Create an instance by using the wizard

This topic describes how to create an ECS instance by using the wizard in the ECS console. To create an ECS instance, you must specify the instance type, image, storage, network, and security group. The wizard provides a variety of extended configuration features to meet your custom deployment and management requirements.

1. Go to the Custom Launch tab in the ECS console.
2. Perform the following operations in the Basic Configurations step:
   1. Set Billing Method to Subscription, Pay-As-You-Go, or Preemptible Instance. For more information about preemptible instances, see Overview.
      Note For information about how to create a preemptible instance, see Create a preemptible instance.
   2. Select a region and zone.

      By default, a zone is randomly assigned by the system. You can select a zone. For more information about regions and zones,see Regions and zones.

      Note You cannot change the region or zone after the instance is created.
   3. Select an instance type and specify the number of instances.

      The instance types that are available are determined by the selected region. You can go to the ECS Instance Types Available for Each Region page to view the instance types available in each region. For information about the application scenarios for each instance type, see Instance families.

      Note

      • The quota of pay-as-you-go or preemptible instances for your account is displayed on the page.
      • To use elastic network interfaces (ENIs), select an enterprise-level instance type equipped with at least two vCPUs or an entry-level instance type equipped with at least four vCPUs. For more information about the maximum number of ENIs that can be bound to an instance of each instance type, see Instance families.
      • To use a standard SSD, select an I/O optimized instance.
   4. Select an image. You can select a public image, a custom image, a shared image, or an Alibaba Cloud Marketplace image.
      Note

      • To use an SSH key pair, you must select a Linux image.
      • To configure user data, you can select only specified images. For more information, see Prepare user data.
      • To use a Red Hat public image, make sure that the instance family supports Red Hat images. For more information, see the Which instance families do Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) images support? section in Image FAQ.
      • Public images contain only initial system environments. You can find more images in Alibaba Cloud Marketplace.
   5. Configure the storage.
      • System Disk: required. You must create a system disk for the operating system. Select a disk category and specify the size for the system disk.
        • Disk category: Categories are available based on the selected region and instance type.
        • Size: The default size of the system disk is 40 GiB. If the selected image is greater than 40 GiB in size, the default size of the system disk is equal to the image size. The minimum size of the system disk is related to the image. The actual size is displayed on the buy page.

          Image	System disk capacity (GiB)
          Linux (excluding CoreOS and Red Hat)	[max {20, image size}, 500]
          FreeBSD	[max {30, image size}, 500]
          CoreOS	[max {30, image size}, 500]
          Red Hat	[max {40, image size}, 500]
          Windows	[max {40, image size}, 500]

      • Data Disk: optional. To create data disks for an instance while you are creating the instance, you must select the disk categories, and specify the sizes and quantity of the disks. You must also determine whether to encrypt the disks. For more information, see Encryption overview. You can create an empty data disk or create a data disk from a snapshot. You can add up to 16 data disks.
        Note

        A data disk that is created together with the instance has the following features:

        • The billing method of the data disk is the same as that of the instance.
        • Subscription data disks can be released only together with the instance to which they are attached. Pay-as-you-go data disks can be released either separately or together with the instance.
      • NAS File System: optional. You can select from existing file systems. Up to five file systems can be specified. For more information, see Mount a NAS file system when you purchase an ECS instance.
      • If you have selected an instance family equipped with local disks (such as i1, d1, or d1ne), the local disk information is displayed. You cannot specify the quantity or category of local disks because these settings depend on the selected instance type. For more information about the local disks that are supported by different instance types, see Instance families.
   6. Optional:Configure the snapshot service. Select an automatic snapshot policy and set the data source to back up (All Disks, Only System Disks, or Only Data Disks).
      Note You can use automatic snapshot policies to periodically back up disks to prevent risks such as virus attacks and accidental data deletion. The data source configured for the selected automatic snapshot policy includes only the disks created in the previous step. To back up subsequently created disks, you must apply automatic snapshot policies to them separately.
3. Click Next: Networking and configure the network settings and security groups for the instance.
   1. Select the network type.
      • VPC: You must select a VPC and a VSwitch. If you do not have a VPC and a VSwitch, you can use the default ones.
        Note Some instance families do not support advanced VPC features. For a list of these instance families, see Instance families that do not support advanced VPC features. If you select an instance type from an instance family that does not support advanced VPC features and advanced features are enabled for a VPC, the VPC is dimmed and cannot be selected. You can move the pointer over the dimmed VPC to view the prompt, and reselect another instance type that supports the advanced VPC features based on the prompt.
      • Classic: If you purchase an ECS instance for the first time after 12:00 on June 16, 2016 (UTC+8), you can no longer select the classic network.
   2. Configure the public bandwidth.
      • To assign a public IP address to the instance, you must select Assign Public IP Address. Then, select Pay-By-Traffic or Pay-By-Bandwidth as the billing method for network usage and specify the bandwidth. The public IP addresses assigned in this manner cannot be disassociated from the instance. For more information about the billing methods for network usage, see Billing methods of public bandwidth.
      • If your instance does not need to access the Internet or your VPC-type instance uses an elastic IP address (EIP) to access the Internet, you do not need to assign a public IP address. You can associate an EIP with or disassociate an EIP from an instance at any time.
   3. Select a security group.
      If you have not created a security group, you can use the default security group. For more information about rules of the default security group, see Overview.
   4. Add an ENI.
      If the instance type that you selected supports ENIs, you can add an ENI and specify a VSwitch.

