Purchasing a FlexusL Instance

Scenarios

You can configure the region, image, instance specifications, required duration, and other parameters for your FlexusL instances based on your service requirements.

Constraints

If you need to use a private image to create a Flexus L instance, understand the contraints in the constraints on private images of the FlexusL instance in case the image cannot be used after the instance is created.

Preparations

Before purchasing a FlexusL instance, sign up for a HUAWEI ID and enable Huawei Cloud services. For details, see Signing Up a HUAWEI ID and Enabling Huawei Cloud Services and Completing Real-Name Authentication.
If you have enabled Huawei Cloud services and completed real-name authentication, skip this step.
Ensure that your account has sufficient balance. If not, top up your account.

3. If you want to use a private image to create a FlexusL instance, create a private image on the Image Management Service (IMS) console. Private images can be used by FlexusL instances only after they are created on the IMS console. For more information, see Creating a FlexusL Instance from a Private Image or Using a Private Image to Change the OS.

Procedure

Follow the steps below to purchase a FlexusL instance.

Click Buy FlexusL and specify parameters for the FlexusL instance.

Parameter	Description
Region	For low network latency and quick resource access, select the region nearest to your target users. After a FlexusL instance is created, the region cannot be changed. Exercise caution when selecting a region. NOTE: By default, all FlexusL instances created by the same account in the same region are located in the same VPC. They can communicate with each other over a private network. FlexusL instances that are created by different accounts or located in different regions cannot communicate with each other over a private network.
Image	FlexusL provides OS images, a rich variety of application images, and private images for you to select. Before using a private image, you need to learn about the constraints on private images first and then create a private image. For details, see Images Supported by FlexusL Instances.
Instance Specifications	You can select instance specifications based on your service requirements. Outbound traffic exceeding the data package is billed. For details, see Billing. NOTE: If you use a private image, ensure that the image specifications are appropriate for creating this instance, or the instance creation or start may fail.
(Optional) Instance Name	You can customize your instance name. If this parameter is left blank, the instance name is in the default format: image name-region-random number. In a batch creation, a hyphen followed by an incremental number is added to the end of each instance name by default.
(Optional) Associated service resources	You can associate the following service resources with your FlexusL instance as needed: data disks (EVS), host security (HSS basic edition), and cloud backup vaults (CBR). NOTE: If you do not select Data Disk (EVS) during the purchase process, you can purchase it afterwards at the same price.
Required Duration	The minimum duration of a purchase is one month and the maximum duration is three years. Auto-renew can be enabled, which means that the purchased FlexusL instances will be automatically renewed before they expire. If you do not enable auto-renew during the purchase process, you can still enable it later after the instances are created. Monthly: Your subscription will be automatically renewed each month. Yearly: Your subscription will be automatically renewed each year. For more information about auto-renewal rules, see Auto-Renewal Rules.
Quantity	Set the number of FlexusL instances to be purchased.

Click Buy Now.
On the displayed page, confirm the order details, read and select the agreement, and click Submit.
Select a payment method and complete the payment.
Go back to the FlexusL console and view the purchased FlexusL instance.

After a FlexusL instance is created using an application image, wait until the image with the pre-installed application is up and running. Then, you can perform operations such as restarting or stopping the instance, or resetting the password. Otherwise, the installation may fail and you cannot log in to the image application dashboard.

Follow-Up Operations

When a FlexusL instance is being created, the initial password for logging in to the server is not set by default. Set a password by performing Resetting the Password for a FlexusL Instance first and then log in to a FlexusL instance by performing Logging In to a FlexusL Instance Using VNC.
If you select an application image when creating a FlexusL instance, you can log in to the visual dashboard of the image application for quick configuration. For details, see Best Practices for FlexusL.
If you select an OS image when creating a FlexusL instance, you need to set up an environment by yourself. You can see Creating an Nginx Server Using the CentOS Image or Setting Up Websites for reference.

When you set up the environment by referring to Setting Up Websites, ensure that the OS image version used by the FlexusL instance is the same as that in the tutorial to prevent command execution failures caused by version incompatibility.