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Elastic Compute Service

Buying ECS instances

Purchasing an instance by following the wizard

Scenarios

If you need to purchase one or multiple ECS instances, this topic is for your reference.

Procedure

In the left-side navigation pane, select "Instances & Images > Instances".

In the top menu bar, select the region and project.

tip

After you select a project, ECS instances that you create can be associated only with the selected project. If you select "All Resources", ECS instances that you create can be associated with any project under the current account.

Select "Create instance > Custom purchase" to start purchasing an ECS instance.

Then, you can follow the page wizard to complete the Basic configuration, Network configuration, and Custom configuration in sequence. The configuration description below is for your reference.

After you configure parameters, click "Next" to go to the Confirm page. On this page, confirm the instance configuration and enter the purchase information.

Quantity: the number of ECS instances to be purchased this time.

Purchase time and Automatic renewal (only for instances with the "Subscription" billing method): Select a subscription duration for the subscription-based instance, and then set whether to "Enable automatic renewal". Once you enable automatic renewal, the system automatically deducts the renewal fee before the instance expires.

Agreement: follow the console instructions to review and confirm the legal agreements.

Configuration fee: Hover over the question mark next to the configuration fee at the bottom of the page. Then, you can view cost details and discount amounts, such as fees for instance type, system volume, data volume, and EIP.

(Optional) If you need to save the selected configuration as a launch template, click the "Save as Template" button in the upper right corner.

Select to save the configuration as "Template" or "Version". If you need to save it as the template, specify the template name. If you need to save it as the latest version of an existing template, select the name of that existing template.

Click the "Save" button to complete the operation.

If you need to continue instance creation, click "Return to Create Instances" to go back to the Confirm page.

If you need to view the newly created template or version, click "View new template/version" to go to the "Launch Templates" page.

After you verify that the information is correct, click "Buy now" to navigate to the submission page. Then, you can check whether the instance is created.

Click "Go to the console" to view the ECS instance on the "Instances" page.

