagnose the network connectivity between diagnostic objects within a virtual private cloud (VPC). The diagnostic objects can be ECS instances or ENIs. You can use this feature to check network connectivity and identify the causes of network connectivity issues.

2021-08-30

All regions

Diagnose network connectivity

Community image

Community images are publicly available. Custom images can be published as community images for other users to obtain and use.

2021-08-11

Specific regions

Community images

Image

Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 supports Kernel Live Patching. This feature allows Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 to update its kernel with new patches without the need to restart instances.

2021-08-10

All regions

Overview

Economical mode

The feature name is changed from No Fees for Stopped Instances (VPC-Connected) to economical mode.

2021-08-09

All regions

Economical mode

July 2021

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Deployment set

The maximum number of ECS instances that can be created in a deployment set is increased from 7 to 20.

2021-07-29

All regions

Overview

Resource Assurance

The tag matching feature provided by Resource Assurance is used to match ECS instances with open private pools based on tags.

2021-07-19

All regions

Overview

Instance family

The gn7i GPU-accelerated compute-optimized instance family is released.

2021-07-01

All regions

Overview of instance families

June 2021

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Image

Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 supports Kernel Live Patching. This feature allows Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 to update its kernel with new patches without the need to restart instances.

2021-06-30

All regions

Overview of the Kernel Live Patching feature

Automatic reactivation

After overdue payments in your account are settled, the instances that were stopped due to these payments can be automatically reactivated. If the instances cannot be automatically reactivated, manually reactivate them in a timely manner.

2021-06-22

All regions

Start an instance

Instance family

The ebmgn7i GPU-accelerated compute-optimized ECS Bare Metal Instance family is released.

2021-06-08

All regions

Overview of instance families

May 2021

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Instance family

The ebmc6me compute-optimized ECS Bare Metal Instance family is released.

2021-05-28

Specific regions

Overview of instance families

Instance family

The g7a general-purpose instance family, c7a compute-optimized instance family, and r7a memory-optimized instance family are released.

2021-05-28

Specific regions

Overview of instance families

April 2021

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Instance family

The g7 general-purpose instance family, c7 compute-optimized instance family, and r7 memory-optimized instance family are released.

2021-04-19

Specific regions

Overview of instance families

Image

The Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 public image is released.

2021-04-16

All regions

What is Alibaba Cloud Linux?

Reserved instances

Reserved instances can be applied to instances of more instance families.

2021-04-15

All regions

Overview

Instance hibernation

The instance hibernation feature is released. When hibernated instances are woken, they automatically restore their applications to the states that the applications were in before hibernation.

2021-04-06

Specific regions

Hibernate an instance

Snapshot

The instance snapshot feature is released. You can simultaneously create snapshots for multiple cloud disks on an instance by creating a snapshot for the instance. This ensures the point-in-time write consistency of data.

2021-04-06

Specific regions

Create a snapshot-consistent group

Snapshot

The application-consistent snapshot feature is released. Application-consistent snapshots can be used to roll back applications to ensure that the applications start in a consistent state.

2021-04-06

Specific regions

Create application-consistent snapshots in the ECS console

March 2021

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Instance family

The g7t security-enhanced general-purpose instance family, c7t security-enhanced compute-optimized instance family, and r7t security-enhanced memory-optimized instance family are released.

2021-03-31

Specific regions

Instance family

The ebmhfg7 general-purpose ECS Bare Metal Instance family with high clock speeds, ebmhfc7 compute-optimized ECS Bare Metal Instance family with high clock speeds, and ebmhfr7 memory-optimized ECS Bare Metal Instance family with high clock speeds are released.

2021-03-03

Specific regions

Overview of instance families

February 2021

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Instance family

The i3g instance family with local SSDs is released.

2021-02-26

All regions

Overview of instance families

Instance family

The g7ne network-enhanced general-purpose instance family is released.

2021-02-09

Specific regions

Overview of instance families

January 2021

Feature

Description

Release date

Region

References

Instance family

The gn7 GPU-accelerated compute-optimized instance family is released.

2021-01-12

Specific regions

Overview of instance families

Image Builder

Image Builder is an all-in-one image customization service provided by ECS and can be used to customize images for ECS instances across regions and Alibaba Cloud accounts.

