About IBM Cloud Direct Link

IBM Cloud® Direct Link offerings provide connectivity from an external source into a customer's IBM Cloud private network. Direct Link can be viewed as an alternative to a traditional site-to-site VPN solution, which is designed for customers that need more consistent, higher-throughput connectivity between a remote network and their IBM Cloud environments.

The IBM Cloud Direct Link service is a routed, OSI Layer-3 service. It offers a direct connection to the IBM Cloud private network backbone, with low latency and speeds up to 5 Gbps.

For increased flexibility in creating this Layer-3 connectivity, IBM Cloud Direct Link enables customers to use:

Dual IP for remote hosts
Tunneling for BYOIP

You can also bind a direct link to transit gateways so that there is a secure connection to on-prem networks and IBM Cloud resources that are connected through the transit gateways.

Direct Link offerings

Currently, two types of connections are available: Direct Link Dedicated and Direct Link Connect.

Direct Link Connect

Offers private access to your IBM Cloud infrastructure and to any other clouds linked to your service provider through your local IBM Cloud data center. This option is perfect for creating multi-cloud connectivity in a single environment. IBM connects customers to the IBM Cloud Private network, by using a shared bandwidth topology. As with all Direct Link products, you can add global routing that enables private network traffic to all IBM Cloud locations.

Direct Link Dedicated

Allows customers to terminate a single-tenant, fiber-based cross-connect into the IBM Cloud network. Customers with colocation premises that are next to IBM Cloud PoPs and data centers can use this offering. Network service providers that deliver circuits to customers' on-premises or other data centers can also use this offering.

Using AS prepends to influence route preference

This use case pertains to both Direct Link Connect and Direct Link Dedicated offerings.

Adding one or more autonomous system (AS) numbers at the beginning of an AS path is called AS prepending. You can use this technique to make a route less preferable to the BGP router by increasing the length of the AS path. For example, you might want route redundancy, but don't want traffic going through both routes at the same time.

Assuming that all other criteria are equal, the prefix of the AS prepend matches with routes and lengthens the AS path to the destination. This action results in a lower priority route compared to one without AS prepends to the same destination. Take the following use case, for example. Suppose that you want your East site to prefer Path A through IBM PoP East when sending traffic to 10.80.0.0/28. To de-prioritize Path B, the BGP Autonomous System Number (ASN) of 12345 is prepended to the route (12345 12345 12345 4040 286 I).

Influencing route priority by using AS prepends — Figure 1. Influencing route priority using AS prepends

For more information, see Influencing route preference using AS prepends and Using AS prepends with VPN connections.

Direct Link Connect use cases

These use cases are best for working with hybrid workloads, cross-provider workloads, large or frequent data transfers, private workloads, and environment administration. Use these use cases:

When you want quicker connectivity for mission-critical workloads
When you need connections between a client network and IBM Cloud at speeds of 5 Gbps or less
When diverse ports in a point of presence (PoP) are available

Direct Link Connect use case 1: Using service provider networks to virtually reach IBM Cloud

The Direct Link Connect solution enables you to use a service provider to deliver connectivity to IBM Cloud locations. This offering typically provides connectivity at a reduced cost because the physical connectivity from IBM Cloud to the service provider is already in place, which is shared among other customers.

Some benefits include:

Multi-cloud use through a single Connect port
Latency tolerant
Lower-cost entry to IBM Cloud

Using service provider networks to virtually reach IBM Cloud — Figure 2. Leveraging service provider networks to virtually reach IBM Cloud

Direct Link Connect use case 2: Other Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) or enterprises

Multicloud use through a single Connect port
Latency tolerant
Multi-tenant through NNI between IBM Cloud and a service provider
Layer 2 and Layer 3 support
Lower cost of entry to IBM Cloud

Termination location: IBM Cloud point of presence (PoP).

Typical deployment time: 5 - 10 days after the circuit reaches the exchange. Deployment time can be 30 - 60 days overall, depending on your location and the requirements when you order a circuit from a service provider or carrier.

