GPU-accelerated instances provide powerful computing and graphics processing capabilities for large-scale parallel computing or graphics rendering. You can use GPU-accelerated instances to improve the computing performance of your business or meet professional graphics design requirements. This topic describes how to create a GPU-accelerated instance.
Procedure
Go to the instance creation page.
Click the Custom Launch tab.
Configure parameters such as the billing method, region, network and zone, instance type, and image based on your requirements.
For more information about the parameters, see Parameter descriptions.
Before you confirm the order, review the overall instance configuration and set options such as the subscription duration to ensure that the configurations meet your requirements.
The subscription duration settings vary based on the billing method of the instance:
Pay-as-you-go or spot instances: You can set a time to automatically release the instance. You can also manually release the instance or configure automatic release after the instance is created. For more information, see Release an instance.
Subscription instances: You can select a subscription duration and choose whether to enable auto-renewal. You can also manually renew the instance or configure auto-renewal after the instance is created. For more information, see Renew a subscription instance.
Read the relevant terms of service and agreements. If you agree to the terms, click Create Order.
On the payment page, check the total fee for the instance. If the fee is correct, complete the payment.
Parameter descriptions
Billing method
The billing method determines the billing rules for an instance. The rules that govern resource status changes also vary based on the billing method.
Billing method | Description | References |
Subscription | A prepaid billing method. | |
Pay-as-you-go | A postpaid billing method. The billing cycle is accurate to the second. You can purchase and release resources on demand. Note To reduce costs, use savings plans and reserved instances. | |
Spot Instance | A postpaid billing method. Spot instances are available at a discount compared with pay-as-you-go instances. However, they may be automatically released due to changes in market price or insufficient inventory of the instance type. |
Region
Regions are geographical locations where Alibaba Cloud data centers are deployed. Select a region that is close to your geographical location to reduce latency. After an instance is created, the region of the instance cannot be changed. For more information, see Regions and zones.
Network and zone
We recommend that you specify a virtual private cloud (VPC). VPCs are logically isolated from one another, ensure enhanced security, and support features such as Elastic IP Address (EIP), IPv6, and Elastic Network Interface (ENI).
A region consists of multiple isolated locations known as zones. A zone is a physical area that has an independent network and power supply. Resources that are deployed in the same zone share the network and have minimal latency between each other. Services deployed in the same zone provide faster communication speeds, which allows for more efficient business operations.
Network type | Description | References |
VPC | A VPC is a dedicated and isolated network that you can use for your business. You have full control over your VPC. For example, you can specify a private CIDR block and configure route tables and gateways for the VPC. If you did not create a VPC in the selected region, skip this step. The system automatically creates a default VPC and vSwitch in the region. Select an existing VPC and an existing vSwitch. Alternatively, click Create VPC and Create vSwitch to create a VPC and a vSwitch in the VPC console. After the VPC and the vSwitch are created, go back to the ECS instance buy page and click the Note If you want to assign an IPv6 address to the instance, select a VPC and a vSwitch for which an IPv6 CIDR block is enabled. |
Instance and image
An instance type and an image determine the basic attributes of an instance, such as the vCPUs, memory, and operating system.
Instance type
Available instance types vary based on the selected region. You can go to the Instance Types Available for Each Region page to view the available instance types in each region.
You may have specific configuration requirements for the instance. For example, you may want the instance to have multiple ENIs bound, use Enterprise SSDs (ESSDs), or use local disks. In this case, make sure that the selected instance type meets your business requirements. For information about the features, supported scenarios, and specifications of instance types, see Overview of instance families.
If you set the Billing Method parameter to Spot Instance, you must also configure the Instance Usage Duration and Highest Price per Instance parameters.
The Instance Usage Duration parameter specifies the protection period of a spot instance. After the protection period ends, the instance may be released due to insufficient resources or a lower bid than the market price.
Option
Description
1 Hour
After a spot instance is created, a 1-hour protection period starts. During the protection period, the instance cannot be automatically released.
None
A spot instance without a protection period is created. Spot instances without a protection period are more cost-effective than spot instances with a protection period.