2021-01-11

All regions

Overview

History

Table 1. December 2020
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Resource AssuranceResource Assurance is a comprehensive service that guarantees the provision of resources to meet your business needs. It can be used to quantify the amount of available resources, reserve resources, and plan private pools. 2020-12-14SomeOverview
faasutilfaasutil is released. faasutil is a next-generation command line tool provided by Alibaba Cloud FPGA as a Service (FaaS). This tool simplifies the management of FPGA-accelerated instances and helps improve their stability, security, and scalability. 2020-12-08Some
Instant accessThe instant access feature is available for public preview in the China (Hohhot) region. 2020-12-03SomeUse the instant access feature
Table 2. November 2020
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Instance familyThe re6p persistent memory-optimized instance family is released. 2020-11-04SomeOverview of instance families
Instance familyThe i3 instance family with local SSDs is released. 2020-11-03SomeOverview of instance families
Table 3. October 2020
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Instance familyThe g6se storage-enhanced instance family is released. 2020-10-23SomeOverview of instance families
Table 4. September 2020
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Preemptible instanceA preemptible instance can be configured to have no protection period when it is created by calling an API operation. 2020-09-25All
Savings planSavings plans are provided as discount plans that can be applied to offset the bills of pay-as-you-go instances, excluding preemptible instances. 2020-09-18All
Instance familyThe g6t security-enhanced general-purpose instance family and c6t security-enhanced compute-optimized instance family are released. 2020-09-08Some
Instance familyThe g6a general-purpose instance family, c6a compute-optimized instance family, and r6a memory-optimized instance family are released. 2020-09-07SomeOverview of instance families
Instance familyThe ebmg6a general-purpose ECS Bare Metal Instance family, ebmc6a compute-optimized ECS Bare Metal Instance family, and ebmr6a memory-optimized ECS Bare Metal Instance family are released. 2020-09-07SomeOverview of instance families
Table 5. August 2020
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
TagTags can be added to more resources, including reserved instances. 2020-08-18AllOverview
SnapshotSnapshots can be replicated across regions to improve service reliability and availability. 2020-08-14SomeCopy a snapshot
Table 6. July 2020
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Image familyThe image family feature is released to facilitate smooth upgrade and rollback of images. 2020-07-02AllOverview
Table 7. June 2020
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Instance familyThe d2c compute-intensive big data instance family is released. 2020-06-23SomeOverview of instance families
Instance familyThe scchfc6 compute-optimized Super Computing Cluster (SCC) instance family with high clock speeds, scchfg6 general-purpose SCC instance family with high clock speeds, and scchfr6 memory-optimized SCC instance family with high clock speeds are released. 2020-06-23AllOverview of instance families
Instance familyThe ebmc6e compute-optimized ECS Bare Metal Instance family with enhanced performance, ebmg6e general-purpose ECS Bare Metal Instance family with enhanced performance, and ebmr6e memory-optimized ECS Bare Metal Instance family with enhanced performance are released. 2020-06-23AllOverview of instance families
Storage capacity unit (SCU)SCUs can be used to offset the pay-as-you-go bills of different storage resources, such as disks, Object Storage Service (OSS) buckets, Apsara File Storage NAS file systems, and snapshots. 2020-06-23All
Elastic Block Storage (EBS)The sequence numbers of disks attached to ECS instances can be queried. 2020-06-16AllQuery the serial number of a disk
NetworkVirtual private clouds (VPCs) of ECS instances can be changed in the ECS console. This feature is in invitational preview. 2020-06-10SomeChange the VPC of an ECS instance
Enhanced SSD (ESSD)ESSDs at the performance level 0 (PL0 ESSDs) are in public preview in the China (Hangzhou) and China (Beijing) regions. 2020-06-10 Some
Local disk-related system eventSystem events about local disk damages can be queried and damaged local disks can be isolated in the ECS console. 2020-06-09AllIsolate damaged local disks in the ECS console
Instance familyThe hfg7 general-purpose instance family with high clock speeds, hfc7 compute-optimized instance family with high clock speeds, and hfr7 memory-optimized instance family with high clock speeds are released. 2020-06-09SomeOverview of instance families
Instance familyThe g6e general-purpose instance family with enhanced performance, c6e compute-optimized instance family with enhanced performance, and r6e memory-optimized instance family with enhanced performance are released. 2020-06-09AllOverview of instance families
Instance familyThe ebmre6p non-volatile memory-optimized ECS Bare Metal Instance family with enhanced performance is released. 2020-06-09SomeOverview of instance families
Table 8. May 2020
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
