Duplicate a connection for redundancy

If you have a single Cross-Site Interconnect connection, you can create a second one so that you have redundant connections. Google recommends redundancy so that if one connection fails, the other connection can continue to serve traffic.

To create a redundant Cross-Site Interconnect connection, you must create it in the same metropolitan area (city) as the existing one, but in a different edge availability domain (metro availability zone). If you don't, the connections won't be redundant.

Console

To find the city of the existing Cross-Site Interconnect connection:

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Interconnect page.

    Go to Interconnect

  2. On the Physical connections tab, select the existing Cross-Site Interconnect connection to view its details page.

  3. In the Details section, view the location address and record the city name. This is the city where the redundant connection must be configured.

To create the redundant Cross-Site Interconnect connection:

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Interconnect page.

    Go to Interconnect

  2. On the Physical connections tab, click Set up physical connection.

  3. Select Cross-Site Interconnect connection, and then click Continue.

  4. If you haven't already, check your bandwidth quotas and limits to ensure that you can successfully create a cross-site network with your required bandwidth.

    After you have confirmed that you have sufficient quota, click Next: I acknowledge.

  5. Specify the details of the Cross-Site Interconnect connection:

    • Name: A name for the connection. This name is displayed in the Google Cloud console and is used by the Google Cloud CLI to reference the connection, such as my-interconnect-redundant.
    • Location: Select Choose, and then filter the list of locations to the city where your existing connection is located. Select the same facility (if it supports more than one edge availability domain) or a different facility. To view the list of cities and their edge availability domains, see Colocation facilities for Cross-Site Interconnect.
    • Capacity: The total capacity of your connection, which is determined by the size of the circuit that you order. Use the same value as the existing connection.

  6. Click Next.

  7. Clear the Create redundant interconnect checkbox, and then click Continue to dismiss the SLA message.

    Normally, when you create a Cross-Site Interconnect connection, we recommend that you order a second redundant connection. In this case, because you're creating a redundant connection for an existing connection, you don't need to order another connection.

  8. Optional: Select an edge availability domain (metro availability zone).

    If the location that you selected has more than one edge availability domain, you can choose a particular zone. Choose the zone that doesn't contain the existing Cross-Site Interconnect connection that you're building redundancy for. If you have no additional connections in the same city, the Google Cloud console chooses the correct zone for you.

  9. Click Next.

  10. Specify your contact information:

    • Company name: The name of your organization to put in the LOA as the party authorized to request a connection.
    • Technical contact: An email address where notifications about this connection are sent. You don't need to enter your own address; you are included in all notifications. You can specify only one address.

  11. Review your order. Check that your Cross-Site Interconnect connection details and contact information are correct. If everything is correct, click Place order. If not, go back and edit the connection details.

  12. On the order confirmation page, review the next steps and then select Done.

gcloud

To find the city of the existing Cross-Site Interconnect connection:

  1. View connection details to view its location:

    gcloud beta compute interconnects describe INTERCONNECT_NAME

    In the output, view the location field, which shows a URL such as https://www.googleapis.com/compute/...<example>.../iad-zone1-1. The last part of the URL is the name of the location (iad-zone1-1).

  2. Describe the location to view the city in which it's located, passing the location name from the previous step:

    gcloud beta compute interconnects locations describe LOCATION_NAME

To create the redundant Cross-Site Interconnect connection:

  1. Choose a facility where the redundant Cross-Site Interconnect connection is to be located. From the list of locations, select one that's in the same city but in a different edge availability domain from the existing connection.

    For example, if the existing connection is in iad-zone2-1, select a location that's in Ashburn but in zone 1, such as iad-zone1-1. You need this location name when you create the redundant connection.

  2. Create the redundant Cross-Site Interconnect connection in the location that you selected. If you are using MACsec for Cloud Interconnect, include MACSEC in the list of requested features.

     gcloud beta compute interconnects create INTERCONNECT_NAME \
     --customer-name=NAME \
     --interconnect-type=DEDICATED \
     --requested-features=CROSS_SITE_NETWORK[,MACSEC] \
     --link-type=LINK_TYPE \
     --location=LOCATION_NAME \
     [--noc-contact-email=EMAIL_ADDRESS] \
     [--description=STRING]

    Replace the following:

    • INTERCONNECT_NAME: the name for the Cross-Site Interconnect connection; this name is displayed in the Google Cloud console and is used by the Google Cloud CLI to reference the connection, such as my-interconnect-redundant.
    • NAME: the name of your organization to put in the LOA as the party authorized to request a connection
    • LINK_TYPE: the per-circuit capacity of your Cross-Site Interconnect connection; use the same value as the existing connection:
      • If your existing connection is made up of 10-Gbps circuits, replace LINK_TYPE with LINK_TYPE_ETHERNET_10G_LR.
      • If your existing connection is made up of 100-Gbps circuits, replace LINK_TYPE with LINK_TYPE_ETHERNET_100G_LR.
    • LOCATION_NAME: the name of the location that you selected in the previous step
    • EMAIL_ADDRESS and STRING: optional; for the NOC contact, you can specify only one email address—you don't need to enter your own address because you are included in all notifications

After you order a Cross-Site Interconnect connection, Google emails you a confirmation and allocates ports for you. When the allocation is complete, Google generates LOA-CFAs for your connections and emails them to you. All of the automated emails are sent to the NOC contact and the person who ordered the Cross-Site Interconnect connection.

You can use the Cross-Site Interconnect connection only after your connections have been provisioned and tested for light levels and IP connectivity.

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