Global Accelerator

What is GA?

GA is a network acceleration service that routes traffic through Alibaba Cloud's BGP bandwidth and global infrastructure, connecting users to the nearest access points to reduce latency, jitter, and packet loss.

Use ApsaraVideo Live with GA

When you activate GA for a domain name, ApsaraVideo Live creates a pay-as-you-go GA instance with preconfigured acceleration areas and listeners. This accelerates transmission between L2 points of presence (POPs) of Alibaba Cloud CDN and live centers of ApsaraVideo Live.

Note

GA settings apply automatically to FLV, RTMP, and RTS streams. For HLS, submit a ticket to request enablement.

Use cases

Streaming quality improvement: Minimize network latency, jitter, and packet loss during live streaming.
Cross-border acceleration: Connect users to the nearest access points worldwide, reducing transmission delays.

Before you begin

Ensure the following before you configure GA:

GA is activated. Activate GA.
(Cross-border acceleration only) Cross-border acceleration is enabled and enterprise identity verification is completed. Enable cross-border acceleration.

Limitations

Streaming domain limits

GA supports main streaming domains only, not sub-streaming domains.

RAM user limits

RAM users cannot manage GA resources by default. Attach the following policies to grant access:

Policy type	Policy name	Description
System	AliyunGlobalAccelerationFullAccess	Full permissions on GA
System	AliyunCDTFullAccess	Full permissions on Cloud Data Transfer (CDT)
Custom	createSLRForLiveGA	CreateServiceLinkedRole permission for service-linked roles

For more information, see Create and grant permissions to a RAM user.

Create the custom policy for CreateServiceLinkedRole

If the error "You do not have the ram:CreateServiceLinkedRole permission." is returned, attach a custom policy to the RAM user with your Alibaba Cloud account or as a permission administrator.

Log on to the RAM console.
In the left navigation pane, choose Permissions > Policies.
Click Create Policy.

Click the JSON tab and paste the following policy:

{
  "Version": "1",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "ram:CreateServiceLinkedRole",
      "Resource": "*",
      "Condition": {
        "StringEquals": {
          "ram:ServiceName": [
            "gaaccess.live.aliyuncs.com"
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Click OK.
Enter a policy name, such as createSLRForLiveGA, and click OK.
In the left navigation pane, choose Identities > Users.
Find the target RAM user and attach the custom policy.

Billing

GA instances in ApsaraVideo Live are pay-as-you-go standard instances. Bills are generated under the GA service.

Billable item	Description	Reference
Instance fee and CU fee	Standard GA instance fee, including instance and capacity unit (CU) fees	Billing of pay-as-you-go Global Accelerator instances
Traffic fee	Traffic fee billed by Cloud Data Transfer (CDT)	Data transfer billing

Supported regions

Acceleration areas and regions for pay-as-you-go GA instances:

Note

The listed regions are for reference only. Check the latest supported regions in the Acceleration areas and regions page of the GA console.
The following regions require quota application: China (Heyuan), Brazil (Sao Paulo), Thailand (Bangkok), Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh), and UAE (Dubai). On the Quota Center Privileges page, find accelerated regional whitelist (Quota ID: ga_whitelist/region_whitelist) and click Apply. Increase Quotas.

Acceleration area	Regions
North China	China (Qingdao), China (Beijing), China (Ulanqab)
South China	China (Shenzhen), China (Heyuan), China (Guangzhou)
East China	China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai)
Southwest China	China (Chengdu)
North America	US (Silicon Valley), US (Virginia), Canada (Toronto), Canada (Vancouver), Mexico
South America	Brazil (Sao Paulo)
Asia Pacific	China (Hong Kong), South Korea (Seoul), Singapore, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Japan (Tokyo), Indonesia (Jakarta), Philippines (Manila), Thailand (Bangkok), Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh)
Europe	Germany (Frankfurt), UK (London)
Middle East	UAE (Dubai)

Configure GA settings

Configure GA through the ApsaraVideo Live console or API.

Use the console

Log on to the ApsaraVideo Live console.
In the left navigation pane, click Domain Names. The Domain Management page appears.
Find the streaming domain that you want to configure and click Domain Settings in the Actions column.
Choose Streaming Management > Cross-border Acceleration.
On the Acceleration Circuits tab, click Create Acceleration Circuit and complete the configuration.

For detailed instructions, see Configure cross-border acceleration.

Use API operations

Configure GA programmatically with the Global Accelerator API reference.