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Express Connect:Establish active/active connections between a data center and Alibaba Cloud

Last Updated:Jan 16, 2024

This topic describes how to use two Express Connect circuits to establish active/active connections between a data center and Alibaba Cloud. This improves network reliability and ensures high availability of the Express Connect circuits. If your data center is connected to Alibaba Cloud by using two Express Connect circuits, network traffic is transmitted over both connections. If one of the Express Connect circuits is down, the other Express Connect circuit takes over to ensure service availability.

Scenario

The following scenario is used as an example to describe how to use two Express Connect circuits to establish active/active connections.

A company has a data center in Shanghai and creates a virtual private cloud (VPC) in the China (Shanghai) region. The private CIDR block of the data center is 172.16.0.0/12, and the CIDR block of the VPC is 192.168.0.0/16. To prevent single points of failure (SPOFs), the company needs to lease two Express Connect circuits from different connectivity providers to implement active-active failover.

冗余负载接入架构

The following table lists the configurations of the virtual border routers (VBRs) that are connected to the Express Connect circuits.

Configuration item

VBR1 (connected to Express Connect Circuit 1)

VBR2 (connected to Express Connect Circuit 2)

VLAN ID

1

1

IPv4 Address (Alibaba Cloud Gateway)

10.0.0.1

10.0.0.5

IPv4 Address (Data Center Gateway)

10.0.0.2

10.0.0.6

Subnet Mask (IPv4)

255.255.255.252

255.255.255.252

Prerequisites

  • A VPC is created in the China (Shanghai) region, and cloud resources such as Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instances that host your business systems are deployed in the VPC. For more information, see Create a VPC with an IPv4 CIDR block.

    Note

    Before you connect an Enterprise Edition transit router to a VPC, make sure that the VPC has at least one vSwitch in a zone that supports Enterprise Edition transit routers. The vSwitch must have at least one idle IP address. In this example, the transit router is created in the China (Shanghai) region. Shanghai Zone F and Shanghai Zone G support Enterprise Edition transit routers.

  • You understand the security group rules of the Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instances in the virtual private cloud (VPC). Make sure that the rules allow the ECS instances to communicate with the data center. For more information, see View security group rules and Add a security group rule.

  • A Cloud Enterprise Network (CEN) instance is created. For more information, see Create a CEN instance.

  • An Enterprise Edition transit router is created in the region where the VPC resides. For more information, see Create a transit router.

  • Before you purchase an Express Connect circuit, make sure that you understand the billing rules. In this example, two Express Connect circuits are used. Therefore, you need to apply for two physical connections. For more information about the resource usage fee and outbound data transfer fee, see the following topics:

Procedure

冗余专线(负载接入)配置流程

Step 1: Create two connections over Express Connect circuits

In this example, two dedicated connections are created. For more information, see Create and manage a dedicated connection over an Express Connect circuit.

When you apply for Express Connect Circuit 2, you may need to specify a redundant Express Connect circuit based on the access point.

  • If you want to connect the two Express Connect circuits to the same access point, set Redundant Physical Connection ID to the ID of Express Connect Circuit 1. This way, the two Express Connect circuits are connected to different access devices.

  • If the two Express Connect circuits are connected to different access points, you do not need to specify a redundant Express Connect circuit. In this case, you do not need to specify Redundant Physical Connection ID.

    In this example, the Express Connect circuits are connected to different access points.

Step 2: Create VBRs and configure routing

You need to create a VBR for each Express Connect circuit and add a route to each VBR. Set the destination of both routes to the data center.

  1. Log on to the Express Connect console.

  2. Create a VBR for Express Connect Circuit 1.

    1. In the top navigation bar, select the region and then click Virtual Border Routers (VBRs) in the left-side navigation pane.

    2. On the Virtual Border Routers (VBRs) page, click Create VBR.

    3. In the Create VBR panel, configure the following parameters and click OK.

      Parameter

      Description

      Account

      Specify the Alibaba Cloud account to which the VBR belongs.

      In this example, Current Account is selected.

      Name

      Enter a name for the VBR.

      In this example, VBR1 is entered.

      Resource Group

      Select the resource group to which the VBR belongs.

      You can also add the VBR to the resource group after you create the VBR by clicking Add to Resource Group in the Resource Group column of the VBR.

      Tags

      • Tag Key: the key of a tag. You can select or enter a key. The tag key can be up to 64 characters in length. The tag key cannot start with aliyun or acs: and cannot contain http:// or https://.

      • Tag Value: the value of a tag. You can select or enter a value. The tag value can be up to 128 characters in length. The tag value cannot start with aliyun or acs: and cannot contain http:// or https://.

      You can also add tags to the VBR in the Tags column after you create the VBR. After you add tags, you can modify, view, and delete the tags.

