Alibaba Cloud ECS SDK (V1.0)

Common errors

• ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'aliyunsdkcore'

  cause The core SDK (`aliyun-python-sdk-core`) is a mandatory dependency and has not been installed.
  fix Install the core SDK: `pip install aliyun-python-sdk-core`.

• Command 'python setup.py egg_info' failed with error code 1 in /path/to/package

  cause This often indicates an outdated `pip` or Python version, or missing build-time dependencies required for package installation.
  fix Upgrade `pip` and `setuptools`: `pip install --upgrade pip setuptools`. Ensure your Python version meets the SDK requirements (Python 3.7+ for recent `aliyunsdkcore`).

• The current status of the resource does not support this operation.

  cause You are attempting to perform an action (e.g., start, stop, release an instance) on an ECS instance that is not in the required state for that operation.
  fix Before performing state-changing operations, query the instance's current status (e.g., using `DescribeInstancesRequest`) and wait for it to reach the correct state. For example, an instance must be 'Stopped' to be 'Started', and 'Running' to be 'Stopped'.

• SDK.HttpError: The endpoint is not found.

  cause This error typically means the region ID provided during `AcsClient` initialization is invalid or the SDK version is too old to recognize the endpoint for the specified region.
  fix Verify the `region_id` string format (e.g., 'cn-hangzhou'). Ensure `aliyunsdkcore` is updated to the latest version: `pip install --upgrade aliyun-python-sdk-core`.

Warnings

• breaking The Alibaba Cloud Python SDK V1.0, which includes `aliyun-python-sdk-ecs`, is officially deprecated and in a basic security maintenance phase. Users are strongly recommended to migrate to the V2.0 SDK (`alibabacloud-python-sdk`) for new projects and actively maintained features.
  Fix: Migrate to `alibabacloud-python-sdk`. The import patterns and client initialization differ significantly. Refer to the official Alibaba Cloud Python SDK 2.0 documentation for migration guides.
• gotcha As of `aliyun-python-sdk-core` version 2.16.0, the minimum supported Python version is 3.7. Attempting to use this SDK with older Python versions (e.g., Python 2.7, 3.6) will lead to compatibility issues or installation failures.
  Fix: Ensure your Python environment is version 3.7 or newer. Upgrade Python if necessary, or use a virtual environment with a compatible Python version.
• gotcha Many ECS operations (e.g., StartInstance, StopInstance, ReleaseInstance) are asynchronous and require the ECS instance to be in a specific state before the operation can succeed. Failing to check the instance status can lead to API errors.
  Fix: Implement logic to poll the instance status using `DescribeInstancesRequest` or `DescribeInstanceAttributeRequest` and wait for the desired state before proceeding with dependent operations. The V2.0 SDK offers `instance.wait_until(ECSInstanceResource.STATUS_RUNNING)` for this purpose.
• gotcha When allocating an EIP (`AllocateEipAddressRequest`), you might encounter an API error if the `InternetChargeType` parameter is not explicitly set, even though it might seem optional in some contexts.
  Fix: Explicitly set `request.set_InternetChargeType('PayByBandwidth')` or `'PayByTraffic'` when calling `AllocateEipAddressRequest` to avoid this known API issue.

Install

• pip install aliyun-python-sdk-core aliyun-python-sdk-ecs Install core and ECS SDK

Imports

• AcsClient

  from aliyunsdkcore.client import AcsClient

• DescribeInstancesRequest

  from aliyunsdkecs.request.v20140526.DescribeInstancesRequest import DescribeInstancesRequest

• RunInstancesRequest
  wrong:

  from aliyunsdkecs.request.RunInstancesRequest import RunInstancesRequest

  correct:

  from aliyunsdkecs.request.v20140526.RunInstancesRequest import RunInstancesRequest

  Requests are versioned, typically under a 'vYYYYMMDD' path. Omitting the version will cause ModuleNotFoundError.

Quickstart

This quickstart demonstrates how to initialize the V1.0 ECS client using environment variables for credentials and fetch a list of ECS instances. It uses `DescribeInstancesRequest` as a common API call. Remember to replace placeholder values or set environment variables.

import os
from aliyunsdkcore.client import AcsClient
from aliyunsdkecs.request.v20140526.DescribeInstancesRequest import DescribeInstancesRequest

# Configure credentials and region using environment variables
access_key_id = os.environ.get('ALIBABA_CLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_ID', 'YOUR_ACCESS_KEY_ID')
access_key_secret = os.environ.get('ALIBABA_CLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_SECRET', 'YOUR_ACCESS_KEY_SECRET')
region_id = os.environ.get('ALIBABA_CLOUD_REGION_ID', 'cn-hangzhou')

if not access_key_id or not access_key_secret:
    raise ValueError("Alibaba Cloud Access Key ID and Secret must be set in environment variables or hardcoded for testing.")

try:
    # Initialize the AcsClient
    client = AcsClient(access_key_id, access_key_secret, region_id)

    # Create a request object for DescribeInstances
    request = DescribeInstancesRequest()
    request.set_PageSize(10)

    # Send the request and get the response
    response = client.do_action_with_exception(request)

    # Process the response (response is a byte string, decode it)
    import json
    response_data = json.loads(response.decode('utf-8'))

    print(f"Successfully queried instances in region {region_id}:")
    for instance in response_data.get('Instances', {}).get('Instance', []):
        print(f"  Instance ID: {instance['InstanceId']}, Status: {instance['Status']}")

except Exception as e:
    print(f"An error occurred: {e}")