All Products
Search
Document Center

Server Migration Center:Before you begin

Last Updated:Aug 12, 2026

Before you use SMC to migrate an ECS instance across zones, set up your Alibaba Cloud account, complete real-name verification, activate RAM and grant the required permissions, enable snapshots, and back up your data.

Prepare your Alibaba Cloud account

To prepare your Alibaba Cloud account:

  1. Register an account on the Alibaba Cloud website.

  2. Ensure that you have added a credit card or PayPal account as a payment method.

  3. If you need to migrate a server to a region in the Chinese mainland, you must complete real-name verification for your account.

    You can complete the verification in one of the following ways:

Activate RAM and grant permissions

  • Authorize SMC: You must grant SMC permission to access your cloud resources. Ensure that you have activated RAM. Log on to the SMC console and follow the prompts to complete the authorization. To the right of Cloud resource access authorization, click Go to authorize, and then click Agree to authorize in the pop-up dialog box.

  • Authorize a RAM user: If you are using a RAM user, you must log on to the RAM console with your Alibaba Cloud account and attach the AliyunSMCFullAccess policy to the RAM user.

Activate snapshot service

SMC creates a snapshot of the source server during migration. Ensure that you have activated the snapshot service. Log on to the SMC console and activate the service as prompted.

To the right of Activate snapshot service, click Go to activate.

Back up data

Create a snapshot to back up your data. This helps prevent data loss from system failures or other issues.