Updated on 2024-06-24 GMT+08:00

Basic Concepts

This section describes the account types of Huawei Cloud services.

The "HUAWEI ID" mentioned in this section has been presumably used to enable Huawei Cloud services.

HUAWEI ID

A HUAWEI ID is a unified "identity" for a customer to access various Huawei portals. You can sign up for just one HUAWEI ID to obtain access to all of Huawei's services, including Huawei Cloud, HUAWEI Mobile Services, HUAWEI devices (such as HUAWEI Phones), and HUAWEI Developers. After you create a HUAWEI ID through Huawei Cloud, you can use it to purchase Huawei Cloud resources. The HUAWEI ID has full access permissions for your cloud resources and can be used to make payments for them. You can use the HUAWEI ID to reset IAM user passwords, assign permissions, and receive and pay all bills generated for resources used by your IAM users.

You can modify your account details or delete your account in Huawei account center.

Huawei Cloud Account

Huawei Cloud accounts can only be used to log in to Huawei Cloud. An account is created after you sign up for Huawei Cloud. Your account has full access permissions for your cloud resources and makes payments for the use of these resources. You can use this account to perform operations such as resetting your login password and assigning permissions.

Huawei Cloud accounts that have been created in Huawei Cloud need to be upgraded to HUAWEI IDs. After the upgrade, you can use a HUAWEI ID to log in to Huawei Cloud and the Huawei Cloud account is no longer available for login. For more information, see Account Upgrade.

Currently, Huawei Cloud no longer supports the registration of Huawei Cloud accounts. To use Huawei Cloud services, sign up for a HUAWEI ID and enable Huawei Cloud services.

Huawei Website Account

Huawei website account is the Huawei Uniportal ID. It is created in the Huawei official website and cannot be used to log in to Huawei Cloud. To use Huawei Cloud services, sign up for a HUAWEI ID and enable Huawei Cloud services.

IAM User

You can use a HUAWEI ID to create users in Identity and Access Management (IAM) and assign them permissions for specific resources. Each IAM user has their own credentials (password and access keys) and uses cloud resources based on assigned permissions. IAM users cannot make payments for cloud resources they use.

IAM users are provided by Huawei Cloud and they can only use specific resources based on the assigned permissions. You can use the HUAWEI ID to modify or revoke the permissions assigned to IAM users at any time. The bills generated for the resources used by IAM users are paid by the HUAWEI ID. Huawei Cloud does not issue bills to IAM users, and IAM users cannot make payments for cloud resources they use.

Figure 1 HUAWEI ID and IAM users

Enterprise Master Account and Member Account

An enterprise master account and member account are both HUAWEI IDs.

An enterprise master account is an enterprise account that has enabled the Enterprise Center and has not joined the Cloud Solution Provider Program. It can be used by a medium- or large-sized enterprise to manage commercial discounts, funds, invoices, and bills for multiple accounts across subsidiaries or departments.

Enterprise Center enables multiple HUAWEI IDs to be associated with each other for accounting purposes. If a customer uses a HUAWEI ID to enable Enterprise Center, the HUAWEI ID becomes a master account, and the customer can use it to create a hierarchical organization, create member accounts, or associate existing accounts as member accounts.

To invite another account to function as a member account, an enterprise master account must meet specific requirements as described in Inviting an Existing Account.

Resource Account

In the Landing Zone solution, a resource account is the minimum unit for resource isolation. Resource accounts are used to manage enterprise resources and security.

After an enterprise master account creates a resource account using Organizations, the financial hosting relationship is automatically established between the resource account and the enterprise master account. Different from unified accounting member accounts, resource accounts cannot be used for transactions on Huawei Cloud.

Partner Account

An enterprise customer can sign up for a HUAWEI ID and enable Huawei Cloud services, and join HCPN to become a Huawei Cloud partner.

Different from a HUAWEI ID, a partner account is a management account used by a partner to develop and manage customers and fulfill the responsibilities of granting credits, selling services, billing, and making payments. A partner account can be associated with multiple HUAWEI IDs. After the association is completed, the HUAWEI IDs become the partner's sub-customer accounts.

If a customer associated with the partner is a reseller customer, the customer deals with the partner. The partner issues an invoice to and collects payment from the customer. Huawei Cloud completes settlement with (based on the settlement fee) and issues an invoice to the partner. The partner pays Huawei Cloud and generates revenue based on the difference between the price paid by the customer and the price they pay to Huawei Cloud.

Relationships Between Different Accounts

A customer can have multiple HUAWEI IDs, and each HUAWEI ID can be used to create multiple IAM users. A HUAWEI ID that meets specific requirements can enable Enterprise Center and associate other HUAWEI IDs as its member accounts.

Enterprise Management enables multiple HUAWEI IDs to be associated with each other for accounting purposes. Customers can create a hierarchical organization and a master account, add member accounts to this organization, and associate them with the master account.

Both the master account and member accounts can create IAM users to control access to specific resources. An account can only manage its own IAM users but cannot manage the IAM users created by other accounts.

The following shows how the relationship between an enterprise master and their members varies in different scenarios.

  • When an enterprise master is a direct sales customer of Huawei Cloud, the relationship patterns are shown as follows.

    There is also a mixed relationship pattern where an enterprise master is associated with both resource and member accounts.

  • When an enterprise master is a customer of a partner, the relationship patterns are shown as follows.

    When an enterprise master is associated with a partner in the reseller model, the enterprise master signs contracts and settles with their partner. Huawei Cloud will allocate coupons to partners. If a member are associated with their enterprise master in the unified accounting model, this member cannot associate with any partner.