Configuration item description

Basic information

Parameter	Description	Sample value	Screenshot
Basic information
Billing method	Pay-as-you-go: This is a postpaid mode, charged hourly based on actual usage duration. It allows you to create or delete instances at any time. Subscription: A prepaid mode in which you are charged based on the subscription duration. Spot: This is a postpaid mode, similar to Pay-as-you-go but with a greater discount. Elastic Scheduled Instances: ESIs combine reservation and postpaid mode. They are similar to pay-as-you-go instances but offer much more discounts. tip Besides the above methods, the platform supports other billing methods for different business scenarios. After learning the billing logic of each billing method, you can select the instance billing method based on your needs.	Pay-as-you-go
Region and AZ	Region: Private networks in different regions are isolated from each other. We recommend that you select a region that is closest to your business to reduce network latency and improve access speed. Availability zone: An availability zone refers to a physical area in the same region that is isolated in electricity power and network. By default, internal networks between availability zones in the same VPC are interconnected. We recommend that you deploy instances with low-latency requirements in the same availability zone, and deploy instances with disaster recovery needs in different availability zones in the same region. tip After you create an instance, you can not change the region and availability zone of the created instance. For more information on regions and availability zones, refer to Regions and availability zones. By default, the system selects "Random" in the specified region. This means that the system randomly selects a main availability zone in the region for you based on your selected instance type. You can also specify another availability zone.	China (Beijing) B
Instance configuration
Instance type	ECS instances of different types offer different network and storage rate limiting capabilities. You can choose an instance type based on your business requirements. For information on different instance characteristics, applicable scenarios, and performance metric data, refer to Instance type and specification. Instance types available for sale may vary in different regions and availability zones. You can view the availability zones and regions available in the "Availability zone" column of the target instance type.	General-purpose g3i
Enable Hyper-Threading	If you set instance type to "HPC CPU", enable or disable hyper-threading based on your needs (disabled by default). Hyper-Threading (HT) technology allows two threads to run concurrently on each physical CPU core. A thread can be considered as a vCPU, meaning one physical core contains two vCPUs and can handle different software threads. Enable hyper-threading: This feature is applicable for scenarios where CPU cores need to process more information and background tasks in parallel simultaneously. By enabling hyper-threading, you can greatly improve computing performance of your instance. Disable hyper-threading: This feature is applicable for compute-intensive scenarios where performance is better when hyper-threading is disabled. Examples include high-performance computing use cases like material calculations. tip This feature is in Beta. If you need a trial, please contact your account manager.	-
HPC cluster	If the instance type is HPC-related, you also need to select an HPC Cluster. An HPC cluster is used to logically isolate HPC-optimized instances. If no HPC cluster is available, you can create an HPC cluster.	-
Image	Images provide operating systems and essential application data for ECS instances. You can choose different images based on different regions and instance types. You can also select an image based on the image platform and image version. Public image: Public images are images with legitimate copyrights provided by the platform, including Windows Server and mainstream Linux images. Custom images: Custom images are created or uploaded by you. Shared images: Shared images are shared with you by other accounts. Marketplace images: Marketplace images are images uploaded to the Universal Marketplace by VolcanoEngine or Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) for you to select and use. tip If the custom image you select has any items that are strongly recommended to be fixed, click the "View details" button and follow the guidance to complete the fixes before you use the custom image. This helps prevent instance malfunctions caused by image issues. Learn more When you create an instance of certain instance type with a Windows Server custom image, the platform automatically upgrades the Virtio driver. This can improve the image's compatibility with the instance and enhance system stability. The Windows operating system comes with a visual interface. The Linux operating system uses a command-line interface by default, but you can also install a visual interface for it. For detailed operations, refer to Installing a GUI in Linux. After you select the operating system of Windows Server to create an instance, the system needs to execute the sysprep initialization process that takes about 5 minutes. If your login fails during initialization, try again later. If you restart the instance during initialization, system abnormalities may happen. Please wait patiently. When you buy an EBM instance, select an image supported by EBM. For more information on public images supported by EBM, refer to Image release notes. After you create an instance, you can change the operating system of the instance. For more information, see Changing operating systems.	CentOS Stream 9
		Acknowledgment: Certain instance types require the image you select to have the Virtio 1.1 driver installed. Please refer to Installing the Virtio driver to understand the relevant requirements, and install the driver for your selected custom or shared image as instructed.	-
		Install cloud assistant agent on startup: Cloud assistant is a native tool used for automated O&M. With cloud assistant agent, you can perform batch operation commands on ECS instances. You do not need to input passwords, log in, or use a jump server. tip Currently, this feature is only available for instances created from Linux-based public images. Image versions earlier than CentOS 6.9 do not support this feature.	-
		Security enhancement: This feature is free of charge. You can select whether to enable security enhancement for the image. Security enhancement provides host security services such as system vulnerability scanning and unauthorized login alerting. You can manage these services through the Security Center console for the security protection of your host.	-
Storage	A system volume is used to store the operating system and is created with the ECS instance. The system volume and the ECS instance have the same lifecycle. For details on available volume types and specifications, refer to Volume specifications.	ESSD, 40 GiB
		Data volumes can be used to store application data. The number of data volumes supported by one ECS instance is determined by the instance type. For more information, refer to Instance type and specification. For more information on the available volume types and specifications, refer to Volume specifications. When creating an ECS instance, you can buy and mount data volumes for it. You can also attach volumes for a created ECS instance. tip After creating an instance, you also need to complete initialization of the data volume, such as formatting, partitioning, and creating a file system before you can use the volume. For specific actions, refer to Overview. The lifecycle of a data volume is decoupled from the ECS instance. Therefore, you can buy and release data volumes based on your needs. If you select a data volume when creating an ECS instance, the "Delete with instance" is checked by default. If you uncheck the option, the system automatically retains your data volume after you delete the ECS instance. When deleting the ECS instance, you can also confirm whether to delete the associated data volume. You can create volumes with snapshots. Snapshots are backup files of volume data at a particular time. You can quickly import data by selecting "Create cloud disk with snapshots". For more details, refer to Creating a volume through snapshots.	ESSD, 20 GiB
		When the volume is of the ESSD_FlexPL type, you can enable performance burst as needed. Performance burst enables volumes to exceed their configured baseline performance (IOPS or throughput) for a short period to handle sudden high-load spikes. This feature is ideal for I/O scenarios that are generally stable over long periods but experience short-term extreme spikes. This helps you avoid continuously provisioning high-specification volumes for short-term peaks, thereby effectively reducing storage costs. Description This feature is in Beta. If you need a trial, please contact your account manager. This feature is only available in Pay-as-you-go mode. It does not support other billing methods, such as Subscription.	--