ImageTechnical support for the CoreOS Container Linux public images is discontinued. CoreOS Container Linux has reached its end of life, and no more security patches are provided. For security concerns, we recommend that you no longer use CoreOS Container Linux images. Alibaba Cloud will soon release Fedora CoreOS public images as a replacement. 2020-05-26AllRelease notes
Reserved instanceThe normalization factors of instance types can be queried to help understand the computing power requirements in the splitting and merging of reserved instances and the size flexibility of regional reserved instances. 2020-05-14All
Table 9. April 2020
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Instance familyThe ebmre6-6t memory-optimized ECS Bare Metal Instance family with enhanced performance is released. 2020-04-28AllOverview of instance families
Instance familyThe re6 memory-optimized instance family with enhanced performance is released. 2020-04-20SomeOverview of instance families
Table 10. March 2020
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Instance familyThe i2ne and i2gne instance families with local SSDs are released. 2020-03-11AllOverview of instance families
Table 12. January 2020
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
TagA wide range of tag features are provided. Tags can be used to control permissions of Resource Access Management (RAM) users. Tags can be added and modified by using Operation Orchestration Service (OOS). 2020-01-03All
Instance familyThe d2s storage-intensive big data instance family is released. 2020-01-17SomeOverview of instance families
Instance familyThe vgn6i lightweight GPU-accelerated compute-optimized instance family is released. 2020-01-16SomeOverview of instance families
Instance familyThe s6 shared standard instance family is released. 2020-01-16SomeOverview of instance families
ImageTechnical support for the Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 public images is discontinued. We recommend that you upgrade to Windows Server 2012 or later at your earliest convenience. 2020-01-14AllOverview
Table 13. December 2019
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
SCU40 GiB, 100 GiB, and 500 GiB are added as capacity options for SCUs. 2019-12-05SomeOverview
Table 14. November 2019
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
TagThe tag editor feature is released. Up to 5,000 resource data entries across services and regions can be queried. The tags of resources can be edited, and resource information can be exported. 2019-11-28AllUse the tag editor to manage resource tags
SnapshotThe quota for automatic snapshots is increased to 1,000. 2019-11-15AllOverview
Instance familyThe gn6e GPU-accelerated compute-optimized instance family is released. 2019-11-14SomeOverview of instance families
Instance familyThe ebmgn6e GPU-accelerated compute-optimized ECS Bare Metal Instance family is released. 2019-11-14SomeOverview of instance families
Table 15. October 2019
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Instance familyThe hfc6, hfg6, and hfr6 instance families with high clock speeds are released. 2019-10-15SomeOverview of instance families
Instance familyThe ebmhfc6, ebmhfg6, and ebmhfr6 ECS Bare Metal Instance families are released. 2019-10-10AllOverview of instance families
Table 16. September 2019
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Disk resizing
  • Standard SSDs and ultra disks can be resized to up to 32 TiB.
  • ESSDs can be resized online.
2019-09-26All
Instance familyThe ebmc6, ebmg6, and ebmr6 ECS Bare Metal Instance families are released. 2019-09-24AllOverview of instance families
Instance familyThe t6 burstable instance family is released. 2019-09-12SomeOverview of instance families
Security groupThe maximum number of security group rules that a security group can contain is increased to 200. 2019-09-03AllLimits
SnapshotThe individual quotas for manual snapshots and automatic snapshots are increased to 256. 2019-09-02AllOverview
Table 17. August 2019
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Instance familyThe ebmgn6v GPU-accelerated compute-optimized ECS Bare Metal Instance family is released. 2019-08-26SomeOverview of instance families
Instance familyThe ebmgn6i GPU-accelerated compute-optimized ECS Bare Metal Instance family is released. 2019-08-26SomeOverview of instance families
ImageThe image export feature is available in all Alibaba Cloud regions. 2019-08-21AllExport a custom image
SnapshotThe snapshot service is available for commercial use. All existing and new snapshots are billed on a pay-as-you-go basis. 2019-08-21AllSnapshots
Table 18. July 2019
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Instance familyThe g6 general-purpose instance family is released. 2019-07-30SomeOverview of instance families
Instance familyThe c6 compute-optimized instance family is released. 2019-07-30SomeOverview of instance families
Instance familyThe r6 memory-optimized instance family is released. 2019-07-30SomeOverview of instance families
Instance familyThe ebmc5s network-enhanced compute-optimized ECS Bare Metal Instance family is released. 2019-07-30SomeOverview of instance families
