Before you begin

1. Select an access point

An access point is a location where Alibaba Cloud provides network services. Multiple links are available at access points for you to access Alibaba Cloud. Before you access Alibaba Cloud through a physical connection, you must to obtain the detailed location of the access point.

2. Check available resources

After you select the access point, service provider, and port type, you can check whether the resources you require are available for purchase by going to the payment page in the Express connect console.

1. Go to the physical connection interface purchase page.
2. Select the access point, port type, port specification, and other required parameters and click Buy Now.
3. Check the configurations of the physical connection interface and click Pay.
4. Check the message displayed on the page.
   • If after you click Pay, a payment page appears, it means the resources you require are available at the selected access point.
     Notice Do not click Confirm Payment.
     
   • If after you click Pay, a message that says the activation failed appears, it means the resources you require are unavailable for purchase at the selected access point. We recommend that you select another access point.

3. Contact the service provider to perform a site survey

After you determine the access point and obtain the location of the access point, you must contact the service provider for a connection solution and ask the service provider to perform a site survey.

1. Contact your service provider, ask the service provider to connect your on-premises data center to the selected Alibaba Cloud access point, and ask for a leased line connection plan.
2. After you and your service provider determine the connection plan, you must to apply for a site survey at the data center where the Alibaba Cloud access point is located.

   You must provide required information, including names, IDs, and contact information of the service provider engineers who will perform the site survey.

3. After your application is approved, Alibaba Cloud will help the engineers perform the site survey within two workdays.
4. Contact the service provider to perform the site survey and ask for a price quote for end-to-end resources. Fees involved include:
   • Alibaba Cloud charges a one-time initial installation fee and a resource occupation fee for the port you use.
   • The service provider charges a rental fee for the leased line used to connect your on-premises data center to the access point.
   • The data center provider may charge an indoor cable fee. Data centers of all access points are owned by service providers and third-party providers except the Hangzhou-Yuhang-A-Ali access point and access points in China (Zhangjiakou), which are owned by Alibaba Cloud. Therefore, you may need to purchase indoor cables at the data center building from the data center provider.
   • The provider of your on-premises data center may charge fees for cable connections and use of indoor cables.
     Note Before your service provider performs the site survey at Alibaba Cloud access point, note the following:

     • For data centers within Mainland China, the service provider can apply to enter the room dedicated to Alibaba Cloud devices for a site survey.
     • For data centers outside Mainland China, the service provider does not need to enter the dedicated room of Alibaba Cloud and only needs to perform the site survey at the Meet-Me-Room. Therefore, site surveys outside Mainland China do not require applications or approvals by Alibaba Cloud.
     • To obtain the detailed location of the Alibaba Cloud access point, open a ticket.

Access point locations

To help you select an appropriate access point, the following table lists the landmarks within 5 kilometers of Alibaba Cloud access points. For detailed locations of access points, open a ticket.