Network configuration

Parameter	Description	Sample value	Screenshot
Network
Virtual Private Cloud	A VPC builds an isolated virtual network environment for cloud resources. Networks of different VPCs are isolated from each other. If you do not need to customize the network configuration when creating an instance for the first time, you can use the default configuration. Therefore, you can directly use the VPC created by the system. When you create other instances, you can still select this default VPC in the drop-down menu. The default VPC automatically created by the system belongs to the default project. If your IAM user has no granted permissions for the default project, you can not use the default VPC. You can create a VPC yourself, or contact the primary account to get authorized. If you need to customize VPC, click "Create VPC" to manually create a new VPC. After creating the VPC, you can find it in the drop-down list on this page. For more information, refer to Creating a VPC.	vpc01
Subnet	Select a subnet to assign a private IP address to the primary network interface of an instance. Therefore, you can manage the instance network through this network interface. After selecting a subnet, you can use the idle IPv4 address that is automatically assigned by the system from the selected subnet. You can also manually assign an idle IPv4 address from the subnet. You can create a new subnet by clicking "Create Subnet" on the creation page of subnet. After creating the subnet, you can choose it from the drop-down list on this page.	subnet01
Security group	A security group is used to control the outbound and inbound traffic at the ECS network interface. You must associate an ECS instance with a security group. For details, refer to Security group overview. Security groups are designed based on the allowlist principle. By default, security groups deny the inbound and outbound traffic of network interfaces. You can add security group rules based on your needs to allow traffic. Each network interface can be associated with up to 5 security groups. After creating an ECS instance, you can also change the security group of its network interface based on your needs.	Default
Secondary network interface	You need to select a subnet to assign a secondary network interface to the ECS instance. After you create the instance, enable the secondary network interface, then configure routes for the secondary network interface. For detailed actions, refer to Configuring a network interface and a private IP address.	-
Jumbo frames	After the "Enable jumbo frames" feature is selected, with the same data volume, jumbo frames transmit larger data blocks per operation than standard Ethernet frames. This reduces the frequency of packet fragmentation and reassembly by the CPU and lowers the CPU processing load. Additionally, jumbo frames generate fewer packets. This reduces network protocol overhead, queuing delays, and switching/forwarding times, which thereby shortens the overall network processing time. tip Only certain instance types support the jumbo frame feature. For details, refer to instance types supporting jumbo frames.	-
IPv6	After you enable "Free allocation of IPv6 addresses", the system automatically assigns an IPv6 address to the primary network interface of the instance. By default, only private network communication is available. To access the IPv6 public network communication, refer to Configuring an IPv6 gateway to enable IPv6 access to Internet. If IPv6 is not enabled for the selected VPC and subnet, activate IPv6 before you enable this feature. When you create an instance, you can assign IPv6 address to the primary network interface only. To assign an IPv6 address to a secondary network interface, refer to Assigning IPv6 Addresses to Network Interfaces. IPv6 related features are currently in Beta and temporarily only support accounts that have completed enterprise certification to apply for trial. If you need a trial, please contact your account manager.	-
EIP
