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    Express Connect:Shared connections

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    Express Connect:Shared connections

    Last Updated:May 27, 2026

    Some partners have pre-established connections to Alibaba Cloud Express Connect access points. If your IDC is outside an Express Connect region or does not need a high-bandwidth connection, you can work with a partner to connect your IDC to a VPC.

    Background

    • The connection between a partner and Alibaba Cloud is shared among multiple tenants.

      Note

      • A partner is a Network Service Provider (NSP), such as China Unicom or China Telecom, that has established a shared physical connection to an Alibaba Cloud access point.

      • Users with a reseller account cannot apply to become an NSP.

      • A tenant is the end user who uses a partner's physical connection to connect their on-premises IDC to Alibaba Cloud.

    • With a shared connection, the physical link from the partner access point to the Alibaba Cloud access point already exists. The partner only sets up the last-mile connection to your IDC, which shortens deployment time.

      Compared to a dedicated connection, deployment for a shared connection typically takes less than one month.

    • Alibaba Cloud provides a shared port feature. Instead of pushing a cross-account Virtual Border Router (VBR) to the tenant, the partner pushes a cross-account shared port that the tenant owns.

      In the shared port model, the billing items for a shared connection are adjusted as follows:

      • Partners are no longer charged the port installation fee, VBR instance fee, or port resource usage fee.

      • Tenants are charged a port resource usage fee and an outbound data transfer fee.

      Shared connection billing is described in the Billing overview.

    • Each shared port supports only one VBR instance, creating a one-to-one mapping between the shared port and the VBR.

    • Partners use VLAN IDs for resource isolation. The partner assigns a VLAN ID when creating the shared connection. The tenant must use the same VLAN ID when creating their VBR and cannot change it.

    Important

    To connect through a partner, you must contract with a third-party NSP. The partner is responsible for the SLA and any issues outside the Alibaba Cloud network.

    Shared connection process

    To set up a shared connection:

    • For a new shared connection, contact a partner and follow these steps:

    • For an existing shared connection, your partner converts it to the cross-account shared port model:

      Note

      Resource conversion does not interrupt your services.

    Create a shared Express Connect connection

    In this example, your IDC is in the Equinix DC11 data center in US (Virginia) and your provider is Equinix. You use an ECX cross-connect to reach Alibaba Cloud in US (Virginia), then use cross-border interconnection to access ECS, OSS, RDS, and SLB resources in a VPC in China (Beijing).

    Note

    Partners offer cross-connects with different bandwidth options. Contact your partner for details.

    1. Contact Equinix for a cloud connection plan using a shared physical connection. Equinix performs a site survey, confirms resources and fees for the connection from the ECX platform to your IDC, and provides a quote.

    2. Equinix provisions connectivity to your IDC and connects it to the ECX platform.

    3. Provide your Alibaba Cloud account ID to Equinix.

      Find your account ID in the Alibaba Cloud console: click your profile picture in the upper-right corner, then select Basic Information from the left-side navigation pane.

    4. Equinix creates a shared port for you.

    5. Log on to the Express Connect console to accept the shared port as described in the Tenant guide.