Step-by-step guide: Activate Alibaba Cloud China ESA plan for free and renew it to 2050 with OpenAPI

⚠️

• This article only demonstrates the normal usage of officially public pages/interfaces; event rules, free-tier policies, and renewal limits may change at any time, so please refer to Alibaba Cloud's official instructions.
• Before renewing, be sure to verify on the order confirmation page that the amount payable is 0 RMB; if any charge appears, stop immediately.
• If the event terms explicitly limit the number of renewals or the renewal period, please comply with the terms and do not try to "exploit loopholes."

Relevant links

China ESA Free Edition (Tianchi event entry)

• Description: Claim an ESA free plan instance (0 RMB)
• Link: Click to visit the Tianchi event page

BssOpenApi / RenewInstance (OpenAPI Explorer)

• Description: Renew a prepaid instance: RenewPeriod (months), ProductCode, ProductType, InstanceId
• Link: Click to visit the RenewInstance debugging page

Quick overview

1. Claim the plan: Go to the Tianchi event page to claim the China ESA Free Edition, which creates a prepaid plan instance (usually valid for 1 month or several months by default).
2. Find the InstanceId: Locate the instance ID on the ESA console/site details page (in the form of esa-site-xxxxxxx).
3. Use RenewInstance to renew: Call BssOpenApi/2017-12-14/RenewInstance in OpenAPI Explorer to push the expiration date back; repeat multiple times if necessary.

1. Activate the China ESA plan for free through the Tianchi event

1. Preparations before activation

💡 Tip: Make sure you use the right account Make sure it is an Alibaba Cloud China account (not the international site), otherwise you may be unable to claim or renew.

2. Claiming steps

1. Open the event page and log in to your Alibaba Cloud account.
2. Find the "China ESA Free Edition" card and click "Claim Now / Activate for Free."
3. Follow the prompts to select the region/specification (the defaults are usually fine), then submit the 0 RMB order.
4. Wait for the system to create the instance, then open the Alibaba Cloud Console, search for "ESA," and enter the console. You should see the new instance in the plan/site list.

ℹ️ In essence, what you get is a renewable prepaid plan instance **, which is why you can use the Billing renewal API to extend its expiration time.

2. Find the InstanceId of the ESA plan

For the China ESA free plan, the instance ID generally looks like this: esa-site-xxxxxxx

How to obtain it:

1. Open the ESA Console and enter your site/plan details.
2. In "Basic Information," find the "Site ID / Instance ID" field.
3. Copy the full esa-site-xxxxxxx for later use.

❓ Can't find the InstanceId? First, make sure the page you are viewing is the "Site/Plan Details" page rather than the "Overview." If it is still missing, try searching in the console for "Instance ID/Site ID," or switch to the "Basic Information" / "Overview Information" tab.

3. Renew in OpenAPI Explorer

💡 Tip: Which Region should you choose? For Billing-related APIs, cn-hangzhou is usually selected (the console also typically recommends this by default).

1. Open the debugging page and log in

• Open the RenewInstance debugging page.
• On the right, select an AK you have permission to use (or the primary account) for debugging.

2. Key parameters at a glance

The minimum required parameters are as follows:

• RegionId: cn-hangzhou
• ProductCode: dcdn
• InstanceId: your esa-site-xxxxxxx
• RenewPeriod: renewal period in months (commonly 12 / 24 / 36)
• ProductType: dcdn_dcdnserviceplan_public_cn

3. Start the call & verify success

1. Click "Debug" to initiate the call.
2. If the response shows Success=true and includes an OrderId, it generally means the renewal order was created successfully.
3. Return to the ESA console / billing center to check: the plan expiration time will be extended by the number of months corresponding to RenewPeriod.

⚠️ After every order/renewal, always go to the order page to confirm: amount payable = 0. If any charge appears, stop renewing and review the event rules.

4. How do you extend the validity to 2050?

The core reason is simple: a single renewal can extend at most 36 months (about 3 years), so just renew multiple times.

Recommended "safe" renewal approach

1. First renew for 12 months (to verify whether the event is still 0 RMB and whether the API is usable).
2. Then consider renewing for 24/36 months (depending on your account's actual behavior).
3. Repeat: after each renewal, wait for the order status to normalize before proceeding to the next one.

💬 Additional note Some group members mentioned that setting RenewPeriod to 36 may fail to renew successfully; you can change it to 12 first and test it yourself.

5. Common questions & troubleshooting

Q1: What is the difference between RenewInstance and renewing in the console?

They are essentially the same renewal logic: both use Billing prepaid renewal, but OpenAPI is more suitable for automated calls.

Q2: Can I renew directly to 2050 in one go?

No. The API has an upper limit on RenewPeriod (usually a maximum of 36 months), so you can only accumulate it through multiple renewals.

Q3: Why do I get errors like "no permission / instance does not exist / status does not allow renewal"?

• No permission: switch to an AK with the required permissions, or use the primary account / grant the corresponding permissions.
• Instance does not exist: check whether the InstanceId is complete and whether extra spaces were pasted.
• Status does not allow: some instances cannot be renewed while being created/modified; wait until the status returns to normal and try again.

6. Conclusion

• Claim the China ESA Free Edition through the Tianchi event (0 RMB)
• Copy the InstanceId (esa-site-xxxxxxx) in the ESA Console
• Call RenewInstance in OpenAPI Explorer (first test it with 12 months)
• Confirm each time that the order amount payable is 0 before continuing with repeated renewals