Use an elastic IP address of BGP (Multi-ISP) Pro to access a website application with
lower latency
Last Updated: Sep 05, 2020
This topic describes how to use an elastic IP address of BGP (Multi-ISP) Pro to provide
services for users in mainland China through a direct connection. This reduces the
network latency because no international Internet Service Provider (ISP) service is
used. You can associate an elastic IP address of BGP (Multi-ISP) Pro with an Elastic
Compute Service (ECS) instance. Then, users in mainland China can access your website
application deployed in the China (Hong Kong) region.
Prerequisites
Before you start, make sure that the following requirements are met:
An Alibaba Cloud account is created. If you do not have an Alibaba Cloud account,
click Create an Alibaba Cloud account to create an Alibaba Cloud account.
The following figure shows how an elastic IP address of BGP (Multi-ISP) Pro helps
reduce the network latency. A website application is deployed on an ECS instance that
is created in the China (Hong Kong) region. The ECS instance is associated with an
elastic IP address of BGP (Multi-ISP). High network latency may exist when users in
mainland China access the website application deployed in the China (Hong Kong) region.
This downgrades the user experience.
You can associate an elastic IP address of BGP (Multi-ISP) Pro with the ECS instance.
Then, users in mainland China can access the website application deployed in the China
(Hong Kong) region with lower network latency because no international ISP service
is used.
Procedure
Step 1: Purchase an elastic IP address of BGP (Multi-ISP) Pro
You can use elastic IP addresses of BGP (Multi-ISP) Pro to deliver services to users
in mainland China through a direct connection. In this case, no international Internet
Service Provider (ISP) service is used. This reduces the network latency.
The following example shows how to purchase an elastic IP address of BGP (Multi-ISP)
Pro that is billed on a subscription basis.
On the Elastic IP Addresses page, click Create EIP.
On the buy page, select Subscription, and set the following parameters for the elastic IP address.
Region: Select a region for the elastic IP address. China (Hong Kong) is selected in this example.
Connection Type: Select BGP (Multi-ISP) or BGP (Multi-ISP) Pro.
BGP (Multi-ISP): Up to 89 high-quality BGP lines are available on a global scale. Direct connections
can be established from all regions in mainland China through a variety of ISPs. The
following ISPs can provide the direct connections: China Telecom, China Unicom, China
Mobile, China Railcom, China Netcom, CERNET, China Broadcast Network, Dr. Peng, and
Founder.
BGP (Multi-ISP) Pro: BGP (Multi-ISP) Pro is provided to improve the efficiency of data transmission between
mainland China and regions outside mainland China. Compared with BGP (Multi-ISP),
BGP (Multi-ISP) Pro can be used to establish direct connections without the use of
international ISP services. This reduces the network latency.
BGP (Multi-ISP) Pro is selected in this example.
Network Type: Select a network type. Public is selected in this example.
Bandwidth Value: Specify the bandwidth of the elastic IP address that meets your requirements. 10 Mbit/s is selected in this example.
Name: Enter a name for the elastic IP address.
The name must be 2 to 128 characters in length, and start with a letter or Chinese
character. It can contain letters, Chinese characters, digits, periods (.), underscores
(_), and hyphens (-).
Quantity: Select the number of elastic IP addresses that meets your requirements.
Service Time: Select a subscription duration.
Click Buy Now and complete the payment.
Click Console and go to the Elastic IP Addresses page.
On the Elastic IP Addresses page, the Connection Type of the purchased elastic IP address displays BGP (Multi-ISP) Pro.
Step 2: Associate an elastic IP address with an ECS instance
You can associate an elastic IP address with a VPC-connected ECS instance. ECS instances
can communicate with the Internet after they are associated with elastic IP addresses.
Take the following steps to associate the elastic IP address with an ECS instance:
On the Elastic IP Addresses page, find the elastic IP address created in Step 1, and click Bind Resource in the Actions column.
In the Bind Elastic IP Address to Resources dialog box, set the following parameters to associate the elastic IP address with
an ECS instance:
Instance Type: Select the type of the instance to be associated with the elastic IP address. Select
ECS Instance in this example.
Binding Mode: Select a binding mode.
Only Normal is supported. In the Normal mode:
Both elastic IP address and private IP address of the ECS instance are available.
In the operating system of the ECS instance, the elastic IP address is not displayed.
You must call the DescribeInstances operation to query the elastic IP address that
is associated with the ECS instance. For more information, see DescribeInstances.
When an elastic IP address (EIP) is deployed as an NAT application layer gateway (ALG),
some protocols are not supported. For example, H.323, Session Initiation Protocol
(SIP), Domain Name System (DNS), Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), and Trivial
File Transfer Protocol (TFTP).
Select an Instance to Bind: Select an ECS instance to be associated with the elastic IP address.
Click OK.
Step 3: Test the network latency
After you associate the elastic IP address with the ECS instance, you can test the
network latency in the networking between mainland China and the website application
that is deployed in China (Hong Kong).
Open Command Prompt on a computer in mainland China.
Run the ping command to ping the elastic IP address that is associated with the ECS instance.
The test result shows that the network latency is reduced when users in mainland China
use the elastic IP address of BGP (Multi-ISP) Pro to access the ECS instance.
Figure 1. Network latency of accessing an ECS instance that is associated with an elastic IP
address of BGP (Multi-ISP) Pro
Figure 2. Network latency of accessing an ECS instance that is associated with an elastic IP
address of BGP (Multi-ISP)
Note The actual network latency in the communication supported by the elastic IP address
of BGP (Multi-ISP) Pro varies based on the quality of the ISP network.