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What is Alibaba Cloud
What is Alibaba Cloud
Alibaba Cloud (also known as Aliyun) is the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group. Launched in 2009, it is the largest cloud provider in the Asia-Pacific region and one of the top cloud platforms globally. Alibaba Cloud provides a comprehensive suite of services — compute, storage, databases, networking, security, AI, and more — to businesses, developers, and governments around the world.
A Brief History
- 2009 — Alibaba Cloud founded to support Alibaba Group's own massive e-commerce infrastructure
- 2010 — First public cloud services launched (Elastic Compute Service)
- 2014 — International expansion begins with data centres outside mainland China
- 2017 — Becomes the official cloud services partner of the Olympic Games
- 2019 — Reaches over 1 million paying customers worldwide
- Today — Operates 80+ availability zones across 28+ regions globally
Alibaba Cloud was born out of necessity — Alibaba needed to handle the enormous traffic spikes of events like Singles' Day (11.11), the world's largest online shopping festival, processing hundreds of thousands of transactions per second.
Why Choose Alibaba Cloud?
1. Asia-Pacific Leadership
Alibaba Cloud has the widest infrastructure footprint in the Asia-Pacific region, with data centres in mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, and Australia. If your users or business operations are in Asia, Alibaba Cloud often provides the lowest latency and best compliance options.
2. China Market Access
For businesses that need to operate in mainland China, Alibaba Cloud is the most practical choice. It offers:
- ICP licence support — required for hosting websites in China
- Compliance with Chinese data regulations — data residency and privacy laws
- Integration with Alibaba's ecosystem — DingTalk, Alipay, Taobao, and more
3. Competitive Pricing
Alibaba Cloud frequently offers competitive pricing, especially for workloads in the Asia-Pacific region. Pay-as-you-go and subscription models give flexibility to match different budget requirements.
4. Comprehensive Service Catalogue
With 200+ products and services, Alibaba Cloud covers:
| Category | Example Services |
|---|---|
| Compute | Elastic Compute Service (ECS), Function Compute, Container Service |
| Storage | Object Storage Service (OSS), NAS, Block Storage |
| Database | ApsaraDB RDS, PolarDB, AnalyticDB, Tair (Redis) |
| Networking | VPC, SLB, CDN, Express Connect |
| AI / ML | PAI (Platform for AI), NLP, Image Search |
| Security | Web Application Firewall, Anti-DDoS, Security Centre |
| Big Data | MaxCompute, DataWorks, Realtime Compute (Flink) |
How Alibaba Cloud Compares
| Feature | Alibaba Cloud | AWS | Azure | GCP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2009 | 2006 | 2010 | 2008 |
| Strongest region | Asia-Pacific | Global (US-centric) | Enterprise / hybrid | Data & AI |
| China presence | Native (largest) | Limited (via partners) | Limited (via partner) | Not available |
| Global regions | 28+ | 30+ | 60+ | 35+ |
Core Concepts
Regions and Zones
Like other cloud providers, Alibaba Cloud organises its infrastructure into regions (geographic areas) and availability zones (isolated data centres within a region). You choose a region based on:
- Proximity to your users
- Data compliance requirements
- Service availability
Pay-As-You-Go vs Subscription
Alibaba Cloud offers two primary billing modes:
- Pay-As-You-Go — charged by the hour or second; ideal for variable or short-term workloads
- Subscription — pay upfront for 1 month to 3 years; significant discounts for predictable workloads
Console, CLI, and API
You can interact with Alibaba Cloud through:
- Alibaba Cloud Console — a web-based graphical interface
- Alibaba Cloud CLI (aliyun) — command-line tool for scripting and automation
- OpenAPI / SDKs — programmatic access in Python, Java, Go, Node.js, and more
Getting Started
To start using Alibaba Cloud:
- Create an account at aliyun.com (Chinese) or alibabacloud.com (international)
- Verify your identity — real-name authentication is required for Chinese accounts
- Explore the Free Tier — Alibaba Cloud offers a free trial with credits for new users
- Launch your first resource — for example, create an ECS instance or an OSS bucket
Summary
Alibaba Cloud is a global cloud platform with particular strength in the Asia-Pacific region and unmatched access to the Chinese market. It offers a comprehensive set of services comparable to AWS, Azure, and GCP. In the following lessons, we will explore Alibaba Cloud's global infrastructure, identity management, and core services in detail.