All Products
Search
Document Center

Express Connect:Monitor and create alerts for a physical connection

Last Updated:Sep 24, 2026

Use Alibaba Cloud's CloudMonitor service to monitor the real-time status of Express Connect physical connections and configure alert rules for circuit failures. This helps you identify and resolve issues promptly to ensure business continuity.

Prerequisites

View port status

Check the real-time status of your physical connection to quickly identify issues.

  1. Log on to the Express Connect console.

  2. In the top navigation bar, select a region.

  3. On the Physical Connection page, view the Port status of the target Express Connect circuit.

    Important

    You can view the status of an Express Connect circuit only after you install, pay for, and enable it.

    • Available: The Express Connect circuit is working as expected.

    • Unavailable: The Express Connect circuit is either unpaid or faulty.

    • -: The status of the Express Connect circuit is unknown. Refresh the page and try again.

Configure a port alert rule

You can configure alert rules for a physical connection. When an Express Connect circuit fails, the system sends notifications based on the configured alert rules. This helps you quickly detect anomalies and prevent business disruptions.

  1. Log on to the Express Connect console.

  2. In the top navigation bar, select a region.

  3. On the Physical Connection page, find the target physical connection interface instance ID, and click Set Alert Threshold in the Port status column.

  4. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Alerts > Alert Rules.

  5. On the Alert Rules page, click Create Alert Rule.

  6. On the Create Alert Rule page, set the parameters related to the alert rule, and then click Confirm.

    This topic describes only the key parameters. For information about other parameters, see Create an alert rule.

    Parameter

    Description

    Product

    The Alibaba Cloud service that you want to monitor. Select Express Connect - Physical Connections.

    Resource Range

    The resources to which the alert rule applies. Valid values:

    • All Resources: The alert rule applies to all resources of the selected cloud service.

    • Application Groups: The alert rule applies to all resources within a specified application group of the selected cloud service.

    • Instances: The alert rule applies to a specific instance of the selected cloud service.

    Rule Description

    Defines the conditions that trigger the alert. To configure the conditions:

    1. Click Add Rule.

    2. In the Configure Rule Description panel, select a metric type, set an alert level and threshold, and then click OK.

      • Simple Metric: Select a monitoring metric, and then set a threshold and an alert level for it.

      • Combined Metrics: Select an alert level, and then configure alert conditions for two or more monitoring metrics.

        Note

        If you configure an alert rule for multiple metrics, data must be available for each metric. The alert is triggered only after all conditions are met. For example, if a multi-metric alert rule includes metrics for port packet loss and port bandwidth usage, the alert is not triggered if the number of lost packets does not exceed the specified threshold.

      • Expression: Select an alert level, and then configure an alert expression.

      • Dynamic threshold: For more information about dynamic thresholds, see Overview and Create dynamic threshold-triggered alert rules.

        Note

        The intelligent threshold feature is in invitation-only preview. You need to submit a ticket to apply.

    Note

    Complex alert expressions: Alert rule expression reference.

Physical port monitoring metrics

Note

Shared Express Connect circuit ports support only the Express Connect circuit status metric.

Metric

Description

MetricName

Statistics

PhysicalConnectionStatus

The connection status of the Express Connect circuit.

PhysicalConnectionStatus

Status

PhysicalConnectionErrorPkgCountTx

The number of outbound error packets sent to Alibaba Cloud over the physical connection. Unit: count

PhysicalConnectionErrorPkgCountTx

Value

PhysicalConnectionRateInFromIDCtoVpc

The data rate from the IDC to the VPC, in bits per second. Unit: bit/s

PhysicalConnectionRateInFromIDCtoVpc

Value

PhysicalConnectionRateInFromVpctoIDC

The data rate from the VPC to the IDC, in bits per second. Unit: bit/s

PhysicalConnectionRateInFromVpctoIDC

Value

Inbound Port Bandwidth Usage

The percentage of available inbound bandwidth currently in use.

PhysicalConnectionInUtilizationRate

Value

Outbound Port Bandwidth Usage

The percentage of available outbound bandwidth currently in use.

PhysicalConnectionOutUtilizationRate

Value

Outbound Packets Dropped on Port

The number of outbound packets dropped per second at the port. Unit: pps

PhysicalConnectionRateLimitOutDropPps

Value

Port Inbound Optical Loss Status

The power of the inbound optical signal received at the port. Unit: dBm

PhysicalConnectionLightLevelRx

RXPowerChannel1,RXPowerChannel2,RXPowerChannel3,RXPowerChannel4,RXPowerHighWarning,RXPowerLowWarning

Port Outbound Optical Loss Status

The power of the outbound optical signal transmitted from the port. Unit: dBm

PhysicalConnectionLightLevelTx

TXPowerChannel1,TXPowerChannel2,TXPowerChannel3,TXPowerChannel4,TXPowerHighWarning,TXPowerLowWarning

View port monitoring information

Query historical port status data for a specified period to analyze performance and trends.

  1. Log on to the CloudMonitor console.

  2. In the left-side navigation pane, select Cloud resource monitoring > Cloud Service Monitoring, and use the search box to search for Express Connect - Physical Connections metrics.

  3. At the top of the Express Connect - Physical Connections page, select the region where the physical connection interface instance is located, find the target physical connection interface instance ID, and click Monitoring Charts in its Actions column.

    By default, monitoring data from the last hour is displayed. Above the monitoring chart, you can select a time range. Valid values: 1 hour, 3 hours, 6 hours, 12 hours, 1 day, 3 days, 7 days, and 14 days. You can also specify a custom time range.

    • A status of 1 indicates that the port status is Available and the Express Connect circuit is working as expected.

    • A status of 0 indicates that the port status is Unavailable, meaning the circuit is either unpaid or faulty.