Elastic Compute Service:Select a file transfer method

Scenario 1: Manage files and transfer small files

If you want to upload small files to ECS instances, you can use the following methods to facilitate daily file management.

The following table describes various file transfer methods. You can select an appropriate file transfer method based on the operating system of your on-premises computer and the instance information. After you select a file transfer method, you can click the link corresponding to the method in the File transfer method column to view the corresponding operation document.

^①: For more information about how to check the operating system of an ECS instance, see the How do I view the operating system of an ECS instance? question in the "FAQ" section of this topic.

^②: If you do not assign a public IP address to an ECS instance when you create the instance, the instance does not have a public IP address. You can check whether an ECS instance is assigned a public IP address. For more information, see the How do I check whether an ECS instance is assigned a public IP address? question in the "FAQ" section of this topic. If no public IP address is assigned to an ECS instance, you can enable public bandwidth to assign a public IP address to the instance. For more information, see Enable public bandwidth.

^③: When you use Workbench to upload files, the transfer speed may be slow during peak hours. In this case, you can use other methods to quickly transfer files.

^④: You can run SCP commands to transfer files to a Windows instance on which you install and configure SSH.

Scenario 2: Transfer large files

Use one of the following methods to upload a large file to an ECS instance.

The following table describes various file transfer methods. You can select an appropriate file transfer method based on the operating system of your on-premises computer and the instance information. After you select a file transfer method, you can click the link corresponding to the method in the File transfer method column to view the corresponding operation document.

^①: For more information about how to check the operating system of an ECS instance, see the How do I view the operating system of an ECS instance? question in the "FAQ" section of this topic.

^②: If you do not assign a public IP address to an ECS instance when you create the instance, the instance does not have a public IP address. You can check whether an ECS instance is assigned a public IP address. For more information, see the How do I check whether an ECS instance is assigned a public IP address? question in the "FAQ" section of this topic. If no public IP address is assigned to an ECS instance, you can enable public bandwidth to assign a public IP address to the instance. For more information, see Enable public bandwidth.

^③: You can run SFTP commands to transfer files to a Windows instance on which you install and configure SSH.

Scenario 3: Upload and distribute files to multiple ECS instances at the same time

To upload files to multiple ECS instances at a time, use CloudOps Orchestration Service (OOS).

• Network limits: You do not need to configure a public IP address for or associate an elastic IP address (EIP) with the ECS instance.

• File size limit:

  • You can upload a file of up to 500 MB to ECS instances by using this method.

  • The file size is not limited when you use Object Storage Service together with OOS to upload files.

• References: For more information, see Batch upload (distribute) a single file to multiple ECS instances.

Scenario 4: Transfer files to an ECS instance that does not have Internet access

To transfer files to an ECS instance that does not have a public IP address or to which an EIP is not associated, use one of the following methods.

The following table describes various file transfer methods. You can select an appropriate file transfer method based on the operating system of your on-premises computer and the instance information. After you select a file transfer method, you can click the link corresponding to the method in the File transfer method column to view the corresponding operation document.

^①: For more information about how to check the operating system of an ECS instance, see the How do I view the operating system of an ECS instance? question in the "FAQ" section of this topic.

^②: If you do not assign a public IP address to an ECS instance when you create the instance, the instance does not have a public IP address. You can check whether an ECS instance is assigned a public IP address. For more information, see the How do I check whether an ECS instance is assigned a public IP address? question in the "FAQ" section of this topic. If no public IP address is assigned to an ECS instance, you can enable public bandwidth to assign a public IP address to the instance. For more information, see Enable public bandwidth.

Scenario 5: Transfer files between ECS instances

To transfer files between two ECS instances, use one of the following methods.

The following table describes various file transfer methods. You can select an appropriate file transfer method based on the operating system of the instance that sends files and the operating system of the instance that receives files. After you select a file transfer method, you can click the link corresponding to the method in the File transfer method column to view the corresponding operation document.

^①: For more information about how to check the operating system of an ECS instance, see the How do I view the operating system of an ECS instance? question in the "FAQ" section of this topic.

^②: You can run SCP or SFTP commands to transfer files to a Windows instance on which you install and configure SSH.

FAQ

• How do I check whether an ECS instance is assigned a public IP address?

  To check whether an ECS instance is assigned a public IP address, find the instance on the Instance page in the ECS console and view IP addresses in the IP Address column. If the instance is assigned a public IP address, the public IP address is displayed and followed by (Public) in the IP Address column, as shown in the following figure. For more information, see View instance information. If no public IP address is assigned to an ECS instance, you can enable public bandwidth to assign a public IP address to the instance. For more information, see Enable public bandwidth.

  

• How do I view the operating system of an ECS instance?

  You can log on to the ECS console and view the operating system information of ECS instances on the Instance page. Most non-Windows operating systems are Linux operating systems. If an ECS instance runs a Windows operating system, the Windows icon is displayed in the Operating System column corresponding to the instance, as shown in the following figure.

  If the operating system of an ECS instance does not meet your business requirements, you can replace the operating system of the instance. For more information, see Replace the operating system (system disk) of an instance.

  

• What do I do if the file upload process is slow?

  If you use Workbench to upload files, the file transfer speed may be slow during peak hours. In this case, you can use other methods to quickly transfer files. The file transfer speed is also limited by the bandwidth of the line between your network and the instance network. Network bandwidth fluctuations also affect the file transfer speed.

• What do I do if the file upload process is interrupted due to network bandwidth fluctuations?

  Network instability may cause interruptions in file transfers, especially for time-consuming file transfer tasks. You can transfer files by using resumable upload tools, such as SFTP, WinSCP, or Object Storage Service.

• How do I transfer a large number of files to an ECS instance at a time?

  To improve the transmission efficiency, compress the files into a compressed package and then upload the compressed package to the instance. For more information, see Compress and upload files.