Regions and zones define where your ApsaraDB RDS instance runs and how it connects to other resources.
Regions and zones explained
A region is a physical data center. Once you create an RDS instance, its region is permanent—you cannot change it.
Zones are independent physical areas within a region, each with their own power and network infrastructure. The network latency between instances in the same zone is lower than between instances in different zones. Instances in different zones of the same region can communicate over an internal network.
Can an ECS instance and an RDS instance in different regions communicate?
Yes, but only over the Internet using public endpoints. Internet traffic is free of charge. However, Internet-based connections have poor performance, security, and stability compared to internal network connections.
To communicate over an internal network, choose one of these approaches:
Move one instance (simpler): Release one of the two instances and re-create it in the same region as the other instance.Cancel the subscription
Connect via CEN (keeps both instances in place): Change the network type of both the Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance and the RDS instance to virtual private cloud (VPC). Then use Cloud Enterprise Network (CEN) to connect the two VPCs. See Change the network type of an ApsaraDB RDS instance and Use CEN to enable intra-region network communication.
Can instances in different zones of the same region communicate over an internal network?
Yes. Instances in different zones of the same region can communicate over an internal network using internal endpoints. For endpoint details, see View and change the internal and public endpoints and ports.
Can I change the region of my RDS instance?
No. The region is fixed after you confirm the purchase order. To move your data to another region, use DTS to migrate the data to a new RDS instance in the target region, then release the original instance. See Overview of data migration scenarios and Release or unsubscribe from an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance.
Can I change the zone of my RDS instance?
Yes. Zones within the same region do not have significant differences—a zone change is rarely necessary. If you have a specific reason to move, see Migrate an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance across zones in the same region.
Single-zone or multi-zone deployment?
Zones in the same region are isolated from each other—if one zone goes down, the others are unaffected. If your application requires high disaster recovery capabilities, we recommend multi-zone deployment.
For setup instructions, see Create an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance.