Actions3
- Security Groups Actions
- ECS Actions
Overview
This node interacts with Aliyun's Elastic Compute Service (ECS) to query details about ECS instances. Specifically, the DescribeInstances operation allows users to retrieve information about one or more ECS instances based on optional filtering criteria. This is useful for cloud administrators and developers who want to programmatically access instance metadata, monitor instance states, or integrate ECS instance data into workflows.
Practical examples:
- Fetching all ECS instances that match certain tags or attributes.
- Retrieving detailed information about specific ECS instances before performing further automation tasks.
- Integrating ECS instance data into dashboards or reporting tools.
Properties
| Name | Meaning |
|---|---|
| FilterInstances | A JSON string representing filters to apply when querying ECS instances. These filters define criteria such as instance IDs, status, tags, or other attributes to narrow down the returned instances. |
Example of a filter value (as JSON string):
{
"Status": ["Running"],
"InstanceIds": ["i-instanceid1", "i-instanceid2"]
}
Output
The node outputs an array of items where each item contains a json object with the following structure:
instances: An array of ECS instance objects matching the filter criteria. Each instance object includes detailed properties describing the ECS instance (such as instance ID, status, type, region, etc.).
If no instances match the filter, the instances array will be empty.
Dependencies
- Requires valid Aliyun API credentials including an access key ID and secret.
- The node uses the Aliyun SDK helper internally to communicate with the ECS service.
- The user must configure the Aliyun API credentials in n8n prior to using this node.
- The region for the ECS service is derived from the provided credentials.
Troubleshooting
- Invalid JSON in FilterInstances: If the filter string is not valid JSON, the node will throw a parsing error. Ensure the filter input is a properly formatted JSON string.
- Authentication errors: If the API credentials are incorrect or missing, the node will fail to authenticate with Aliyun. Verify that the API key and secret are correct and have sufficient permissions.
- No instances returned: If the filter criteria do not match any ECS instances, the output
instancesarray will be empty. Adjust the filters accordingly. - API rate limits or network issues: Temporary failures communicating with Aliyun may occur. Retrying the execution or checking network connectivity can help.