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    Cloud Architect Design Tools:Alibaba Cloud Resource Profiling

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    Cloud Architect Design Tools:Alibaba Cloud Resource Profiling

    Last Updated:Jun 16, 2026

    Cloud Architect Design Tools (CADT) supports profiling existing resources on the cloud, automatically generating application architectures, and enabling visual operations and management.

    Prerequisites

    • To use the Resource Profiling feature of Cloud Architect Design Tools (CADT), you must first activate Cloud Config.

    • After you activate Cloud Config, go to the Service Settings page and ensure that Monitoring Scope is set to All Resources.

    Activate Cloud Config

    1. Log on to the Cloud Architect Design Tools (CADT) console.

    2. In the top navigation bar, choose Resources > Resource Profiling.image..png

    3. In the dialog box that appears, click Activate Now.

      Important

      After you receive the activation success message, do not use the Resource Profiling feature immediately. You must wait for Cloud Config to scan all your resources and build an inventory. This process can take 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the number of resources.

    4. After Cloud Config is activated, go to the Service Settings page and confirm that Monitoring Scope is set to All Resources.

    5. Wait 30 to 60 minutes. Then, log on to the Cloud Config console, navigate to Resources > Global Resources, and verify that resources are listed before you use the Resource Profiling feature of CADT.

    Discover resources

    Prerequisites

    To ensure consistent results, set the resource scope for profiling to All resources in the account.

    image..png

    Procedure

    1. Log on to the Cloud Architect Design Tools (CADT) console.

    2. In the top navigation bar, click Resources > Resource Profiling.image..png

    3. In the Select Resources to Profile dialog box, click Resource Profiling.

    4. Select the regions where you want to discover resources. You can select multiple regions at the same time. If you do not select any regions, all regions are profiled by default. This example profiles resources in all regions. Click OK.

      • To discover resources in multiple regions simultaneously, select the desired regions. For example, select China (Beijing) and China (Hangzhou).image..png

      • To discover resources in all regions, leave the selection empty and click OK.

    5. Wait for the resource profiling to complete. The time required depends on the number of your resources.

    6. The profiling results are displayed in two views: By Network and By Type. You can use these views to review and select resources. You can also filter resources by tag.

      • By Network: Displays resources at different network levels, including global, region, Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), and vSwitch.image..png

        • Overview: Shows the resource distribution and count across different regions. Click a region to view its specific resources.image..png

        • Global Resources: Displays resources at the global level.image..png

        • Regional Resources: Displays resources at the regional level. You can select a specific region to view.image..png

        • VPC Resources: Displays resources at the VPC level.image..png

        • vSwitch Resources: Displays resources at the vSwitch level.image..png

      • By Type: Displays your current resources grouped by resource type.

        • Overview: Shows your resources and their quantities by resource type.

        • Resource Search: Allows you to search for specific resources by type.image..png

      • Tags: You can filter the Resource Profiling results by tag. A tag is an identifier for a cloud resource. Tags help you categorize, search, and aggregate resources with common characteristics, simplifying resource management.

      • Resource Groups: You can filter the Resource Profiling results by resource group. Select a resource group from the Resource Group Name drop-down list to display only the resources within that group.

    7. You can quickly find the resources you need by using the By Network and By Type views, combined with filters for tags and resource groups.

    Generate an application architecture

    After resource profiling, you can generate an application architecture from the discovered resources. This architecture provides an intuitive, visual way to manage your operations.

    1. Before you generate an application architecture, you must select the resources. You can use the By Network and By Type views, combined with tags, to quickly filter for the resources you need. For example, to generate an architecture for managing Elastic Compute Service (ECS) and ApsaraDB RDS instances in a specific region and zone, select a region, a VPC, and then a zone (vSwitch) in sequence. The filtered results appear in the resource list.image..png

    2. In the resource list, select the checkboxes of the resources to include in the architecture, and then click Generate Architecture.

      Note

      You can view the selected resources under Selected Resources. To remove a resource, click Remove.image..png

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    3. In the Generate Architecture Configuration dialog box, configure the display and validation options for the architecture, and then click OK.

      • Display Security Groups: Shows the security groups associated with the ECS instances in the architecture diagram. If you select a large number of ECS instances, we recommend hiding security groups to avoid a cluttered diagram.

      • Display Auto Scaling: Shows Auto Scaling resources in the generated architecture diagram.

      • Verify Same Resource Group: When enabled, the diagram includes only resources that belong to the current resource group.

      • Verify Selected Tags: When enabled, the diagram includes only resources that have the selected tags.

      • Hide ECS in ACK Cluster: A Container Service for Kubernetes (ACK) cluster consists of underlying ECS instances. This option controls whether to show these ECS instances in the architecture diagram.

      • Keep Empty Nodes: Controls whether to display region, VPC, and vSwitch nodes in the architecture diagram even if they contain no resources.

    4. Wait for the application architecture diagram to be automatically generated. The diagram displays your resource structure hierarchically, including the region, VPC, vSwitch, security group, and the various resources within them.image..png

    Import resources

    After the architecture diagram is generated, each resource is marked with an "Import" label. At this point, the diagram does not contain the actual resources. You must import the existing resources into the application architecture to manage them.

    1. Before you import resources, enter edit mode and save the generated application architecture as an application. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Save. In the Save Application dialog box that appears, enter a name for the application and click Confirm.image..png

    2. The application status changes to Modified. In the upper-right corner, click Import Resource.image..png

    3. The Import Resource List dialog box lists the resources to be imported. After you confirm the list, click Import.

      Note

      When you import resources, you can choose to enable cloud monitoring for the application.

      image..png

    4. Wait for the resource import to complete, and then click Back to return to the CADT application page.image..png

    5. On the CADT application page, a green icon in the upper-right corner of each resource indicates it has been successfully imported. You can now visually manage your application by using the architecture diagram.image..png