All Products
Search
Document Center

Elastic Compute Service:Regions and zones

Last Updated:Feb 08, 2024

This topic describes the concept of Alibaba Cloud regions and zones, the relationship between regions and zones, and the regions and zones supported by Alibaba Cloud. This topic also describes how to select regions and zones.

Regions

Concept

Regions are geographical locations where Alibaba Cloud data centers are deployed. Regions are typically named after the cities where the data centers are deployed. For example, the data centers of the Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) region reside in Kuala Lumpur.

Select a region

Important

When you create or purchase an Alibaba Cloud resource, you must select a region in which you want to deploy the resource. After the resource is created or purchased, you cannot change the region of the resource.

When you select a region, you must consider the factors that are described in the following table.

Factor

Description

Geographical location

A region that is closer to the geographical location of your users provides lower latency and higher access speed.

We recommend that you select a region based on your requirements for network latency.

Communication between cloud services over an internal network

Important

If you have purchased a cloud network service to connect cloud services, ignore this item.

  • If you do not want cloud services to communicate with each other over an internal network, deploy the services in different regions or in the same region.

  • If you want cloud services to communicate with each other over an internal network, deploy the services in the same region.

Access from Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instances that are located in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong (China), and Macao (China) to ECS instances that are located in other countries and regions

ECS instances that are located in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong (China), and Macao (China) may experience high network latency and even packet loss when the instances use public IP addresses to access ECS instances that are located in other countries and regions. We recommend that you deploy ECS instances that require mutual access in the same region.

Resource price

You can select a region based on your budget.

The prices of resources may vary based on regions. For more information, see the product page or buy page of your resource.

Zones

Concept

The zone in which you want to deploy your resources. Each region has multiple isolated locations known as zones, which have their own independent power supply and network. For example, the China (Beijing) region has twelve zones, which include Beijing Zone A and Beijing Zone B and so on. Resources that are deployed within the same zone share the same network, and therefore have minimal latency between each other. This means that services deployed within the same zone have faster communication speeds, which translates into more efficient business operations.

Select a zone

Important

When you create or purchase an Alibaba Cloud resource, select a zone in which you want to deploy the resource. The resource is zone-specific, and you cannot directly change the zone of the resource after the resource is created or purchased. To change the zone of an ECS instance, you can migrate the instance across zones. For more information, see Change instance types across zones.

Zones within the same region are interconnected over an internal network. Each zone is independent of each other, providing effective fault isolation. If you distribute your services across multiple zones and one zone fails, services in other zones can continue to serve requests. We recommend that you appropriately distribute your services across multiple zones based on your requirements on disaster recovery and network latency.

  • If your application requires high disaster recovery capabilities, we recommend that you deploy instances in different zones within the same region.

  • If your application requires low latency, we recommend that you deploy instances within the same zone.

Relationship between regions and zones

A region consists of multiple zones. Zones in the same region are interconnected over a low-latency internal network. Zones in each region are completely isolated from zones in other regions.

The following figure shows the relationships between regions and zones.

Important

In the figure, Region 1 has three zones and Region 2 has three zones.

image

Supported regions and zones

This section lists all the regions and zones of Alibaba Cloud. For more information, see Global Infrastructure of Alibaba Cloud.

Important

This topic lists all regions and zones that are supported by Alibaba Cloud. The availability of some cloud services may vary with regions and zones. To find out if the cloud service you want to use is available in a particular zone, see the documentation of the cloud service.

The following table lists all regions and zones of Alibaba Cloud.

Alibaba Cloud public cloud

  • Regions and zones in China

    Region name

    Region ID

    Number of zones

    Zone name

    Zone ID

    China (Qingdao)

    cn-qingdao

    2

    Qingdao Zone B

    cn-qingdao-b

    Qingdao Zone C

    cn-qingdao-c

    China (Beijing)

    cn-beijing

    12

    Beijing Zone A

    cn-beijing-a

    Beijing Zone B

    cn-beijing-b

    Beijing Zone C

    cn-beijing-c

    Beijing Zone D

    cn-beijing-d

    Beijing Zone E

    cn-beijing-e

    Beijing Zone F

    cn-beijing-f

    Beijing Zone G

    cn-beijing-g

    Beijing Zone H

    cn-beijing-h

    Beijing Zone I

    cn-beijing-i

    Beijing Zone J

    cn-beijing-j

    Beijing Zone K

    cn-beijing-k

    Beijing Zone L

    cn-beijing-l

    China (Zhangjiakou)

