Create a Dedicated AWS Connection
Prerequisites
- An AWS account.
- An existing PacketFabric interface. You need this to provision your virtual circuit. For more information, see Create a Port.
- Review the following pages to decide which site you want to set up your connection.
- AWS Direct Connect Pricing
- AWS Direct Connect Partners (scroll down for a list of partner sites)
Overview
A dedicated cloud interconnect provides a secure, private, high-bandwidth connection between you and AWS.
Complete the following steps:
- From the PacketFabric portal, create a dedicated cloud connection.
- From the AWS portal, create a Direct Connect connection in the same location as your dedicated cloud connection.
- Wait up to 72 hours for Amazon to review and approve the connection.
- From the AWS portal, download the LOA-CFAand send it to your PacketFabric client success manager.
- PacketFabric sets up the cross connect to Amazon.
- From the PacketFabric portal, create a virtual circuit from your source interface to the PacketFabric-AWS Direct Connection connection.
- From the AWS portal, create a virtual interface to complete your Direct Connect connection.
Create a Dedicated Cloud Connection
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Log in to the PacketFabric portal. From the Home page, click Cloud Connectivity:
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Select Dedicated Cloud Connectivity.
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Select Amazon Web Services.
Complete the following fields:
Select Transport Product Type
Select one of the following:
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Metro: Your source interface is in the same metro market as your PacketFabric-AWS connection. This means that you can only access this dedicated cloud on-ramp from your other PacketFabric interfaces within the same metro/city.
For example, your source interface is in Equinix DC2 (Ashburn, VA; WDC1), and your PacketFabric-AWS connection is in CoreSite VA1 (Reston, VA; WDC2). Both are in the Washington D.C. metro market.
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Long-haul: Your source interface is not in the same metro market as your PacketFabric-AWS connection. This means you can access this dedicated cloud on-ramp from any PacketFabric interface (within the same country).
For example, your source interface is in Digital Realty NJR2 (Clifton, NJ; NYC12), and your PacketFabric-AWS connection is in CoreSite VA1 (Reston, VA; WDC2).
Destination Interface
Select the destination interface. The destination interface is the PacketFabric interface that connects to AWS.
Destination Details
- Select Speed
- The speed/capacity you are using for your AWS connection.
- Select Availability Zone
- Select a zone.
- The zone refers to the physical interconnect diversity between PacketFabric and AWS (e.g. different routers).
- Allocating connections within different zones supports redundancy.
Product Confirmation
- Product Description
- Enter a name for the connection.
- Billing and Term Selection
- Select the appropriate billing account to associate with this service.
- From the Select Term menu, select a contract length for this connection.
Review your information. When everything is correct, click Place Order.
Create an AWS Direct Connect Connection
Follow Amazon’s instructions to set up a Direct Connect connection: Creating a Connection - AWS Direct Connect.
Note the following when creating your Direct Connect connection:
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The location you select must be the same site you selected under Destination Interface when you set up your PacketFabric dedicated cloud interconnect.
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When creating your connection, ensure that you select PacketFabric as your service provider:
NOTE: If you do not see PacketFabric in the service provider drop-down list, first check to ensure the location matches the one you selected in the PacketFabric portal.
Once this has been verified, select Other and manually enter PacketFabric as your service provider.
Submit Your LOA-CFA
Amazon reviews your request and you are notified when it has been approved.
Once approved, log in to the AWS portal and download your LOA-CFA. Send this to your PacketFabric client success manager so that we can set up a cross connection in the relevant data center.
This might take several days.
Add a Virtual Circuit
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From the PacketFabric portal, click Network at the top of the page.
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Select Cloud Connectivity > Dedicated Cloud Connectivity.
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Click Create in the upper right and then select Add Virtual Circuit.
Complete the following fields:
Select Source Interface
Select the source interface. The source interface is the PacketFabric interface directly connected to your network.
You must have at least one interface before continuing. If there is nothing to select, you need to create a new interface.
Cloud Provider Interface
Select the PacketFabric cloud connection you created earlier.
Select Virtual Circuit Speed
Select the speed/capacity for your virtual circuit. The speeds that are displayed are those that are compatible with the speeds you selected for your source and destination interfaces.
Product Confirmation
- Product Description
- Enter a name for the connection.
- Billing and Term Selection
- Select the appropriate billing account to associate with this service.
- From the Select Term menu, select a contract length for this connection.
- Configuration
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Source VLAN ID: This is the VLAN ID that faces your source interface (your source network).
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Destination VLAN ID: The VLAN ID that faces your AWS virtual interface.
TIP: Record this number. You will be asked to provide it when creating your AWS virtual interface.
You can manually enter the ID or click Next Available. If you click Next Available, we find the highest in-use VLAN ID and increment by one. For example, if the highest in-use ID is 15, this field auto populates with 16.
Select Make Source Untagged or Make Destination Untagged if you do not plan on using VLAN tagging.
Review your information. When everything is correct, click Place Order.
Create an AWS Virtual Interface
Follow Amazon’s instructions to set up a virtual interface: Creating a Virtual Interface- AWS Direct Connect.
Note the following when creating your virtual interface:
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For the VLAN field, enter the Destination VLAN ID you provided for your virtual circuit.
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Under Additional Settings > Jumbo MTU (MTU size 9001), you can optionally select Enabled. All PacketFabric connections support jumbo MTUs.
Next Steps
Once your AWS virtual interface has finished provisioning, click the VIF name to view its details. From here you can gather peering information to configure your router.
