Purchasing and Using a Linux ECS (New Edition)

Scenarios

Elastic Cloud Server (ECS) is a cloud server that provides scalable, on-demand computing resources, including vCPUs, memory, OS, and Elastic Volume Service (EVS) disks. After purchasing an ECS, you can use it like using your local computer or physical server.

You can create an ECS by specifying its vCPUs, memory, OS, specifications, and login mode.

Process

Preparations

1. Sign up for Huawei Cloud and complete real-name authentication.

   Before purchasing an ECS, sign up for a HUAWEI ID and enable Huawei Cloud services and complete real-name authentication first.

   If you have enabled Huawei Cloud services and completed real-name authentication, skip this step.

2. Top up your account.

   Ensure that your account has sufficient balance. If not, top up your account.

3. Plan network resources, such as VPCs and subnets.

   When you are purchasing an ECS, the system creates a default VPC (vpc-default) and subnet (subnet-default).

   If you do not want to use the default VPC and subnet, you can create a VPC and subnet in the corresponding region in advance. For details, see VPC and Subnet Planning.

4. Create a security group and add rules to it.

   When you are purchasing an ECS, the system creates default security groups (default, Sys-WebServer, and Sys-FullAccess). For details about default security groups, see Default Security Groups and Rules.

   If the default security groups and rules cannot meet your service requirements, you can modify them. For details, see Configuring Security Group Rules.

5. Create a key pair.

   To log in to the ECS using a key pair, create one on the management console.

Step 1: Purchase an ECS

The following is an example for your reference. For more details, see Purchasing an ECS.

1. Log in to the management console and go to the ECS console.
2. Set Basic Configuration.
   Figure 1 Basic configuration
   

   Table 1 Basic configuration parameters

   Parameter	Example	Description
   Billing Mode	Yearly/Monthly	Prepaid billing. You pay in advance for a subscription term, and in exchange, you get a discounted rate. Ensure that you have a top-up account with a sufficient balance or have a valid payment method configured first. For details, see Billing Overview.
   Region	CN-Hong Kong	For lower network latency and faster resource access, select the region nearest to your target users. After an ECS is purchased, the region cannot be changed. Exercise caution when selecting a region. For details, see Region and AZ.
   AZ	Random	The system selects a default AZ based on your Universally Unique Identifier (UUID). The AZ of a purchased ECS cannot be changed.

3. Set Instance.
   Figure 2 Instance
   

   Table 2 Instance parameters

   Parameter	Example	Description
   Search Filters	s7n.xlarge.2	Instance favor. Select an appropriate one based on service requirements. For details, see A Summary List of x86 ECS Specifications.

4. Set OS.
   Figure 3 OS
   

   Table 3 OS parameters

   Parameter	Example	Description
   Image	CentOS 7.9 64bit (40 GiB)	A free public Linux image provided by Huawei Cloud.
   Host protection (HSS)	Basic Edition	HSS Basic Edition is free for one month. It provides functions such as weak password and vulnerability detection. For details, see HSS.

5. Set Storage & Backup.
   Figure 4 Storage & backup
   

   Table 4 Storage & backup parameters

   Parameter	Example	Description
   Disk Type	General Purpose SSD	A system disk is automatically created and initialized upon ECS creation. It stores the OS of an ECS. For details, see EVS Overview.
   System Disk (GiB)	40
   (Optional) Enable backup	Vault Name: vault-eb70 Capacity: 80 GiB Backup Policy: defaultPolicy	CBR lets you restore data to any point in the past if there is a virus attack, accidental deletion, or software or hardware fault. For details, see CBR Overview.

6. Set Network.
   Figure 5 Network
   

   Table 5 Network parameters

   Parameter	Example	Description
   VPC	VPC: vpc-default	The default VPC and subnet automatically created along with the ECS. For details, see VPC and Subnet Planning.
   Primary NIC	Primary NIC: subnet-default Automatically assign IP address
   Source/Destination Check	Enable Source/Destination Check	By default, Source/Destination Check is enabled. When this function is enabled, source IP addresses in the outbound packets will be checked. If the IP addresses are incorrect, the packets will not be sent out.

