After an Express Connect partner acquires the permissions to create shared ports, the Express Connect partner can create shared ports for tenants to access resources on Alibaba Cloud. Each shared port can be associated with a virtual border router (VBR). This topic describes the operations that Express Connect partners must perform when tenants use pre-installed Express Connect circuits to connect to Alibaba Cloud.

Requirements

Before you start, make sure that the following requirements are met:

  • Two or more Express Connect circuits are connected to different access points of Alibaba Cloud. Permissions to access a resource on Alibaba Cloud are acquired. To apply for permissions to access a resource on Alibaba Cloud, contact a customer business manager from Alibaba Cloud.
  • The service terms in Limits on networks are met.
  • The switch that connects to the network of the tenant supports bandwidth adjustment and traffic monitoring. Traffic monitoring is enabled for the switch to collect statistics about bandwidth (bit/s), packet loss rate (bit/s), packet forwarding rate (pps), and data transfer (bytes).
  • The following traffic throttling features are configured on the customer-premises equipment (CPE): Quality of Service (QoS) policies and Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) throttling. In most cases, the limit is set to one ARP packet per second per tenant.
  • If Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) throttling is configured, the limit on ICMP echo requests must be set to a value greater than 500 pps.
  • A bandwidth limit is set for the hosted connection that you want to create for the tenant. The sum of bandwidth limits that you set for all hosted connections over an Express Connect circuit cannot be greater than the bandwidth limit of the Express Connect circuit.
  • Assign a VLAN ID to each shared port. The VLAN IDs of shared ports that belong to the same Express Connect circuit must be unique.
  • For tenants that require high availability, they can associate their shared ports with different Express Connect circuits for redundancy.

Prerequisites

  • Permissions to create shared ports are acquired after you Submit a ticket.
  • The Express Connect circuits are installed and enabled. For more information, see Create a dedicated connection over an Express Connect circuit.
  • To create a shared port for a new hosted connection, you must acquire the account ID of the tenant.
  • To create a shared port for an existing hosted connection of a tenant, take note of the following items:
    • Before you start, you must notify the tenant and request the tenant to enable outbound data transfer billing.
    • Make sure that the VBR associated with the hosted connection supports bandwidth adjustment. If the VBR does not support bandwidth adjustment, Submit a ticket to acquire the required permissions.
    • By default, the tenant must pay for the shared port. If you want to pay for the shared port with the current Express Connect partner account, Submit a ticket to acquire the required permissions.

Create a shared port for a new hosted connection

If this is the first time a tenant uses your pre-installed Express Connect circuit, you must create a shared port to establish a connection based on the business requirements of the tenant.

  1. Log on to the Express Connect console.
  2. In the top navigation bar, select the region and click Exclusive Physical Connection in the left-side navigation pane.
  3. You can use one of the following methods to navigate to the Create Shared Port panel.
    • On the Physical Connections page, find the Express Connect circuit that you want to manage and click Create Shared Port in the Actions column. Express Connect circuits - Create a shared port
    • On the Physical Connections page, find the Express Connect circuit that you want to manage and click its ID. On the Shared Physical Connection tab, click Create Shared Port. Shared Express Connect circuits - Create a shared port
  4. In the Create Shared Port panel, set the parameters of the shared port and click OK.
    Parameter Description
    Account ID Enter the account ID of the tenant for which you want to create the shared port.

    Pay by Other Account is selected by default, which specifies the tenant to pay the resource usage fee of the shared port.

    VLAN ID You can isolate VBRs by assigning a VLAN ID to each VBR. Valid values of VLAN ID: 0 to 2999.
    • If the VLAN ID is set to 0, the switch port of the VBR is a Layer 3 router interface instead of a VLAN interface. When a Layer 3 router interface is used, each Express Connect circuit corresponds to a VBR.
    • If the VLAN ID is set to a value from 1 to 2999, the switch port of the VBR is a Layer 3 VLAN subinterface. When a Layer 3 VLAN subinterface is used, each VLAN ID corresponds to a VBR. In this case, the Express Connect circuit with which the VBR is associated can be used to connect to VPCs that belong to different Alibaba Cloud accounts. VBRs in different VLANs are isolated from each other at Layer 2.
    Note After you create a shared port for a tenant, you must notify the tenant to accept the shared port. Then, the tenant can create a VBR that uses the specified VLAN ID for the shared port. The tenant is not allowed to change the VLAN ID of the VBR.
    Shared Physical Connection Bandwidth Limit You can specify a bandwidth value as needed.

    After you create the shared port, the shared port appears on the Shared Physical Connection tab and its Status changes to Pending for Acceptance.

  5. In the message that appears, click OK.
  6. Notify the tenant to accept the shared port and pay the resource usage fee. For more information, see Operation guide for tenants.

Create a shared port for the existing hosted connection of a tenant

If you have created a hosted connection for a tenant before, you can add a shared port to the hosted connection. Your service is not interrupted in this process. The newly added shared port is displayed in the tenant account. After the tenant accepts the shared port, you must confirm it in the console. Then, the VBR is automatically transferred to the tenant account and associated with the shared port.

After the VBR is transferred to the tenant account, Alibaba Cloud no longer charges VBR fees. If you have prepaid VBR fees, you can request a refund. For more information, see Rules for canceling the subscription of an Alibaba Cloud service.

