# es-instance

Part of **ES**

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> 💡 **Path Selection**: This skill is one implementation path for [Manage access control and security settings](../../intent/es-manage-access/SKILL.md). If you're unsure which path to take, check the routing skill first.

# Elasticsearch Instance and Resource Management Console Guide

## Operations Overview

| Operation | Console Entry | Prerequisites | Description |
|----------|---------------|---------------|-------------|
| Create RAM User and Assign Permissions | Console > AI Search Open Platform > RAM Users > Create RAM User | Alibaba Cloud account with administrative privileges, workspace already created, understanding of basic RAM concepts | Create a RAM user with programmatic access and assign minimum required permissions for AI Search Open Platform services. |
| Create AccessKey and Configure Environment | Console > Security > RAM > Users > Create AccessKey | RAM user created and configured with appropriate permissions, RAM service enabled | Generate an AccessKey for a RAM user and configure environment variables for API authentication. |
| Get Service Endpoint | Console > AI Search Open Platform > Select Region > Switch to RAG > API Key | Access to AI Search Open Platform console, target region selected, workspace available | Retrieve public network and VPC service endpoints for your current workspace. |
| Create Instance | AI Search Open Platform > Instance > Service Development > Create Instance | Access to AI Search Open Platform console | Launch a new Elasticsearch instance by selecting name, description, and hardware specification. |
| Manage API Keys | Console > AI Search Open Platform > API keys | Active workspace in AI Search Open Platform | Create, view, edit, disable, enable, or delete API keys used for authenticating API/SDK requests. |
| Adjust Service and Billing | Console > OpenSearch > Instance Management | Existing basic application, access to OpenSearch console | Upgrade a basic application to a shared application or switch to the new billing model. |
| Manage Instance Specifications | Console > OpenSearch > Applications > Details | Application already created, access to OpenSearch console | View application details and monitor metrics via Cloud Monitor to understand current specifications. |
| Share Private Pool | Console > Resource Advisor > Guaranteed Provision > Resource Reservations > Private Pools | Resource share with capacity reservation or elasticity assurance created | Share a private pool with other Alibaba Cloud accounts or within an organization for reserved capacity usage. |

## Operation Steps

### Create RAM User and Assign Permissions

**Navigation**: Console > AI Search Open Platform > RAM Users > Create RAM User

**Prerequisites**:
- Alibaba Cloud account with administrative privileges
- Workspace already created in AI Search Open Platform
- Understanding of basic RAM concepts

1. Navigate to the RAM console
   - Element: **RAM** (link) — top navigation panel

2. Click on 'Users' in the left navigation panel
   - Element: **Users** (menu) — left navigation panel

3. Click the 'Create User' button
   - Element: **Create User** (button) — top-right corner

4. Enter the user name and select 'Programmatic Access' as the access type
   - Element: **User Name** (text_input) — main content area
   - Notes: Ensure the user name is unique within the account

5. Review and confirm the user creation details
   - Element: **Next: Tags** (button) — bottom of form

6. Assign a system or custom policy to the user
   - Element: **Add Permissions** (button) — main content area
   - Notes: Select from pre-defined policies like AliyunOpenSearchFullAccess or create a custom policy

7. Save the changes
   - Element: **Finish** (button) — bottom of form
   - Notes: Permission changes take effect in about 5 minutes

| Parameter | Type | Required | Options/Values | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|----------------|-------------|
| User Name | text_input | Yes | — | The unique identifier for the RAM user |
| Access Type | radio | Yes | Console Access, Programmatic Access | Choose whether the user will access via web console or API/SDK |
| Tags | text_input | No | — | Optional metadata to categorize the user |

### Create AccessKey and Configure Environment

**Navigation**: Console > Security > RAM > Users > Create AccessKey

**Prerequisites**:
- An Alibaba Cloud account with RAM service enabled
- A RAM user created and configured with appropriate permissions
- Access to the Alibaba Cloud console

1. Navigate to the RAM console and select Users from the left navigation panel
   - Element: **Users** (menu) — left navigation panel

2. Click on the target RAM user's name to open the user details page
   - Element: **User name link** (link) — main content area

3. Click the Create AccessKey button in the AccessKey section
   - Element: **Create AccessKey** (button) — top-right corner of the AccessKey section
   - Notes: The system will generate a new AccessKey ID and secret. Download or copy them immediately as they are only shown once.