Instance familyThe ebmg5s network-enhanced general-purpose ECS Bare Metal Instance family is released. 2019-07-30SomeOverview of instance families
Instance familyThe ebmr5s network-enhanced memory-optimized ECS Bare Metal Instance family is released. 2019-07-30SomeOverview of instance families
Table 19. June 2019
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Auto ProvisioningAuto Provisioning uses auto provisioning groups to schedule and maintain computing resources. This makes it easy to deploy clusters of instances across billing methods, instance types, and zones. 2019-06-28AllOverview
ESSDThe ESSD service is available for commercial use after the public preview is complete. Three performance levels of ESSDs are released. 2019-06-28Some. For more information about the supported regions, see FAQ.ESSDs
vgn5i, lightweight GPU-accelerated compute-optimized instance familyGRID drivers are provided for vgn5i instances. 2019-06-19AllInstall a GRID driver on a Linux vGPU-accelerated instance
Table 20. May 2019
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
EBSSubscription disks can be created by calling API operations. 2019-05-15AllCreateDisk
Table 21. April 2019
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Elastic network interface (ENI)A single ENI can be assigned multiple private IP addresses. 2019-04-28AllAssign secondary private IP addresses
EBSData disks of an ECS instance can be resized online to meet storage requirements without restarting the instance. 2019-04-24AllStep 1: Resize a disk to extend its capacity
EBSSystem disks can be resized. 2019-04-24AllResize disks offline for Linux and Windows instances
SnapshotSnapshots can be created for expired disks. 2019-04-20All
Table 22. March 2019
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Public imageAliyun Linux 2 public images are released. 2019-03-27AllWhat is Alibaba Cloud Linux?
Instance familyThe gn6i GPU-accelerated compute-optimized instance family is released. 2019-03-21AllOverview of instance families
Instance familyThe sccgn6 GPU-accelerated compute-optimized SCC instance family is released. 2019-03-20AllOverview of instance families
Instance familyThe vgn5i lightweight GPU-accelerated compute-optimized instance family is released. 2019-03-19AllOverview of instance families
Reserved instanceThe reserved instance feature is in invitational preview. 2019-03-18AllOverview
Cloud AssistantCloud Assistant is available for ECS instances in the classic network. 2019-03-01AllInstall Cloud Assistant Agent
Table 23. January 2019
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Event notificationStatus change events and alert events for the recycling of preemptible instances are supported. 2019-01-29AllOverview
Table 24. December 2018
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Cloud AssistantCloud Assistant is available in the UK (London) region. 2018-12-31AllOverview
Preemptible instancePreemptible instances are billed by second. 2018-12-17AllPreemptible instances
InstanceThe release protection feature is supported. 2018-12-14AllEnable or disable release protection for ECS instances
ENIThe DescribeNetworkInterfaces operation can be called to query the public IP address associated with an ENI. 2018-12-04AllDescribeNetworkInterfaces
Table 25. November 2018
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Custom imagePacker can be used to create custom images. 2018-11-30AllUse Packer to create a custom image
Instance familyThe re4e high memory instance family is released. 2018-11-30AllOverview of instance families
EBSSubscription disks can be separately created and attached to subscription instances. 2018-11-29AllCreate a subscription disk
Deployment setThe deployment set feature is released. 2018-11-16AllOverview
Table 26. October 2018
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Instance familyThe f3 FPGA-accelerated compute-optimized instance family is released. 2018-10-31AllOverview of instance families
API best practicesAPI best practices are released in the ECS console. 2018-10-19AllCreate an instance on the Custom Launch tab
Table 27. September 2018
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
t5, burstable instance familyUnlimited mode is available for the t5 burstable instance family. 2018-09-30AllUnlimited mode
Instance metadataInformation of O&M system events is included in instance metadata. 2018-09-14AllOverview of ECS instance metadata
Instance health statusThe health status of each ECS instance is displayed on the instance details page. 2018-09-14AllView the health state of an instance
Instance familyThe gn6v new-generation GPU-accelerated instance family (V100 model) is released. 2018-09-12AllOverview of instance families
Instance purchaseMultiple instances can be renewed at a time, and historical instances can be purchased. 2018-09-07AllRenew a subscription instance
System eventAPI operations used to create or cancel simulated events are released. 2018-09-03All
Billing methodSubscription instances can be changed into pay-as-you-go instances. 2018-09-01AllChange the billing method of an instance from subscription to pay-as-you-go
Table 28. August 2018
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Local diskThe O&M of instances that have local disks attached is optimized. 2018-08-31AllLocal disks
