Deploy on Alibaba Cloud

Deploy Hermes Agent on Alibaba Cloud ECS for a reliable, scalable solution with low latency for users in China and Asia-Pacific regions.

Prerequisites

Alibaba Cloud account
Basic knowledge of Linux server management
(Optional) Domain name for HTTPS setup

Quick Start

1. Create ECS Instance

Log in to Alibaba Cloud Console
Navigate to Elastic Compute Service (ECS)
Click Create Instance

Recommended Configuration:

Component	Recommendation
Region	Choose closest to your users (e.g., Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore)
Instance Type	`ecs.t6-c1m2.large` or higher (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM)
Operating System	Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 64-bit
Storage	40GB SSD minimum
Network	VPC with public IP

2. Security Group Configuration

Open the following ports in your security group:

Port	Protocol	Purpose
22	TCP	SSH access
80	TCP	HTTP (for web UI)
443	TCP	HTTPS (for web UI)
3000	TCP	Hermes default port (optional)

3. Connect and Install

# SSH into your instance
ssh root@<your-ecs-public-ip>

# Update system
apt update && apt upgrade -y

# Install dependencies
apt install -y curl git python3 python3-pip python3-venv

# Install Hermes Agent
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

# Source the environment
source ~/.bashrc

4. Configure Hermes

# Set up your API keys
hermes setup

# Or manually edit config
nano ~/.hermes/config.yaml

Example configuration:

model:
  provider: openrouter
  model: anthropic/claude-3.5-sonnet
  api_key: ${OPENROUTER_API_KEY}

messaging:
  telegram:
    enabled: true
    bot_token: ${TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN}

5. Run Hermes

# Start in foreground (for testing)
hermes chat

# Or start as a service
hermes gateway install --system
systemctl start hermes-gateway
systemctl enable hermes-gateway

Using Alibaba Cloud Marketplace (Coming Soon)

We are working with Alibaba Cloud to provide a pre-configured marketplace image. This will include:

Pre-installed Hermes Agent
Optimized system configuration
Pre-configured security settings
One-click deployment

Advanced Configuration

Using Alibaba Cloud RDS for Memory Storage

For production deployments, consider using Alibaba Cloud RDS PostgreSQL for persistent memory:

memory:
  provider: postgres
  connection_string: ${RDS_CONNECTION_STRING}

Object Storage for File Handling

Configure OSS (Object Storage Service) for large file handling:

storage:
  backend: oss
  bucket: your-bucket-name
  region: oss-cn-shanghai

Load Balancer Setup

For high-availability deployments:

Create multiple ECS instances
Set up Alibaba Cloud SLB (Server Load Balancer)
Configure health checks
Distribute traffic across instances

Monitoring with Alibaba Cloud

CloudMonitor Integration

# Install CloudMonitor agent
wget http://update2.aegis.aliyun.com/download/cms_install.sh
chmod +x cms_install.sh
./cms_install.sh

Set up alerts for:

CPU usage > 80%
Memory usage > 85%
Disk usage > 90%
Network anomalies

Log Service (SLS)

# Configure Hermes to output structured logs
# Edit ~/.hermes/config.yaml
logging:
  format: json
  level: info
  output: /var/log/hermes/app.log

Cost Optimization

Spot Instances

For non-critical workloads, use Spot instances to save up to 90%:

Create a Spot instance in ECS console
Set appropriate bid price
Use auto-scaling groups for resilience

Auto-Scaling

Configure auto-scaling to handle varying loads:

# Create scaling group
aliyun ess CreateScalingGroup \
  --RegionId cn-shanghai \
  --MinSize 1 \
  --MaxSize 5 \
  --ScalingGroupName hermes-agent-group

Security Best Practices

1. Use RAM Roles

Instead of AccessKeys, use RAM roles for ECS instances:

# Attach RAM role to ECS instance
aliyun ecs AttachInstanceRamRole \
  --RegionId cn-shanghai \
  --InstanceIds '["i-xxxxxxxxx"]' \
  --RamRoleName HermesAgentRole

2. Enable Cloud Firewall

Configure security groups strictly:

# Only allow specific IPs for SSH
aliyun ecs AuthorizeSecurityGroup \
  --RegionId cn-shanghai \
  --SecurityGroupId sg-xxxxxxxxx \
  --IpProtocol tcp \
  --PortRange 22/22 \
  --SourceCidrIp YOUR_OFFICE_IP/32

3. Regular Backups

Enable automatic snapshots:

aliyun ecs CreateAutoSnapshotPolicy \
  --RegionId cn-shanghai \
  --TimePoints "[0, 12]" \
  --RepeatWeekdays "[1, 4]" \
  --RetentionDays 7

Troubleshooting

Connection Issues

# Check security group rules
aliyun ecs DescribeSecurityGroupAttribute \
  --RegionId cn-shanghai \
  --SecurityGroupId sg-xxxxxxxxx

# Verify network connectivity
ping <your-ecs-ip>
telnet <your-ecs-ip> 22

Performance Issues

# Monitor resource usage
top
free -h
df -h

# Check Hermes logs
journalctl -u hermes-gateway -f

Support

For Alibaba Cloud specific issues:

For Hermes Agent issues: