Configure ECS instances that are assigned EIPs to use the same EIP to access the Internet

Prerequisites

Source Network Address Translation (SNAT) entries are configured for the VPC in which the ECS instances are assigned EIPs. For more information, see Create a SNAT entry.

Background information

NAT gateways support the SNAT feature. SNAT enables ECS instances in a VPC to access the Internet when the ECS instances are not assigned public IP addresses. In a VPC, ECS instances that are assigned EIPs preferably use the EIPs to access the Internet. ECS instances that are not assigned EIPs access the Internet through the SNAT service provided by the NAT gateway. Consequently, the ECS instances in the VPC use different IP addresses to access the Internet, which complicates management operations.

You can configure ECS instances in the VPC to use the same EIP to access the Internet by attaching an elastic network interface (ENI) to the ECS instances.

In the following example, you can create an ENI for the ECS instance, attach the ENI to the ECS instance, and associate an EIP with the ENI. This way, the ECS instance uses the ENI to receive requests from the Internet and accesses the Internet through the NAT gateway.

Step 1: Create an ENI

To create an ENI for an ECS instance, follow these steps:

1. Log on to the ECS console.
2. In the left-side navigation pane, click Network and Security > ENI.
3. Select the target region.
   Note The ENI and the ECS instance must be in the same region.
4. On the Network Interfaces page, click Create ENI.
5. On the Create ENI page, configure the ENI according to the following information and click OK.
   • Network Interface Name: Enter the name of the ENI.
   • VPC: Select the VPC to which the ECS instance belongs.
   • VSwitch: Select the VSwitch of the zone to which the ECS instance belongs.
   • Primary Private IP (optional): Enter the primary private IPv4 address of the ENI. The IPv4 address must be an idle address in the CIDR block of the specified VSwitch. If you do not specify one, an idle private IPv4 address is automatically assigned to your ENI after the ENI is created.
   • Security Group: Select a security group of the VPC.
   • Description (optional): Enter a description for the ENI.

Step 2: Associate the ENI with the ECS instance

To attach the ENI to the ECS instance, follow these steps:

1. Log on to the ECS console.
2. In the left-side navigation pane, click Network and Security > ENI.
3. Select the target region.
4. On the Network Interfaces page, find the target ENI, and click Bind to Instance in the Actions column.
5. In the displayed dialog box, select the ECS instance to attach and click OK.

Step 3: Disassociate the EIP from the ECS instance

To disassociate the EIP from the ECS instance, follow these steps:

1. Log on to the VPC console.
2. In the left-side navigation pane, click Elastic IP Addresses.
3. Select the region of the target EIP.
4. On the Elastic IP Addresses page, find the target EIP and click Unbind in the Actions column.
5. In the displayed dialog box, click OK.

Step 4: Associate the EIP with the ENI

To associate the EIP with the ENI, follow these steps:

1. Log on to the VPC console.
2. In the left-side navigation pane, click Elastic IP Addresses.
3. Select the region of the target EIP.
4. On the Elastic IP Addresses page, find the target EIP and click Bind in the Actions column.
5. On the Bind Elastic IP Address page, associate the EIP with the ENI according to the following information and click OK.
   • IP Address: Displays the EIP.
   • Instance Type: Select Secondary ENI.
   • Resource Group (optional): Select the resource group to which the EIP belongs.
   • Mode (optional): Select the NAT mode.
   • Secondary ENI: Select the ENI to be associated.

Step 5: Test the network connectivity