Help Center/ Elastic Cloud Server/ User Guide/ Instances/ Managing My ECSs/ Initializing an ECS
Updated on 2026-03-10 GMT+08:00
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Initializing an ECS

Scenarios

To make full use of your purchased ECS, initialize it as follows after purchase:

  • Setting a Password: If you did not set a password when purchasing an ECS, you need to reset the password before logging in to the ECS.
  • Installing UniAgent: UniAgent is a unified plug-in that supports self-service O&M operations, such as script execution, fault diagnosis, and online password reset on ECSs.
  • Initializing EVS Data Disks: Data disks added during ECS purchase need to be initialized before being used.
  • Enabling Detailed Monitoring: To better learn about ECS statuses, enable detailed monitoring for your ECS.

Constraints

  • Initialization configuration tasks are only displayed for ECSs created in the current region within the last three days. Tasks that are not completed within three days will be removed from the task list. You can complete the initialization configuration later.
  • Ensure that the ECS to be initialized is in Running state.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the ECS console and access the ECS list page.
  2. Above the list, click the number on the right of Configuration Reminder to open the slide-out panel.
    Figure 1 ECS configuration reminder
  3. In the task list, locate the ECS to be initialized and click Configure to start the initialization configuration.

If you did not set a password when purchasing an ECS, you need to reset the password before logging in to the ECS.

You can reset the password online or offline. You can learn about the constraints in Constraints and select an appropriate method to reset the password.

  • Online password reset
    1. (Optional) Click Enable to enable Cloud Operations Center (COC) and grant related operation permissions.

      The online password reset function depends on the COC service. If COC is not enabled, perform this step to enable it.

      For more details, see Configuring Custom Policies for ECS Self-Service O&M.

    2. (Optional) Click Install UniAgent.

      If UniAgent is not installed, perform this step to install it.

      UniAgent is a unified data collection agent that supports script delivery and execution. After UniAgent is installed, you can reset the password online.

      For details about how to install UniAgent, see Installing UniAgent on an ECS.

      Figure 2 Installing UniAgent
    3. Enter a new password and confirm the password.
      Figure 3 Online password reset
    4. Click Next to go to the next step.

      You can also click Skip to bypass this step and continue.

  • Offline password reset
    1. Enter a new password and confirm the password.
      Figure 4 Offline password reset
    2. Select The new password will be applied after the ECS is restarted.
    3. Click Next to go to the next step.

      You can also click Skip to bypass this step and continue.

UniAgent is a unified plug-in that supports self-service O&M operations, such as script execution, fault diagnosis, and online password reset on ECSs.

  1. (Optional) Click Enable to enable COC and grant related operation permissions.

    The operation depends on COC. If COC is not enabled, perform this step to enable it.

    For more details, see Configuring Custom Policies for ECS Self-Service O&M.

  2. Install UniAgent.
    • If UniAgent has already been installed on the ECS, click Next.
      Figure 5 UniAgent already installed
    • If UniAgent has not been installed on the ECS, manually install it.
      1. Set the UniAgent Version.
      2. Log in to the ECS and run the provided installation command.

        It takes several minutes to install UniAgent and synchronize the installation status. You can click Refresh to obtain the latest UniAgent installation status. Wait until the installation is complete and continue.

        For more details, see Installing UniAgent on an ECS.

  3. Click Next to go to the next step.

    You can also click Skip to bypass this step and continue.

A newly attached data disk cannot be used to store data. You must initialize the disk including creating partitions, creating file systems, and mounting the partitions before using it.

You can initialize a data disk in the following ways based on your service requirements.

Table 1 Data disk initialization

Operation

Auto-initialization

Manual initialization later

Default Partition Style

GPT

You can select a partition style based on the data disk capacity.

  • Capacity ≤ 2 TiB: MBR or GPT
  • Capacity > 2 TiB: GPT

Partition Styles

1
  • MBR: 4
  • GPT: Unlimited

File System Format

ext4

ext* (such as ext2, ext3, and ext4), xfs, and btrfs

Mount Point

/mnt/datadisk0....n

The number starts from 0 and increases with the number of data disks. If the path already exists, the number is skipped.

A mount point must be unique. It can contain only uppercase letters, lowercase letters, hyphens (-), underscores (_), and slashes (/). Each directory name cannot start or end with a hyphen (-) or underscore (_). The length cannot exceed 60 characters. The path must be an absolute path.

