{"id":1959,"date":"2019-11-22T18:36:52","date_gmt":"2019-11-22T18:36:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csdev.site\/creole_new\/?p=1959"},"modified":"2024-05-01T11:28:13","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T11:28:13","slug":"why-should-you-use-alibaba-cloud-what-are-the-initial-steps-to-complete-the-set-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/csdev.site\/creole_new\/why-should-you-use-alibaba-cloud-what-are-the-initial-steps-to-complete-the-set-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Why should you use Alibaba Cloud & what are the initial steps to complete the set-up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When it comes to Cloud Computing, the very first name that comes to anyone\u2019s mind is the Amazon Web Service AWS. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AWS caters to diverse cloud-based products ranging from computing to migration, storage to security and many others. AWS is a name trusted by almost everyone around the world. But when it comes to the Chinese market, people tend to think twice before opting for AWS. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few rumours were heard about AWS leaving the China Market in the past which did not actually happen. At that time, it was difficult to decide whether to go with AWS in Chinese market or not. The other option available was Alibaba Cloud also known as Aliyun. Alibaba Cloud is a subsidiary company of Alibaba Group which provides cloud services to online businesses in China and international market. The current situation is that one cannot put themselves on the global map without considering the huge Chinese market. 
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Now there are many options available to host your website in China. The very first option is to host it from your own country. But you will probably not go with this option because your website will be hosted outside Mainland China and their search engines may not index your full website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another option is using Content Delivery Network CDN to deliver content without hosting websites in Mainland China. But this option will affect the load speed of your website depending on the geographic location of CDN. You probably want to go with the Hong Kong location if you want to host your website through CDN. To avoid all such problems like SEO rankings, load speed of website, etc., hosting your website in Mainland China is the best option. The search engines will treat your website as a local website if you are deploying a China optimized website. This will boost your search engine visibility and SEO ranking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You must be having questions regarding how you can launch your website in China.  The same questions arise when we needed to launch the website for our client located in Mainland China. There were two server options available: AWS and Alibaba but as our targeted audience were based in China, Alibaba Cloud platform was preferred. Alibaba Cloud and its products were used according to the requirements of the website.  There are specific rules that need to be followed inorder to launch your website in China. This blog will help you figure out the step by step process to host your website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The topics covered in the blog are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Alibaba Server Setup<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. ICP Licence<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Elastic Compute Service ECS and its instance<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Lamp Stack Setup<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Domain Transfer<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Domain Mapping<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Generating CSR <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Deploying SSL in Apache server<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    \tThe other Alibaba Cloud Products that were used are<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. Object Storage Service OSS<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. ApsaraVideo for VOD<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Media Processing <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Alibaba Server Setup<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      To purchase the server, there were two options available, one was Alibaba International and other was Alibaba for Mainland China. The account on both the platforms are considered to be different. Links for both platforms (International and Mainland China) are https:\/\/www.alibabacloud.com\/<\/a> and https:\/\/cn.aliyun.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Proceeding with Alibaba International platform was pretty straightforward and much similar to AWS. But the problem occured  when there was a need to set up the server and migrate domain, set up SSL and setup CDN (Content Delivery Network) using ECS (Elastic Compute Service) which is one of the Alibaba products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ICP Licence<\/h2>\n\n\n

      In order to host a website in China, there were some procedures that were needed to follow. The first step in that process was to file for an ICP(Internet Content Provider) license. An ICP licence is a registration number and it allows a website to operate on hosting servers and it is a legal requirement set by the Chinese Government. ICP licence is the only way to guarantee fast loading for your website hosted in Mainland China. ICP Licence is divided into two categories: ICP Filling and ICP Commercial Licence.<\/p>\n

      ICP Filling:<\/h4>\n

      It is the first level of certification and all applicants must apply for it regardless of whether the website is commercial or non-commercial. The ICP filling can take several months but Alibaba Cloud provides the processing within 20 working days.<\/p>\n