Highest Price per Instance
Option
Description
Use Automatic Bid
The real-time market price of an instance type is automatically used. The price may vary but cannot exceed the pay-as-you-go price of the instance type. Automatic bidding can prevent the spot instance from being released due to lower bids than the market price, but cannot prevent the instance from being released due to insufficient resources.
Set Maximum Price
Specify a maximum price. If the real-time market price exceeds the maximum price or if resources are insufficient, the spot instance is released.
After you configure the instance, you can check the information about the selected instance type under Selected.
Image
An image provides the information that is required to run an instance. Alibaba Cloud provides a variety of image sources from which you can obtain images, as shown in the following table.
Image source | Description |
Public images are fully licensed base images provided by Alibaba Cloud. They include Windows Server OS images and mainstream Linux OS images. | |
An image that you create or import. It contains the initial system environment, application environment, and software configurations. This saves you time on repeated configurations. | |
A custom image shared by another Alibaba Cloud account. This lets you use the same image to create instances across accounts. | |
Images in Alibaba Cloud Marketplace are strictly reviewed and come in a wide variety. They allow you to deploy cloud servers with a single click for scenarios such as website building and application development. | |
A community image is a completely public image. You can publish a custom image that you created as a community image for others to use. You can also obtain and use community images published by others. |
When you select an image, you can choose whether to automatically install an NVIDIA Tesla driver based on your requirements. You can also select a free image that is pre-installed with an NVIDIA GRID driver to automatically load the corresponding driver. For more information, see Automatically install or load a Tesla driver when you create a GPU-accelerated instance and Automatically load a GRID driver using a community image that is pre-installed with the driver.
Storage
Instances provide storage capabilities based on the system disks, data disks, elastic ephemeral disks, and Apsara File Storage NAS (NAS) file systems that are attached to the instances. ECS provides cloud disks and local disks to meet the storage requirements in different scenarios.
Cloud disks include ESSDs, standard SSDs, and ultra disks and can be used as system disks or data disks. For more information, see Disks.
NoteThe billing method of a cloud disk that is created along with an instance is the same as that of the instance.
Local disks can be used only as data disks. If an instance type, such as an instance type of an instance family with local SSDs or a big data instance family, is equipped with local disks, information about the local disks is displayed. For more information, see Local disks.
NoteYou cannot manually attach local disks to instances.
System disk
System disks are used to install operating systems. The default capacity of a system disk is 40 GiB. However, the actual minimum capacity varies based on the image type. The following table describes the capacity ranges of system disks for different types of images.
Image | System disk capacity (GiB) |
Linux (excluding FreeBSD and Red Hat) | [max{20, Image size}, 2,048] |
FreeBSD | [max{30, Image size}, 2,048] |
Red Hat | [max{40, Image size}, 2,048] |
Windows | [max{40, Image size}, 2,048] |
(Optional) Data disk
Data disks are used to store application data. When you add a data disk, you can encrypt the disk to meet data security and regulatory compliance requirements. For information about data encryption, see Cloud disk encryption.
The number of data disks that can be attached to a single instance is limited. For more information, see the Block storage devices section in the "Limits" topic.
(Optional) Snapshot service
A snapshot is a point-in-time backup of a disk. You can quickly import data by creating a disk from a snapshot. You can use automatic snapshot policies to periodically back up disks to prevent risks such as accidental data deletion.
Select an existing snapshot policy or click Create Automatic Snapshot Policy to create an automatic snapshot policy on the Snapshots page. For more information, see Create an automatic snapshot policy. After the automatic snapshot policy is created, go back to the ECS instance buy page and click the 
icon to obtain the most recent list of automatic snapshot policies.
You are charged for snapshots. For information about the billing of snapshots, see Snapshots.
(Optional) Shared disk NAS
If you have a large amount of data to share among multiple instances, we recommend that you use NAS file systems to reduce costs in data copying and synchronization.
Select an existing NAS file system or click Create File System to create a NAS file system in the File Storage NAS console. For more information, see the Create a General-purpose NAS file system in the console section in the "Create a file system" topic. After the NAS file system is created, go back to the ECS instance buy page and click the icon to obtain the most recent list of NAS file systems. For information about how to mount a NAS file system to an instance, see Mount NAS file systems when you purchase an ECS instance.
