Get started with Compute Nest - Compute Nest - Alibaba Cloud Documentation Center

This topic introduces beginners to the background and core concepts of Compute Nest to help them get up to speed quickly.

Why use Compute Nest?

Traditional software typically runs on local PCs, servers, or clusters. To migrate such software to the cloud, you usually follow this procedure: create cloud resources, install the software on those resources, debug it, and then start using it.

However, this process often presents several challenges:

Cloud resource complexity: If the cloud architecture is complex, manually creating and configuring resources can take a long time and is prone to errors.
Software installation and debugging complexity: If the software has a complicated installation or debugging process, manual operations consume significant time and effort.
Repetitive work: These issues repeat for every user deployment. For example, if 100 customers deploy the same software, they must repeat the same steps—resource creation, software installation, and debugging—100 times. This approach is inefficient and hard to scale.
High labor costs for private deployments: For private deployments (where resources are deployed under the customer’s Alibaba Cloud account), vendors often send engineers onsite to handle installation and debugging. This increases labor costs and slows response times.
Ongoing O&M challenges: Beyond initial deployment, software may require upgrades, cloud resource adjustments, and routine maintenance. Most of these tasks currently rely on manual intervention, adding further complexity and cost.

These issues degrade user experience and challenge software vendors’ service efficiency. To address them, Alibaba Cloud offers Compute Nest—a one-stop platform for cloud-native software delivery that helps vendors tackle cloud migration challenges effectively.

What is Compute Nest?

Compute Nest is a one-stop cloud-native software platform from Alibaba Cloud. It provides standardized delivery so you can deploy “software + cloud resources” with one click.

After service providers list their services on Compute Nest, users only need to submit required parameters. The platform then automatically creates cloud resources, deploys the software, and configures everything—without any manual intervention. This standardized delivery works consistently whether serving 10 or 1,000 users, ensuring high efficiency and stability.
For users, simply enter the required parameters in the console and submit. You immediately get a ready-to-use software environment with no extra steps. Even if a vendor’s software requires manual assistance, Compute Nest supports semi-automated deployment: it auto-creates cloud resources first, then lets engineers complete the remaining software configuration steps.

Terms

Compute Nest has two sides: service provider and user:

Service provider side: Used to publish standardized services.
User side: Creates runnable service instances based on published services, delivering an out-of-the-box experience.

Compute Nest offers three standardized deployment modes to fit different business scenarios:

Private service: All cloud resources deploy under the user’s Alibaba Cloud account. The user retains full control over permissions and resources. This mode ensures data sovereignty and suits scenarios with strict security and compliance requirements.
Fully managed service (SaaS mode): The service provider fully manages the service. Cloud resources deploy under the provider’s account and deliver standardized capabilities. Users don’t manage underlying infrastructure—they subscribe on demand and get highly available, scalable software services.
Alibaba Cloud Managed Services: For private deployments, this option adds third-party O&M support without creating new cloud resources. With user authorization, the provider manages O&M tasks on the user’s private cloud resources. The user keeps full ownership and data control while gaining improved O&M efficiency.

Try Compute Nest now

Open the Compute Nest console and walk through a simple example to see how it works. Compute Nest separates provider and user workflows. First, the provider creates a service. Then, users create service instances based on that service.

In this example, the service provider creates an ECS instance (a cloud resource) and pre-installs Spring Boot (the software). Users then deploy both the cloud resource and software automatically with one click to run the application easily.

Create a service (provider side)

Go to the Compute Nest console My Services page, and click Create Service.
On the Create Service page, select Create Service from Featured Templates, and in the ROS-based Deployment tab, select ECS Package Deployment, and click Next: Configure Settings.
In the configuration page, you don't need to modify any parameters. Click Create Service, read the service terms in the dialog box, and click OK.
Return to the My Services page. After the status changes to Pending Pre-release, the build is successful.

Note
The creation process takes about 1 minute.
Click the service card to view the Service Details page. In the Service Deployment section, the following table describes the parameters.
- User Deployment URL: Click this deployment link to go to your environment and create a service instance.
- Service Templates: The ROS template preconfigured for this example service, which you can use to create an ECS instance and install SpringBoot. In addition, this template also creates ECS dependencies, such as VPC, vSwitch, and security group.
The page shows Deployment Method as ROS and Branch as main. On the left, the ECS Basic Edition template appears. On the right, the Template Script tab displays the YAML-formatted content, including configuration items like ROSTemplateFormatVersion, Description (Spring Boot Demo), and Parameters (such as PayType).

Create a service instance (user side)

Click User Deployment URL, go to the service instance creation page, and fill in the parameters according to your requirements.

Note
User input parameters are defined by the ROS template. When creating a custom service, providers can configure which parameters users see and which remain hidden.

The service instance creation page includes these configuration items: Instance Name, Region (such as China (Hangzhou)), Billing Method (pay-as-you-go or subscription), Instance Type (filterable by vCPU, memory, and architecture), Instance Password, and Zone ID. The right side shows validation status for all required fields. After all checks pass, click Next: Confirm Order to finish creation.
Click Next: Confirm Order, review and confirm Service Instance Information and Price Preview, and if everything is correct, click Create Now.
Go to Service Instances to check deployment progress.

In the navigation pane on the left, click Service Instances. On the My Service Instances tab, find your instance with status Deployed, indicating successful deployment.
After the deployment is complete, click the service instance ID to go to the Service Instance Details page, and in the Use Now section, click VisitUrl to access the link.

Note
Output parameters are defined by the ROS template. In this example, the output is the ECS public IP address.
The link opens the software output page. At this point, both software and cloud resources are fully deployed.
```
Greetings from Spring Boot! V4
```

From the user’s perspective, just click Create Now and wait a moment to start using the software. Behind this simple action, Compute Nest automatically handles complex tasks—including creating and associating cloud resources (such as VPC, vSwitch, security group, and ECS) and installing and configuring the software. All these steps stay hidden from the user to ensure the simplest possible deployment experience.

Note

To explore more services, visit the Service Catalog in the navigation bar.

Learn more about Compute Nest

This topic gives a brief overview of Compute Nest’s background and core concepts to help service providers understand its basic features. Compute Nest offers powerful capabilities—this introduction is just the starting point. To learn how to list your own service, see Get started with Compute Nest.