Cross-connect details: Physical cross-connects for the secure Direct Link Connect interconnect are maintained between IBM Cloud and the service provider. Request a "Virtual Circuit" from the service provider, which establishes logical connectivity to IBM Cloud, after you are connected to the service provider.

Port speed options: Select 50 Mbps, 100 Mbps, 200 Mbps, 500 Mbps, 1 Gbps, 2 Gbps, or 5 Gbps.

Approximate latency: Latency is approximately 1.5 ms within the local area (data centers with the same three-letter prefix, such as DAL, AMS, MEL). See Looking Glass for live PoP-to-PoP (P2P) location latency measurements.

IBM colocation services: None.

Redundancy: IBM Cloud does not provide redundancy as part of the product. To establish redundant connectivity, you must acquire two connections on diverse cross-connect routers (XCRs) and configure BGP on each IBM Cloud Direct Link on Classic connection as they prefer. Examples include: prefer Lowest MED, prefer highest local-preference, or prefer shorter AS paths.

Local and global routing options: The default routing option is Local routing. It provides access to data centers within the same market as the Direct Link PoP (denoted, for example, as DAL, AMS, or MEL). The global routing option is required as an add-on to connect your IBM Cloud resources to other IBM Cloud resources in data centers outside the local market. It is used to share workloads between IBM Cloud resources (for example, Dallas to Ashburn, or Dallas to Frankfurt).

Direct Link Connect use case 3: Location connectivity that uses Power Systems Virtual Servers and Transit Gateway

Direct Link is a hybrid cloud connectivity service providing secure, private, high-bandwidth connectivity between customer on-premises and IBM Cloud resources. Paired with Power Systems Virtual Servers and IBM Cloud Transit Gateway, Direct Link offers options for high-bandwidth customer demand.

For deployment topologies that use Direct Link and Power Systems Virtual Servers, see Network architecture diagrams.

Direct Link Dedicated use cases

These use cases are best for working with hybrid workloads, cross-provider workloads, large or frequent data transfers, private workloads, and environment administration. Use these use cases:

When you want dedicated connectivity for mission-critical workloads
When you need dedicated, single-tenant connections between a client and IBM
When diverse ports in a point of presence (PoP) are available

Direct Link Dedicated use case 1: Customer on-premises facility to IBM Cloud

Use when deterministic latency is required.

Direct Link Dedicated use case 2: Customer colocation to IBM Cloud

Use when ultra-low latency is required.

Termination location: IBM Cloud point of presence (PoP) or Data Center (DC).

Typical deployment time: Averages 10-15 business days after the new circuit reaches the PoP. Deployment time can be 30 - 60 days overall, depending on your location and the requirements when you order a circuit from a service provider or carrier.

Cross-connect details: IBM Cloud provides a Letter of Authorization (LOA) that you can use to order fiber Ethernet (single-mode fiber only, either 1Gig-LX or 10Gig-LR optics). The Ethernet runs from a customer cage or provider cage to the IBM Cloud Connecting Facility Assignment (CFA) termination point, which is tied down to the cross-connect router (XCR) infrastructure. The media must be a 1310 nm wavelength optic.

Port speed options: Select 1 Gbps, 2 Gbps, or 5 Gbps.

IBM colocation services: None.

Redundancy: IBM Cloud doesn't provide redundancy as part of the product. To establish redundant connectivity, a customer must acquire two connections on diverse cross-connect routers (XCRs) and configure BGP on each Direct Link connection as they prefer. Examples include: prefer Lowest MED, prefer highest local-preference, or prefer shorter AS paths.

Local and global routing options: The local routing option is the default routing option. It provides access to data centers within the same market as the Direct Link PoP (denoted, for example, as DAL, AMS, or MEL). The global routing option is required as an add-on to connect your IBM Cloud resources to other IBM Cloud resources in data centers outside the local market. It provides a way to share workloads between IBM Cloud resources (for example, Dallas to Ashburn, or Dallas to Frankfurt).