Cloud AssistantCloud Assistant is supported in the ECS console. 2018-08-17AllOverview
Instance familySCC instance families are released. 2018-08-16AllOverview of instance families
Table 29. July 2018
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Custom imageImages in the qcow2 format can be imported. 2018-07-30All
Security groupSecurity group rules can be modified. 2018-07-25AllModify security group rules
TagTags can be added to resources when the resources are created. 2018-07-20AllCreate or add a tag
Instance familyThe ebmc4 compute-optimized ECS Bare Metal Instance family is released. 2018-07-18AllOverview of instance families
SnapshotThe estimated remaining time required to create snapshots is displayed. 2018-07-17AllCreate a snapshot for a disk
Account and user privilegesQuota management is supported. 2018-07-15AllView quotas (old version)
ESSDThe ESSD service is in public preview in Beijing Zone G. 2018-07-14Beijing Zone GDisks
Instance troubleshootingSystem logs and screenshots can be viewed. 2018-07-13AllView system logs and screenshots
Security groupA ticket can be submitted to modify the maximum numbers of instances and security group rules that can be added to a security group. 2018-07-10AllLimits
Instance familyThe ic5 compute-intensive instance family is released. 2018-07-09AllOverview of instance families
Table 30. June 2018
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Public imageOperating systems including Red Hat can be selected from public images to create ECS instances. 2018-06-29AllCreate an instance on the Custom Launch tab
Instance configuration upgradeThe configurations of pay-as-you-go instances can be upgraded or downgraded across instance families. 2018-06-15AllInstance families that support instance type changes
Billing methodSubscription instances can be renewed on a weekly basis. 2018-06-12AllRenew a subscription instance
Security groupSecurity groups in the classic network can be cloned to a VPC. 2018-06-06AllClone a security group
Active O&MPhase 2 of active O&M is brought online. 2018-06-01AllOverview
Table 31. May 2018
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Custom imageThe image compliance tool is released. 2018-05-28AllCheck whether an image meets the import requirements
System eventECS system events are updated to CloudMonitor and can be queried. 2018-05-25AllOverview
Launch templateThe launch template feature is released. 2018-05-11AllCreate a launch template
Table 32. April 2018
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Billing methodPay-as-you-go instances can be changed into subscription instances. 2018-04-23AllChange the billing method of an instance from pay-as-you-go to subscription
Instance configuration downgradeThe configurations of expired subscription instances can be downgraded while the instances are being renewed. 2018-04-13AllDowngrade the configurations of an instance during renewal
Table 33. March 2018
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
GPU-accelerated instanceNVIDIA GPU Cloud (NGC) GPU-accelerated containers are supported. 2018-03-28AllDeploy an NGC environment on gn5 instances
System eventThe system event feature is released. 2018-03-26AllOverview
ECS Bare Metal InstanceECS Bare Metal Instance is released. 2018-03-14AllOverview
Instance identityThe ECS instance identity feature is released. 2018-03-01AllUse instance identities
Table 34. February 2018
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
ECS APIThe API operation used to check whether the configurations of ECS instances can be upgraded or downgraded is released. 2018-02-10AllDescribeResourcesModification
Subscription instanceThe number of days during which an instance stays expired before it is released is extended from 7 to 15. 2018-02-07AllSubscription
ECS APIAPI operations used to create and query resources are released. 2018-02-02AllDescribeAvailableResource
Table 36. December 2017
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
No Fees for Stopped Instances (VPC-Connected)The No Fees for Stopped Instances (VPC-Connected) feature is supported for pay-as-you-go instances. 2017-12-14AllEconomical mode
ENIThe ENI feature is released. 2017-12-08AllOverview
FPGA-accelerated instance familyThe f1 FPGA-accelerated compute-optimized instance family is released. 2017-12-02AllOverview of instance families
ECS APIThe API operation used to batch create instances is released. 2017-12-01AllRunInstances
Instance troubleshootingThe real-time diagnostics feature is supported in the ECS console. 2017-12-01AllAutomatic diagnostics system
Table 37. November 2017
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Cloud Migration toolThe Cloud Migration tool is released. 2017-11-27AllWhat is SMC?
Security group ruleSecurity group rules can be imported and exported. 2017-11-23AllManage security group rules
Subscription instanceThe auto-renewal feature can be disabled for subscription instances. 2017-11-23AllModifyInstanceAutoRenewAttribute
Billing methodAPI operations used to create and renew weekly subscription instances are released. 2017-11-03AllCreateInstance
Instance RAM roleRAM roles can be assigned to ECS instances. 2017-11-01AllOverview
Table 38. October 2017
