Category: service

Elastic Compute Service (ECS)

Use Alibaba Cloud OpenAPI (RPC) with official SDKs or OpenAPI Explorer to manage ECS resources. Prefer the Python SDK for all examples and execution.

Prerequisites

•Prepare AccessKey (RAM user/role with least privilege).
•Choose the correct region and endpoint (public/VPC).
•ECS OpenAPI is RPC style; prefer SDK or OpenAPI Explorer to avoid manual signing.

API behavior notes (from ECS docs)

•Most list/describe APIs support pagination via PageNumber + PageSize or NextToken + MaxResults.
•DescribeInstances returns an empty list if the RAM user/role lacks permissions; use DryRun to validate permissions.
•For DescribeInstances, NextToken + MaxResults is the recommended paged query pattern; use the returned NextToken to fetch subsequent pages.
•DescribeInstances requires RegionId in the request even if the client has a region set.
•Filters are ANDed; set only the filters you need.

Workflow

•Confirm region, resource identifiers, and desired action.
•Find API group and exact operation name in references/api_overview.md.
•Call API with Python SDK (preferred) or OpenAPI Explorer.
•Verify results with describe/list APIs.
•If you need repeatable inventory or summaries, use scripts/ and write outputs under output/alicloud-compute-ecs/.

SDK priority

•Python SDK (preferred)
•OpenAPI Explorer
•Other SDKs (only if Python is not feasible)

Python SDK quickstart (list instances)

推荐使用虚拟环境（避免 PEP 668 的系统安装限制）。

bash

python3 -m venv .venv
. .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install alibabacloud_ecs20140526 alibabacloud_tea_openapi alibabacloud_credentials

python

from alibabacloud_ecs20140526.client import Client as Ecs20140526Client
from alibabacloud_ecs20140526 import models as ecs_models
from alibabacloud_tea_openapi import models as open_api_models


def create_client(region_id: str) -> Ecs20140526Client:
    config = open_api_models.Config(
        # Use env vars or shared config files per AccessKey priority.
        region_id=region_id,
        endpoint=f"ecs.{region_id}.aliyuncs.com",
    )
    return Ecs20140526Client(config)


def list_instances(region_id: str):
    client = create_client(region_id)
    resp = client.describe_instances(ecs_models.DescribeInstancesRequest(
        region_id=region_id,
        page_number=1,
        page_size=50,
    ))
    for inst in resp.body.instances.instance:
        print(inst.instance_id, inst.instance_name, inst.instance_type, inst.status)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    list_instances("cn-hangzhou")

Python SDK scripts (recommended for inventory)

•List all instances across regions (TSV/JSON): scripts/list_instances_all_regions.py
•Summarize instance specs across regions: scripts/summary_instance_specs.py
•Summarize instance counts by region (optional status breakdown): scripts/summary_instances_by_region.py
•Summarize instance counts by status: scripts/summary_instances_by_status.py
•Summarize instance counts by instance type: scripts/summary_instances_by_instance_type.py
•Summarize instance counts by VPC: scripts/summary_instances_by_vpc.py
•Summarize instance counts by security group: scripts/summary_instances_by_security_group.py

Python SDK: list instances for all regions

python

from alibabacloud_ecs20140526.client import Client as Ecs20140526Client
from alibabacloud_ecs20140526 import models as ecs_models
from alibabacloud_tea_openapi import models as open_api_models


def create_client(region_id: str) -> Ecs20140526Client:
    config = open_api_models.Config(
        region_id=region_id,
        endpoint=f"ecs.{region_id}.aliyuncs.com",
    )
    return Ecs20140526Client(config)


def list_regions() -> list[str]:
    client = create_client("cn-hangzhou")
    resp = client.describe_regions(ecs_models.DescribeRegionsRequest())
    return [r.region_id for r in resp.body.regions.region]


def list_instances_all_regions():
    for region_id in list_regions():
        client = create_client(region_id)
        req = ecs_models.DescribeInstancesRequest(
            region_id=region_id,
            page_number=1,
            page_size=100,
        )
        resp = client.describe_instances(req)
        print(f"== {region_id} ({resp.body.total_count}) ==")
        for inst in resp.body.instances.instance:
            print(inst.instance_id, inst.instance_name, inst.instance_type, inst.status)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    list_instances_all_regions()

Python SDK: paginated instance listing

python

from alibabacloud_ecs20140526.client import Client as Ecs20140526Client
from alibabacloud_ecs20140526 import models as ecs_models
from alibabacloud_tea_openapi import models as open_api_models


def create_client(region_id: str) -> Ecs20140526Client:
    config = open_api_models.Config(
        region_id=region_id,
        endpoint=f"ecs.{region_id}.aliyuncs.com",
    )
    return Ecs20140526Client(config)


def list_instances_paged(region_id: str):
    client = create_client(region_id)
    page_number = 1
    page_size = 100
    while True:
        resp = client.describe_instances(ecs_models.DescribeInstancesRequest(
            region_id=region_id,
            page_number=page_number,
            page_size=page_size,
        ))
        for inst in resp.body.instances.instance:
            print(inst.instance_id, inst.instance_name, inst.instance_type, inst.status)
        total = resp.body.total_count
        if page_number * page_size >= total:
            break
        page_number += 1


if __name__ == "__main__":
    list_instances_paged("cn-hangzhou")

