This topic describes how to use Cloud Enterprise Network (CEN) to mount a file system across virtual private clouds (VPCs) in the same region.

Prerequisites

Background information

By default, a file system can be mounted on an Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance only if the instance and mount target reside in the same VPC. If the mount target and the ECS instance reside in different VPCs, you can use CEN to establish a connection between the VPCs. You can then implement a cross-VPC mount for the file system.

The following example demonstrates how to establish a connection between two VPCs (VPC 1 and VPC 2) that belong to the same Alibaba Cloud account and reside in the same region. In this example, VPC 1 and VPC 2 are attached to the same CEN instance. The following table lists the CIDR blocks that are allocated to the VPCs. You must make sure that the CIDR blocks do not overlap and that the security group rules allow mutual access of the VPCs.
Network instanceCIDR blockRegionIP address of ECS instance
VPC1
  • VPC CIDR block: 192.168.0.0/16
  • vSwitch CIDR block: 192.168.0.0/24
China (Guangzhou)192.168.0.239
VPC2
  • VPC CIDR block: 10.0.0.0/16
  • vSwitch CIDR block: 10.0.0.0/24
China (Guangzhou)10.0.0.97
Topology

Step 1: Create a CEN instance

  1. Log on to the CEN console.
  2. On the Instances page, click the ID of the CEN instance that you want to manage.
  3. In the Create CEN Instance dialog box, configure the following parameters and click OK.
    • Name: Enter a name for the CEN instance.
    • Description: Enter a description for the CEN instance.

      The description must be 2 to 256 characters in length, and cannot start with http:// or https://. You can leave this parameter empty.

Step 2: Connect the VPCs to the transit router

Connect the VPCs to the transit router in the China (Guangzhou) region. Then, the VPCs automatically learn routes from each other to establish network communication.

  1. On the Instances page, click the ID of the CEN instance that you want to manage.
  2. On the Basic Settings tab, click Add in the VPC section.
    Connect to the VPC
  3. On the Connection with Peer Network Instance page, set the following parameters and click OK.
    • Network Type: Select VPC.
    • Region: Select the region where the network instance is deployed. In this example, China (Guangzhou) is selected.
    • Transit Router: The system automatically creates a transit router in the selected region.
    • Resource Owner ID: Select the Alibaba Cloud account to which the network instance belongs. In this example, Your Account is selected.
    • Networks: Select the ID of the network instance. In this example, VPC 1 is selected.
  4. Repeat Step 3 to connect VPC 2 to the transit router in the China (Guangzhou) region.
    After both VPCs are connected to the transit router, they can automatically learn routes from each other, as shown in the following figure. You can manage the routes of the VPCs in the VPC console. For more information, see Create and manage a route table.
    Figure 1. Routes learned by VPC 1
    Routes learned by VPC 1
    Figure 2. Routes learned by VPC 2
    Routes learned by VPC 2

Step 3: Test network connectivity

After VPC1 and VPC2 are connected to the transit router, they can communicate with each other. In the following example, VPC1 is used to test the network connectivity between VPC1 and VPC2.

  1. Log on to the ECS instance that is deployed in VPC1. For more information, see Connection methods.
  2. On the ECS instance, run the ping command to test the network connectivity between VPC1 and VPC2.
    Note In this example, VPC1 runs the Alibaba Cloud Linux operating system. For more information about how to use the ping command in another operating system, see the manual of the operating system that you use. 
    ping <The IP address of the ECS instance in VPC2>

    The following echo reply packet indicates that VPC1 and VPC2 are connected.

    Use Basic Edition transit routers to connect VPCs in the same region - test network connectivity

Step 4: Mount the file system

Important Before you mount a file system, make sure that the corresponding CIDR block is configured in the rule of the permission group. Otherwise, the file system cannot be accessed. For more information, see Manage a permission group.

After you complete the preceding configurations, mount the file system on an ECS instance across VPCs.