      Physical Connection Interface

      In this example, Dedicated Physical Connection is selected and Express Connect Circuit 1 is selected.

      VLAN ID

      Enter the virtual LAN (VLAN) ID of the VBR.

      In this example, 1 is entered.

      Set VBR Bandwidth Value

      Select the bandwidth of the VBR.

      In this example, 200Mb is selected.

      IPv4 Address (Alibaba Cloud Gateway)

      Enter an IPv4 address for the VBR to route network traffic between the VPC and the data center.

      In this example, 10.0.0.1 is entered.

      IPv4 Address (Data Center Gateway)

      Enter an IPv4 address for the gateway device in the data center to route network traffic between the data center and the VPC.

      In this example, 10.0.0.2 is entered.

      Subnet Mask (IPv4)

      Enter the subnet mask of the specified IPv4 addresses.

      In this example, 255.255.255.252 is entered.

  3. Add a route whose destination is the data center to VBR1.

    1. In the top navigation bar, select the region and then click Virtual Border Routers (VBRs) in the left-side navigation pane.

    2. On the Virtual Border Routers (VBRs) page, click the ID of VBR1.

    3. On the details page of VBR1, click the Routes tab and click Add Route.

    4. In the Add Route panel, configure the following parameters and click OK.

      Parameter

      Description

      Next Hop Type

      In this example, Physical Connection Interface is selected.

      Destination CIDR Block

      Enter the CIDR block of the data center.

      In this example, 172.16.0.0/12 is entered.

      Next Hop

      Select the interface of the Express Connect circuit.

      In this example, the interface of Express Connect Circuit 1 is selected.

      Description

      Enter a description for the route.

  4. Repeat the preceding steps to create VBR2 for Express Connect Circuit 2 and add a route to VBR2. Set the destination of the route to the data center.

Step 3: Connect the transit router to the VPC and the VBRs

Connect the transit router in the China (Shanghai) region to the VPC that you want to connect to the data center. Then, connect the transit router to the VBRs that are associated with the Express Connect circuits. This way, the VPC and the data center can communicate with each other.

  1. Log on to the CEN console.

  2. On the Instances page, click the ID of the CEN instance that you want to manage.

  3. On the Basic Settings > Transit Router tab, find the transit router that you want to manage and click Create Connection in the Actions column.

  4. On the Connection with Peer Network Instance page, set the following parameters and click OK to create a VPC connection.

    Note

    When you perform this operation for the first time, the system automatically creates a service-linked role named AliyunServiceRoleForCEN. This role allows the transit router to create an elastic network interface (ENI) in a vSwitch of the VPC. For more information, see AliyunServiceRoleForCEN.

    Parameter

    Description

    Network Type

    Select the type of network instance that you want to attach to the CEN instance.

    In this example, VPC is selected.

    Region

    Select the region where the network instance is deployed.

    In this example, China (Shanghai) is selected.

    Transit Router

    The system automatically displays the transit router in the selected region.

    Resource Owner ID

    Select the Alibaba Cloud account to which the network instance belongs.

    In this example, Your Account is selected.

    Billing Method

    By default, transit routers use the Pay-As-You-Go billing method.

    For more information about the billing rules, see Billing rules.

    Attachment Name

    Enter a name for the VPC connection.

    In this example, VPC-test is used.

    Networks

    Select the VPC to be connected.

    In this example, the VPC that you created is selected.

    VSwitch

    Select a vSwitch in a zone that supports transit routers.

    In this example, the vSwitch in the corresponding zone is selected.

    Advanced Settings

    By default, the following advanced features are enabled: Associate with Default Route Table of Transit Router, Propagate System Routes to Default Route Table of Transit Router, and Automatically Creates Route That Points to Transit Router and Adds to All Route Tables of Current VPC.

    In this example, the default settings are used.

  5. On the Connection with Peer Network Instance page, click Create More Connections.

  6. On the Connection with Peer Network Instance page, configure the following parameters and click OK to create a connection for VBR1.

    Parameter

    Description

    Network Type

    In this example, Virtual Border Router (VBR) is selected.

    Region

    Select the region where the VBR is deployed.

    In this example, China (Shanghai) is selected.

    Transit Router

    The system automatically displays the transit router in the selected region.

    Resource Owner ID

    Select the Alibaba Cloud account to which the network instance belongs.

    In this example, Current Account is selected.

    Attachment Name

    Enter a name for the VBR connection.

    In this example, VBR-test is entered.

    Tag

    • Tag Key: the key of a tag. You can select or enter a key. The tag key can be up to 64 characters in length. The tag key cannot start with aliyun or acs: and cannot contain http:// or https://.

    • Tag Value: the value of a tag. You can select or enter a value. The tag value can be up to 128 characters in length. The tag value cannot start with aliyun or acs: and cannot contain http:// or https://.