      Note By default, the added ENI is released together with the instance. You can unbind the ENI from the instance by using the ECS console or by calling the DetachNetworkInterface operation.
4. Optional:Click Next: System Configurations and complete the following configurations:
   1. Select and set logon credentials.
      Select a credential based on the image:

      • Linux: You can select a password or an SSH key pair as the logon credential.
      • Windows: You can select only a password as the logon credential.

      You can set the logon credential for an instance after the instance is created. For more information, see Reset the logon password of an instance.

   2. Specify the instance name that you want to display in the ECS console and the hostname that can be obtained from within the guest operating system.
   3. Configure advanced options.
      • RAM Role: Assign a RAM role to the instance.
      • User Data: Customize the startup behavior of the instance or pass data into the instance.
5. Optional:Click Next: Grouping and group the instance you have created.
   1. Add tags.
      If you have multiple instances, you can use tags to facilitate management. For more information, see Overview.
   2. Select a resource group.
      Resource groups are designed for enterprise users. Enterprise users can use this feature to organize and manage resources owned by multiple accounts and assigned to multiple projects. For more information, see Resource groups.
   3. Select a deployment set.
      Deployment sets are designed to manage the deployment of instances. Instances in the same deployment set can be assigned to different physical servers. This policy can ensure high availability of services and support the disaster recovery capability of the infrastructure. For more information, see Create a deployment set.
   4. Select a dedicated host.
      You can select Random DDH Supporting Automatic Deployment / AutoPlacement or specify a dedicated host.

      Dedicated hosts are flexible and elastic and provide you with exclusive access to their resources. For more information, see Features.

6. Confirm the order.
   1. In the Configurations Selected section, confirm all the configurations. You can also click the Edit icon to change the configurations.
      • Optional. Click Save as Launch Template to save your configurations as a launch template that can be used later. For more information, see Launch templates.
      • Optional. Click View Open API to view best-practice API scripts. On the left side of the dialog box, the API Workflow section describes the API operations related to the current operation and lists the request parameters and their values. Programming language-specific SDK examples are provided on the right side of the dialog box. Examples in Java and Python are available. For more information, see Introduction.
      • Optional. Click Save as ROS Template to save your configurations as a ROS template that can be used to create stacks. For more information, see Create a stack.
   2. Optional:If the billing method is Pay-As-You-Go, you can select Automatic Release.
   3. Optional:If the billing method is Subscription, you can specify the duration and specify whether to select Enable Auto-renewal.
   4. Confirm the configuration fees.
      The following table lists the billing methods for instances and network usage that are used to calculate the fees you must pay.

      Instance billing method	Billing method for network usage	Billed item
      Pay-as-you-go or preemptible instance	Pay-by-traffic	Internet traffic fee and configuration fee. The configuration fee consists of fees for the instance type (vCPUs and memory), the system disk, data disks (if any), and local disks (if any).
      	Pay-by-bandwidth	The configuration fee consists of fees for the instance type (vCPUs and memory), the system disk, data disks (if any), local disks (if any), and the public bandwidth.
      Subscription	Pay-by-bandwidth	The configuration fee consists of fees for the instance type (vCPUs and memory), the system disk, data disks (if any), local disks (if any), and the public bandwidth.
      	Pay-by-traffic	Internet traffic fee and configuration fee. The configuration fee consists of fees for the instance type (vCPUs and memory), the system disk, data disks (if any), and local disks (if any).

   5. Read and select ECS Terms of Service.
7. Confirm to create the instance.
   • Subscription instance: Click Create Order.
   • Pay-as-you-go instance: Click Create Instance.