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Elastic Compute Service:Overview of ECS instance configuration changes

Last Updated:Apr 01, 2024

If the configurations of an Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance do not meet your business requirements, you can change the configurations, including the instance type (vCPUs and memory), public bandwidth configurations, and billing methods of data disks. This topic describes the methods that you can use to change the configurations of an ECS instance.

Change the instance type

An instance type is a predefined combination of vCPUs and memory. When you change the instance type of an instance, you must change the number of vCPUs and memory size. You cannot individually change the number of vCPUs or memory size.

Note

Before you can change the instance type of an instance, you must identify the compatible instance types and learn about the instance types. The compatible instance types are displayed on the configuration change page.

The method for changing the instance type of an instance varies based on the billing method of the instance. The following table describes the most suitable methods for different billing methods of instances.

Billing method

Change time

Effective time

Reference

Subscription

Before the instance expires

After the instance is restarted

Within 15 days before the instance expires

After the instance is restarted within the first seven days of the new billing cycle

Downgrade the configurations of an instance during renewal

Pay-as-you-go

N/A

After the instance is restarted

Change the instance type of a pay-as-you-go instance

Change the billing method for network usage

You can use different methods to change the billing method for network usage of an instance based on the public IP address type. The following table describes the methods.

Public IP address type

Effective time

Reference

System-assigned public IP address

Immediately

Change the billing method for network usage

Elastic IP address (EIP)

Immediately

Modify the bandwidth of an EIP

Modify the maximum public bandwidth

You can use different methods to modify the public bandwidth of an instance based on your business requirements and the billing method of the instance. The following table describes the methods.

Important
  • If you change the public bandwidth from a non-zero value to 0 Mbit/s, whether the system-assigned public IP address of the instance is retained varies based on the network type of the instance.

    • If the instance resides in a virtual private cloud (VPC), the public IP address of the instance is immediately released.

    • If the instance resides in the classic network, the instance can no longer access the Internet, but the public IP address of the instance is retained.

  • If you change the public bandwidth from 0 Mbit/s to a non-zero value, the system assigns a public IP address to the instance.

    The first time you change the public bandwidth of an ECS instance that resides in the classic network from 0 Mbit/s to a non-zero value, you must restart the instance in the ECS console or by calling the RebootInstance operation for the new configuration to take effect.

Public IP address type

Applicable scope

Effective time

Reference

System-assigned public IP address

Modify the base public bandwidth of a subscription instance

Immediately

Modify the bandwidth configurations of subscription instances

Modify the base public bandwidth of a subscription instance during renewal

After the new billing cycle starts

Downgrade the configurations of an instance during renewal

Modify the base public bandwidth of a pay-as-you-go instance

Immediately

Modify the bandwidth configurations of pay-as-you-go instances

EIP

Modify the bandwidth of an EIP for a subscription or pay-as-you-go instance

Immediately

Modify the bandwidth of an EIP

Change the billing methods of data disks

You can attach only pay-as-you-go data disks to pay-as-you-go instances. As a result, you can change the billing methods of data disks only on subscription instances. The following table describes the methods.

Change time

Effective time

Reference

Before the workspace expires

Immediately

Change the billing method of a disk

Within 15 days before the instance expires or when the instance has expired but not been released

Immediately

Downgrade the configurations of an instance during renewal

FAQ

The following section provides answers to some frequently asked questions about upgrading and downgrading the configurations of instances. For more information, see Instance FAQ.

  • How is the fee for an instance configuration upgrade calculated?

    • You are charged for upgrading the instance type and configurations of a subscription ECS instance. The fee is the difference between the price of the new configurations and the remaining price of the original configurations.

    • After you upgrade a pay-as-you-go ECS instance, you are periodically charged for the instance based on the new instance type.

    The actual fee is displayed on the corresponding page in the ECS console when you upgrade the instance type or configurations of an instance. You can also go to the Account Overview page in the Expenses and Costs console to view the fee.

  • Are my cloud service configurations affected if I upgrade the configurations of ECS instances?

    Pay-as-you-go instances must be stopped before their configurations can be upgraded. After you upgrade the configurations of a subscription instance, you must restart the instance for the new configurations to take effect. The upgrade operation interrupts services that are running on the instance for a short period of time. We recommend that you upgrade instances during off-peak hours. Instances can seamlessly resume services after upgrades without the need to reconfigure environments.

  • After I place an order to upgrade the configurations of an instance, can I cancel the order to restore the instance to its original configurations?

    No, after an order to upgrade the configurations of an instance takes effect, the order cannot be canceled and the configurations of the instance are upgraded. If you want to restore the instance to its original configurations, you can downgrade its configurations. You are charged for the configuration downgrade.