Python SDK: list instance types and pricing inputs

python

from alibabacloud_ecs20140526.client import Client as Ecs20140526Client
from alibabacloud_ecs20140526 import models as ecs_models
from alibabacloud_tea_openapi import models as open_api_models


def create_client(region_id: str) -> Ecs20140526Client:
    config = open_api_models.Config(
        region_id=region_id,
        endpoint=f"ecs.{region_id}.aliyuncs.com",
    )
    return Ecs20140526Client(config)


def list_types(region_id: str, zone_id: str | None = None, instance_type_family: str | None = None):
    client = create_client(region_id)
    req = ecs_models.DescribeInstanceTypesRequest(
        zone_id=zone_id,
        instance_type_family=instance_type_family,
    )
    resp = client.describe_instance_types(req)
    for t in resp.body.instance_types.instance_type:
        print(t.instance_type_id, t.cpu_core_count, t.memory_size)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    list_types("cn-hangzhou", "cn-hangzhou-k")

Common operation mapping

•Instance lifecycle: RunInstances, CreateInstance, StartInstance(s), StopInstance(s), RebootInstance(s), DeleteInstance(s)
•Instance details: DescribeInstances, DescribeInstanceStatus, DescribeInstanceAttribute
•Spec changes: ModifyInstanceSpec, ModifyPrepayInstanceSpec, DescribeResourcesModification
•System disk changes: ReplaceSystemDisk, ResetDisk
•Data disks: CreateDisk, AttachDisk, DetachDisk, ResizeDisk, DescribeDisks
•Snapshots: CreateSnapshot, CopySnapshot, DescribeSnapshots, DeleteSnapshot
•Images: CreateImage, CopyImage, DescribeImages, DeleteImage, ModifyImageAttribute
•Security groups: CreateSecurityGroup, AuthorizeSecurityGroup, RevokeSecurityGroup, DescribeSecurityGroupAttribute
•Key pairs: CreateKeyPair, ImportKeyPair, DescribeKeyPairs, DeleteKeyPairs
•ENI: CreateNetworkInterface, AttachNetworkInterface, DetachNetworkInterface, DescribeNetworkInterfaces
•Tags: TagResources, UntagResources, ListTagResources
•Monitoring/events: DescribeInstancesFullStatus, DescribeInstanceHistoryEvents, DescribeInstanceMonitorData

Query patterns

•List instances: DescribeInstances (supports filters such as VpcId, VSwitchId, ZoneId, SecurityGroupId, InstanceIds)
•Count instances: DescribeInstances with PageSize=1 and read TotalCount
•Region discovery: DescribeRegions then loop all regions for inventory

Cloud Assistant (RunCommand) tips

•Instances must be in Running state.
•Ensure the Cloud Assistant agent is installed and online.
•Use shell for Linux, PowerShell for Windows.
•Poll results via DescribeInvocations and DescribeInvocationResults.

See references/command-assistant.md.

AccessKey priority (must follow, align with README)

•Environment variables: ALICLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_ID / ALICLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_SECRET / ALICLOUD_REGION_ID Region policy: ALICLOUD_REGION_ID is an optional default. If unset, decide the most reasonable region for the task; if unclear, ask the user.
•Shared config file: ~/.alibabacloud/credentials (region still from env)

Auth setup (README-aligned)

Environment variables:

bash

export ALICLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_ID="your-ak"
export ALICLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_SECRET="your-sk"
export ALICLOUD_REGION_ID="cn-hangzhou"

Also supported by the Alibaba Cloud SDKs:

bash

export ALIBABA_CLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_ID="your-ak"
export ALIBABA_CLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_SECRET="your-sk"

Shared config file:

~/.alibabacloud/credentials

ini

[default]
type = access_key
access_key_id = your-ak
access_key_secret = your-sk

API discovery

•Product code: Ecs
•Default API version: 2014-05-26
•Use OpenAPI metadata endpoints to list APIs and get schemas (see references).

Output policy

If you need to save responses or generated artifacts, write them under: output/alicloud-compute-ecs/

References

•API overview: references/api_overview.md
•Endpoints: references/endpoints.md
•Cloud Assistant: references/command-assistant.md
•DescribeInstances: references/describe-instances.md
•Instances: references/instances.md
•Disks: references/disks.md
•Snapshots: references/snapshots.md
•Images: references/images.md
•Security groups: references/security-groups.md
•Network interfaces: references/network-interfaces.md
•Key pairs: references/keypairs.md
•Tags: references/tags.md
•Monitoring/events: references/monitoring-events.md
•Sources: references/sources.md