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Manage Instances

This article introduces the basic concepts of instances, related constraints, and operations for creating, viewing, modifying, and deleting instances.

Instance​

Basic Concepts​

An instance is the top-level operational resource of the AutoMQ for Kafka product. A Kafka instance corresponds to an independent cluster of Apache Kafka®.

Lifecycle​

The complete lifecycle of an instance, from creation to release, is illustrated in the following diagram:

  • Creating: The initial instance creation operation is an asynchronous process. When the creation operation is completed, the instance is deployed asynchronously in the background. During this process, users cannot make any changes until the creation is finished.

  • Running: The current instance is in an active running state, capable of providing all messaging functions and API services normally.

  • In Progress: The current instance is undergoing maintenance, version upgrades, or other operations. Since these processes are asynchronous, changes must wait for completion. During this period, any modifications to the instance are prohibited.

  • Service Exception: The current instance cannot provide normal service due to execution of creation, maintenance changes, or underlying infrastructure anomalies.

  • Deleting: The current instance is being manually deleted and released. Instances in the process of deletion will no longer accept services, and resources and data will be cleaned up asynchronously in the background.

  • Deleted: The current instance has been manually deleted and released. Once released, the instance cannot be recovered.

Create Instance​

Steps​

  1. To experience AutoMQ Kafka message sending and receiving, you first need to create a Kafka instance.

  2. Log in to the environment console and click on the instance list in the left navigation bar.

  3. On the instance list page, click "Create Instance." In the popup instance creation page, add the configuration with the following information.

Parameter
Description
Instance Name
  • Description: The instance name is an alias used to distinguish instances. It is user-defined.
  • Restriction: Refer to Restrictions▸.
Instance Remark
  • Description: The instance remark is a custom description used to distinguish the purpose of the instance, usually inputting the business scenario. It is user-defined.
  • Restriction: Refer to Restrictions▸.
Availability Zone Information (VM mode)
  • Description: AutoMQ for Kafka instances currently support single Availability Zone and three Availability Zone deployments. Please select the appropriate option based on your business characteristics.
  • Options:
    • Single Availability Zone: All nodes of the Kafka cluster are deployed in a user-specified single Availability Zone.
    • Three Availability Zones: All nodes of the Kafka cluster are evenly distributed across three user-specified Availability Zones.
Subnet Information (VM mode)
  • Description: AutoMQ for Kafka instances currently only support setting one subnet per Availability Zone. If there are needs for multiple Availability Zones and subnets, please refer to Obtaining Services▸.
  • Option: The subnet provided by the user should contain enough available IPs (at least 100 are recommended) to prevent the risk of instance scaling failure due to insufficient IP addresses in the future.
Node Pool (Kubernetes mode)
  • Description: In Kubernetes mode, you need to select a node pool when creating an instance. The node pool will define the Availability Zone, subnet, and other location information for the instance deployment.
Computing Specifications
  • Description: Computing specifications represent the message throughput capacity of the current AutoMQ Kafka instance. Refer to the product billing instructions and evaluate based on the number of AKUs. See Billing Instructions for BYOC▸ for more details.
  • Limitations: The maximum number of AKUs for creating an instance is limited by the version. For more details, refer to Restrictions▸.
Storage Specifications
  • Description: AutoMQ Kafka uses object storage as the message storage medium, so there is no need to reserve storage capacity in advance. During usage, it is used and billed based on actual message capacity.
Node Type (Advanced Options)
  • Description: AutoMQ in the Alibaba Cloud environment allows users to freely choose between pay-as-you-go or annual/monthly subscription types for ECS. Users can select based on their operational habits.
  • Choices:
    • Pay-as-you-go ECS: Default recommendation. During creation, scaling, and deletion of instances, the AutoMQ environment console manages the lifecycle of ECS in sync.
    • Annual/Monthly Subscription ECS: Recommended for long-term, stable businesses with low discount rates. After choosing this type of ECS, users need to handle the cancellation and recycling of ECS instances manually after scaling down or deletion.

When using annual/monthly subscription ECS, AutoMQ will enable automatic renewal by default to prevent the unavailability of instances due to expiration.
When using annual/monthly subscription ECS, during scaling down or deletion of AutoMQ instances, there may be ECS instances pending for recycling. Users need to manually cancel and recycle these instances in the cloud provider console to avoid continuous charges.

  1. After selecting the appropriate parameters, click confirm to create the instance.

View Instance​

Steps​

  1. Navigate to the Instance List page.

  2. Locate the instance that needs to be updated from the list, and click on the instance name.

  3. On the Instance Details page, view the instance details information.

Instance Scaling​

Steps​

  1. Navigate to the Instance List page.

  2. Locate the instance that needs to be updated from the list, and click on the instance name.

  3. On the Instance Details page, click the Reconfigure button, adjust the instance's compute specifications as needed, and click Confirm to complete the modifications.

Instance Version Upgrade​

Instance Version​

AutoMQ BYOC environment, for instance version management, refer to Release Notes▸.

To upgrade the instance version, ensure that the environment console is at the correct version; otherwise, upgrade the console first. For details on upgrading the environment console, refer to Upgrade Environment Version▸.

Steps​

  1. Navigate to the Instance List page.

  2. Locate the instance that needs to be updated from the list, and click on the instance name.

  3. On the Instance Details page, review the current instance version and the recommended upgrade version. Click the Upgrade button, confirm the new version, and proceed with the rolling upgrade.

During the AutoMQ instance upgrade, a rolling upgrade strategy is used to apply changes in batches, ensuring no disruption to message sending and receiving.

Deleting an Instance​

Deleting an instance refers to the process of removing an instance that is no longer needed, thus releasing the underlying resources.

Steps​

  1. Navigate to the Instance List page.

  2. Locate the instance that needs to be updated in the instance list, then click the action button dropdown on the right.

  3. Find the delete button, click delete, and confirm the deletion in the secondary confirmation prompt to complete the operation.