Creating a Data Disk Image from an ECS

Scenarios

A data disk image contains only service data. You can create a data disk image from an ECS and then use the image to create new EVS disks. This is a convenient way to migrate data from an ECS to EVS disks.

For example, you can create a data disk image to clone the data of an ECS whose disk is about to expire.

Background

The following figure shows the process of creating a data disk image from an ECS.

Figure 1 Creating a data disk image and using it to create data disks

Prerequisites

• A data disk has been attached to the ECS. For details, see Elastic Cloud Server User Guide.
• The ECS status is Running or Stopped.

Constraints

• The data disk capacity of the cloud server must be no greater than 1 TB.
• If the capacity is greater than 1 TB for an ECS, you can only use it to create a full-ECS image.

Procedure

1. Log in to the IMS console.
2. Create a data disk image.
   1. Click Create Image in the upper right corner.
   2. Set image parameters.

      You need to set parameters in two areas: Image Type and Source and Image Information. For details about the parameters, see Table 1 and Table 2.

      Figure 2 Image type and source

      

      Table 1 Parameters for configuring the image type and source

      Parameter	Description	Example Value
      Region	Resources in different regions cannot communicate with each other over an intranet. For low latency and fast access, select a region close to where your services will be provided.	-
      Type	Private images can be created or imported.	Create Image
      Image Type	A private image contains an OS or service data, preinstalled public applications, and a user's personal applications. Private images are only available to the users who created them. A private image can be a system disk image, data disk image, ISO image, or full-ECS image. A system disk image contains only an OS and preinstalled software for various services. You can use a system disk image to create ECSs and migrate your services to the cloud. A data disk image contains only service data. You can use a data disk image to create EVS disks and use them to migrate your service data to the cloud. An ISO image is created from an external ISO image file. It is a special image that is not available on the ECS console. It can only be used to provision temporary cloud servers. A full-ECS image contains an OS, preinstalled software, and service data. A full-ECS image is created using differential backups and the creation takes less time than creating a system or data disk image that has the same disk capacity.	Data disk image
      Source	A source is the original data required for creating a private image. Select a source based on your requirements. Generally, a data source can be a cloud server, a CSBS backup, or a CBR backup.	ECS

      Figure 3 Image information
      

      Table 2 Parameters for configuring image information

      Parameter	Description	Example Value
      Encryption	A private image created from an unencrypted ECS is also unencrypted. A private image created from an encrypted ECS is also encrypted. NOTE: The encryption attribute cannot be changed during image creation. After the image is created, you can change it based on Replicating Images Within a Region.	-
      Name	Set a name for the image.	-
      Enterprise Project	This parameter is for enterprise users. To use this function, contact customer service to enable it. An enterprise project groups cloud resources, so you can manage resources and users by project. The default project is default. Select an enterprise project from the drop-down list. For more information, see Accessing the Enterprise Center.	default
      Tag	This parameter is optional. Set tag keys and values for the image to make identification and management easier. You are advised to create predefined tags in TMS. For details, see Creating Predefined Tags. NOTE: If your organization has configured tag policies for images, you need to add tags to your images based on the policies. Otherwise, tags may fail to be added. For details about image tag format, see Image Tag Format.	-
      Description	This parameter is optional. Enter a description for the image.	-
      Agreement	Read and agree to the Image Disclaimer	-

   3. Click Next. Confirm the settings and click Submit.

3. Go back to the private image list and view the new data disk image. When the image status changes to Normal, the image creation is complete.

Follow-up Procedure

If you want to use the created data disk image to create an EVS disk and attach it to an ECS, you can perform either of the following operations:

• Locate the row that contains the created data disk image and click Create Data Disk to create one or multiple data disks. Then attach the data disks to an ECS.
• On the page for creating ECSs, click Create Disk from Data Disk Image and select the data disk image.
  

  In this way, a data disk image can be used to create a data disk for an ECS only once. For example, a data disk created from the data disk image data_disk_image has been added to the ECS. No other data disk created from this image can be added to the ECS.

  Figure 4 Adding data disks