AT&T NetBond Essentials using Equinix Fabric ordering considerations

Follow these steps to create a Direct Link connection for your AT&T NetBond Essentials service provider.

Obtain an IP subnet and local ASN (Public ATT ASN) for the BGP from the AT&T NetBond Essentials service on the Total Access Orchestration (TAO) platform.

This block is /29 broken down into two /30 subnets. You require the /30 subnet for ordering in the IBM Cloud® console.
Using your IBM Cloud account, order an IBM Cloud Direct Link Connect gateway through the IBM Cloud console. For instructions, see Ordering IBM Cloud Direct Link Connect.

During the ordering process (Step 7), Make sure to specify the AT&T-supplied IP addresses instead of your actual client Edge IP addresses.

To add your own IP address, follow these steps:
- Choose Manual-select IP.
- For Range, select Public.
- For Your CIDR, enter the specific IP address from the AT&T-supplied subnet (for example, 10.254.0.26/30).
- For IBM CIDR, enter the specific IP address from remaining addresses in the AT&T-supplied subnet (for example, 10.254.0.25/30).
- for the BGP ASN, enter the supplied local ASN (AT&T Public ASN) supplied by AT&T.
  
  Manual-select IP Public Range
Write down and retain the connection name and the service key that was generated from the order.
Send the name of the connection and the generated service key to the AT&T Service Provider team. If you are granted permission by AT&T to order Direct Link Connect through the Equinix Fabric portal, complete your order using the Equinix Cloud Exchange (ECX) Fabric portal.

AT&T TAO / NetBond Essentials notes when ordering using the Equinix Fabric portal

In the IBM Cloud Direct Link 2 profile, click Create Connection.

Equinix ordering
Very Important - On the Connection Details page, for the IBM Cloud Account ID, AT&T must enter the service key (for example, aaa-bbbb-cccc) that was generated when you provisioned your direct link. You can find this key on the Direct Link details page.

Connection Details

AT&T TAO / NetBond Essentials submits your Equinix order using the Equinix Fabric portal

After the order is completed, AT&T will need to notify you that the Equinix order was submitted.

The IBM Special Network Services (SNS) team receives the Equinix request (submitted by AT&T on your behalf) and is able approve the connection in the buyer-side portal. You can view your newly created virtual connection for Direct Link by going to Connections. The connection will be in a pending, provisioning state (Pending Provider VLAN).

The timeline for approval is within 24-48 hours. If the 48-hour Service Level Agreement (SLA) is not acceptable, you can create an IBM Support case and request that it be routed to the SNS team.