An image is a running environment template for ECS instances. It generally includes an operating system and preinstalled software. You can use an image to create an ECS instance or change the system disk of an ECS instance. It works as a file copy that includes data from one more multiple disks. These disks can be a single system disk, or the combination of the system disk and data disks.
Image types
ECS provides a diverse types of images for you to easily access image resources.
| Type | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Public image | Public images officially provided by Alibaba Cloud support nearly all main Windows and Linux versions. These images are of high stability and are licensed. You can customize your application environment based on a public image. | Officially provided by Alibaba Cloud |
| Custom image | Custom images created based on your existing physical server, virtual machine, or cloud host. These images are flexible to meet your personalized needs. |
|
| Cloud Marketplace | Provided by third-party service providers (ISV, independent software) Vendor). The image of the Marketplace includes not only the operating system required for the application, but also the configuration environment. It saves you complicated deployment process and deploy the environment with one-click. | |
| Shared image | Shared by other Alibaba Cloud users. | A custom image shared by other Alibaba Cloud users. |
Public images
Alibaba Cloud provides authorized and certificated public images, which cover nearly all the trending and popular platforms. Note that the available public images are different when you select different instances. The following images are offered by Alibaba Cloud ECS for public use:
| Platform | Version of public images |
|---|---|
| Windows Server |
|
| CentOS |
|
| Ubuntu |
|
| Debian |
|
| Red Hat |
|
| SUSE Linux |
|
| OpenSUSE | OpenSUSE 42.3 64bit |
| Aliyun Linux | Aliyun Linux 17.1 64bit |
| CoreOS | CoreOS 1465.8.0 64bit |
| FreeBSD | FreeBSD 11.1 64bit |
Image format
Currently, ECS supports VHD, qcow2, and RAW. You must convert other formats before using them in ECS.
Billing details
Billing details of the images are as follows:
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Public image |
Only Windows Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux public images involve billing calculation, which are included in the bill when an instance is created. The public Windows Sever images or Red Hat Enterprise Linux images are provided with certificated license and authorized support from Microsoft or Red Hat, you do have to purchase additional license.
Other public images are free of charge to use. |
| Custom image | Free. Potential costs include:
|
| Alibaba Cloud Marketplace | Subject to ISV policies. |
| Shared image | If the origin of the shared image is from the Marketplace, it is subject to the ISV policies. |
For more information, see Pricing overview.
Limits
Custom images, marketplace images, and shared images vary depending on the region. For more information about regions and zones, see General Reference Regions and zones.
Related operations
Console operations- You can change the system disk in any of the following ways:
- You can obtain custom images in the following ways:
- After creating custom images, you can perform the following operations:
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Export custom images to local testing environments or your private cloud environments.
You can view the APIs about images in the Developer Guide.