    cn-zhangjiakou

    3

    Zhangjiakou Zone A

    cn-zhangjiakou-a

    Zhangjiakou Zone B

    cn-zhangjiakou-b

    Zhangjiakou Zone C

    cn-zhangjiakou-c

    China (Hohhot)

    cn-huhehaote

    2

    Hohhot Zone A

    cn-huhehaote-a

    Hohhot Zone B

    cn-huhehaote-b

    China (Ulanqab)

    cn-wulanchabu

    3

    Ulanqab Zone A

    cn-wulanchabu-a

    Ulanqab Zone B

    cn-wulanchabu-b

    Ulanqab Zone C

    cn-wulanchabu-c

    China (Hangzhou)

    cn-hangzhou

    8

    Hangzhou Zone B

    cn-hangzhou-b

    Hangzhou Zone E

    cn-hangzhou-e

    Hangzhou Zone F

    cn-hangzhou-f

    Hangzhou Zone G

    cn-hangzhou-g

    Hangzhou Zone H

    cn-hangzhou-h

    Hangzhou Zone I

    cn-hangzhou-i

    Hangzhou Zone J

    cn-hangzhou-j

    Hangzhou Zone K

    cn-hangzhou-k

    China (Shanghai)

    cn-shanghai

    11

    Shanghai Zone A

    cn-shanghai-a

    Shanghai Zone B

    cn-shanghai-b

    Shanghai Zone C

    cn-shanghai-c

    Shanghai Zone D

    cn-shanghai-d

    Shanghai Zone E

    cn-shanghai-e

    Shanghai Zone F

    cn-shanghai-f

    Shanghai Zone G

    cn-shanghai-g

    Shanghai Zone K

    cn-shanghai-k

    Shanghai Zone L

    cn-shanghai-l

    Shanghai Zone M

    cn-shanghai-m

    Shanghai Zone N

    cn-shanghai-n

    China (Nanjing - Local Region)

    cn-nanjing

    1

    Nanjing - Local Region Zone A

    cn-nanjing-a

    China (Fuzhou - Local Region)

    cn-fuzhou

    1

    Fuzhou - Local Region Zone A

    cn-fuzhou-a

    China (Wuhan - Local Region)

    cn-wuhan-lr

    1

    Wuhan - Local Region Zone A

    cn-wuhan-lr-a

    China (Shenzhen)

    cn-shenzhen

    6

    Shenzhen Zone A

    cn-shenzhen-a

    Shenzhen Zone B

    cn-shenzhen-b

    Shenzhen Zone C

    cn-shenzhen-c

    Shenzhen Zone D

    cn-shenzhen-d

    Shenzhen Zone E

    cn-shenzhen-e

    Shenzhen Zone F

    cn-shenzhen-f

    China (Heyuan)

    cn-heyuan

    2

    Heyuan Zone A

    cn-heyuan-a

    Heyuan Zone B

    cn-heyuan-b

    China (Guangzhou)

    cn-guangzhou

    2

    Guangzhou Zone A

    cn-guangzhou-a

    Guangzhou Zone B

    cn-guangzhou-b

    China (Chengdu)

    cn-chengdu

    2

    Chengdu Zone A

    cn-chengdu-a

    Chengdu Zone B

    cn-chengdu-b

    China (Hong Kong)

    cn-hongkong

    3

    Hong Kong Zone B

    cn-hongkong-b

    Hong Kong Zone C

    cn-hongkong-c

    Hong Kong Zone D

    cn-hongkong-d

  • Regions and zones outside China

    Region name

    Region ID

    Number of zones

    Zone name

    Zone ID

    Singapore

    ap-southeast-1

    3

    Singapore Zone A

    ap-southeast-1a

    Singapore Zone B

    ap-southeast-1b

    Singapore Zone C

    ap-southeast-1c

    Australia (Sydney)

    ap-southeast-2

    2

    Sydney Zone A

    ap-southeast-2a

    Sydney Zone B

    ap-southeast-2b

    Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur)

    ap-southeast-3

    2

    Kuala Lumpur Zone A

    ap-southeast-3a

    Kuala Lumpur Zone B

    ap-southeast-3b

    Indonesia (Jakarta)

    ap-southeast-5

    3

    Jakarta Zone A

    ap-southeast-5a

    Jakarta Zone B

    ap-southeast-5b

    Jakarta Zone C

    ap-southeast-5c

    Philippines (Manila)