Bandwidth and security group
Network and security group configurations allow the instance to communicate with the Internet and other Alibaba Cloud resources and ensure the network security of the instance.
(Conditionally required) Public IP
To allow the instance to access the Internet, you must assign a public IP address to the instance. You can select Assign Public IPv4 Address in the Bandwidths & Security Groups section when you create an instance to have a public IP address automatically assigned to the instance. Alternatively, you can configure an EIP or a Network Address Translation (NAT) gateway after you create an instance to allow the instance to access the Internet. You must separately purchase an EIP and a NAT gateway. For more information, see What is an EIP? and What is NAT Gateway
Select Assign Public IPv4 Address and configure the Bandwidth Billing Method and Bandwidth or Maximum Bandwidth parameters.
For information about the billing of the public bandwidth, see Public bandwidth billing.
Bandwidth billing method | Description |
Pay-by-bandwidth | You are charged based on the specified bandwidth value. The actual outbound public bandwidth is capped at the specified bandwidth value.
|
Pay-by-traffic | You are charged based on the actual traffic volume. To prevent excessive fees that are caused by traffic bursts, you can specify a maximum bandwidth for outbound traffic.
(Optional) Select Upgrade to CDT for Data Transfer Billing. Cloud Data Transfer (CDT) provides an efficient and cost-effective method for managing public bandwidth expenses. CDT supports flexible billing, free data transfer quota, tiered pricing, and unified billing for multiple Alibaba Cloud services. Compared with the pay-by-traffic billing method, the CDT billing method provides specific discounts. For more information, see What is CDT? Important
|
Security group
A security group is a virtual firewall that is used to control the inbound and outbound traffic of instances in the security group. For more information, see Overview of security groups.
If the selected VPC does not have a security group, the system automatically creates a default security group. The default security group allows inbound traffic over SSH port 22, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) port 3389, and Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP). You can add rules to allow inbound traffic over other ports based on your needs, such as port 80 and port 443. You can modify the security group configurations after the security group is created.
You can also select an existing security group or click the New Security Group tab and create a security group based on your business requirements. When you create a security group, configure the Security Group Name, Security Group Type, and Open IPv4 Ports/Protocols parameters.
For information about how to configure a security group, see Create a security group.
(Optional) Elastic network interface
ENIs include primary ENIs and secondary ENIs. You cannot unbind primary ENIs from instances. You can only create and release the ENIs along with the instances. You can bind or unbind secondary ENIs to or from instances to allow traffic to be switched between instances. To create a secondary ENI when you create an instance, click the 
icon and select a vSwitch to which the secondary ENI belongs.
You can bind only one secondary ENI when you create an instance. You can also create secondary ENIs and bind them to an instance after the instance is created. For information about the number of ENIs that can be bound to an instance of each instance type, see Overview of instance families.
(Optional) Configure IPv6
After you enable IPv6, the public IPv4 address depletion issue is resolved and a variety of devices can access the Internet.
Select Assign IPv6 Address Free of Charge. After you assign an IPv6 address, you must log on to the instance and configure an IPv6 address in the operating system to use the IPv6 address. For more information, see IPv6 communication.
Management settings
Management settings include logon credentials and tags. Logon credentials are used for remote connections to instances. Tags are used to easily retrieve and manage resources.
Logon credential
Logon Credential is used to ensure secure logon to an ECS instance. For information about how to connect to an ECS instance, see Methods for connecting to an ECS instance.
Logon credential | Description |
Key Pair Note You can use key pairs to log on only to Linux instances. | Select a username to use to log on to the instance. Then, select an existing key pair or click Create Key Pair to create a key pair. After the key pair is created, go back to the ECS instance buy page and click the You can set the Logon Username parameter to root or ecs-user. Warning If you log on to an ECS instance as the root user, you have the highest permissions on the instance. However, security risks may arise. We recommend that you log on to the ECS instance as the ecs-user user. |
Image Preset Password Note Only Custom Images and Shared Images support this authentication method. | To use the password preset in the selected image to log on to the instance, select this authentication method. If you want to select this option, make sure that your selected image has a password preset. |
Custom Password | Enter and confirm a password. Then, configure the Logon Username parameter.
|
Set Later | After the instance is created, bind a key pair or reset the instance password. For more information, see Bind an SSH key pair and Reset the logon password of an instance. |
Tag
Each Tag consists of a tag key and a tag value. You can add tags to identify created instances, cloud disks, and primary ENIs to facilitate resource retrieval and management. You can select existing tags or specify a tag key and a tag value to create new tags. For more information about tags, see Tags.
