Express Connect allows you to establish a fast, stable, secure, and private connection between your data center and a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). Express Connect circuits ensure secure data transmission, guarantee stable network quality, and prevent data breaches during transmission.
Network topology
The following figure provides an example on how a data center is connected to an access point of Alibaba Cloud by using an Express Connect circuit. One end of the Express Connect circuit is connected to the gateway in the data center, and the other end is connected to a virtual border router (VBR) on Alibaba Cloud. This provides secure, reliable, high-speed, and low-latency connections. Express Connect circuits ensure low network latency, low packet loss rate, and high throughput even if data is transmitted over a long distance.
After you attach the VBR and the VPC to an Express Connect Router (ECR), your data center can access the Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).
Components
Express Connect services include connections over Express Connect circuits and VBRs.
Connection over an Express Connect circuit
A connection that is established between a data center and an access point of Alibaba Cloud by using an Express Connect circuit. You can create a dedicated connection over an Express Connect circuit by applying for a dedicated Express Connect circuit in the Express Connect console. You can also use a hosted connection over a shared Express Connect circuit provided by an Express Connect partner.
VBR
A router between the customer-premises equipment (CPE) in a data center and an access point of Alibaba Cloud. After you connect your data center to an access point of Alibaba Cloud, you can create a VBR to exchange data between your data center and Alibaba Cloud.
ECR
An ECR is a service component that forwards network traffic in the global hybrid cloud in which networks are connected over Express Connect circuits. An ECR provides features such as dynamic routing-based networking and centralized management for route advertisements.
Benefits
High-speed connections
Powered by the network virtualization technology of Alibaba Cloud, Express Connect enables networks to communicate with each other over direct, private, and high-speed connections. Network traffic does not traverse the Internet.
Stability and reliability
Built on the high-quality infrastructure of Alibaba Cloud, Express Connect ensures stable and reliable communication between networks.
Security
Express Connect allows you to virtualize your networks, and networks owned by different accounts are independent of each other. This prevents data breaches during transmission.
On-demand purchase
Express Connect provides different bandwidth limits. You can specify a proper bandwidth limit to meet your business requirements.
Differences between Express Connect circuits and VPN gateways
You can use Express Connect circuits or VPN gateways to connect your data center to Alibaba Cloud. Compared with VPN connections, connections over Express Connect circuits provide better network connectivity, higher security, and larger bandwidth. The following table describes the differences between connections over Express Connect circuits and VPN connections.
Item | Connection over an Express Connect circuit | VPN Connection |
Network connectivity | When you use an Express Connect circuit to connect to Alibaba Cloud, data is transmitted over a private connection with low network latency and packet loss rate. | VPN connections are established over the Internet and are subject to network latency and packet loss. |
Security | Express Connect circuits are dedicated to users. This prevents data breaches and ensures high security. Connections over Express Connect circuits are suitable for users in the finance, government, and enterprise sectors that have high security requirements. | VPN connections are encrypted Internet connections and are suitable for users who have basic security requirements. |
Bandwidth | The bandwidth of a connection over an Express Connect circuit can reach 100 Gbit/s for handling a large number of requests. You can also configure equal-cost multi-path (ECMP) routing by using multiple Express Connect circuits. This ensures service availability and aggregates the bandwidth to Tbit/s. | The bandwidth of a VPN connection is limited by the bandwidth limit of a public IP address. |