Wasabi Direct Connect – Layer 2 (Data Link layer aka L2) Transport and Bandwidth Availability
Connection Options and Speeds
Wasabi Direct Connect enables you to establish a direct network connection between your network and any one of Wasabi’s fifteen Data Center locations worldwide.
Wasabi offers two types of Layer 2 transport options:
Dedicated Direct Connect: A private, direct connection between your network and Wasabi made up of a physical Ethernet connection (1, 10 and 100 Gbps available) associated with each customer, referred to as a Dedicated Direct Connect. This offers the most secure performance with Wasabi, coupled with lower latency, and higher security. Best for enterprises with high data transfer needs and strict security and compliance requirements.
Please note: Wasabi’s Dedicated Direct Connect service will include a standard Letter of Authorization (LOA) for placing a cross-connect order with the data center provider.
Hosted Direct Connect: A shared connection provided via Wasabi's network partner services made up of a physical Ethernet connection (1 and 10 Gbps, and sub rates in 1 Gbps Increments) that a Wasabi Direct Connect Fabric Partner provisions on behalf of the customer, referred to as a Hosted Direct Connect. Quicker to set up via one of our network partners. Suitable for businesses that need a stable, private connection but do not require the highest level of dedicated bandwidth.
Please note: Based on its software-defined network (SDN) capability, Wasabi can support multiple bandwidth requirements in the Hosted Virtual Cross Connect (VXC).
Wasabi Hosted Direct Connect service is offered via our Cloud Fabric partners and does not require a Wasabi-issued LOA.
Wasabi's Hosted Direct Connect service is offered via our supported cloud fabric partners listed below:
- Flexential Hosted Services (US Only)
- Wasabi Direct Connect service provided by Flexential
- Megaport Cloud Services
- Wasabi Direct Connect service provided by Megaport Cloud Service
- Equinix Cloud Fabric
- Wasabi Direct Connect service provided by Equinix Cloud Fabric
Wasabi Direct Connect with other Direct Connect services for Cloud-to-Cloud Providers
Wasabi Direct Connect service is also available for connecting to other Hyperscalers, such as AWS Direct Connect, Azure Express Route, and GCP Dedicated Interconnect.
Wasabi Direct Connect – Layer 3 (Network Layer aka L3) Routing Options
Wasabi provides two Layer 3 Routing options for the customer’s Direct Connect circuit. The customer must choose one.
Network Address Translation (NAT)- Customers can choose to implement a NAT interface on their public-facing switch/router interfaces. This is a common option and involves standard static routing configurations. explained further on in this presentation
Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
- Customer can choose a BGP configuration and have 2 options when it comes to public and private (RFC1918) prefix advertisement. (Wasabi requires these prefixes for network control and security)
- This option provides the circuit with more dynamic characteristics that the BGP protocol supports (Dynamic failover to the public internet for example)
- NOTE: The Wasabi Direct Connect circuit will be provisioned with 2 /31 subnet addresses for the connected router’s interface in all configurations
Examples of Wasabi Direct Connect Configuration:
Example 1:
Configuration Specification:
L2: Wasabi Dedicated Direct Connect
L3: NAT
Wasabi Storage Location: US-East-1
Wasabi will be configured to accept traffic from the /31 IP address assigned to the customers NAT interface
- Customer will configure their NAT interface as follows:
- Forward all Wasabi traffic to the NAT Interface IP address
- The next hop is configured with the Wasabi /31 IP address
- Customer may need the specific IP information for their internal FW and/or router to correctly forward their Wasabi traffic to the intended destination (E.g. 38.27.106.0/24 as seen in the above BGP example)
- In this example Wasabi advertises the 38.27.106.0/24 prefix in its BGP announcement for the storage service
Example 2:
Configuration Specification:
L2: Wasabi Dedicated Direct Connect
L3: Public BGP
Wasabi Storage Location: US-East-2
- Wasabi will be configured to accept traffic from the customers public prefix advertisement
- Customer will configure their BGP interface to peer with the following prefix and Wasabi ASN
- In this example Wasabi advertises the 38.73.225.0/24 prefix in its BGP advertisement with ASN 395717
- Additional BGP parameters can be configured based on request. (MD5, BDF Timers etc.)
Example 3:
Configuration Specification:
L2: Wasabi Dedicated Direct Connect
L3: Private BGP
Wasabi Storage Location: US-West-1
- When a private BGP prefix is required, Wasabi will reserve a 10.249.x.0/24 address space for that advertisement
- Customer will be required to configure that prefix in their BGP Advertisement for Wasabi to accept
- In this example Wasabi advertises the 38.146.40.0/24 prefix in its BGP advertisement with ASN 395717
- Also in this example, Wasabi will only accept traffic coming from the reserved 10.249.x.0/24 prefix advertised from the customer’s network to Wasabi
- Additional BGP parameters can be configured based on request. (MD5, BDF Timers etc.)
Example 4:
Configuration Specification:
L2: Wasabi Hosted Direct Connect
L3: Private BGP
Wasabi Storage Location: US-East-1
- With Wasabi Hosted Direct Connect circuits, the previous Layer 3 Routing Rules still apply
- It is not required to have the Customer VLAN match the providers VLAN
- Wasabi supports Equinix Cloud Fabric, Megaport Cloud Connectivity and Flexential Hosted services
- Membership to these cloud networks is required to properly provision a Virtual Cross Connect to the customer
Wasabi KB documents on the Hosted providers supported by Wasabi can be found here.
The following information will be required for Wasabi to provision the circuit. Please provide your answers in the field next to the questions below: