What Is an Enterprise Router?

An enterprise router connects VPCs and on-premises networks to build a central hub network. It has high specifications, provides high bandwidth, and delivers high performance. Enterprise routers use the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) to learn, dynamically select, or switch between routes, thereby ensuring the service continuity and significantly improving network scalability and O&M efficiency.

You can attach VPCs to enterprise routers to allow VPCs in different regions to communicate through enterprise routers.
You can add two or more enterprise routers to a central network provided by Cloud Connect as attachments to allow VPCs in different regions to communicate through enterprise routers and the central network.
You can also attach a Direct Connect virtual gateway or global DC gateway or a VPN gateway to allow an on-premises data center to communicate with VPCs through Enterprise Router and Direct Connect.
Use Cloud Firewall (CFW) to protect traffic between VPCs. CFW can detect and defend against intrusions in real time, analyze traffic and visualize results, audit logs, and trace traffic sources. For details, see Configuring CFW for Enterprise Router.

Figure 1 and Figure 2 show the networks with and without enterprise routers, respectively. Table 1 compares the two networks.

Figure 1 A network without enterprise routers

Figure 2 A network with enterprise routers

**Table 1** Comparison between the networks with and without enterprise routers
Item	Without Enterprise Routers	With Enterprise Routers	Benefits of Using Enterprise Routers
Communications among VPCs in the same region	Create six VPC peering connections between these four VPCs in the same region. Add 12 routes, with three routes for each VPC to communicate with the other three VPCs.	Attach the four VPCs to one enterprise router. This router can then handle the traffic from and to all the connected VPCs. Add routes to the route tables of these four VPCs for routing traffic through the enterprise router. The enterprise router can automatically learn the VPC CIDR blocks and add them to its route table.	There is no need to configure a large number of VPC peering connections. Fewer routes need to be added, simplifying the maintenance.
Communications between VPCs in different regions	Connect all VPCs using Cloud Connect.	You only need to add the enterprise router in each region to a central network as attachments.	There is no need to connect all VPCs to Cloud Connect, simplifying the network topology. Route propagation simplifies the route configuration and the networking process.
Communications between an on-premises data center and VPCs	Establish Direct Connect or VPN connections between each VPC and the data center.	Attach the Direct Connect or VPN connection to the enterprise router. These VPCs can then share the connection.	Route propagation simplifies the route configuration and the O&M. Multiple lines work in load-sharing or active/standby mode to achieve higher availability.