Default Mount Point Permissions

755

755

Automatic Mounting upon System Startup

Enabled

If you need to unmount the EVS disk, update the /etc/fstab file first to prevent the next startup failure.

Enabled

If you need to unmount the EVS disk, update the /etc/fstab file first to prevent the next startup failure.

Constraints
  • UniAgent and Python must be installed on the ECS, and the tools (lsblk, fdisk, blkid, parted, mount, and mkfs.ext4) required for auto-initialization must be included.
  • Do not perform any operations on the ECS or data disks during auto-initialization, as this may cause data disk damage.
  • Auto-initialization is not supported for data disks with existing partitions.
  • Auto-initialization is not supported for formatted data disks without partitions.
  • Auto-initialization is not supported for local disks.
  • Auto-initialization is not supported for data disks whose SERIAL and WWN cannot be found by running the lsblk command.
  • An EVS disk created from a data source does not need to be initialized. Such a disk has the source data in its initial state. Initializing the disk may clear the initial data on it. If you need to initialize the disk, back up the data first. To back up the data using CBR, see Backing Up EVS Disks. To back up the data using snapshots, see Creating an EVS Snapshot.
  • Initializing a disk does not delete the snapshots created for the disk, so you can still use snapshots to roll back data to the source disk after the disk is initialized.
  • An initialization operation includes partitioning, which deletes all the data on the disk.
  • If you change the partition style of a disk, data on the disk will be erased. Select an appropriate partition style when initializing disks.
  • Initializing a disk does not delete the snapshots created for the disk, so you can still use snapshots to roll back data to the source disk after the disk is initialized.

Supported OS
  • AlmaLinux 9.0 64bit
  • Rocky Linux 8.5 64bit
  • CentOS Stream 9 64bit
  • Huawei Cloud EulerOS 2.0 64bit
  • CentOS 8.0
  • openEuler 22.03 64bit

All
  • Auto-initialization
    1. Click Auto-initialization.
    2. Confirm the initialization configuration and click I confirm that data disks will be initialized automatically.
    3. Click Next to go to the next step.

      You can also click Skip to bypass this step and continue.

  • Manual initialization later
    1. Click Manual initialization later.
    2. Click Next to go to the next step.

      You can also click Skip to bypass this step and continue.

    For more details, see Initializing Data Disks.

To enable detailed monitoring, you need to install the Cloud Eye Agent on your ECS. Detailed monitoring provides system-level, proactive, and fine-grained monitoring for your ECS. You can learn about monitoring metrics details about vCPUs, memory, network, disks, and processes. These metrics details help you better understand your ECS status.

If you have enabled detailed monitoring when purchasing an ECS, you do not need to enable it again. You can click Submit to submit the initialization configuration task.

  1. Click the Yes card and then click Submit.

    Cloud Eye Agent will be installed automatically.

  2. (Optional) Manually install Cloud Eye Agent.

    If the ECS does not support one-click installation of Cloud Eye Agent, you need to log in to the ECS, download the installation program, and manually run the installation command as prompted.

    It takes several minutes to install Cloud Eye Agent and synchronize the installation status. You can click Refresh to obtain the latest Cloud Eye Agent installation status. Wait until the installation is complete and continue.

    For more information about Cloud Eye Agent installation, see Installing and Configuring the Agent.

  3. Click Submit.
  4. View monitoring information. You can view the monitoring metrics of the ECS by referring to Viewing ECS Metrics.
    For details about monitoring metrics, see the following sections:

Follow-up Procedure

To improve the security of your ECS, you are advised to enable HSS after the initial configuration is complete.

HSS is designed to enhance server security through diverse functions, including server management, risk prevention, intrusion detection, security operations, and web tamper protection (WTP). HSS can comprehensively identify and manage information assets on servers, detect server risks in real time, and prevent intrusions. This helps companies build a server security system and reduce threats. For more information about how HSS works, see What Is HSS?

To use HSS, you need to install the HSS Agent on your ECSs. After the HSS Agent is installed, your ECSs are protected. You can view and manage the statuses and security risks of your ECSs in a given region on the HSS console.

When you purchase an ECS, host protection (HSS) is enabled by default. You can enjoy the HSS Basic Edition free of charge for 30 days. During this period, HSS provides functions such as OS vulnerability detection, weak password detection, and brute-force attack detection.

If you did not enable host protection when purchasing an ECS, you need to install the HSS Agent manually.

For details, see Installing the Agent on Huawei Cloud Servers and Enabling Protection.

Parent Topic: Managing My ECSs