If you are familiar with using Alibaba Cloud CLI commands to manage Alibaba Cloud resources, you can use CLI commands to create Elastic Compute Service (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 virtual private cloud (VPC) and a security group.

  1. Create a VPC.
    Create a VPC in the China (Hangzhou) region and specify 192.168.0.0/16 as the CIDR block of the VPC.
    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 returned: 

    {
        "RequestId": "EC94C73B-8103-4B86-B353-E65C7C9E****",
        "ResourceGroupId": "rg-acfmzw2jz2z****",
        "RouteTableId": "vtb-bp1jxpr9ji5wcn4yv****",
        "VRouterId": "vrt-bp1dyxemup2q4ouga****",
        "VpcId": "vpc-bp1d9v4763ym2hlzt****"
}
  2. Create a vSwitch.
    Create a vSwitch in the VPC and specify 192.168.0.0/24 as the CIDR block of the vSwitch.
    API Parameter Example
    CreateVSwitch ZoneId The zone ID of the vSwitch. Example: cn-hangzhou-i.
    VpcId The ID of the VPC. Set the value to the VpcId 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 returned: 

    {
        "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. Set the value to the VpcId 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 returned: 

    {
        "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. Set the value to the SecurityGroupId 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. Valid values:
    • Linux instances: 22/22
    • Windows instances: 3389/3389
    Run the following command to add 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 returned: 
    {
        "RequestId": "FA8B1E61-C9C9-4D91-9628-64B8E2F4****"
}

Create an ECS instance

Create a subscription ECS instance.

API Parameter Example
RunInstances RegionId The region ID of the instance. Example: cn-hangzhou.
ImageId The ID of the image. We recommend that you select the aliyun_2_1903_x64_20G_alibase_20200324.vhd Alibaba Cloud Linux image.
InstanceType The instance type.
  • For individual applications, we recommend that you select the ecs.s6-c1m2.small instance type that has 1 vCPU and 2 GiB memory.
  • For applications of small and medium-sized enterprises, we recommend that you select the ecs.c5.large instance type that has 2 vCPUs and 4 GiB memory.
SecurityGroupId The ID of the security group. Set the value to the SecurityGroupId value returned by the CreateSecurityGroup operation.

Example: sg-bp18z2q1jg4gq95t****.

VSwitchId The ID of the vSwitch. Set the value to the VSwitchId value returned by the CreateVSwitch operation.

Example: vsw-bp11hf5r945gewysp****.

InstanceName The name of the instance.

Example: ecs_cli_demo.

InstanceChargeType The billing method of the instance. To create a subscription instance, set the value to PrePaid.
Note Make sure that you have sufficient balance in your account.
PeriodUnit The unit of the billing cycle. Example: Month.
Period The duration of the billing cycle. Example: 1.
InternetMaxBandwidthOut The maximum outbound public bandwidth. Example: 1.
Password The logon password of the instance: <yourPassword>.
Note You must specify 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 returned: 

{
        "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. Set the value to the InstanceIds 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****"]'

    Find the following public IP address in the command output:

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

Release an ECS 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.