If you are a developer, you can create an Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance by
using software development kits (SDKs). This topic describes how to use Alibaba Cloud
SDK for Java to create an ECS instance.
Set up the Alibaba Cloud SDK for Java environment
Before you use Alibaba Cloud SDK for Java to create an instance, you must configure
the Alibaba Cloud SDK for Java environment and add the aliyun-java-sdk-core, aliyun-java-sdk-ecs,
aliyun-java-sdk-vpc, and fastjson dependencies to the pom.xml file in the Maven project. For more information, see Install ECS SDK for Java.
The following code demonstrates how to add the aliyun-java-sdk-vpc dependency to the
pom.xml file:
<dependencies>
<dependency>
<groupId>com.aliyun</groupId>
<artifactId>aliyun-java-sdk-core</artifactId>
<version>4.4.3</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>com.aliyun</groupId>
<artifactId>aliyun-java-sdk-ecs</artifactId>
<version>4.17.1</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>com.alibaba</groupId>
<artifactId>fastjson</artifactId>
<version>1.2.60</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>com.aliyun</groupId>
<artifactId>aliyun-java-sdk-vpc</artifactId>
<version>3.0.9</version>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
Obtain AccessKey pair information
For more information about how to create an AccessKey pair, see Create an AccessKey pair.
Note To protect the AccessKey pair of your Alibaba Cloud account, we recommend that you
create a RAM user, grant the RAM user permissions to access ECS instances, and then
use the AccessKey pair of the RAM user to call Alibaba Cloud SDK for Java. For more
information, see
Control access to resources by using RAM users.

Resources required to create an instance
Before you create an instance, you must create a virtual private cloud (VPC) and a
security group.
Note If a VPC and a security group already exist, you can purchase an instance after you
obtain the vSwitch ID and the security group ID. For more information, see
Purchase an ECS instance.
- Create a VPC.
Create a VPC in the
China (Hangzhou) region and specify 192.168.0.0/16 as the CIDR block of the VPC.
API |
Parameter |
Example |
CreateVpc |
RegionId |
The ID of the region in which to create the VPC. Example: cn-hangzhou.
|
CidrBlock |
The CIDR block of the VPC. Example: 192.168.0.0/16 |
The following code demonstrates how to create a VPC:
import com.aliyuncs.DefaultAcsClient;
import com.aliyuncs.IAcsClient;
import com.aliyuncs.exceptions.ClientException;
import com.aliyuncs.exceptions.ServerException;
import com.aliyuncs.profile.DefaultProfile;
import com.google.gson.Gson;
import com.aliyuncs.vpc.model.v20160428.*;
public class CreateVpc {
public static void main(String[] args) {
DefaultProfile profile = DefaultProfile.getProfile("cn-hangzhou","<accessKeyId>", "<accessSecret>");
IAcsClient client = new DefaultAcsClient(profile);
CreateVpcRequest request = new CreateVpcRequest();
request.setRegionId("cn-hangzhou");
request.setCidrBlock("192.168.0.0/16");
try {
CreateVpcResponse response = client.getAcsResponse(request);
System.out.println(new Gson().toJson(response));
} catch (ServerException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (ClientException e) {
System.out.println("ErrCode:" + e.getErrCode());
System.out.println("ErrMsg:" + e.getErrMsg());
System.out.println("RequestId:" + e.getRequestId());
}
}
}
The following sample result of the code is displayed:
{
"requestId":"5BE6AEA4-347F-46A9-9808-B429EF02****",
"vpcId":"vpc-bp1h99qfh290thxml****",
"vRouterId":"vrt-bp1cbum5ozelljyet****",
"routeTableId":"vtb-bp1qm6p3yoww2cv10****",
"resourceGroupId":"rg-acfmzw2jz2z****"
}
- Create a vSwitch.
Create a vSwitch in the VPC and specify 192.168.0.0/24 as the CIDR block of the vSwitch.
API |
Parameter |
Example |
CreateVSwitch |
ZoneId |
The ID of the zone in which to create the vSwitch. Example: cn-hangzhou-i.
|
VpcId |
The ID of the VPC. Set the value to the vpcId value returned in Step 1.
