All Products
Search

This Product

    Express Connect:Optimal disaster recovery

    Document Center

    Express Connect:Optimal disaster recovery

    Last Updated:Aug 14, 2024

    If you select optimal disaster recovery of the high reliability mode, you can apply for resources in two access points and create four dedicated connections over Express Connect circuits to provide the robust disaster recovery capabilities for key workloads. This topic describes how to create and manage an Express Connect circuit with optimal disaster recovery.

    image.png

    Prerequisites

    • Billing for outbound data transfer is enabled. For more information, see Enable billing for outbound data transfer.

    • An access point is selected, and the pre-installation site survey is completed by your ISP. For more information, see Preparations.

    • In the following scenario, you must sign a Letter of Authorization (LOA) that grants permissions for the installation of an Express Connect circuit in a data center of Alibaba Cloud and provide the LOA to your ISP. The ISP is China Telecom, China Unicom, or China Mobile, and the data center of Alibaba Cloud is deployed in the China (Beijing), China (Shanghai), China (Hangzhou), or China (Shenzhen) region.

      Make sure that the seals of your company and Alibaba Cloud are affixed to the LOA. To apply for a seal from Alibaba Cloud, contact your account manager.

    Step 1: Apply for an Express Connect circuit with optimal disaster recovery

    1. Log on to the Express Connect console.

    2. In the top navigation bar, select a region.

    3. On the Physical Connection page, click Create Physical Connection.

    4. On the Purchase Port page, set the Select Access Point Mode parameter to High Reliability Mode.

    5. In the Select Combination Type step, set the Combination Type parameter to Optimal Disaster Recovery and click Next.

    6. In the Configure Connection step, configure the following parameters and click Next.

      Parameter

      Description

      Port Type

      Select the port type. Valid values:

      • 1 GE Single-Mode Optical Port

      • 10 GE Single-Mode Optical Port

      Resource Group

      Select the resource group to which the Express Connect circuit belongs from the drop-down list.

      You can click Manage Resource Group to create or modify a resource group in the Resource Management console. For more information, see Create a resource group.

      Tag Key

      Enter a complete tag key.

      Tag Value

      Enter a complete tag value.

      Advanced Configurations

      Click Advanced Configurations and select one or more advanced features of ports. If the selected advanced features of ports are not available in the backend, the physical connection fails to be created. Valid values:

      • VBR Bandwidth Limit: supports bandwidth limits for virtual border routers (VBRs).

      • IPv6: supports IPv6.

      • BFD: supports Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD).

      • MPBGP: supports Multiprotocol Border Gateway Protocol (MP-BGP).

      • MPBGP-v6: supports IPv6 MP-BGP.

      • QOS: supports the quality of service (QoS) policy feature. You can use QoS policies to define different priorities for different services. This ensures that high-priority services can preferentially obtain the required bandwidth. For more information, see QoS policies.

        Important

        The QoS policy feature is in invitational preview. To try this feature out, contact your Alibaba Cloud account manager to apply for the qualification.

      • VBR-HA: supports VBR failover groups. You can add two VBRs to a failover group. After the system detects failures on a VBR by using BDF, the system can seamlessly switch workloads to the standby VBR in the failover group within less than one second. This accelerates route convergence. For more information, see Configure a failover group.

      Select Access Point

      Region

      Select Express Connect circuit regions for access point 1 and access point 2. You can select two different regions.

      ISP

      Select an Internet service providers (ISPs) for access point 1 and access point 2. Different ISPs support different access points.

      Note

      • If you choose China Unicom, China Telecom, or China Mobile as the ISP, you can lease lines only from the selected ISP. You are not allowed to lease lines from other ISPs.

      • If you choose China Unicom, China Telecom, or China Mobile as the ISP, bare optical fibers are not supported.

      Access Point

      Select appropriate access points for access point 1 and access point 2.

    7. In the Review Configuration step, confirm the connection information.

      Note

      • The resources that are used by the connections you purchase are not related with each other. But the names of the connections contain serial numbers by default. For example, you purchase and create two connections in Hangzhou-Xiaoshan-A and two connections in Shanghai-Baoshan-C. The four connections are named Hangzhou-Xiaoshan-A-PConn1, Hangzhou-Xiaoshan-A-PConn2, Shanghai-Baoshan-C-PConn1, and Shanghai-Baoshan-C-PConn2.

      • If you meet one of the following errors, please handle the error based on the error message: the selected access point does not have sufficient resources, connection configurations exceed the upper limit, or the devices in the access point cannot meet your requirements.

    8. Select I have read and understand the billing rules, and click Submit.

      For more information about billing, see Billing overview.

    Important

    To achieve optimal disaster recovery capabilities, four Express Connect circuits are created. You need to repeat the following steps to configure the four Express Connect circuits.

    Step 2: Apply for an LOA

    1. Log on to the Express Connect console.

    2. In the top navigation bar, select a region.

    3. On the Physical Connection page, find the connection that you create and click Apply for LOA in the Apply for LOA column.

