If you are familiar with using Alibaba Cloud Command Line Interface (CLI) commands to manage Alibaba Cloud resources, you can use CLI commands to quickly create ECS instances in the Cloud Shell console.

Log on to the Cloud Shell console

  1. Log on to the ECS console.
    Note

    If you have not created an Alibaba Cloud account, create one first. For more information, see Sign up with Alibaba Cloud.

  2. In the upper-right corner, click the Cloud Shell icon to go to the Cloud Shell console.
    cloud shell

Preparations

Before you create an ECS instance, you must create a VPC and a security group.

  1. Create a VPC.
    Create a VPC in the China (Hangzhou) region. The CIDR block of the VPC is 192.168.0.0/16.
    API Parameter Example
    CreateVpc RegionId The region ID of the VPC. Example: cn-hangzhou.
    CidrBlock The CIDR block of the VPC. Example: 192.168.0.0/16

    Run the following command to create a VPC:

    aliyun vpc CreateVpc \         
--RegionId cn-hangzhou \       
--CidrBlock 192.168.0.0/16

    The following command output is generated:

    {
        "RequestId": "EC94C73B-8103-4B86-B353-E65C7C9E****",
        "ResourceGroupId": "rg-acfmzw2jz2z****",
        "RouteTableId": "vtb-bp1jxpr9ji5wcn4yv****",
        "VRouterId": "vrt-bp1dyxemup2q4ouga****",
        "VpcId": "vpc-bp1d9v4763ym2hlzt****"
}
  2. Creates a VSwitch.
    Create a VSwitch in the VPC. The CIDR block of the VSwitch is 192.168.0.0/24.
    API Parameter Example
    CreateVSwitch ZoneId The zone ID of the instance. Example: cn-hangzhou-i.
    VpcId The ID of the VPC, which is the parameter value returned by the CreateVpc operation.

    Example: vpc-bp1d9v4763ym2hlzt****.

    CidrBlock The CIDR block of the VSwitch. Example: 192.168.0.0/24.

    Run the following command to create a VSwitch:

    aliyun vpc CreateVSwitch \
--CidrBlock 192.168.0.0/24 \
--VpcId vpc-bp1d9v4763ym2hlzt**** \
--ZoneId=cn-hangzhou-i

    The following command output is generated:

    {
        "RequestId": "AF1787C4-0D81-44F0-A324-D5C54EA0****",
        "VSwitchId": "vsw-bp11hf5r945gewysp****"
}
  3. Create a security group.
    API Parameter Example
    CreateSecurityGroup RegionId The region ID of the security group. Example: cn-hangzhou.
    VpcId The ID of the VPC, which is the parameter value returned by the CreateVpc operation.

    Example: vpc-bp1d9v4763ym2hlzt****.

    Run the following command to create a security group:

    aliyun ecs CreateSecurityGroup \
--RegionId cn-hangzhou \
--VpcId vpc-bp1d9v4763ym2hlzt****

    The following command output is generated:

    {
        "RequestId": "B1C25C34-9B84-49E3-9E50-FB7D7970****",
        "SecurityGroupId": "sg-bp18z2q1jg4gq95t****"
}
  4. Add an inbound rule to the security group.
    API Parameter Example
    AuthorizeSecurityGroup RegionId The region ID of the security group. Example: cn-hangzhou.
    SecurityGroupId The ID of the security group, which is the parameter value returned by the CreateSecurityGroup operation.

    Example: sg-bp18z2q1jg4gq95t****.

    IpProtocol The Internet protocol. Example: tcp.
    SourceCidrIp The source CIDR block. Example: 0.0.0.0/0.
    PortRange The port range:
    • Linux instances: 22/22
    • Windows instances: 3389/3389
    Run the following command to create a security group rule: 
    aliyun ecs AuthorizeSecurityGroup  \
--RegionId cn-hangzhou \
--SecurityGroupId sg-bp18z2q1jg4gq95t**** \
--IpProtocol tcp \
--SourceCidrIp 0.0.0.0/0 \
--PortRange 22/22
    The following command output is generated: 
    {
        "RequestId": "FA8B1E61-C9C9-4D91-9628-64B8E2F4****"
}

Purchase an ECS instance

Purchase a subscription ECS instance.

API Parameter Example
RunInstances RegionId The region ID of the instance. Example: cn-hangzhou.
ImageId The ID of the image. The aliyun_2_1903_x64_20G_alibase_20200324.vhd Alibaba Cloud Linux image is recommended.
InstanceType The instance type.
  • Individual applications: The ecs.s6-c1m2.small instance type with 1 vCPU and 2 GiB memory is recommended.
  • Applications for small and medium-sized enterprises: The ecs.c5.large instance type with 2 vCPUs and 4 GiB memory is recommended.
SecurityGroupId The ID of the security group, which is the parameter value returned by the CreateSecurityGroup operation.

Example: sg-bp18z2q1jg4gq95t****.

VSwitchId The ID of the VSwitch, which is the parameter value returned by the CreateVSwitch operation.

Example: vsw-bp11hf5r945gewysp****.

InstanceName The name of the instance to be created.

Example: ecs_cli_demo.

InstanceChargeType The billing method. For a subscription instance, the corresponding value is PrePaid.
Note You must make sure that you have sufficient account balance.
PeriodUnit The unit of the billing cycle. Example: Month.
Period The period of the billing cycle. Example: 1.
InternetMaxBandwidthOut The maximum outbound bandwidth to the Internet. Example: 1.
Password The logon password of the instance: <Your password>.
Note You must customize a complex password to ensure instance security.

Run the following command to create a subscription instance:

aliyun ecs RunInstances \
--RegionId cn-hangzhou \
--ImageId aliyun_2_1903_x64_20G_alibase_20200324.vhd \
--InstanceType ecs.s6-c1m2.small \
--SecurityGroupId sg-bp18z2q1jg4gq95t**** \
--VSwitchId vsw-bp11hf5r945gewys**** \
--InstanceName ecs_cli_demo \
--InstanceChargeType PrePaid \
--PeriodUnit Month \
--Period 1 \
--InternetMaxBandwidthOut 1 \
--Password <yourPassword>

The following command output is generated:

{
        "InstanceIdSets": {
                "InstanceIdSet": [
                        "i-bp1ducce5hs1jm98****"
                ]
        },
        "RequestId": "7F0166F9-9466-4AE1-8799-E68D6514****",
        "TradePrice": ****
}

Connect to the ECS instance

This section describes how to connect to a Linux instance by using Cloud Shell. For information about how to connect to a Windows instance, see Connect to a Windows instance from a local client.

  1. Query the public IP address of the instance.
    API Parameter Example
    DescribeInstances RegionId The region ID of the instance. Example: cn-hangzhou.
    InstanceIds The ID of the instance, which is the parameter value returned by the RunInstances operation.

    Example: '["i-bp1ducce5hs1jm98****"]'.

    Run the following command to query the public IP address of the instance:

    aliyun ecs DescribeInstances \
--RegionId cn-hangzhou \
--InstanceIds '["i-bp1ducce5hs1jm98****"]'

    The following command output is generated.

    IP address: a public IP address
  2. Use an SSH key pair to log on to the instance.
    Logon with SSH key pair

Release an expired instance

You can manually release a subscription instance after it expires. If you do not renew the instance after it expires, the instance is automatically released.