### Get Service Endpoint

**Navigation**: Console > AI Search Open Platform > Select Region > Switch to RAG > API Key

**Prerequisites**:
- Access to the AI Search Open Platform console
- Selection of a target region (China (Shanghai) or Germany (Frankfurt))
- Access to a workspace within the selected region

1. Log on to the AI Search Open Platform console
   - Element: **AI Search Open Platform console** (link) — browser address bar or navigation panel

2. Select the target region and switch to the RAG workspace
   - Element: **RAG** (tab) — top navigation bar

3. Navigate to the API Key page in the left-side navigation pane
   - Element: **API Key** (menu) — left navigation panel
   - Notes: The API Key page displays the service endpoints for the current workspace.

### Create Instance

**Navigation**: AI Search Open Platform > Instance > Service Development > Create Instance

**Prerequisites**:
- Access to the AI Search Open Platform console

1. Navigate to the AI Search Open Platform and select Instance > Service Development
   - Element: **Instance** (menu) — left navigation panel

2. Click on the 'Create Instance' button
   - Element: **Create Instance** (button) — main content area

3. Enter instance name and description
   - Element: **Name** (text_input) — form fields

4. Select an instance specification from the table
   - Element: **Instance type** (dropdown) — form fields
   - Notes: Available options: gpu.t4.16g.x1 (8 cores, 31 GB, 1 × NVIDIA T4 16 GB), ops.basic1.gi.large (2 cores, 8 GB, N/A)

5. Submit the configuration to deploy the instance
   - Element: **Submit** (button) — bottom of form

6. Wait for the instance to reach 'Running' status
   - Element: **Running** (status_label) — instance list
   - Notes: Once running, click 'Go to Develop' to access the Notebook environment.

7. Access the Notebook development environment
   - Element: **Go to Develop** (button) — Actions column in instance table
   - Notes: Available when instance status is 'Running'.

| Parameter | Type | Required | Options/Values | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|----------------|-------------|
| Name | text_input | Yes | — | The name of the instance to be created. |
| Description | text_input | No | — | A brief description of the instance purpose or configuration. |
| Instance type | dropdown | Yes | gpu.t4.16g.x1, ops.basic1.gi.large | Select the hardware specification for the instance, including CPU, memory, and GPU availability. |

### Manage API Keys

**Navigation**: Console > AI Search Open Platform > API keys

**Prerequisites**:
- An AI Search Open Platform account with an active workspace

1. Log on to the AI Search Open Platform console and select a region
   - Element: **AI Search Open Platform console** (link) — top navigation bar

2. Choose API keys from the left navigation bar
   - Element: **API keys** (menu) — left navigation panel
   - Notes: Screenshot shows the API Keys page layout.

3. Click Create API Key
   - Element: **Create API Key** (button) — main content area

4. Copy the API key value or download it as a CSV file
   - Element: **Copy** (button) — pop-up window
   - Notes: The API key is displayed only once after creation.

5. Confirm that you have saved the API key
   - Element: **I have saved my API KEY.** (button) — pop-up window

6. Edit the API key description
   - Element: **Edit** (button) — API Keys list
   - Notes: Enter a descriptive name like 'prod-inference' or 'ci-pipeline'.

7. View the API key value
   - Element: **View** (button) — API Keys list

8. Disable or enable the API key
   - Element: **Disable / Enable** (button) — API Keys list
   - Notes: Disabling prevents the key from being used in API calls.

9. Delete the API key
   - Element: **Delete** (button) — API Keys list
   - Notes: Once deleted, the key cannot be recovered.

### Adjust Service and Billing

**Navigation**: Console > OpenSearch > Instance Management

**Prerequisites**:
- An existing basic application
- Access to the OpenSearch console
- Understanding of storage and LCU requirements

1. Find the application to upgrade and click Change Specifications/Quotas from the More menu
   - Element: **More** (menu) — Actions column on the Instance Management page

2. Select Change Specifications/Quotas from the dropdown menu
   - Element: **Change Specifications/Quotas** (menu) — Dropdown menu under More

3. Click Buy Now to initiate the upgrade process
   - Element: **Buy Now** (button) — After selecting new specifications
   - Notes: Reindexing is immediately triggered after clicking Buy Now.

4. Wait for the offline application to be generated after index rebuilding
   - Notes: The offline application is created during reindexing. This may take time depending on data size.

5. Click Publish and confirm to make the offline application online
   - Element: **Publish** (button) — On the offline application details page
   - Notes: After publishing, the offline application becomes the active online application. The previous online application is unpublished and retained for 8 hours before automatic deletion.

6. Go to the Instance Management page in the OpenSearch console
   - Element: **Instance Management** (link) — left navigation panel

7. Find your application in the list

8. Check if 'Switch to New Billing Method' is displayed next to Details
   - Element: **Switch to New Billing Method** (button) — row actions near the application entry
   - Notes: If this button is visible, your application uses the earlier billing model.

