Guidance for ecosystem partners on cloud adoption solutions
1. Background
During the cloud adoption process for ecosystem partner products, the platform provides guidance on cloud adoption solutions to facilitate deep integration with Alibaba Cloud, enhance product service quality and stability, improve delivery efficiency, and track cloud resource and AI Token consumption. This guidance is based on different product scenarios, such as various deployment models and dependencies on different cloud resources. The following sections describe these solutions and their applicable scenarios.
2. Basic concepts of Alibaba Cloud Marketplace
This section explains the concepts of category, product type, and deployment and delivery method.
Category: A customer-facing classification that helps customers quickly find products. Products are grouped by industry scenario or functional attribute, such as "Enterprise Applications", "Website and Mini Program Building", or "Security". Categories typically have two to three levels to help customers find specific products through filtering and navigation.
Product type: A core property that defines the product's form, its connection method to Alibaba Cloud Marketplace, and how it is used by customers. Examples include Software as a Service (SaaS), image, API service, and manual service.
Deployment and delivery method: The technical path for delivering the product to the customer. For example:
For SaaS products, delivery methods include the following:
Compute Nest deployment and delivery: Provides a one-click installation without manual intervention. It supports the automatic deployment of dedicated resources and SaaS products into the customer's or partner's VPC to deliver a complete hardware and software package.
SPI notification delivery: Based on the Service Provider Interface (SPI), product activation is triggered by event notifications or API calls. This method is often used for lightweight SaaS services. Customers can obtain the access address, account, and password for the SaaS product from the Alibaba Cloud Marketplace console, or log on to the SaaS product using their Alibaba Cloud account identity.
License delivery: After subscribing, the customer receives a license and is guided to access the SaaS product to enter the license and activate the authorization.
Custom delivery: For custom requirements or special processes, the service provider must manually complete operations such as activation and configuration.
For image products, the delivery method is:
Image file: Supports image files for multiple regions and versions. During the purchase process, the customer buys the image and server as a package, and the product is delivered through automated deployment.
Summary of the relationship between category, product type, and deployment and delivery method.
Dimension |
Category |
Product type |
Deployment and delivery method |
Core function |
Entry point for customers to discover products |
Product form and connection type |
Technical path for product delivery |
Focus |
User experience and traffic distribution |
Business model |
Technical integration and O&M efficiency |
Typical question |
Which folder is best for the product? |
Is this a SaaS or an API? |
How can customers start using the product quickly? |
The relationship among Alibaba Cloud Marketplace categories, types, and deployment and delivery methods:
3. Guidance on cloud adoption solutions based on product deployment and delivery models
1. Image delivery
Scenarios:
The product is privately deployed to the customer's Alibaba Cloud account after the user subscribes.
The deployment depends only on a Basic Edition of ECS or simple application servers.
Implementation cost:
You can create deployment images for the product on ECS and Simple Application Server, and then list the product on Alibaba Cloud Marketplace as an image type. Deployment images for Simple Application Server are typically invitation-only and must comply with the creation standards for Simple Application Server application images.
Onboarding time: Less than one week.
Brief implementation steps:
You can create a custom image for the product on ECS. For more information, see Create a custom image. You can also create a custom deployment image for Simple Application Server. For more information, see Create a custom image. The images must comply with the ECS image specifications. For more information, see Alibaba Cloud Image Specification (Linux) and Alibaba Cloud Image Specification (Windows).
You can verify that the product can be deployed using Alibaba Cloud ECS and Simple Application Server.
You can publish the image product. The recommended solution is to package the license with the image for sale. This way, the user does not need to enter a license. The cost is billed with the ECS instance, and the lifecycle is synchronized with the ECS instance. If the image requires a license for activation, you can integrate with the Alibaba Cloud Marketplace commercial image delivery SPI to activate the product after it is listed. For more information, see Publish an image product that requires license activation.
Cloud resource statistics method:
Statistics are based on the online transaction amount from payment orders and bills for the cloud resources associated with the ECS and Simple Application Server instances when a customer purchases a marketplace image. The scope of cloud resources includes ECS (commodity codes "ecs" and "vm") and Simple Application Server (commodity code "swas").
(Optional) Combine the product with first-party products to create a solution
Scenarios:
The product and a first-party cloud product complement each other to serve users. The user subscribes to both the partner's product and the first-party cloud product.
Implementation cost:
This bundled purchase requires no additional development or deployment costs and can be configured by a customer service representative.
Brief implementation steps:
You can create a product portfolio solution for a partner product plus a first-party cloud product, or a first-party cloud product plus another first-party cloud product. For more information, see Alibaba Cloud Product Portfolio.
You can guide users to place orders using the product portfolio solution. For more information, see Place an order for a product portfolio.
