The Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) sharing feature allows multiple Alibaba Cloud accounts to create cloud resources, such as Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instances, Server Load Balancer (SLB) instances, and ApsaraDB RDS instances, in a shared and centrally managed VPC. Shared VPCs adopt the resource sharing mechanism. A VPC owner can share non-default vSwitches with other Alibaba Cloud accounts in the same organization.
Feature release and supported regions
Area | Supported region |
---|---|
Asia Pacific | China (Qingdao), China (Beijing), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Hohhot), China (Ulanqab), China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Shenzhen), China (Heyuan), China (Guangzhou), China (Chengdu), China (Hong Kong), Japan (Tokyo), and South Korea (Seoul), Singapore (Singapore), Australia (Sydney), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Indonesia (Jakarta), Philippines (Manila), Thailand (Bangkok), India (Mumbai) |
Europe & Americas | Germany (Frankfurt), UK (London), US (Silicon Valley), US (Virginia) |
Middle East & India | UAE (Dubai) |
Description
A VPC owner (resource owner) can share non-default vSwitches with other Alibaba Cloud accounts (participants). The resource owner and participants must belong to the same resource directory. A resource directory allows you to create a hierarchical map of relations among resources and facilitates resource management. For more information, see Resource Sharing overview.

Permissions of the resource owner and participants
After a resource owner shares a vSwitch with a participant, the resource owner and participant have the following permissions on the shared vSwitch and the resources in the shared vSwitch:
Role | Supported operation | Unsupported operation |
---|---|---|
Resource owner |
|
Modify or delete resources created by the participant in the shared vSwitch. |
Participant | If the vSwitch is shared, the participant can create, modify, and delete cloud resources in the shared vSwitch. | If the vSwitch is shared, the participant cannot view, modify, or delete the resources created by other Alibaba Cloud accounts (resource owners and participants) in the shared vSwitch. |
If the vSwitch is no longer shared, the participant can view, use, modify, and delete the resources that are created by the participant in the vSwitch. | If the vSwitch is no longer shared, the participant cannot view the resources associated with the vSwitch, such as VPCs, route tables, and network access control lists (ACLs). In addition, the participant cannot create resources in the vSwitch. |
Network resource | Resource owner | Participant operation |
---|---|---|
VPC | All permissions. | View the VPC to which the shared vSwitch belongs. |
vSwitches | All permissions.
Note If the resource owner wants to delete the vSwitch, the vSwitch must not be shared
with the participant. In addition, the resources created by the resource owner and
participant in the vSwitch must be deleted.
|
|
Route tables | All permissions. | View route tables and route entries that are associated with the shared vSwitch. |
Network ACLs | All permissions. | View network ACLs that are associated with the shared vSwitch. |
Private CIDR blocks | View private CIDR blocks of the VPC and all vSwitches that belong to the VPC. | View the private CIDR block of the shared vSwitch. |
Flow log |
|
No permission. |
NAT gateways | All permissions on Internet NAT gateways and VPC NAT gateways.
Note
|
No permission. |
VPN gateways | All permissions.
Note The resources created by the resource owner and participant in the vSwitch can communicate
with external networks through VPN gateways.
|
No permission. |
Cloud Enterprise Network (CEN) instances | All permissions.
Note The resources created by the resource owner and participant in the vSwitch can communicate
with external networks through CEN instances.
|
No permission. |
VPC peering connections | All permissions.
Note The resources created by the resource owner and participant in the vSwitch can communicate
with external networks through VPC peering connections.
|
No permission. |
Tags | Resource sharing does not affect the tags added to resources by the resource owner.
When the vSwitch is shared, the resource owner and resource user can add tags to their own resources. The resource user cannot view the tags added by the resource owner and the resource owner cannot view the tags added by the resource user. The tags added by the resource owner and resource user do not affect each other. When the vSwitch is not shared, the system deletes the tags added by the participant in the vSwitch. |
Billing
In a shared VPC, participants pay for the instances that they create, such as ECS, SLB, and ApsaraDB RDS instances. However, fees of public bandwidth and gateway resources such as Internet NAT gateways and VPN gateways are paid by the resource owner. For more information about the billing of cloud resources, see relevant topics.
Limits
Item | Limit | Adjustable |
---|---|---|
Number of participants supported by each VPC | 20 | N/A |
Number of participants supported by each vSwitch in a VPC | 20 | |
Number of vSwitches that can be shared with each participant | 10 | |
Number of IP addresses that each VPC can use | Number of IP addresses that each shared VPC can use | |
Cloud resources that can be created in a shared vSwitch |
|
N/A |
Limits on security groups in a shared VPC |
|
|
Types of vSwitches that can be shared | Non-default vSwitches |
Enable VPC sharing
For more information, see Enable VPC sharing.