Example: vpc-bp1h99qfh290thxml****.
|
CidrBlock |
The CIDR block of the vSwitch. Example: 192.168.0.0/24.
|
The following code demonstrates how to create a vSwitch:
import com.aliyuncs.DefaultAcsClient;
import com.aliyuncs.IAcsClient;
import com.aliyuncs.exceptions.ClientException;
import com.aliyuncs.exceptions.ServerException;
import com.aliyuncs.profile.DefaultProfile;
import com.google.gson.Gson;
import java.util.*;
import com.aliyuncs.vpc.model.v20160428.*;
public class CreateVSwitch {
public static void main(String[] args) {
DefaultProfile profile = DefaultProfile.getProfile("cn-hangzhou", "<accessKeyId>", "<accessSecret>");
IAcsClient client = new DefaultAcsClient(profile);
CreateVSwitchRequest request = new CreateVSwitchRequest();
request.setRegionId("cn-hangzhou");
request.setCidrBlock("192.168.0.0/24");
request.setVpcId("vpc-bp1h99qfh290thxml****");
request.setZoneId("cn-hangzhou-i");
try {
CreateVSwitchResponse response = client.getAcsResponse(request);
System.out.println(new Gson().toJson(response));
} catch (ServerException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (ClientException e) {
System.out.println("ErrCode:" + e.getErrCode());
System.out.println("ErrMsg:" + e.getErrMsg());
System.out.println("RequestId:" + e.getRequestId());
}
}
}
The following sample result of the code is displayed:
{
"requestId": "BAFBC8C4-3C65-427B-B470-3D257288****",
"vSwitchId": "vsw-bp1mihse903i05oxn****"
}
- Create a security group.
API |
Parameter |
Example |
CreateSecurityGroup |
RegionId |
The ID of the region in which to create the security group. Example: cn-hangzhou.
|
VpcId |
The ID of the VPC. Set the value to the vpcId value returned in Step 1.
Example: vpc-bp1h99qfh290thxml****.
|
The following code demonstrates how to create a security group:
import com.aliyuncs.DefaultAcsClient;
import com.aliyuncs.IAcsClient;
import com.aliyuncs.exceptions.ClientException;
import com.aliyuncs.exceptions.ServerException;
import com.aliyuncs.profile.DefaultProfile;
import com.google.gson.Gson;
import java.util.*;
import com.aliyuncs.ecs.model.v20140526.*;
public class CreateSecurityGroup {
public static void main(String[] args) {
DefaultProfile profile = DefaultProfile.getProfile("cn-hangzhou", "<accessKeyId>", "<accessSecret>");
IAcsClient client = new DefaultAcsClient(profile);
CreateSecurityGroupRequest request = new CreateSecurityGroupRequest();
request.setRegionId("cn-hangzhou");
request.setVpcId("vpc-bp1h99qfh290thxml****");
try {
CreateSecurityGroupResponse response = client.getAcsResponse(request);
System.out.println(new Gson().toJson(response));
} catch (ServerException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (ClientException e) {
System.out.println("ErrCode:" + e.getErrCode());
System.out.println("ErrMsg:" + e.getErrMsg());
System.out.println("RequestId:" + e.getRequestId());
}
}
}
The following sample result of the code is displayed:
{
"requestId": "718D29C6-6183-4196-AD76-A53F6A6E****",
"securityGroupId": "sg-bp1dve08xy2c8y9g****"
}
- Add an inbound rule to the security group.
API |
Parameter |
Example |
AuthorizeSecurityGroup |
RegionId |
The region ID of the security group. Example: cn-hangzhou.
|
SecurityGroupId |
The ID of the security group. Set the value to the securityGroupId value returned
in Step 3.
Example: sg-bp1dve08xy2c8y9g****.
|
IpProtocol |
The protocol. Example: tcp.
|
SourceCidrIp |
The source CIDR block. Example: 0.0.0.0/0.
|
PortRange |
The port range. Valid values:
- Linux instances: 22/22
- Windows instances: 3389/3389
|
The following code demonstrates how to add an inbound rule to the security group:
import com.aliyuncs.DefaultAcsClient;
import com.aliyuncs.IAcsClient;
import com.aliyuncs.exceptions.ClientException;
import com.aliyuncs.exceptions.ServerException;
import com.aliyuncs.profile.DefaultProfile;
import com.google.gson.Gson;
import java.util.*;
import com.aliyuncs.ecs.model.v20140526.*;
public class AuthorizeSecurityGroup {
public static void main(String[] args) {
DefaultProfile profile = DefaultProfile.getProfile("cn-hangzhou", "<accessKeyId>", "<accessSecret>");
IAcsClient client = new DefaultAcsClient(profile);
AuthorizeSecurityGroupRequest request = new AuthorizeSecurityGroupRequest();
request.setRegionId("cn-hangzhou");
request.setSecurityGroupId("sg-bp1dve08xy2c8y9g****");
request.setIpProtocol("tcp");
request.setPortRange("22/22");
request.setSourceCidrIp("0.0.0.0/0");
try {
AuthorizeSecurityGroupResponse response = client.getAcsResponse(request);
System.out.println(new Gson().toJson(response));
} catch (ServerException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (ClientException e) {
System.out.println("ErrCode:" + e.getErrCode());
System.out.println("ErrMsg:" + e.getErrMsg());
System.out.println("RequestId:" + e.getRequestId());
}
}
}
The following sample result of the code is displayed:
{
"requestId": "7052E70F-4678-4400-81CF-E0133CCB****"
}
Purchase an ECS instance
Purchase a subscription ECS instance.
