Use Workbench to upload files to or download files from an ECS instance - Elastic Compute Service

Workbench allows you to manage files on Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instances in a visualized manner, including uploading and downloading files. This topic describes how to use Workbench to upload files to or download files from an ECS instance.

Scenarios

Upload files from an on-premises host to an ECS instance.
Download files from an ECS instance to an on-premises host.

Limits

File size limit: You can upload a file of up to 500 MB to a Linux instance or a file of up to 100 MB to a Windows instance.
Network limit: No public IP address is required.
Transfer speed limit: When you use Workbench to upload files, the transfer speed may be slow during peak hours. In this case, you can select another method to transfer files. For more information, see Select a file transfer method.
If you connect to an instance by using Session Manager in the ECS console, you cannot use Workbench.

Important

When you use Workbench to upload files, the transfer speed may be slow during peak hours. If the file size exceeds the upper limit or you require a faster file transfer speed, we recommend that you use other methods to transfer files. For information about how to select an appropriate file transfer method, see Select a file transfer method.

Upload files

To upload a file to an ECS instance based on the operating system, perform the following steps.

Important

To upload multiple files to an instance, compress the files into a compressed package, transfer the compressed package to the instance, log on to the instance, and then decompress the package. For information about how to compress and decompress files, see Compress and upload files.

Linux instance

Use Workbench to connect to a Linux ECS instance.
For more information, see Use Workbench to connect to a Linux instance over SSH.
In the upper-left corner of the top navigation bar, choose File > New Navigator to open a file navigator.
What do I do if I cannot click New Navigator?
Problem description
Cause
You may use Session Manager to connect to the instance. In this case, you cannot click New Navigator.
If the issue occurs when you connect to the instance by using methods other than Session Manager, refresh the page or reconnect to the instance.
Solutions
- Use Workbench to connect to the instance over SSH and try again. For information about how to connect to a Linux instance by using Workbench, see Use Workbench to connect to a Linux instance over SSH.
- Use other methods to transfer files. For more information, see Select a file transfer method.
In the file directory tree, right-click the directory to which you want to upload files and select Upload File.
Select the files that you want to upload.
The message shown in the following figure indicates that the file is uploaded.
Note
If a file fails to be uploaded, you can re-upload or delete the file. If multiple files fail to be uploaded, you can click Upload All Failed Items Again to re-upload the files.
After the files are uploaded, you can modify, delete, download, or rename the files in the file list.

Windows instance

Use Workbench to connect to a Windows ECS instance.
For more information, see Use Workbench to connect to a Windows instance over RDP.
In the search box, enter and search for This PC.
If you cannot find This PC, open the File Explorer and click This PC in the left-side navigation pane.
In the Redirected drives and folders section, double-click the workbench on <Your Alibaba Cloud account> drive.
Drag and drop a file from your on-premises computer to the directory of the preceding drive. In this example, the test.txt file is used.
Drag and drop the file from the directory to the C drive or another drive.
Important
When you reconnect to or disconnect from the instance, Workbench automatically clears all uploaded files from the directory of the drive displayed in the Redirected drivers and folders section to save space. This directory is used only for file transfer. We recommend that you do not save files in this directory.

Download files

Linux instance

Use Workbench to connect to a Linux ECS instance.
For more information, see Use Workbench to connect to a Linux instance over SSH.
In the upper-left corner of the top navigation bar, choose File > New Navigator to open a file navigator.
What do I do if I cannot click New Navigator?
Problem description
Cause
You may use Session Manager to connect to the instance. In this case, you cannot click New Navigator.
If the issue occurs when you connect to the instance by using methods other than Session Manager, refresh the page or reconnect to the instance.
Solutions
- Use Workbench to connect to the instance over SSH and try again. For information about how to connect to a Linux instance by using Workbench, see Use Workbench to connect to a Linux instance over SSH.
- Use other methods to transfer files. For more information, see Select a file transfer method.
In the file tree, right-click the file that you want to download and select Download File.
The message shown in the following figure indicates that the file is downloaded.
Note
If the file fails to be downloaded, you can redownload or delete the file. If multiple files fail to be downloaded, click Download All Failed Items Again to redownload the files.

Windows instance

Important

Empty files cannot be downloaded.

Use Workbench to connect to a Windows ECS instance.
For more information, see Use Workbench to connect to a Windows instance over RDP.
In the search box, enter and search for This PC.
In the Redirected drives and folders section, double-click the workbench on <Your Alibaba Cloud account> drive.
Drag and drop a file from the C drive or another drive to the Download directory to transfer the file to your on-premises computer.

Common issues

You cannot click New Navigator when you connect to a Linux instance

Problem description

Cause

You may use Session Manager to connect to the instance. In this case, you cannot click New Navigator.

If the issue occurs when you connect to the instance by using methods other than Session Manager, refresh the page or reconnect to the instance.

Solutions

Use Workbench to connect to the instance over SSH and try again. For information about how to connect to a Linux instance by using Workbench, see Use Workbench to connect to a Linux instance over SSH.
Use other methods to transfer files. For more information, see Select a file transfer method.

A file fails to be uploaded to an ECS instance and a Permission Denied error message appears

Problem description

Cause

The logon username that you use to log on to the instance may not have write permissions on the destination directory. As a result, the file upload task fails. For example, the issue occurs when you upload files to the /opt directory after you log on to the instance as the ecs-user user.

Solutions

Log on to the instance as the root user and upload the file.
Use the root user to log on to the instance and upload the file.
If you set the logon username to ecs-user when you created the instance, you must set the password of the root user before you can use the root user to log on to the instance. For more information, see the Method 1: Reset the logon password of an ECS instance online in the ECS console section of the "Reset the logon password of an instance" topic.
Upload the file to the home directory of the current user.
For example, when you use the ecs-user user to log on to an instance, you can upload files to the home directory of the ecs-user user, that is, the /home/ecs-user directory.

References

You can use other methods to upload files. For more information, see Select a file transfer method.
You can use Object Storage Service (OSS) to store and manage files. For more information, see Get started by using the OSS console.