Select Elastic IP (EIP)	When you create an ECS instance, an EIP is automatically assigned by default. The EIP is associated with the primary private IP of the primary network interface. This enables the instance to be accessed via Internet. After creating the instance, you can also associate an EIP with the instance based on your needs. If an ECS instance can not connect to the Internet after you associate an EIP to the instance, refer to Why can't an ECS instance associated with an EIP connect to the Internet?	Select Elastic IP (EIP)
Billing method	EIPs support pay-as-you-go and subscription billing methods. For more information, refer to Billing overview. tip If the billing method of the ECS instance is pay-as-you-go, you can not select the subscription billing method for the EIP on this page. If you need to associate a subscription-based EIP with a pay-as-you-go instance, manually associate an EIP after you create the instance.	Pay-as-you-go
Security protection	After choosing "Pay-as-you-go" as the billing method, you need to select a security protection mode for the EIP. Default: the default protection mode. EIP in this mode is by default covered by Basic DDoS Protection and has the Basic DDoS Protection capabilities. Enhanced protection: the enhanced protection mode. In addition to Basic DDoS Protection capability, EIP in this mode also has access to DDoS Native Protection (Enterprise Edition). Therefore, EIP can obtain low-latency, high-reach Tbps-level DDoS Native Protection capability. tip The EIP in enhanced protection mode is currently in Beta, and only supports trial by accounts that have passed enterprise certification. If you need a trial, please contact your account manager to apply. By default, subscription-based instances only support EIP in the default protection mode. After the application is completed, you can not change the security protection type for EIP of the created instance. Please set it with caution.	Enhanced protection
Security protection	If you choose the "Enhanced Protection", your instance will be secured with DDoS Native Protection (Enterprise Edition).	ddos-xx
ISP	BGP (Multi-ISP) is supported.	BGP (Multi-ISP)
Billing method	When the EIP billing method is "Pay-as-you-go", you need to specify the metering method for the EIP. You can choose Pay-by-bandwidth or Pay-by-data-transfer.	Pay-by-data-transfer
Bandwidth upper limit	Set the maximum bandwidth measured in Mbps for EIP. After creation, you can change the maximum bandwidth of EIP at any time. For the specific range, refer to Performance limits. tip Bandwidth is divided into inbound and outbound bandwidth. By default, outbound bandwidth is the same as the maximum bandwidth you set. The inbound bandwidth performs differently based on whether your maximum bandwidth is above 10 Mbps. For more details, refer to Regional bandwidth limitations.	5Mbps
Add EIP to Bandwidth Package	You can choose to add the EIP to a Shared Bandwidth Package. This allows multiple EIPs to share one bandwidth, which can help you reduce usage costs of Internet bandwidth. After you add the EIP to the Shared Bandwidth Package, the original maximum bandwidth of the EIP is invalid. The EIP shares the bandwidth of the Bandwidth Package. The billing items of bandwidth fee and traffic fee then become invalid. You only need to pay the IP configuration fee. For more information, refer to What is Bandwidth Package. If you want to associate an EIP with a Shared Bandwidth Package, the following conditions must be met: The EIP and bandwidth package belong to the same region. The EIP and bandwidth package must be of the same security mode. The billing method of the EIP is Pay-as-you-go.	-
Release settings	If you associate a pay-as-you-go EIP with the instance that is being created, you can enable "Release with instance" or not. If you enable the option, the EIP is released synchronously when the instance is deleted or unsubscribed. If not, the EIP is automatically retained. And you can associate the EIP with other instances. When deleting pay-as-you-go instances or unsubscribing subscription instances, you can also check whether to release the EIP with the instance. For a subscription-based EIP, you can not select whether to release it with the instance on this page.	Released with instance

