An instance is a logical entity used in Tablestore to manage tables. Each instance is equivalent to a database. Tablestore implements application access control and resource measurement at the instance level. After Tablestore is activated, you can create an instance in the Tablestore console and then create and manage tables within this instance.

Tablestore allows you to create up to 10 instances in each Alibaba Cloud account and up to 64 tables within each instance. If you want to raise this quota, submit a ticket.

Instance

Instance types

Tablestore supports two instance types: high-performance instances and capacity instances. Both instances types support petabytes of data for a single table, but differ in costs and applicable scenarios. The following table compares the two instance types.
Notice After an instance is created, you cannot change its instance type. Exercise caution when you select the instance type.
Instance type Scenario Billing method Read performance Write performance Concurrency
High-performance instance This instance type is applicable to scenarios that require both high read and write performance and high concurrency, such as gaming, financial risk control, social networking applications, and recommendation systems.
  • Reserved read/write throughput
  • Additional read/write throughput
 High High High
Capacity instance This instance type is applicable to services that are not sensitive to the read performance but are sensitive to costs, such as services that involve log monitoring data, Internet of Vehicles Data, device data, time sequence data, logistics data, and public opinion monitoring data. Additional read/write throughput Medium High Medium

Instance naming conventions

The name of an instance must be unique within a region. The name can be the same across different regions. The naming conventions:

  • The name can contain letters, digits, and hyphens (-).
  • The name must start with a letter.
  • The name cannot end with a hyphen (-).
  • The name is case-insensitive.
  • The name must be 3 to 16 characters in length.
  • The name cannot contain ali, ay, ots, taobao, or admin.

Instance types supported in each region

Region High-performance instance Capacity instance
China (Hangzhou) Supported Supported
East China 1 Finance Supported Not supported
China (Shanghai) Supported Supported
China East 2 Finance Not supported Supported
China (Qingdao) Not supported Supported
China (Beijing) Supported Supported
China (Zhangjiakou) Supported Supported
China (Hohhot) Not supported Supported
China (Shenzhen) Supported Supported
China (Chengdu) Supported Supported
China (Hong Kong) Supported Supported
Singapore Supported Not supported
Australia (Sydney) Not supported Supported
Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) Supported Supported
Indonesia (Jakarta) Supported Supported
Japan (Tokyo) Not supported Supported
Germany (Frankfurt) Supported Supported
UK (London) Supported Supported
US (Silicon Valley) Supported Not supported
US (Virginia) Supported Supported
India (Mumbai) Supported Supported
UAE (Dubai) Not supported Supported
Philippines (Manila) Supported Not supported
Thailand (Bangkok) Supported Not supported