Cloud resource statistics method:
Statistics are based on the revenue from orders and bills for non-Alibaba Cloud Marketplace products (first-party cloud products) placed using the product portfolio feature of Alibaba Cloud Marketplace. The scope of cloud resources includes all cloud resources configured in the product portfolio.
2. SaaS delivery using Compute Nest deployment
Scenarios:
The product needs to be privately deployed to the customer's Alibaba Cloud account after the user subscribes.
After the user subscribes, dedicated cloud resources are provided and deployed to the partner's Alibaba Cloud account.
The deployment depends on Alibaba Cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) or Platform as a Service (PaaS) products.
Suitable for medium to large software products with complex cloud deployment architectures.
Implementation cost:
You can write automated deployment and delivery scripts for the product, publish a Compute Nest service template, and list the product on Alibaba Cloud Marketplace as a Compute Nest deployment service.
Onboarding time: A few days to a few weeks, not exceeding one month.
Brief implementation steps:
You can write automated deployment resource orchestration scripts for the product based on Resource Orchestration Service (ROS) or Terraform and publish a Compute Nest service template. For more information, see Create a service.
You can list the product on Alibaba Cloud Marketplace as a Compute Nest deployment service. For more information, see Introduction to fully managed delivery using Compute Nest and Introduction to private delivery using Compute Nest.
Cloud resource statistics method:
For private delivery, statistics are based on the online transaction amount from payment orders and bills for the cloud resources associated with the software order when a customer purchases a Compute Nest private deployment product.
For fully managed products, statistics are based on the online transaction amount for the cloud resources in the package selected by the customer when purchasing the software, and any additional resources the partner scales out in their own account to provide dedicated services.
The scope of cloud resources includes all Alibaba Cloud resources that the user or service provider needs to purchase as specified in the Compute Nest service template.
(Optional) Combine the product with first-party products to create a solution
Scenarios:
The product and a first-party cloud product complement each other to serve users. The user subscribes to both the partner's product and the first-party cloud product.
Implementation cost:
No additional development or deployment costs are required. You only need a customer service representative to configure the bundled purchase.
Brief implementation steps:
You can create a product portfolio solution for a partner product plus a first-party cloud product, or a first-party cloud product plus another first-party cloud product. For more information, see Alibaba Cloud Product Portfolio.
You can guide users to place orders using the product portfolio solution. For more information, see Place an order for a product portfolio.
Cloud resource statistics method:
Statistics are based on the revenue from orders and bills for non-Alibaba Cloud Marketplace products (first-party cloud products) placed using the product portfolio feature of Alibaba Cloud Marketplace. The scope of cloud resources includes all cloud resources configured in the product portfolio.
3. Other product delivery models (API, dataset, SaaS SPI, SaaS license, manual service, custom delivery)
Scenarios:
Products that cannot be delivered through image or SaaS Compute Nest deployment.
Implementation cost:
You can deploy or migrate the partner's product service to an independent Alibaba Cloud account.
Onboarding time: A few days to a few weeks.
Brief implementation steps:
You can deploy and provide the product service in an independent Alibaba Cloud account, and then list the product on Alibaba Cloud Marketplace.
You can integrate the product with the SPI or an authorization code for delivery. For more information, see Publish a SaaS product.
You can follow the API publishing process for the product. For more information, see Publish an API service product.
You can follow the dataset publishing process for the product. For more information, see Publish a dataset service product.
You can follow the service publishing process for the product. For more information, see Publish a service product.
You can follow the container publishing process for the product. For more information, see Publish a container service product.
Cloud resource statistics method:
Statistics are based on the UID of the partner's independent Alibaba Cloud account.
(Optional) Combine the product with first-party products to create a solution
Scenarios:
The product and a first-party cloud product complement each other to serve users. The user subscribes to both the partner's product and the first-party cloud product.
Implementation cost:
No additional development or deployment costs are required. An Alibaba Cloud representative configures the purchase bundle.
Brief implementation steps:
You can create a product portfolio solution for a partner product plus a first-party cloud product, or a first-party cloud product plus another first-party cloud product. For more information, see Alibaba Cloud Product Portfolio.
You can guide users to place orders using the product portfolio solution. For more information, see Place an order for a product portfolio.
Cloud resource statistics method:
Statistics are based on the revenue from orders and bills for non-Alibaba Cloud Marketplace products (first-party cloud products) placed using the product portfolio feature of Alibaba Cloud Marketplace. The scope of cloud resources includes all cloud resources configured in the product portfolio.
4. Guidance on cloud adoption solutions for AI product service capabilities
1. AI products that depend on Model Studio
Scenarios:
The product depends on an Agent or a workflow built in Model Studio, or it depends on Model Studio model services and consumes Model Studio Tokens.
Implementation cost:
You can use an independent Go-To-Market (GTM) Alibaba Cloud account for the partner product's AI Token consumption.
Brief implementation steps:
You can activate model product services, such as Model Studio and Qwen, in an independent Alibaba Cloud account.