Custom configuration

Parameter	Description	Sample value	Screenshot
Login method
Login credentials	Login credentials that are used to log in to the ECS instance. "Password", "Key Pair", and "Keep image settings" are available for your option. Password and SSH key: A key pair consists of a public key and a private key. If you already have a key pair, select the name of the key pair to associate it with the ECS instance. After this, you can log in to Linux ECS instances with private keys. If you do not have a key pair, click "Create Key Pair" to create one. We recommend that you use "Key Pair" as it offers higher security. If you choose to use a password, specify a complex password to improve security. tip You cannot select "Key pair" for a Windows image. Keep image settings: If you use a custom or shared image for instance, you can select "Keep image settings". This allows you to use the password or key pair specified for the image to log in to the ECS instance. tip To use a configured password to log in to ECS instances that were created from public Windows images before November 10, 2022, you must change the operating system or modify the Cloudbase-init configuration file of the image first. For more information, refer to Install Cloudbase-init on the VM. To use a configured password to log in to ECS instances that are created from a custom or shared Windows image, you must modify the Cloudbase-init configuration file of the image first. For more information on configuration change, refer to Installing Cloudbase-init on the virtual machine.	Key Pair
Instance configuration
Instance name	The name of the ECS instance. By default, the system automatically generates instance names based on the product name. You can also change the name based on your needs. You can specify sequential hostnames for ECS instances that are created in a batch. For more information, refer to Batch configuring sequential instance names or hostnames.	ECS-u2kg
Host name	The internal computer name of the operating system. Each hostname identifies a computer on a network. We recommend that you specify a hostname for each ECS instance. If you do not specify a hostname, the system generates a name based on the ID of the ECS instance for you. When creating an ECS instance, you can specify a hostname or modify it later after you create an instance. For more information, refer to Changing the hostname of an instance. You can specify sequential hostnames for ECS instances that are created in a batch. For more information, refer to Batch configuring sequential instance names or hostnames.	-
Instance deletion protection	You can enable this feature to prevent the instance from being deleted by mistake. By default, this feature is disabled. After enabling this feature, you can not delete the instance through the console or API. Learn more	-
Advanced configuration
Associated project	A project is a collection of resources. You can add the new instance to a project and manage it centrally at the project level, which helps keep resources independent and maintain data security. For more information on projects, refer to Managing projects. By default, instances are associated with the default project. Each instance can only belong to one project. After you select a project, only users that have permissions on the project can use the created instance. If you associate an ECS instance with a project, resources that are created with the ECS instance are also added to the project. Resources include system and data volumes, primary network interface, and EIP associated with the primary network interface. After creating an instance, you can change the project of the instance based on your needs. If you select a specific project in the top navigation bar when enter the creation page, the newly created instance can only be associated with that project. To associate it to another project, change the project in the top navigation bar to either "All Resources" or the target project. If no projects are available, you can click the "Create project" button to create one. After you create a project, return to this page to select the new project.	default
Tag	A tag is a key-value pair used to identify cloud resources. Tags help you categorize cloud resources based on different dimensions, such as purpose, owner, or environment. This allows you to search and aggregate your cloud resources. Click "Add tags" and select existing tags or enter new tags to associate tags with the instance. For more information, refer to Managing tags. If you associate an ECS instance with a tag, sub-resources created along with the ECS instance are also associated with this tag. Such resources include system and data volumes, primary network interface, and EIP associated with the primary network interface. If you associate an ECS instance with a tag after the instance is created, the tag will not be synchronized to related sub-resources.	Key1:Value1
Deployment set	Deployment sets allow you to distribute instances across different physical servers. This ensures the underlying disaster recovery and high availability of your services. When creating an instance, you can check the "Add instances to deployment set" option and select a deployment set. This allows you add the instance to an existing deployment set. If no deployment sets are available, you can click "Create Deployment Set" option to create one. The region of the ECS instance should be the same as that of deployment set. For more information, refer to Deployment set management.	-
Advanced option	Set custom data for the instance. You can use instance custom data to make the system automatically configure the instance or pass in data when the instance starts up. If the custom data of the instance is encoded in Base64 format, select "The text is encoded in Base64 format". You can also enter custom data that are not encoded in Base64 format. After you upload custom data, the custom data is automatically encoded in Base64 format. For more information, refer to Configuring user data.	-
Advanced option		Configure the metadata access mode. The metadata refers to the basic information of an ECS instance on the cloud platform. You can use metadata to configure or manage your instances. Normal Mode and Security Hardening Mode: This mode allows you to directly access instance metadata in the traditional way and use token-based authentication for enhanced security. Security Hardening Mode (Beta): Only token-based authentication is supported to access instance metadata. tip For information on how to view metadata and the available metadata items, refer to Viewing instance metadata. Security Hardening Mode is currently in Beta. If you need a trial, please contact your account manager to apply. Security Hardening Mode can be used as expected only when the image used by the instance is a custom image that supports this mode. Learn more.	Normal Mode and Security Hardening Mode

Subsequent operations

After you purchase an instance, refer to Subsequent operations to learn how to use ECS instances.