  1. Log on to the Express Connect console.
  2. In the top navigation bar, select the region and click Exclusive Physical Connection in the left-side navigation pane.
  3. On the Exclusive Physical Connection page, click the ID of the Express Connect circuit.
  4. On the Connected VBRs tab, find the VBR of the tenant.
  5. If the tenant has not set a bandwidth value for the VBR, you must perform the following operations to set a bandwidth value: Choose More > Bandwidth Settings in the Actions column. In the Bandwidth Settings panel, set Bandwidth Cap and click OK.
    Note You cannot set Bandwidth Cap to Speed Unlimited.
  6. On the Connected VBRs tab, find the VBR that you want to manage and choose More > Transform to Shared Port in the Actions column. In the message that appears, click OK.

    Pay by Other Account is selected by default, which specifies the tenant to pay the resource usage fee of the shared port.

  7. Notify the tenant to accept the shared port and pay the resource usage fee. For more information, see Operation guide for tenants.
  8. On the Connected VBRs tab, find the VBR and choose More > Confirm. In the message that appears, click OK.

View monitoring data of data transfer

You can view the outbound data transfer of a shared port in the console.

  1. Log on to the Express Connect console.
  2. In the top navigation bar, select the region and click Exclusive Physical Connection in the left-side navigation pane.
  3. Find the hosted connection that you want to manage and click Uptime monitoring in the Monitor column.
    By default, the system displays monitoring data collected within the last day. You can view monitoring data by hour or by day. The system allows you to select a predefined time period or specify a custom time range.
    • Predefined time periods:
      • To query monitoring data by day, select 1 day, 7 days, 15 days, or 30 days.
      • To query monitoring data by hour, select 1 hour, 6 hours, 12 hours, or 24 hours.
    • Custom time period: If you set the time granularity to Hourly, you can specify a time period in the last 24 hours. If you set the time granularity to Daily, you can specify a time period in the last 30 days.

Modify the VLAN ID of a shared port

VBRs that belong to different VLANs are isolated from each other based on the VLAN IDs of the shared ports associated with the VBRs. Express Connect partners can change the VLAN IDs of shared ports as needed. However, the VLAN ID of each shared port must be unique in the same Express Connect circuit.

  1. Log on to the Express Connect console.
  2. In the top navigation bar, select the region and click Exclusive Physical Connection in the left-side navigation pane.
  3. On the Exclusive Physical Connection page, click the ID of the Express Connect circuit.
  4. Click the Shared Physical Connection tab, find the shared Express Connect circuit that you want to manage and click Edit in the Actions column.
  5. In the Modify Shared Port dialog box, specify VLAN ID and click OK.

Disable an instance

You can disable instances in your Express Connect service after the instances become overdue. For example, you can disable a connection over an Express Connect circuit, a VBR, or a shared port. Disabled instances will not be charged or automatically released. You can resume the instances anytime.

  1. Log on to the Express Connect console.
  2. In the top navigation bar, select the region and click Exclusive Physical Connection in the left-side navigation pane.
  3. You can disable the following types of instances: Express Connect circuits, VBRs, and shared ports.
    • Disable a connection over an Express Connect circuit
      1. On the Physical Connections page, find the connection over the Express Connect circuit that you want to disable and click Terminate Connection in the Actions column.
      2. In the Terminate Physical Connection message, click OK.
    • Disable a VBR
      1. On the Exclusive Physical Connection page, click the ID of the Express Connect circuit.
      2. On the Connected VBRs tab, find the VBR that you want to disable and choose More > Terminate Connection in the Actions column.
      3. In the Terminating the VBR message, click OK.
    • Disable a shared port
      1. On the Exclusive Physical Connection page, click the ID of the Express Connect circuit.
      2. Click the Shared Physical Connection tab, find the shared port that you want to disable and click Terminate Connection in the Actions column.
      3. In the Terminate Physical Connection message, click OK.
    After you disable an instance, the status of the resource changes to Disabled. You can click Recover in the Actions column to resume the resource.

Delete a VBR

You can delete VBRs that you no longer need. You can delete VBRs within your account anytime. To delete a VBR that belongs to another account, disable the VBR first. For more information, see Disable an instance.

Note This section describes how to delete a VBR that belongs to a tenant account. To delete a VBR that belongs to your current account, see Delete a VBR.
  1. Log on to the Express Connect console.
  2. In the top navigation bar, select the region and click Exclusive Physical Connection in the left-side navigation pane.
  3. On the Exclusive Physical Connection page, click the ID of the Express Connect circuit.
  4. On the Connected VBRs tab, find the VBR that you want to delete and choose More > Delete in the Actions column.
  5. In the Delete VBR message, click OK.

Delete a shared port

You can delete shared ports that you no longer need. Before you delete a shared port, you must delete the VBR that is associated with the shared port. For more information, see Delete a VBR.

  1. Log on to the Express Connect console.
  2. In the top navigation bar, select the region and click Exclusive Physical Connection in the left-side navigation pane.
  3. On the Exclusive Physical Connection page, click the ID of the Express Connect circuit.
  4. Click the Shared Physical Connection tab, find the shared port that you want to delete and click Delete in the Actions column.
  5. In the Confirm Deletion message, click OK.

References