9. Click 'Switch to New Billing Method'
   - Element: **Switch to New Billing Method** (button) — row actions near the application entry

10. Click OK in the confirmation dialog
    - Element: **OK** (button) — confirmation modal

### Manage Instance Specifications

**Navigation**: Console > OpenSearch > Applications > Details

**Prerequisites**:
- Access to OpenSearch console
- Application already created

1. Log on to the OpenSearch console
   - Element: **Applications** (link) — left navigation panel

2. Find the application and click Details in the Actions column
   - Element: **Details** (button) — Actions column

3. Click Cloud Monitor in the upper-right corner to check metrics
   - Element: **Cloud Monitor** (button) — upper-right corner
   - Notes: Screenshots show the Cloud Monitor dashboard with metrics

### Share Private Pool

**Navigation**: Console > Resource Advisor > Guaranteed Provision > Resource Reservations > Private Pools

**Prerequisites**:
- A resource share with resource type 'capacity reservation' is created
- A resource share with resource type 'elasticity assurance' is created

1. Go to the Resource Advisor page
   - Element: **Resource Advisor** (link) — left-side navigation pane

2. Select a region
   - Element: **region dropdown** (dropdown) — top navigation bar

3. Navigate to Resource Reservations
   - Element: **Guaranteed Provision > Resource Reservations** (menu) — left-side navigation pane

4. Click the Private Pools tab
   - Element: **Private Pools** (tab) — upper part of the Resource Reservations page

5. Initiate sharing of a private pool
   - Element: **Initiate Share** (button) — Actions column
   - Notes: The private pool must be in Active state.

6. Select a resource share and confirm sharing
   - Element: **OK** (button) — Share Private Pool dialog box

7. View sharing status by checking details
   - Element: **Details** (button) — Actions column
   - Notes: Check the Share Management tab for shared capacity usage.

8. Accept sharing invitation in Resource Management console
   - Element: **Accept** (button) — Status column on Shared To Me page
   - Notes: Must be done by the sharee account before using the pool.

9. Use the shared private pool to create ECS instances
   - Element: **Purchase Instance** (button) — Actions column

10. Unshare the private pool
    - Element: **Unshare** (button) — Actions column under Share Management tab
    - Notes: After unsharing, existing instances lose access to the private pool capacity.

## FAQ

Q: Where can I find the service endpoint for my Elasticsearch instance?
A: After logging into the AI Search Open Platform console, select your region and switch to the RAG workspace. Then navigate to the API Key page in the left navigation panel to view the service endpoints.

Q: Can I modify the instance type after creating an Elasticsearch instance?
A: Based on the documentation, instances can be upgraded from basic to shared applications, but downgrading from higher specifications to basic is not supported. For AI Search Open Platform instances, the documentation does not explicitly mention post-creation modification of instance type.

Q: What happens if I don't save my API key after creation?
A: The API key is displayed only once after creation. If you don't save it, you'll need to create a new API key, as there's no way to retrieve the original key value later.

Q: How many RAM users can I create under my Alibaba Cloud account?
A: You can create up to 1,000 RAM users per Alibaba Cloud account. RAM user management itself is free of charge.

Q: What is the difference between Console Access and Programmatic Access for RAM users?
A: Console Access allows the RAM user to log in to the Alibaba Cloud console through a username and password, while Programmatic Access enables the user to call Alibaba Cloud APIs or use SDKs with an AccessKey pair.

## Pricing & Billing

### Billing Model
- RAM user management and AccessKey creation are free of charge.
- AI Search Open Platform instances are billed per instance hour (per_instance_hour).
- Basic OpenSearch applications are free but limited; upgraded shared applications are billed monthly (per_instance_month).
- API calls to list applications are billed per request (per_request).

### Price Reference

| Tier | Price |
|------|-------|
| gpu.t4.16g.x1 | 0.8 / |
| ops.basic1.gi.large | 0.2 / |
| general-purpose shared application (1 GB storage, 20 LCUs) | 308.99 / |
| application list query | 0.0001 / |

### Free Tier
- Basic OpenSearch applications: free but limited to 2 per account and 1,000 search requests per day.
- Application list queries: 1,000 free requests per month.
- AI Search Open Platform token usage: 1 million tokens free per month (0.002 /tokens input, 0.004 /tokens output).
- RAM user management: free.

### Billing Notes
- AI Search Open Platform instances are billed based on actual running time; billing stops when the instance is stopped.
- Upgraded OpenSearch applications start billing immediately; downgrading is not supported.
- The owner of a private pool is charged for unused capacity (for immediate capacity reservation) or pays an assurance fee (for elasticity assurance).
- After free quotas are exhausted, standard usage-based charges apply.