    4. In the Apply for LOA panel, enter the information about the construction and the field engineers. Then, click OK.

      Parameter

      Description

      Company Name

      If you are an enterprise user, enter the company name that is specified when the Alibaba Cloud account is created.

      If you are an individual user, enter the name of the Alibaba Cloud account owner.

      Construction Company That Enters Data Centers of Alibaba Cloud

      Enter the name of the company that is in charge of installing the Express Connect circuit. In most cases, the ISP or the colocation provider is responsible for the installation.

      Leased Line Type

      Select the type of the Express Connect circuit. Valid values:

      • MSTP

      • MPLSVPN

      • Fiber Connection

      • Others

      Construction Schedule

      Set the date for installing the Express Connect circuit.

      Customer Data Center Location

      Enter the location of your on-premises data center.

      Leased Line Bandwidth

      Specify the bandwidth of your Express Connect circuit.

      Note

      The bandwidth that you specify does not affect the billing of your Express Connect circuit. In addition, this value does not limit the actual bandwidth when you use the Express Connect circuit.

      Add Field Engineer

      Click Add Field Engineer to add the information about the field engineers who need to enter the Alibaba Cloud data center. You can specify one or more field engineers.

      Important

      The information about the field engineers is required.

      After you apply for an LOA, the Status of the dedicated connection changes to LOA Being Applied. Alibaba Cloud reviews your application within two business days. After your application is approved, the Status of the dedicated connection changes to LOA Approved. Then, you can download the LOA file from the console.

      Note

      • If the access point is deployed outside the Chinese mainland, Alibaba Cloud reviews your application within three business days.

      • You cannot download the LOA file when your application is in the Under Review state. You must wait until the application is approved by Alibaba Cloud.

      • After the LOA is approved, you can log on to the Express Connect console and view the locations of the access point and data center of the connection that you create in the Access Point column on the Physical Connection page.

      • If you want to apply for an LOA again, repeat the operations in Step 2: Apply for an LOA.

    Step 3: Contact the ISP to install the Express Connect circuit

    1. Log on to the Express Connect console.

    2. In the top navigation bar, select a region.

    3. On the Physical Connection page, find the connection that you create and click View LOA in the View LOA column.

    4. On the View LOA page, click Download to download the LOA file.

    5. Contact the ISP to connect the Express Connect circuit to the access device in the Alibaba Cloud data center based on the LOA information.

      Note

      • You must submit the LOA that is approved by Alibaba Cloud and send an on-site installation form to the field engineers of Alibaba Cloud at least one day before the ISP enters the Alibaba Cloud data center. You can obtain the on-site installation form by submitting a ticket or contacting your account manager.

      • After the ISP completes the installation, you can request a survey report from the ISP to ensure that the Express Connect circuit runs as expected.

      • If the access point is deployed in the Chinese mainland, Alibaba Cloud engineers will assist the ISP in installing the Express Connect circuit. After you click Confirm Delivery in the console, Alibaba Cloud engineers will install the fiber pigtail and connect it to the corresponding physical port.

      • If the access point is deployed outside the Chinese mainland, the ISP independently completes the installation. The access device that is connected to the Express Connect circuit can be an optical distribution frame (ODF) or a patch panel. After you click Confirm Delivery in the console, Alibaba Cloud engineers will complete the installation by installing the fiber pigtail.

      • If the ISP needs to enter the Alibaba Cloud data center after the installation is complete, contact your account manager to apply for the required permissions.

    6. After the ISP completes the installation, contact the ISP to obtain the ID of the Express Connect circuit, the IDs of other cables, or the specifications of the ODF port.

    7. On the Physical Connection page, click Confirm Delivery. On the Confirm Delivery page, enter the information about the Express Connect circuit and click OK.

      Then, the dedicated connection changes to the Alibaba Cloud Pigtails Connection state.Status Field engineers from Alibaba Cloud install the fiber pigtail within two business days. After the fiber pigtail is installed, the dedicated connection changes to the Pay Resource Occupation Fees state.Status

      Note

      If the access point is deployed outside the Chinese mainland, field engineers from Alibaba Cloud install the fiber pigtail within three business days.

    Step 4: Pay the resource occupation fees

    1. Log on to the Express Connect console.

    2. In the top navigation bar, select a region.

    3. On the Physical Connection page, find the connection that you create and click Pay Resource Occupation Fees in the Pay Resource Occupation Fees column.

    4. On the page that appears, select a subscription duration and a renewal method, click Buy Now, and then complete the payment.

      After you complete the payment, the Status of the dedicated connection changes to Enabled.

    What to do next

    After you create a dedicated connection over an Express Connect circuit, you must create a virtual border router (VBR), create a connection between the VBR and the VPC on the transit router (TR) of the CEN instance, add a route to the VBR, and configure health checks. Then, your on-premises data center can be connected to the VPC. For more information, see Connect a data center to ECS by using an Express Connect circuit.