Create custom images - Simple Application Server - Alibaba Cloud Documentation Center

This topic describes how to create a custom image to store the data of a simple application server. You can share the custom image with Elastic Compute Service (ECS) or use the image to create simple application servers that have the same configurations.

Precautions

The custom image and the source simple application server must reside in the same region.
You can directly create a custom image only based on the system disk snapshot of a simple application server. If you want a custom image to contain the data on the data disk of the simple application server, you must select a data disk snapshot in addition to a system disk snapshot when you create the custom image.
If a simple application server is released due to expiration or refunds, the custom images that are created based on a snapshot of the server are also released.
If you reset a simple application server by changing the OS or image of the server, the disk data on the server is deleted. Back up your data before you change the OS or image of a simple application server.

Limits

The maximum number of custom images that can be retained in an Alibaba Cloud account is triple the number of simple application servers that you maintain in the account. The number of custom images cannot be greater than 15.

Billing

You are not charged for custom image creation.

Procedure

Log on to the Simple Application Server console.

Select a method to create a custom image based on your business requirements.

Create a custom image from a simple application server

If you want to create a custom image that contains data on the system disk and data disk (if attached), you can create a custom image from a simple application server.

In the card of the simple application server from which you want to create a custom image, choose More > Create Custom Image.
Alternatively, click the server ID in the server card. Below the Image Information field of the Basic Information section on the Server Overview tab, click Create Custom Image.

In the Create Custom Image dialog box, configure parameters based on your business requirements. The following table describes the parameters.

Parameter	Description
Name	Enter a name for the custom image. The name must be unique. The name must be 2 to 128 characters in length and can contain periods (.), underscores (_), hyphens (-), and colons (:). The name cannot start with a special character or a digit.
Description	Enter a description for the custom image. The description must be 2 to 256 characters in length and cannot start with `http://` or `https://`.

Create a custom image from a system disk

If you want to create a custom image that contains only the data on the system disk, we recommend that you use this method.

(Conditionally required) If you do not have a system disk snapshot, you must first create a system disk snapshot. For more information, see Create a snapshot.
If you want to create a custom image that contains the data on the system disk and data disk, you must also create a data disk snapshot in advance.
In the left-side navigation pane, click Snapshots.
Find the system disk snapshot based on which you want to create a custom image and click Create Custom Image in the Actions column.

In the Create Custom Image dialog box, configure parameters based on your business requirements.

The following table describes the parameters.

Parameter	Description
Name	Required. Enter a name for the custom image. The name must be 2 to 128 characters in length and can contain periods (.), underscores (_), hyphens (-), and colons (:). The name cannot start with a special character or a digit.
Description	Required. Enter a description for the custom image. The description must be 2 to 256 characters in length and cannot start with `http://` or `https://`.
Data Disk Snapshot	Optional. If you want the custom image to contain the data on the data disk, select a data disk snapshot from the drop-down list. Otherwise, the custom image contains only the data on the system disk.

Click Confirm.
In the left-side navigation pane, click Image to view the created custom image.

FAQ

Question: Can I export custom images from Simple Application Server?

Answer: You cannot directly export custom images from Simple Application Server. To export a custom image of a simple application server, perform the following steps:

Share an image created in Simple Application Server to ECS. For more information, see Share an image to ECS.
On the Shared Images tab of the ECS console, copy the shared image to create a custom image. For more information, see Copy a custom image.
On the Custom Images tab of the ECS console, export the custom image. For more information, see Export a custom image.
Note
Due to image copyright limits, you cannot export custom images that are created based on application images or images that run Windows operating systems.

What to do next

You can perform the following operations after you create the custom image:

Share the image to ECS to back up data or create ECS instances. For more information, see Share an image to ECS.
Create new simple application servers based on the custom image. For more information, see Use a custom image to create one or more simple application servers.
Copy the custom image to a different region to migrate the data on the server. For more information, see Copy a custom image.