Help Center/ Cloud Connect/ User Guide/ Cloud Connection Operation Guide/ Network Instances/ Network Instance Overview
Updated on 2026-07-14 GMT+08:00
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Network Instance Overview

What Is a Network Instance?

A network instance can be a VPC or virtual gateway.
  • VPCs can be connected using a cloud connection.
  • If VPCs are connected by a cloud connection, virtual gateways associated with each VPC can be loaded to this cloud connection to allow the on-premises data center to communicate with these VPCs.

In Direct Connect, a virtual gateway associates a virtual interface with a VPC so that the on-premises data center can access this VPC. For more information about Direct Connect, see What Is Direct Connect?

Figure 1 How Direct Connect works

Constraints on Network Instances

  • If the network instances to be loaded to a cloud connection are from the same region, they can communicate with each other by default. When you load them, routes are automatically configured for the VPCs and cloud connection. You do not need to manually configure routes for VPCs.

    It takes some time for the configurations on the VPCs and cloud connection to take effect. During this period, there may be intermittent disconnections. Evaluate the impact before performing the operation.

  • If network instances are in different regions, purchase a bandwidth package and assign inter-region bandwidths. For details, see Buying a Bandwidth Package and Assigning an Inter-Region Bandwidth.
  • A network instance can be loaded to only one cloud connection.
  • If a VPC is loaded, the associated virtual gateway cannot be loaded.
  • To load a network instance in another account, you must ask that account to grant you the permission to load the network instance to your cloud connection.
  • Loading 100.64.0.0/10 to a cloud connection may cause services such as OBS, DNS, and API Gateway to become unavailable.
Parent topic: Network Instances