    ap-southeast-6

    1

    Manila Zone A

    ap-southeast-6a

    Thailand (Bangkok)

    ap-southeast-7

    1

    Bangkok Zone A

    ap-southeast-7a

    India (Mumbai)

    ap-south-1

    2

    Mumbai Zone A

    ap-south-1a

    Mumbai Zone B

    ap-south-1b

    Japan (Tokyo)

    ap-northeast-1

    3

    Tokyo Zone A

    ap-northeast-1a

    Tokyo Zone B

    ap-northeast-1b

    Tokyo Zone C

    ap-northeast-1c

    South Korea (Seoul)

    ap-northeast-2

    1

    Seoul Zone A

    ap-northeast-2a

    US (Silicon Valley)

    us-west-1

    2

    Silicon Valley Zone A

    us-west-1a

    Silicon Valley Zone B

    us-west-1b

    US (Virginia)

    us-east-1

    2

    Virginia Zone A

    us-east-1a

    Virginia Zone B

    us-east-1b

    Germany (Frankfurt)

    eu-central-1

    3

    Frankfurt Zone A

    eu-central-1a

    Frankfurt Zone B

    eu-central-1b

    Frankfurt Zone C

    eu-central-1c

    UK (London)

    eu-west-1

    2

    London Zone A

    eu-west-1a

    London Zone B

    eu-west-1b

    UAE (Dubai)

    me-east-1

    1

    Dubai Zone A

    me-east-1a

    SAU (Riyadh)

    Important

    The SAU (Riyadh) region is a partner region.

    me-central-1

    2

    Riyadh Zone A

    me-central-1a

    Riyadh Zone B

    me-central-1b

Alibaba Finance Cloud

  • Regions and zones in China

    Region name

    Region ID

    City

    Number of zones

    Zone name

    Zone ID

    China East 1 Finance

    cn-hangzhou

    Hangzhou

    7

    China East 1 Finance Zone B

    cn-hangzhou-finance-b

    China East 1 Finance Zone C

    cn-hangzhou-finance-c

    China East 1 Finance Zone D

    cn-hangzhou-finance-d

    China East 1 Finance Zone H

    cn-hangzhou-finance-h

    China East 1 Finance Zone I

    cn-hangzhou-finance-i

    China East 1 Finance Zone J

    cn-hangzhou-finance-j

    China East 1 Finance Zone K

    cn-hangzhou-finance-k

    China East 2 Finance

    cn-shanghai-finance-1

    Shanghai

    6

    China East 2 Finance Zone A

    cn-shanghai-finance-1a

    China East 2 Finance Zone B

    cn-shanghai-finance-1b

    China East 2 Finance Zone F

    cn-shanghai-finance-1f

    China East 2 Finance Zone G

    cn-shanghai-finance-1g

    China East 2 Finance Zone K

    cn-shanghai-finance-1k

    China East 2 Finance Zone Z

    cn-shanghai-finance-1z

    China South 1 Finance

    cn-shenzhen-finance-1

    Shenzhen

    4

    China South 1 Finance Zone A

    cn-shenzhen-finance-1a

    China South 1 Finance Zone B

    cn-shenzhen-finance-1b

    China South 1 Finance Zone D

    cn-shenzhen-finance-1d

    China South 1 Finance Zone E

    cn-shenzhen-finance-1e

    China North 2 Finance (Preview)

    cn-beijing-finance-1

    Beijing

    2

    China North 2 Finance (Preview) Zone K

    cn-beijing-finance-1k

    China North 2 Finance (Preview) Zone L

    cn-beijing-finance-1l

  • Regions and zones outside China

    None.

Alibaba Gov Cloud

  • Regions and zones in China

    Region name

    Region ID

    City

    Number of zones

    Zone name

    Zone ID

    China North 2 Ali Gov 1

    cn-north-2-gov-1

    Beijing

    5

    China North 2 Ali Gov Zone A

    cn-north-2-gov-1a

    China North 2 Ali Gov Zone B

    cn-north-2-gov-1b

    China North 2 Ali Gov Zone C

    cn-north-2-gov-1c

    China North 2 Ali Gov Zone D

    cn-north-2-gov-1d

    China North 2 Ali Gov Zone E

    cn-north-2-gov-1e

  • Regions and zones outside China

    None.