Alibaba Cloud Express Connect provides a high-speed, stable, and secure private connection between your on-premises data center and a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). Traffic travels over a dedicated circuit, avoiding Internet-related latency and data exposure.
Network topology
As shown in the following figure, an Express Connect circuit connects your on-premises data center to an Alibaba Cloud access point. One end connects to your on-premises gateway device and the other to a virtual border router (VBR). This dedicated connection delivers internal network-level quality—low latency, low packet loss, and high bandwidth—even over long distances.
You can add the VBR and a transit router (TR) instance to an Express Connect Router (ECR). After you connect VPCs through the TR, your on-premises data center communicates with VPCs in the cloud.
Components
Express Connect consists of connections over Express Connect circuits, VBRs, and ECRs.
|
Component |
Description |
|
Connection over an Express Connect circuit |
A connection over an Express Connect circuit is a dedicated network connection between an on-premises data center and an Alibaba Cloud access point. You can use a dedicated or shared Express Connect circuit. |
|
VBR |
A VBR is a router that connects an on-premises gateway device and an Alibaba Cloud access point. It acts as a forwarding bridge for data between an on-premises data center and an Alibaba Cloud data center. |
|
Express Connect Router (ECR) |
An ECR is a forwarding component for global hybrid cloud networking over Express Connect circuits. It supports global interconnection, fully dynamic routing, and centralized route advertisement management. |
Benefits
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High-speed interconnection
Powered by the network virtualization technology of Alibaba Cloud, Express Connect connects different network environments. The endpoints of an Express Connect circuit communicate over an internal network instead of the Internet.
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Stable and reliable
Built on Alibaba Cloud high-quality infrastructure, Express Connect ensures stable, reliable network communication.
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Secure
Network virtualization isolates tenants at the network layer, preventing data breaches during transmission.
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On-demand purchase
Express Connect offers multiple bandwidth specifications. Purchase only what you need to control costs.
Express Connect circuits vs. VPN gateways
You can connect an on-premises data center to a cloud VPC through an Express Connect circuit or a VPN Gateway connection. The following table compares both options across network quality, security, and bandwidth.
|
Criteria |
Connection over an Express Connect circuit |
VPN connection |
|
Network quality |
Uses a dedicated circuit for internal network-level communication: low latency and low packet loss. |
Uses shared Internet resources. Network latency and packet loss rates cannot be guaranteed. |
|
Security |
Dedicated to a single user, minimizing data breach risk. Meets security requirements for sectors such as finance and government. |
Provides encrypted communication over the Internet, sufficient for most use cases. |
|
Transmission bandwidth |
A single link supports up to 100 Gbps. Supports equal-cost multi-path (ECMP) aggregation over multiple Express Connect circuits for terabit-level bandwidth and high availability. |
Maximum bandwidth: 2000 Mbps per dual-tunnel connection. Supports ECMP across up to 16 IPsec-VPN connections. |