      ICP Commercial Licence:<\/h4>\n

      It allows online platforms or third-party sellers of goods and services to host their website in Mainland China. After obtaining both ICP licence only, one can host their e-commerce website in Mainland China.<\/p>\n

      International companies without having a registered business office in Mainland China are not eligible to obtain an ICP license. The domestic companies or joint ventures (JVs) with domestic stakes only can apply for ICP licence.
      All the details regarding ICP Licence are available on the links mentioned below.<\/p>\n\n\n

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      1. https:\/\/blog.sinorbis.com\/chinese-icp-license<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
      2. https:\/\/www.nanjingmarketinggroup.com\/blog\/icp-license\/how-apply-icp-license<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        Elastic Compute Service ECS <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        After obtaining the ICP licence, the hosting plan was selected. Alibaba provides different cloud servers that fulfills the requirements to host your website. We opted for Elastic Computing Service (ECS)<\/strong>. It provides elastic and virtual cloud service for hosting the website. There were different purchasing options available; you can select the one which is suitable as per your need. You can find a list of all the hosting plans and their details on this link https:\/\/www.alibabacloud.com\/solutions\/hosting<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        After selecting the proper hosting server, in my case ECS, its instance had to be selected. ECS instance<\/strong> is a virtual machine that contains the components like memory, network, OS and CPU. These ECS instances are categorized into different categories of instance families which caters different business scenarios (mainly memory specification and CPU). I had a platform for on-demand video streaming and basically an educational platform so  the ECS instance that I selected was (ECS.mn4.large). This instance provides 2 virtual CPUs and 8 GiB memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

        Lamp Stack Setup<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        Once you are done with purchasing the server, you will need to install\/setup LAMP stack. It is an open-source software installed together to enable a server to host a website. LAMP stands for Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. The first thing needed was to have an Active Alibaba Cloud account. To launch ECS on a Linux machine was an easy task. I followed some simple steps given below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        1. Logged into my Alibaba Cloud ECS Management Console. On the dashboard select Product Service > Elastic Compute Service<\/strong>. You will be taken to the ECS overview dashboard. You click Instances<\/strong> on the sidebar to navigate to the Instances menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        2. The next step is to create an instance. There are two packages available and you need to select the data center region and availability zone to launch the instance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

        3. Select Choose Instance type > Generation<\/strong>. Select the generation as per your computing requirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        4. Select Network type > Classic\/VPC network<\/strong>. Select Network billing type. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

        5. Under operating systems, select  Ubuntu or any other Linux server  select a version for the server from the drop-down menu. Under the Storage section, select the storage type as per your requirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        6. Under Security Setup, you can set a password for server\u2019s security. This task can also be performed from the console later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        7. At last, you can review your purchase and can modify it if required. To confirm and launch the server, click Activate.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

        Here, Linux will be installed. The details and commands to install Apache, MySQL and PHP  are given in the following link https:\/\/www.alibabacloud.com\/getting-started\/projects\/how-to-install-lamp-stack<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

         The complete guide for set up is given here  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        https:\/\/www.digitalocean.com\/community\/tutorials\/how-to-install-linux-apache-mysql-php-lamp-stack-ubuntu-18-04<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Please note these links explains the LAMP setup for OS Ubuntu 18.04<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Once you are done with the setup of lamp at times you need to set up security groups as well which can be done from the console of the instance after you login.
        <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        8. Under Instances > Manage<\/strong> to manage ECS instance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

        9. Navigate to Security Group(left panel) > Configure Rules<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

        Check whether the instance is already set to allow inbound traffic from Port 80. If not, select Add Security Group Rules<\/strong> to create a new rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

        Enter the details as shown below and click OK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

        Domain Transfer<\/h2>\n\n\n

        After you are done with all the setup of the server, the next step would be mapping domain with server.<\/span><\/p>\n

        Domain Transfer<\/b><\/p>\n

        If your domain is registered with another provider, then you will need to migrate your domain to Alibaba. So there are some additional steps that you need to follow.<\/span><\/p>\n

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        1. If you want to transfer domain to Alibaba\u2019s International Platform then  you need to follow some set of rules:<\/strong>\n