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Elastic IP Address (EIP)The public IP addresses of instances in VPCs can be converted into EIPs. 2017-10-31AllConvert the static public IP address of an instance in a VPC to an EIP
Preemptible instanceThe preemptible instance feature is released. 2017-10-18AllOverview
t5, burstable instance familyThe t5 burstable instance family is released. 2017-10-09AllOverview
Table 39. September 2017
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Billing methodBills of pay-as-you-go instances and disks are accurate to the second and generated by hour. 2017-09-29AllPay-as-you-go
gn5i instance familyThe gn5i GPU-accelerated compute-optimized instance family is released. It is applicable to deep learning and online inference scenarios. 2017-09-23AllOverview of instance families
Disk encryptionDisks can be encrypted. 2017-09-05AllEncryption overview
Table 40. August 2017
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Security group ruleSecurity group rules can be configured based on 5-tuples. 2017-08-31AllSecurity group quintuple rules
ClassicLinkClassicLink allows instances in the classic network to be connected to instances in VPCs. 2017-08-25AllNetwork types
Instance familyThe new-generation instance families with high clock speeds and instance families with local SSDs are released. They are powered by Skylake processors and support 25 Gigabit Ethernet. 2017-08-22AllOverview of instance families
ECS APIThe API operation used to change the bandwidth configurations of instances is released. 2017-08-17AllModifyInstanceNetworkSpec
Custom imageCustom images can be imported. 2017-08-10AllImport custom images
Table 41. July 2017
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
ImageTechnical support for the Windows Server 2003 public images is discontinued. We recommend that you upgrade to Windows Server 2012 or later at your earliest convenience. 2017-07-20AllOverview
Security groupSecurity group rules can be configured to isolate the instances in a security group from each other. 2017-07-07AllNetwork isolation within a basic security group
Table 42. June 2017
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Classic networkThe classic network is unavailable for users who create ECS instances at or after 12:00:00 on June 16, 2017 (UTC+8) for the first time. We recommend that you use VPC. 2017-06-16AllWhat is a VPC?
Table 43. May 2017
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Instance RAM roleThe API operation used to manage instance RAM roles is released. 2017-05-26AllUse an instance RAM role by calling API operations
Instance familyThe network-enhanced instance family is released. 2017-05-23AllOverview of instance families
Instance familyThe d1 storage-intensive instance family is released. 2017-05-12AllOverview of instance families
Security groupThe default security group rule is modified to expose only Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) ports, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) port 22, and TCP port 3389. 2017-05-11AllOverview
Security groupSecurity groups can be backed up, overwritten, and restored. 2017-05-10AllRestore security group rules
Table 44. April 2017
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
SSH key pairThe SSH key pair feature is released. 2017-04-25AllOverview
Table 45. February 2017
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Custom imagecloud-init supports some custom images. 2017-02-24AllInstall cloud-init
Instance familyThe i1 I/O optimized instance family with local SSDs is released. 2017-02-17AllOverview of instance families
SnapshotSystem disk snapshots can be used to create data disks. 2017-02-15AllCreate a disk from a snapshot
Instance familyThe gn4 GPU-accelerated compute-optimized instance family is released. 2017-02-14AllOverview of instance families
Table 46. January 2017
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Instance familyThe ga1 GPU-accelerated visualization and compute-optimized instance family is released. 2017-01-24AllOverview of instance families
Instance familyThe se1 dedicated instance family is released. 2017-01-21AllOverview of instance families
Table 47. 2016
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
SnapshotSnapshot 2.0 is released. 2016-03-15AllOverview
Disk resizingSystem disks can be resized. 2016-01-15AllResize disks offline for Linux and Windows instances
Table 48. 2015
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
Custom imageCustom images can be imported. 2015-12-15AllInstructions for importing images
Security groupSecurity groups are supported in the ECS console. 2015-11-02AllCreate a security group
Alibaba Cloud market mirror imageAlibaba Cloud market mirror images are available for commercial use. 2015-09-02AllUse Alibaba Cloud Marketplace images
TagThe tag feature is released. 2015-08-20AllOverview
System diskThe operating systems of pay-as-you-go instances can be replaced. 2015-08-13AllReplace the operating system of an instance
Custom imageCustom images can be shared. 2015-05-15AllShare or unshare a custom image
Disk resizingDisks can be resized offline. 2015-04-20AllOverview
Custom imageThe image replication feature is released. 2015-01-26AllCopy a custom image
Table 49. 2014
FeatureDescriptionRelease dateRegionReferences
EBSThe independent disk feature is released. 2014-08-22AllElastic Block Storage devices