7. Set Security Group.
   Figure 6 Security group
   

   Table 6 Security group parameters

   Parameter	Example	Description
   Security Group	default	The default security group automatically created along with the ECS. For details, see Security Group Overview.

8. Set Public Network Access.
   Figure 7 Public network access
   

   Table 7 Public network access parameters

   Parameter	Example	Description
   EIP	Auto assign	A public IP address bound to the ECS for public network access. For details, see EIP Overview.
   EIP Type	Dynamic BGP
   Billed By	Bandwidth
   Bandwidth Size	5 Mbit/s

9. Set Instance Management.
   Figure 8 Instance management
   

   Table 8 Instance management parameters

   Parameter	Example	Description
   ECS Name	ecs-example	Custom ECS name.
   Login Mode	Key pair	A key pair for logging in to an ECS.
   Key Pair	KeyPair-4f7f	You can use an existing or create a new key pair, and ensure that you have obtained the private key. For details, see Creating a Key Pair on the Management Console.
   Enterprise Project	default	This parameter is displayed only when you use an enterprise account to purchase an ECS. It enables unified management of cloud resources by project.

10. Set Advanced Settings.
    Figure 9 Advanced settings
    

    Table 9 Advanced settings

    Parameter	Example	Description
    Detailed monitoring	Enable	Detailed monitoring is enabled by default. It enables 1-minute fine-grained monitoring of ECS metrics, such as vCPUs, memory, network, disks and processes. For details, see Monitoring ECSs.

11. Set Purchase Details.
    Figure 10 Purchase details
    

    Table 10 Purchase details

    Parameter	Example	Description
    Required Duration	1 month	ECS required duration, from one month to one year.
    Quantity	1	To ensure effective resource usage, an upper limit is set on the ECSs to be created. If the number of ECSs you need exceeds the upper limit, increase quota.

12. In the Configuration Summary panel on the right side, confirm the ECS details.
    Figure 11 Configuration summary
    
13. Read the select the agreement, and click Create.
14. Pay for the order.
15. Go back to the ECS list and view the purchased ECS.
    Figure 12 Viewing an ECS
    

Step 2: Log In to an ECS

The following shows how to use PuTTY and a key pair to log in to an ECS from a local Windows server. For more login methods, see Login Overview (Linux).

1. On the local Windows server, download PuTTY and PuTTYgen and run PuTTYgen from the following:

   https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/latest.html

   

   PuTTYgen is a key generator, which is used to create a key pair that consists of a public key and a private key for PuTTY.

   When you use PuTTY to log in to an ECS, the private key file must be in .ppk format, but the private key file generated from the console is in .pem format. You need to convert its format using PuTTYgen.

2. Convert the format of the private key file to the .ppk format.
   1. Run PuTTYgen.
   2. In the Actions area, click Load and import the private key file set in 9.

      Ensure that the format of All files (*.*) is selected.

      Figure 13 Importing the private key file
      
   3. In the Actions area, click Save private key to save the converted private key locally.
3. Log in to the ECS using PuTTY.
   1. Double-click PUTTY.EXE. The PuTTY Configuration page is displayed.
   2. Choose Session and enter the EIP bound to the ECS in the Host Name (or IP address) configuration item.
      Figure 14 Configuring the EIP
      
   3. Choose Connection > Data. Enter the image username in Auto-login username.
      Figure 15 Entering the username
      
      

      When you log in to an ECS using an SSH key:

      • The image username is core for a CoreOS public image.
      • The image username is root for a non-CoreOS public image.
   4. Choose Connection > SSH > Auth > Credentials. In the configuration item Private key file for authentication, click Browse and select the private key converted in step 2.
      Figure 16 Importing the private key file
      
   5. Click Open to log in to the ECS.

Step 3: Use an ECS

After purchasing an ECS, you can build websites or applications on the ECS and manage it.