The failure drill feature of Express Connect allows you to simulate failure scenarios and perform failure drills. For example, if an error occurs in an equal-cost multi-path (ECMP) route, network traffic is automatically switched to another ECMP route. The failure drill feature also allows you to test and verify the reliability of your hybrid cloud networking established by using Alibaba Cloud resources.
The resources that are used in a failure drill task are disabled to simulate failure scenarios. Make sure that redundant resources are configured to prevent service interruption.
During a failure drill task, the status of resources is displayed with latency in the Express Connect console. This does not affect the status switching of underlying resources.
Limits
Only one failure drill task can be performed at a time in each region within an Alibaba Cloud account.
Only one failure drill task can be created for each resource.
The failure drill feature is not supported in the following scenarios:
More than one hosted connection is created over an Express Connect circuit.
More than one cross-account virtual border router (VBR) is associated with an Express Connect circuit.
No VBR is associated with a hosted connection over an Express Connect circuit.
The virtual local area network (VLAN) ID of a hosted connection over an Express Connect circuit is 0.
Create a failure drill task
Log on to the Express Connect console.
In the top navigation bar, select a region.
In the left-side navigation pane, click Failure Drill.
On the tab of the Failure Drill page, click Create Task.
On the Create Task page, configure the parameters that are described in the following table and click OK.
Parameter
Description
Task Name
The name of the failure drill task.
Region
The region to which your resources belong.
Drill Resource
The resources that you want to use in the failure drill task. Only Express Connect Circuit can be selected.
Instances
The instances that you want to use in the failure drill task. The instances that you select are displayed in the Selected Instances section.
NoteThe instances that are overdue or are being used in a failure drill task cannot be selected.
You can select up to 16 instances for each task.
Drill Mode
The mode in which you want to perform the failure drill task. Valid values:
Start Now: immediately performs the failure drill task after the task is created.
Do Not Execute Drill: does not perform the failure drill task after the task is created.
You can also specify the duration of the failure drill task. The default duration is 180 minutes. You can specify the duration in the range of 1 minute to 72 hours.
Description
The description of the failure drill task.
View a failure drill task
Log on to the Express Connect console.
In the top navigation bar, select a region.
In the left-side navigation pane, click Failure Drill.
On the page, find the failure drill task that you create and view the task status in the Task Status column. A failure drill task can be in one of the following states:
Finished: The failure drill task is finished. The failure drill task is complete or manually finished.
In Drill: The failure drill task is being performed. You can manually finish the failure drill task.
Ending: The failure drill task is finished and the status is being changed.
Starting: The failure drill task is being started.
Pending Drill: The failure drill task is created and is to be started.
Modify a failure drill task
Log on to the Express Connect console.
In the top navigation bar, select a region.
In the left-side navigation pane, click Failure Drill.
On the page, find the failure drill task that you want to modify and click Edit in the Actions column.
NoteOnly the tasks in the Pending Drill state can be modified.
On the Modify Task page, modify the Task Name, Instances, Drill Duration, and Description parameters based on your business requirements.
Start a failure drill task
Log on to the Express Connect console.
In the top navigation bar, select a region.
In the left-side navigation pane, click Failure Drill.
On the page, find the failure drill task that you want to perform and click Start Drill in the Actions column.
In the message that appears, click Start Drill.
NoteOnly the tasks in the Pending Drill state can be started.
Finish a failure drill task
Log on to the Express Connect console.
In the top navigation bar, select a region.
In the left-side navigation pane, click Failure Drill.
On the page, find the failure drill task that you want to finish and click End Drill in the Actions column.
In the message that appears, click OK.
NoteOnly the tasks in the In Drill state can be finished.
Delete a failure drill task
Log on to the Express Connect console.
In the top navigation bar, select a region.
In the left-side navigation pane, click Failure Drill.
On the page, find the failure drill task that you want to delete and click Delete in the Actions column.
In the message that appears, click OK.
NoteOnly the tasks in the Finished and Pending Drill states can be deleted.
View failure drill task records
Log on to the Express Connect console.
In the top navigation bar, select a region.
In the left-side navigation pane, click Failure Drill.
On the Failure Drill page, click the Drill Records tab.
On the Drill Records tab, you can view the records of failure drill tasks and perform the following operations:
Delete the record of a failure drill task: Find the record that you want to delete and click Delete in the Actions column.
Duplicate a failure drill task: Find the record of the task that you want to duplicate and click Copy and Create in the Actions column.
Export the records of failure drill tasks: Click the
icon in the upper-right corner.