Order Alibaba Cloud ports

After you order your Cross-Cloud Interconnect connections, order your Alibaba Cloud Express Connect ports.

Caution: Use the following procedure twice—once to create the primary port and again to create the redundant port.

Order Express Connect ports

For each of your Cross-Cloud Interconnect connections, you need an Express Connect port.

Console

1. Log in to the Alibaba Cloud Express Connect console.
2. On the Express Connect page, click Create Physical Connection.

3. For Region, select the city that you want to connect to by choosing one of the following in the Connectivity Provider menu:

   • For the China (Hong Kong) region, select Other (Chinese Mainland).
   • For all other regions, select Connectivity Provider Outside Chinese Mainland.

4. For Access Point, select the Alibaba Cloud name for the remote location.

5. For Port Type, select 10 GE Single-Mode Optical Port.

6. Leave Redundant Physical Connection ID empty when ordering the primary port. You will set it when ordering the redundant port.

7. Check the box that you have read and understood the billing rules.

8. Click OK to place the order.

   Repeat the same process when ordering the redundant port. However, for the second port, set the Redundant Physical Connection ID menu to the primary port that you previously ordered.

   Wait a few minutes for the ports to be allocated.

9. After the port is allocated, click Apply for LOA.

10. For Company Name, enter Google Cloud.

11. For Construction Company that Enters Data Centers of Alibaba Cloud, enter Google Cloud.

12. For Leased Line Type, select Fiber Connection.

13. For Construction Schedule, select the date tomorrow.

14. For Leased Line Bandwidth in Mbps, enter 10000.

15. The menu requires that you enter information for a field engineer even though it is not used:

    1. Click Add Field Engineer.
    2. For Name, enter NotApplicable.
    3. For Contact Information, enter your phone number.
    4. For ID Number, enter Unknown colo facility.
    5. For Gender, enter your gender.

16. Click OK.

17. On the page that appears, click OK.

Generate LOAs

For Google to provision your connection, it must have a letter of authorization (LOA) for each of your Alibaba Cloud ports.

After you order the Express Connect port, the port waits for a review process that can take between ten minutes and two business days. After review completes, click the button to download the LOA document. If you are unable to download an LOA document after two business days, open a support ticket.

Send the LOAs to Google

After you order your Cross-Cloud Interconnect connections, you should receive confirmation email messages from Google. Each of these messages includes instructions for sending your Alibaba Cloud LOAs to Google. Now that you have the LOAs, do the following:

1. Decide which Alibaba Cloud Express Connect port must be connected to each Cross-Cloud Interconnect connection.

2. Locate the LOA document for that port.

3. Respond to each of the Google emails, and attach the appropriate LOA documents.

Make a note of the instructions that you provide to Google regarding which Cross-Cloud Interconnect port connects to which Alibaba Cloud port. You need this information later in the process when you configure your Alibaba Cloud resources.

After you respond to both emails, Google sends you an email acknowledging receipt of the LOAs.

Still later, after Google provisions your Cross-Cloud Interconnect connections, you receive another set of emails stating that the work is complete. At that point, Alibaba Cloud has not yet provisioned the pigtail for the Express Connect port.

1. Click Confirm Delivery.
2. For Leased Line ID/Cable ID, enter the connection ticket ID that Google provides you.
3. For ODF Port Specification, enter the Patch Panel information from the LOA document that you previously downloaded.
4. Click OK.

Alibaba Cloud completes the pigtail connection within four business days. Google tests your Cross-Cloud Interconnect once each day to check for connection completion. After the connection is detected, Google sends an email that your port is ready to use.

Check the status of your Google Cloud ports

Console

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Cloud Interconnect Physical connections tab.

   Go to Physical connections

2. Click the name of your Cross-Cloud Interconnect connection.

3. On the Interconnect details page, locate the Link circuit info table.

4. Check the Receiving Optical Power and the Transmitting Optical Power columns. The value in these columns should be OK.