    Networks

    The ID of the VBR that you want to connect.

    In this example, VBR1 is selected.

    Advanced Settings

    By default, the following advanced features are enabled: Associate with Default Route Table of Transit Router, Propagate System Routes to Default Route Table of Transit Router, and Automatically Advertise Routes to Peer Region.

    In this example, the default settings are used.

  7. Repeat Step 5 and Step 6 to create a connection for VBR2.

    After you create the network connections, you can view the details of the connections on the Intra-region Connections tab. For more information, see View network instance connections.

Step 4: Configure health checks on the Alibaba Cloud side

After you configure health checks, Alibaba Cloud sends a probe packet every 2 seconds over the Express Connect circuits from the source IP address to the destination IP address in the data center. If no responses are returned for eight consecutive probe packets over one of the Express Connect circuits, the other Express Connect circuit automatically takes over.

  1. Log on to the CEN console.

  2. In the left-side navigation pane, click Health Check.

  3. On the Health Check page, select the region where the VBRs are deployed. Then, click Set Health Check.

    In this example, China (Shanghai) is selected.

  4. In the Set Health Check panel, configure the following parameters and click OK.

    Parameter

    Description

    Instances

    Select the CEN instance to which the VBR is attached.

    Virtual Border Router (VBR)

    Select the VBR that you want to monitor.

    In this example, VBR1 is selected.

    Source IP

    You can select one of the following methods to specify the source IP address:

    • Automatic IP Address: The system automatically assigns an IP address from the 100.96.0.0/16 CIDR block. We recommend that you select this option.

    • Custom IP Address: You need to specify an idle IP address from the 10.0.0.0/8, 192.168.0.0/16, or 172.16.0.0/12 CIDR block. The specified IP address cannot be the IP address with which you want to communicate, the IP address of the VBR on the Alibaba Cloud side, or the IP address on the user side.

    Destination IP

    Specify the IP address of the gateway device in the data center.

    Probe Interval (Seconds)

    Specify an interval at which probe packets are sent for the health check. Unit: seconds.

    Default value: 2. Valid values: 2 to 3.

    Probe Packets

    Specify the number of probe packets that are sent for the health check. Unit: packets.

    Default value: 8. Valid values: 3 to 8.

    Change Route

    Specify whether to allow the health check feature to switch to the redundant route.

    By default, Change Route is turned on. The health check feature can switch to the redundant route. If a redundant route is configured on the CEN instance, the health check feature immediately switches to the redundant route if an error is detected on the Express Connect circuit.

    If you turn off Change Route, the health check feature does not switch to the redundant route. Only probing is performed. The health check feature does not switch to the redundant route even if an error is detected on the Express Connect circuit.

    Warning

    Before you turn off Change Route, make sure that the system can switch to a redundant route by using other mechanisms. Otherwise, network connections are interrupted if the Express Connect circuit is down.

    Note

    The system sends probe packets at the specified intervals. If the number of consecutively dropped packets reaches the specified value, the health check fails.

  5. Repeat Step 3 to Step 4 to configure health checks for VBR2.

Step 5: Configure routes and health checks on the data center side

You need to configure routes and health checks on the data center side, and then configure the gateway device to route network traffic based on the health check results to achieve network redundancy.

  1. Configure routes in the data center.

    The configuration commands may vary based on the gateway device. The following example is only for reference. For more information about the configuration commands, consult the vendor of your gateway device.

    # Configure routes in the data center to route network traffic to the VPC.
    ip route 192.168.0.0 255.255.0.0 10.0.0.1
    ip route 192.168.0.0 255.255.0.0 10.0.0.5
    # Configure the return route of the probe packets.
    ip route <The source IP address for health checks> 255.255.255.255 10.0.0.1
    ip route <The source IP address for health checks> 255.255.255.255 10.0.0.5
  2. Configure health checks on the data center side.

    You can configure Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) or Network Quality Analyzer (NQA) on the gateway device in the data center to verify the reachability of routes that are destined for the VBRs. For more information about the configuration commands, consult the vendor of your gateway device.

  3. Configure the gateway device to route network traffic based on the health check results.

    The configuration may vary based on the network environment. For more information about the configuration commands, consult the vendor of your gateway device.

Step 6: Test the network connectivity

After you complete the preceding steps, you need to verify the connectivity of the Express Connect circuits.

  1. Open the command-line interface (CLI) on a computer of the data center side.

  2. Run the ping command to verify the connectivity between the data center and an ECS instance in the VPC. The CIDR block of the VPC is 192.168.0.0/16.

    If echo reply packets are returned, the destination is reachable.

  3. Run the tracert command to check whether active/active connections are established between the data center and Alibaba Cloud.

References