Purchase a Windows instance and deploy IIS from the console

Purchase a Windows ECS instance from the console, deploy IIS as a web server, and verify that the service is accessible over the Internet.

Procedure

Before you begin, make sure you have completed your account setup and linked a credit card or PayPal account.

Important

New ECS users who have completed their account setup can try ECS free for 3 months. For details, see the ECS Free Trial.

Step 1: Create an ECS instance

Go to the ECS console - Instances page, click Create Instance.

Choose Custom Launch and configure the instance.

Configure the instance with the following example settings. Keep the defaults for any settings not listed here.

Configuration item	Example value
Billing Method	Pay-as-you-go
Region	US (Silicon Valley)
Network and Zone	VPC: Default VPC vSwitch: Select the default vSwitch in Availability Zone B.
Instance	ecs.c9i.large We recommend at least 2 vCPU and 4 GiB of memory for a smooth experience.
Image	Select Windows Server 2022 DataCenter Edition 64bit English Edition under Public Images.
System Disk	Type: Enterprise SSD (ESSD) Capacity: 40 GiB Performance: PL0
Public IP Address	Select Assign Public IPv4 Address.
Bandwidth Billing Method	Pay-by-traffic We recommend selecting Upgrade to CDT for Data Transfer Billing. This provides 220 GB/month of free public traffic after upgrade: 20 GB/month for Chinese mainland regions, 200 GB/month for regions outside.
Security Group	Select New Security Group, under IPv4 port/protocol, add HTTP (TCP:80) to allow inbound HTTP traffic.
Logon Credential	Select Custom Password and set a password. You will use this password to connect to the instance remotely.

Review the estimated cost, read and accept the terms of service, and click Create Order.

Step 2: Connect to the ECS instance

Return to the instance list. Wait until the instance status shows Running and Health Status shows Normal, then click Connect in the Actions column.
In the dialog box, click Sign in now.
Select Terminal, enter the password you set during creation, and click Log In.
A remote connection session stays active for up to 6 hours. If idle for more than 6 hours, the session disconnects automatically and you must reconnect.

A Windows desktop indicates a successful login.

Step 3: Deploy IIS and verify access

Install IIS on the instance, create a test page, and verify access from the Internet.

In the Start menu, search for and open Windows Powershell.
Install IIS.
```
Install-WindowsFeature -name Web-Server -IncludeAllSubFeature -IncludeManagementTools
```
When the progress reaches 100% and the result shows Success is True, the installation is complete.

Create a test page. Write custom content to the default IIS site directory.

Set-Content -Path "C:\inetpub\wwwroot\index.html" -Value "<html><body><h1>Hello from Alibaba Cloud ECS</h1></body></html>"

On your local computer, open a browser and go to http://<ECS public IP address>/index.html.
You can find the public IP address in the IP Address column of the instance list.
If the page displays "Hello from Alibaba Cloud ECS", the deployment is successful.

Billing

Billable items

System disk: 40 GiB (disk capacity) × disk unit price × billing duration
Public bandwidth (pay-by-traffic): Outbound traffic × per-GB price
After upgrade to CDT for Data Transfer Billing, you will receive 220 GB/month of public network traffic (20 GB/month for Chinese mainland regions, 200 GB/month for regions outside).
Compute resources: Instance type unit price × billing duration

Refer to the ECS Pricing page for unit prices.

View billing details

Log on to the Expenses and Costs Console, and then choose Billing > Bill Details. Filter by Product Name and select Elastic Compute Service to view detailed charges.

Clean up resources

Release the instance when you no longer need it to stop incurring charges.

Important

Releasing an instance permanently deletes all its data. This action cannot be undone.

In the instance list, click > Instance Status > Release in the Actions column for the target instance.
Choose Release Now and click Next.
Confirm that no associated resources need to be retained, and click OK.

Related information

The default security group rules allow access from all IP addresses, which poses a security risk. We recommend that you modify the security group rules to allow only necessary IP addresses.
Guide to common operations.
If the current instance type cannot meet your workload requirements, you can change the instance type.
Build a website on ECS.
Configure multiple websites with IIS.
Set up a PHP environment using IIS on a Windows instance.
IIS website access errors on a Windows instance.