API |
Parameter |
Example |
RunInstances |
RegionId |
The ID of the region in which to create the instance. Example: cn-hangzhou.
|
ImageId |
The ID of the image. We recommend that you select the aliyun_2_1903_x64_20G_alibase_20200324.vhd Alibaba Cloud Linux image.
|
InstanceType |
The instance type.
- For individual applications, we recommend that you select the ecs.s6-c1m2.small instance type that has one vCPU and 2 GiB of memory.
- For applications for small and medium-sized enterprises, we recommend that you select
the ecs.c5.large instance type that has 2 vCPUs and 4 GiB of memory.
|
SecurityGroupId |
The ID of the security group. Set the value to the securityGroupId value returned
in Step 3.
Example: sg-bp1dve08xy2c8y9g****.
|
VSwitchId |
The ID of the vSwitch. Set the value to the vSwitchId value returned in Step 2.
Example: vsw-bp1mihse903i05oxn****.
|
InstanceName |
The name of the instance to be created.
Example: ecs_sdk_demo.
|
InstanceChargeType |
The billing method of the instance. To create a subscription instance, set the value
to PrePaid.
Note Make sure that your account balance is sufficient.
|
PeriodUnit |
The unit of the billing cycle. Example: Month.
|
Period |
The billing cycle. Example: 1.
|
InternetMaxBandwidthOut |
The maximum outbound public bandwidth. Example: 1.
|
Password |
The logon password of the instance: <yourPassword>.
Note You must specify a complex password to ensure instance security.
|
The following code demonstrates how to create a subscription instance:
import com.aliyuncs.DefaultAcsClient;
import com.aliyuncs.IAcsClient;
import com.aliyuncs.exceptions.ClientException;
import com.aliyuncs.exceptions.ServerException;
import com.aliyuncs.profile.DefaultProfile;
import com.google.gson.Gson;
import java.util.*;
import com.aliyuncs.ecs.model.v20140526.*;
public class RunInstances {
public static void main(String[] args) {
DefaultProfile profile = DefaultProfile.getProfile("cn-hangzhou", "<accessKeyId>", "<accessSecret>");
IAcsClient client = new DefaultAcsClient(profile);
RunInstancesRequest request = new RunInstancesRequest();
request.setRegionId("cn-hangzhou");
request.setImageId("aliyun_2_1903_x64_20G_alibase_20200324.vhd");
request.setInstanceType("ecs.s6-c1m2.small");
request.setSecurityGroupId("sg-bp1dve08xy2c8y9g****");
request.setVSwitchId("vsw-bp1mihse903i05oxn****");
request.setInstanceName("ecs_sdk_demo");
request.setInternetMaxBandwidthOut(1);
request.setPassword("<yourPassword>");
request.setPeriod(1);
request.setPeriodUnit("Month");
request.setInstanceChargeType("PrePaid");
try {
RunInstancesResponse response = client.getAcsResponse(request);
System.out.println(new Gson().toJson(response));
} catch (ServerException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (ClientException e) {
System.out.println("ErrCode:" + e.getErrCode());
System.out.println("ErrMsg:" + e.getErrMsg());
System.out.println("RequestId:" + e.getRequestId());
}
}
}
The following sample result of the code is displayed:
{
"requestId": "9582F9F2-349C-438E-A6A2-3E7B6B56****",
"tradePrice": ****,
"instanceIdSets": ["i-bp1hcv43i3glqxbv****"]
}
Connect to the ECS instance
This section describes how to connect to a Linux instance by using Cloud Shell. For
information about how to connect to a Windows instance, see Connect to a Windows instance by using a username and password.
- Query the public IP address of the instance.
API |
Parameter |
Example |
DescribeInstances |
RegionId |
The region ID of the instance. Example: cn-hangzhou.
|
InstanceIds |
The ID of the instance. Set the value to the InstanceIdSets value returned in the
Purchase an ECS instance section.
Example: '["i-bp1hcv43i3glqxbv****"]'.
|
The following code demonstrates how to query the public IP address of the instance:
aliyun ecs DescribeInstances \
--RegionId cn-hangzhou \
--InstanceIds '["i-bp1hcv43i3glqxbv****"]'
Find the following public IP address in the sample result of the code.

- Use an SSH key pair to log on to the instance.
Release an instance
You can manually release a subscription instance after it expires. If you do not renew
an expired instance, the instance is automatically released.