ApsaraDB MyBase uses the following core concepts. Familiarize yourself with these terms before you create resources.
| Term | English | Description |
| Region | Region | The geographic location of a data center. Specify a region when you create a host or a database instance. The region cannot be changed after creation. |
| Zone | Zone | A physical area within a region with an independent power grid and network. Instances in the same zone have lower network latency than instances across zones. |
| ApsaraDB MyBase | Dedicated Cluster | A cluster of multiple hosts in the same region, provisioned exclusively for your use. Resources in a dedicated cluster are isolated from other tenants. Hosts can span zones within the same region but cannot span regions. You can deploy multiple database instances across hosts in the cluster. For more information, see Create a dedicated cluster. |
| Host | Host | A virtual server in a dedicated cluster on which database instances run. For more information, see Create a host. |
| Instance | Instance | A virtual database server running on a host. You can create and manage multiple databases within a single instance. For more information, see Create an instance. |
| Image | Image | The operating system for a host. Linux and Windows Server are supported. |
| Virtual private cloud (VPC) | Virtual Private Cloud | A logically isolated private network on Alibaba Cloud. Configure private IP address ranges, routing tables, and gateways for each VPC to control traffic routing and network boundaries. |