Elastic Compute Service:Upgrade or downgrade the instance type of a subscription ECS instance

Prerequisites

The instance must meet the following conditions:

• The instance family must support instance type changes. For more information, see Limitations and pre-checks for changing instance types.

• The instance is in the Running (Running) or Stopped (Stopped) state.

• The target instance type is available in the current zone. To check availability, go to the Instance Types Available for Each Region page.

  Note

  • To change the instance type across zones, see Change the instance type across zones.

  • If you want to migrate an ECS instance to another region, use one of the following methods:

    • Use Server Migration Center (SMC) to migrate the ECS instance from one region to another. For more information, see Migrate ECS instances between or within Alibaba Cloud accounts.

    • Create a custom image from the instance, copy the custom image to the destination region, and then use the custom image to create a new instance. For more information, see Create a custom image from an instance, Copy a custom image, and Create an instance from a custom image or a shared image.

Limits

The following limits apply when you change the instance type of a subscription ECS instance:

• You must specify a target instance type that includes both vCPU and memory specifications. You cannot change only the vCPU or only the memory specifications.

• You can change the instance type only within the current billing cycle. Temporary instance type changes are not supported.

• You cannot change the instance type if a configuration change, such as an instance type change, a bandwidth change, or a temporary bandwidth upgrade, is in progress on the instance.

• If you renewed the instance with a configuration downgrade within the current billing cycle, you can upgrade the instance type only in the next billing cycle.

• If a renewal with a configuration downgrade is in progress, you must wait for it to complete before you can downgrade the instance type.

• A monthly quota applies to instance type downgrades. The quota is determined based on your historical consumption and is displayed on the page. If you exhaust the quota for the current month, you cannot perform more downgrades until the quota is automatically reset on the first day of the next month.

Billing

• When you upgrade the instance type, you must pay an upgrade fee.$$\text{Upgrade fee}=\left(List\; price\; of\; the\; new\; instance\; type\; for\; the\; remaining\; duration-List\; price\; of\; the\; original\; instance\; type\; for\; the\; remaining\; duration\right)\times Discount\; for\; the\; remaining\; duration$$.

• When you downgrade the instance type, you may receive a refund. The refund amount is the price difference between the new configuration and the remaining value of the original configuration. For more information, see or Refunds for resource downgrades.

Procedure

1. Go to ECS console - Instances.

2. In the top navigation bar, select the region and resource group of the resource that you want to manage.

3. Click the ID or name of the target instance to go to its details page. In the All Actions section, select Change Instance Type.

   Note

   You can also perform batch operations on the Instances page to change the instance types of multiple instances. On the Instances page, select multiple instances and choose More > Upgrade/Downgrade > Change Instance Type at the bottom of the page. Then, follow the prompts to change the instance types in a batch.

4. Select a target instance type.

   Note

   The available instance types are displayed on the page.

5. Change the instance type.

   Upgrade the instance type

   Perform the following operations based on the instance status.

   • If the instance is in the Stopped state:

     1. Confirm the estimated cost, read and agree to the terms of service, and then click Confirm Change and Pay.

        

     2. Complete the payment as prompted.

     3. Start the instance for the change to take effect.

        After you complete the payment, the ECS console displays the new instance type, but the change does not take effect until you start the instance.

   • If the instance is in the Running state:

     1. Set a restart time.

        If you schedule a restart, you can view or change the scheduled time by choosing Events > Configuration Change Restart Events in the ECS console.

        Warning

        • Restarting an instance makes it temporarily unavailable, which may interrupt your business. We recommend that you perform this operation during off-peak hours.

        • If the message "no timed execution. cannot scheduled downgrade" appears when you set a restart time for certain instance types, the instance does not support scheduled instance type changes. You must stop the instance before you can change its instance type.

     2. Confirm the change information and then click Confirm Change and Pay or Confirm Change and Restart Instances.

        

     3. Restart the instance.

        After you click Confirm Change and Pay and complete the payment, the ECS console displays the new instance type, but the change does not take effect until you restart the instance.

   Downgrade the instance type

   1. Perform the following operations based on the instance status.

      • If the instance is in the Stopped state: Confirm the change information, select the checkbox to agree to the ECS Terms of Service, and then click Confirm Change.

        

      • If the instance is in the Running state:

        1. Confirm the change information, select the checkbox to agree to the ECS Terms of Service, and then click Stop Instances and Proceed.

           

        2. In the Stop Instance dialog box, select a Stop Mode and click OK.

           

   2. Start the instance for the instance type change to take effect.

      For more information, see Start an instance.

References

• DescribeResourcesModification: Query available resources in a specific zone when you upgrade or downgrade an instance type or replace a system disk.

• ModifyInstanceSpec: Change the instance type and public bandwidth of a pay-as-you-go ECS instance.

• DescribeInstanceModificationPrice: Query the price of a new instance type or a new subscription data disk when you upgrade an unexpired subscription ECS instance.