A Static Site on Alibaba Cloud Costs ¥10 and One ICP Filing Headache

Is it expensive or difficult to launch a personal static website? Not difficult. As long as you have a valid ID, you can do it for just 10 yuan.

But there is a threshold. Let's talk about the threshold first. If your website needs to be accessible from mainland China, you must complete domain name ICP filing. The waiting time varies by province, but it takes at most two weeks and at least one week for the review to complete.

Someone might ask, can't you access it without filing? No, you can. I applied for a domain on Alibaba Cloud and didn't have time to file it. According to my observation, it was accessible to mainland Chinese users for about 2-3 weeks. However, after three weeks, if you still haven't filed, it will be blocked, but overseas users can still access it.

This is the most difficult and agonizing part of launching a website.

Note: For individual users in China filing a domain, you can only file it for personal blog purposes. Other purposes require a company qualification.

https://aichatproxy.com is a static site I published, and it gets tens of thousands of page views per month. With the help of AI coding, publishing this kind of static site is incredibly simple.

How to buy a domain?

Open Alibaba Cloud Wanwang, choose a domain you like. If you're just playing around, pick any cheap one; some domains cost only 10 yuan per year.

Alibaba Cloud Wanwang_Domain Registration_Domain Trading_Website Building_Filing_Qualifications_Trademarks_Software Copyrights - Alibaba Cloud

After purchasing, remember this domain; you'll need it later when binding the domain.

Where to host the website?

Finally, how to write the website? Let's talk about hosting first. I recommend using Alibaba Cloud OSS. It's very simple to operate and quite cheap.

1. Register for Alibaba Cloud

2. Activate OSS and create a bucket

Open https://oss.console.aliyun.com/bucket

Add image annotation, no more than 140 characters (optional)

1. Upload all the website's HTML files and other assets to the bucket

Add image annotation, no more than 140 characters (optional)

1. Change the bucket permissions to public-read and configure the default index page for the website

Add image annotation, no more than 140 characters (optional)

Add image annotation, no more than 140 characters (optional)

1. Bind the domain

This step is a bit tedious, but it's very simple after you've done it once.

1. Click "Bind Domain," enter the domain you purchased. Alibaba Cloud will then prompt you to configure domain resolution. This is to resolve the domain to the OSS address.

Add image annotation, no more than 140 characters (optional)

Add image annotation, no more than 140 characters (optional)

1. Open the Alibaba Cloud domain list -> find the bound domain -> click "Resolve"

https://dc.console.aliyun.com/next/index?spm=5176.8466032.console-base_product-drawer-right.dproducts-and-services-domain.565a14506wredI#/domain-list/all

Add image annotation, no more than 140 characters (optional)

Enter the resolution record and click confirm.

Add image annotation, no more than 140 characters (optional)

1. Go back to the OSS page, click "Verify Domain Ownership and Bind."

Add image annotation, no more than 140 characters (optional)

Congratulations, now when you enter http://your-domain, you should be able to access your website.

If you're just playing around and don't want to continuously operate this website, you can record a video here and call it a day.

Otherwise, you still need to do two things: 1) Domain ICP filing 2) Purchase a certificate & enable HTTPS access

Domain ICP Filing

Follow Alibaba Cloud's prompts to file. There aren't many difficulties, just a need for patience and waiting.

However, during this period, the website is accessible, but it won't work after 2-3 weeks.

Website Filing_ICP Filing_Filing Migration_Filing - Alibaba Cloud

Add image annotation, no more than 140 characters (optional)

Next, let's talk about how to enable HTTPS.

Why enable HTTPS?

Because when many browsers enter a domain in the address bar, they default to the more secure HTTPS protocol. If your website doesn't support HTTPS, it will be flagged as unsafe and access might be blocked.

Add image annotation, no more than 140 characters (optional)

Enabling HTTPS

1. Open the Alibaba Cloud Digital Certificate Management Service, click "Purchase Personal Test Certificate"

https://yundun.console.aliyun.com/?spm=5176.12818093_47.overview_recent.5.3be916d0tbkQwn&p=cas#/overview/cn-hangzhou

Add image annotation, no more than 140 characters (optional)

1. Choose the zero-yuan purchase option (each person gets 20 free certificates per year, which is basically enough)

Add image annotation, no more than 140 characters (optional)

1. Enter certificate management, select "Apply for Certificate"

https://yundun.console.aliyun.com/?spm=5176.12818093_47.overview_recent.5.3be916d0tbkQwn&p=cas#/instance/test/cn-hangzhou

Add image annotation, no more than 140 characters (optional)

Enter the domain, click submit for review, and wait 5-10 minutes.

Add image annotation, no more than 140 characters (optional)

After the review passes, choose "Deploy to Cloud Product"

Add image annotation, no more than 140 characters (optional)

Then on the deployment page, select your OSS instance, then the domain, click preview and submit.

Shortly after, you can see the deployment status. Once deployment is successful, use https://your-domain to access it, and it should work.

After running through the whole process once, you'll find that the only cost is the domain fee. As for the OSS cost, if you're just playing around, it basically costs nothing. If the traffic is relatively large, you probably won't care about that small cost anyway.

My OSS gets hundreds of thousands of page views per month and costs less than 10 yuan, which is also very cheap.