Amazon Direct Connect connection options - Amazon Direct Connect
Connection prerequisites
Services or capabilities described in Amazon Web Services documentation might vary by Region. To see the differences applicable to the China Regions, see Getting Started with Amazon Web Services in China (PDF).

Amazon Direct Connect connection options

Amazon offers customers the ability to achieve highly resilient network connections between Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) and their on-premises infrastructure. The Amazon Direct Connect Resiliency Toolkit provides a connection wizard with multiple resiliency models. These models help you to determine, and then place an order for the number of dedicated connections to achieve your SLA objective. You select a resiliency model, and then the Amazon Direct Connect Resiliency Toolkit guides you through the dedicated connection ordering process. The resiliency models are designed to ensure that you have the appropriate number of dedicated connections in multiple locations.

The following connection options are available for Amazon Direct Connect.

  • Maximum Resiliency: This model is available in the Amazon Direct Connect Resiliency Toolkit and provides you a way to order dedicated connections to achieve an SLA of 99.99%. It requires you to meet all of the requirements for achieving the SLA that are specified in the Amazon Direct Connect Service Level Agreement. For more information, see the Amazon Direct Connect Resiliency Toolkit.

  • High Resiliency: This model is available in the Amazon Direct Connect Resiliency Toolkit and provides you a way to order dedicated connections to achieve an SLA of 99.9%. It requires you to meet all of the requirements for achieving the SLA that are specified in the Amazon Direct Connect Service Level Agreement. For more information, see the Amazon Direct Connect Resiliency Toolkit.

  • Development and Test: This model is available in the Amazon Direct Connect Resiliency Toolkit and provides you a way to achieve development and test resiliency for non-critical workloads by using separate connections that terminate on separate devices in one location. For more information, see the Amazon Direct Connect Resiliency Toolkit.

  • Classic: A Classic connection creates a connection without the need of the Amazon Direct Connect Resiliency Toolkit. It's intended for users that have existing connections and want to add additional connections without using the toolkit. This model has a 95% SLA but does not provide resiliency or redundancy. For more information, see Classic connection.

Topics

Connection prerequisites

Amazon Direct Connect supports the following port speeds over single-mode fiber: 1000BASE-LX (1310 nm) transceiver for 1 gigabit Ethernet, a 10GBASE-LR (1310 nm) transceiver for 10 gigabit, a 100GBASE-LR4 for 100 gigabit Ethernet, or a 400GBASE-LR4 for 400 Gbps Ethernet.

You can set up an Amazon Direct Connect connection using the Amazon Direct Connect Resiliency Toolkit or a Classic connection in one of the following ways:

Model Bandwidth Method
Dedicated connection 1 Gbps, 10 Gbps, 100 Gbps, and 400 Gbps

Work with an Amazon Direct Connect Partner or a network provider to connect a router from your data center, office, or colocation environment to an Amazon Direct Connect location. The network provider does not have to be an Amazon Direct Connect Partner to connect you to a dedicated connection. Amazon Direct Connect dedicated connections support these port speeds over single-mode fiber: 1 Gbps: 1000BASE-LX (1310 nm), 10 Gbps: 10GBASE-LR (1310 nm), 100Gbps: 100GBASE-LR4, or 400GBASE-LR4 for 400 Gbps Ethernet.
Hosted connection 50 Mbps, 100 Mbps, 200 Mbps, 300 Mbps, 400 Mbps, 500 Mbps, 1 Gbps, 2 Gbps, 5 Gbps, 10 Gbps, and 25 Gbps.

Work with a partner in the Amazon Direct Connect Partner Program to connect a router from your data center, office, or colocation environment to an Amazon Direct Connect location.

Only certain partners provide higher capacity connections.

For connections to Amazon Direct Connect with bandwidths of 1 Gbps or higher, ensure that your network meets the following requirements:

  • Your network must use single-mode fiber with a 1000BASE-LX (1310 nm) transceiver for 1 gigabit Ethernet, a 10GBASE-LR (1310 nm) transceiver for 10 gigabit, a 100GBASE-LR4 for 100 gigabit Ethernet, or a 400GBASE-LR4 for 400 Gbps Ethernet.

  • Depending on the Amazon Direct Connect endpoint serving your connection, on-premises device auto-negotiation might need to be enabled or disabled for any dedicated connection. If a virtual interface remains down when a Direct Connect connection is up, see Troubleshoot layer 2 (data link) issues.

  • 802.1Q VLAN encapsulation must be supported across the entire connection, including intermediate devices.

  • Your device must support Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) and BGP MD5 authentication.

  • (Optional) You can configure Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) on your network. Asynchronous BFD is automatically enabled for each Amazon Direct Connect virtual interface. It's automatically enabled for Direct Connect virtual interfaces, but does not take effect until you configure it on your router. For more information, see Enable BFD for a Direct Connect connection.

Make sure you have the following information before you begin your configuration:

  • The resiliency model that you want to use if you're not creating a Classic connection. For Amazon Direct Connect Resiliency Toolkit connection options, see the Amazon Direct Connect Resiliency Toolkit.

  • The speed, location, and partner for all of your connections.

    You only need the speed for one connection.