Google Partner Interconnect Process Overview

For a general overview of using interconnects with PacketFabric, see Google Cloud Interconnect Overview.

1. Complete the prerequisites.

Create a Google Cloud Platform (GCP) account and set up a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).

The VPC is the heart of your Google Cloud environment and is the target of your interconnect connection.

Create a Google Cloud Router.

This can be done before you begin or as you are creating your VLAN attachment.

IMPORTANT: The Cloud Router’s Google ASN must be set to 16550. This is a Google requirement for all Partner Interconnects.

Create a PacketFabric account.

Before you can log in, your account is manually reviewed and then approved by the PacketFabric team. You should receive approval within 24 hours.

Provision a port and install a cross connect.

Provisioning a port only takes a few minutes. You can then generate an LOA and handle the cross connection installation yourself, or you can have us manage it. For more information, see Cross Connects.

At this point, your network looks roughly like this (assuming a 10 Gbps connection):

Google Partner Interconnect to PacketFabric Prereqs

2. Create a VLAN attachment.

The VLAN attachment connects the interconnect to your VPC.

Each VLAN attachment generates a unique pairing key. You need this key to create the connection from your PacketFabric source port to Google.

Google Partner Interconnect to PacketFabric VLAN Attachment

3. Create a PacketFabric Hosted Cloud Connection.

Using the pairing key generated with your VLAN attachment, create a hosted cloud connection from the PacketFabric portal.

PacketFabric Hosted Cloud to Google Partner Interconnect

NOTE: The capacity you set for your PacketFabric Hosted Cloud Connection determines the corresponding VLAN attachment capacity.

4. Activate the VLAN attachment

Return to the Google Cloud Console and activate the VLAN attachment.

Google Partner Interconnect activated VLAN attachment

5. Configure your on-premises router.

You must establish a BGP session with the Google Cloud Router.

NOTE: Ensure that multi-hop BGP is enabled on your on-premises router with 2+ hops. For more information, see Partner Interconnect Troubleshooting - Google.

6. Repeat steps 2 - 5 for redundant VLAN attachments (optional).

Google recommends that each VLAN attachment used in a production environment has a redundant counterpart.

A redundant VLAN attachment requires its own pairing key, PacketFabric Hosted cloud connection, and BGP session. You will need a Google Cloud Router per Google Cloud region. Redundant VLANs also must be in the same metropolitan area (city) as the existing VLAN attachment but in a different edge availability domain (metro availability zone).

  • For 99.9% availability for Partner Interconnect, Google requires at least two VLAN attachments in a single Google Cloud region, in separate edge availability domains (metro availability zones).
  • For 99.99% availability for Partner Interconnect, Google requires at least four VLAN attachments, two per Google Cloud region.
Redundant attachments can be identified by the trailing /2 in their pairing key.

Updated on 30 Sep 2022