(Optional) Advanced options
Advanced options include the hostname, instance metadata, and instance user data. These options are used to customize the information or usage of the instance that is displayed in the console and operating system.
Parameter | Description |
Instance Name, Description, Hostname, and Sequential Suffix | When you create multiple instances, setting sequential instance names and hostnames helps you understand information such as the batch of instances from their names. For more information about the rules for setting sequential names, see Batch configure sequential names or hostnames for multiple instances. |
Instance RAM role | An instance obtains the permissions of an instance RAM role by assuming the role. It can then access the APIs of specified cloud services and operate specified cloud resources based on a temporary Security Token Service (STS) token, which provides higher security. Select an existing instance RAM role, or click Create Instance RAM Role to go to the RAM console to create an instance RAM role. After the role is created, return to the ECS instance creation wizard and click the |
Metadata Access Mode | Instance metadata contains information about the instance in the Alibaba Cloud system. You can easily view the instance metadata within a running instance and configure or manage the instance based on its metadata. For more information about how to view instance metadata, see Instance metadata. |
User Data | Instance user data can be executed as a script when the instance starts to automate instance configuration, or it can be passed into the instance as plain data. For more information, see Customize instance initialization configurations. If you do not select the Install GPU Driver option in the Image section and you are familiar with automatic driver installation scripts, you can enter an automatic installation script in the User Data section to install the NVIDIA Tesla driver. For more information, see Install the driver using an automatic installation script. Note Enter the prepared instance user data in the input box. If the instance user data is Base64-encoded, select Enter Based64-encoded Content. |
Resource Group | Resource groups allow you to manage resources across regions and products from a business perspective and support permission management for resource groups. For more information, see Resource groups. Select an existing resource group, or click Create Resource Group to go to the Resource Management console to create a resource group. After the resource group is created, return to the ECS instance creation wizard and click the |
Deployment Set | Deployment sets support a high availability policy. Instances in a deployment set are strictly dispersed across different physical servers to ensure high business availability and underlying disaster recovery capabilities. Select an existing deployment set, or click Manage Deployment Sets to create a deployment set. After the deployment set is created, return to the ECS instance creation wizard and click the |
Dedicated Host | A dedicated host is a cloud host whose physical resources are exclusively reserved for a single tenant. It has advantages such as meeting strict security and compliance requirements and allowing Bring Your Own License (BYOL) to the cloud. Select an existing dedicated host, or click Create Dedicated Host to create a dedicated host. After the dedicated host is created, return to the ECS instance creation wizard and click the |
Private Pool Type | After you create an elasticity assurance or capacity reservation, the system automatically generates a private pool to reserve a specific number of instances with specific attributes. Creating this type of instance from the associated private pool can provide resource certainty. For more information, see Overview of Resource Management. Note Elasticity assurances and capacity reservations only support ensuring resource supply certainty for pay-as-you-go instances.
|
What to do next
Connect to the instance
You can connect to the instance in various ways, such as using Workbench, VNC, or third-party client tools. For more information, see Methods for connecting to an ECS instance.
Install a driver
If a Tesla or GRID driver was not automatically installed when you created the GPU-accelerated instance, you must install a Tesla or GRID driver that matches the GPU instance based on your business scenario. This lets you use the high-performance features of the GPU instance. For more information, see Installation guide for Tesla or GRID drivers.
References
To create a GPU-accelerated instance using an API, see RunInstances or CreateInstance.
To enable, hibernate, restart, release, or stop a created instance, see Manage a GPU-accelerated instance.
After you deploy an NGC environment on a GPU-accelerated instance, developers can instantly access the optimized deep learning framework. This greatly reduces product development and business deployment time. For more information, see Deploy an NGC environment to build a deep learning development environment.
If you encounter functional or operational issues when you use a GPU, see FAQ for information about how to troubleshoot or resolve them.