How to select an ECS instance
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Alibaba Gov Cloud offers many types of Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instances. For example, two instances with 4 virtual CPUs (vCPUs) and 8 GB of memory can have different performance benchmarks and prices. This is because they are designed for different application scenarios. This topic describes the common parameters for ECS instances to help you choose the right one for your business.
ECS instance parameter comparison
This section uses CPU usage, data disks, and instance families as examples to explain which parameter types are suitable for different business scenarios.
- CPU usageECS instance CPUs can be shared or dedicated.
- Shared ECS instances: CPU resources are dynamically allocated to tenants based on business needs and the server's CPU load.
- Dedicated ECS instances: A tenant has exclusive use of the server's CPU. The server is dedicated to that tenant and is not shared with others, regardless of the CPU load.
CPU type Instance family Pros Cons Use Cases Shared instance N, E, and other families. For details, see the official website. Low price, abundant resources. Uses CPU credits. The amount of credits determines the computing power. Schools, simple applications, and cold data services such as disaster recovery. Dedicated instance Mainly G, C, and R families. Exclusive use of vCPUs, high stability. Limited resources, higher price. Services that cannot tolerate CPU performance fluctuations, such as databases, middleware, and core servers. Note Choose dedicated instances for government services to ensure security and stability. - Data disksOn Alibaba Gov Cloud, you can choose from three types of data disks (including system disks) for your ECS instances: standard SSDs, ultra disks, and enterprise SSDs (ESSDs).
Data disk type Max capacity Max IOPS Max throughput Access latency Scenarios Standard SSD 32,768 GB 25,000 300 MBps 0.5 ms to 2 ms I/O-intensive applications, small to medium-sized relational databases, and NoSQL databases. ultra disk 32,768 GB 5,000 140 MBps 1 ms to 3 ms Development and testing, and system disks. Enterprise SSD (ESSD) 32,768 GB 1,000,000 4,000 MBps 0.2 ms Large online transactional processing (OLTP) databases, NoSQL databases, and distributed logs for Elasticsearch. - Instance familiesOn Alibaba Gov Cloud, ECS instances are available in general-purpose, compute-optimized, and memory-optimized families.
Specification Family vCPU-to-memory ratio IPv6 I/O optimized Disk type Recommended configuration Recommended subscription duration General-purpose 1:4 Yes √ Solid-State Drive (SSD)
Efficient
ecs.g5.xlarge
4 vCPU, 16 GB
Subscription/Pay-as-you-go Compute-optimized 1:2 ✓ √ Solid-State Drive (SSD)
Efficient
ecs.c5.xlarge
4 vCPU, 8 GB
Pay-as-you-go Memory-optimized 1:8 √ √ SSD
Efficient
ecs.r5.xlarge
4 vCPU, 32 GB
Pay-as-you-go Note Bare metal and GPU ECS instances are also available on Alibaba Gov Cloud. For specific instance types, see the purchase page.
Based on this comparison, we recommend the following for government services:
- A configuration of 4 vCPUs with 8 GB, 16 GB, or 32 GB of memory is usually sufficient.
- For small applications, you can reduce the vCPU count to 2. Do not use only 1 vCPU. A single vCPU can cause stuttering and latency in some operating systems. This results in a poor service experience and is not cost-effective.
- For bulk purchases, perform detailed calculations.
Customer use case
A government customer plans to build a business platform on Alibaba Gov Cloud. The platform includes a government website, an internal mobile application, a data analytics platform, and a live video streaming platform.
For this scenario, assuming an average of fewer than 5,000 daily visits, the following table shows a recommended product configuration.
| Business requirement | CPU type | Data disk | Instance family | Quantity |
| Website server | Dedicated | Ultra disk | General-purpose, 4 vCPU, 16 GB | 2 units |
| Internal mobile application | Dedicated | Ultra disk for data disk, standard SSD for system disk. | General-purpose, 4 vCPU, 16 GB | 2 units |
| Data analytics platform | Dedicated | Both the system disk and data disks are SSDs. | Compute-optimized, 8 vCPU, 16 GB | 4 units |
| Live video streaming platform | Dedicated | Standard SSD for system disk, standard SSD or ultra disk for data disk. | Memory-optimized, 4 vCPU, 32 GB | 2 units |
| Traffic processing | Dedicated | No separate data disk required. | General-purpose, 4 vCPU, 16 GB | 2 units |
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