Starting October 28, 2021, Alibaba Cloud offers shared ports for Express Connect users. The following content describes the changes brought by the new feature, including the creation and the billing of hosted connections.

Changes applicable to Express Connect partners

Content

  • Hosted connection creation: Express Connect partners must create shared ports instead of virtual border routers (VBRs) for tenants to establish hosted connections. Express Connect partners will be unable to create VBRs for tenants. For more information, see Overview of hosted connections.
  • Hosted connection billing: Alibaba Cloud no longer charges initial installation fees, resource usage fees, or VBR fees from Express Connect partners. Instead, Alibaba Cloud charges resource usage fees and outbound data transfer fees from tenants. For more information, see Billing overview.

Impacts

  • Existing VBRs created by Express Connect partners for tenants

    The VBRs that Express Connect partners previously created for tenants will not be suspended. In addition, the adjustment does not affect the billing of these VBRs. We recommend that Express Connect partners add shared ports for tenants to manage their hosted connections with which the VBRs are associated. Shared ports can be added anytime. The process does not cause service interruptions. For more information, see Operation guide for Express Connect partners.

  • New hosted connections

    Before an Express Connect partner can create a hosted connection for a tenant, the Express Connect partner must acquire the required permissions to create shared ports. By default, Express Connect partners are not granted the permissions to create shared ports. To acquire the required permissions, contact your account manager.

Changes applicable to tenants

Content

  • Hosted connection creation: Express Connect partners must create shared ports instead of VBRs for tenants to establish hosted connections. For more information, see Overview of hosted connections.
  • Hosted connection billing: Alibaba Cloud no longer charges initial installation fees, resource usage fees, or VBR fees from Express Connect partners. Instead, Alibaba Cloud charges resource usage fees and outbound data transfer fees from tenants. For more information, see Billing overview.

Impacts

We recommend that tenants contact Express Connect partners to add shared ports for the existing hosted connections. Shared ports can be added anytime. The process does not cause service interruptions. For more information, see Operation guide for tenants.