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--- peering-toolbox:physical_connectivity [2022/08/01 14:41] – [Stage Four] philip
+++ peering-toolbox:physical_connectivity [2022/08/19 21:01] (current) – [Remote Peering] philip
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 {{peering-toolbox/peeringtoolbox.png?400|}}
-====== Connectivity to another entity ======
+====== Connectivity to another Network ======
 This section discusses some of the considerations for a newcomer to interconnection and peering.
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 This router is normally dedicated only for peering connections, whether connecting to public peers at an IXP or private peers. If procuring a separate router is not a possibility, it is possible that an existing router could be used, so long as it meets the appropriate technical requirements for participating in a peering infrastructure (full support of BGP, sufficient controlplane memory and CPU capacity).
-If this router will be installed at the IXP location, appropriate arrangements need to made to procure it and have it delivered, installed, and configured, to coincide with the delivery and commissioning of the physical link back to the aspiring member's network infrastructure. If this IXP is in another country, then there may well be the issues with shipping, import duties, customs agents, and who would handle the import (it's highly likely that the IXP staff or volunteers would not be too willing to do this work for their aspiring member).
+The diagram below shows the peering router in the aspiring member's network, and the remote connection to the IXP.
+{{:peering-toolbox:ixp-router1.png?400| }}
+If this router will be installed at the IXP location (as shown in the diagram below), appropriate arrangements need to made to procure it and have it delivered, installed, and configured, to coincide with the delivery and commissioning of the physical link back to the aspiring member's network infrastructure. If this IXP is in another country, then there may well be the issues with shipping, import duties, customs agents, and who would handle the import (it's highly likely that the IXP staff or volunteers would not be too willing to do this work for their aspiring member).
+{{:peering-toolbox:ixp-router2.png?400| }}
 ==== Stage Two ====
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 ==== Stage Five ====
-The fifth and final stage of connecting to the IXP is plugging the network operator infrastructure into the IXP itself. Most IXP switches today are fibre optics based, with ports supporting 1Gbps or 10Gbps depending on the fibre optic transceiver (SFP) installed. There are two possibilities here:
+The fifth and final stage of connecting to the IXP is plugging the network operator infrastructure into the IXP itself. Most IXP switches today are fibre optics based, with ports supporting 1Gbps or 10Gbps depending on the fibre optic transceiver (Small Form-factor Pluggable transceiver - SFP) installed. There are two possibilities here:
   - The IXP membership fee includes providing an SFP for the member to connect to the switch. It's more likely for the IXP to have an inventory of SFPs for their particular brand of switch. In this case the new member only has to provide a suitable SFP for their router - or if their router has no fibre port, the IXP has to use an SFP that supports an RJ45 copper connection instead. The IXP will also patch their switch to the member infrastructure (whether it is a single mode fibre optic patch lead, or Cat6 ethernet cable if fibre is not feasible).
   - The member has to bring their own SFP to connect to the IXP switch. The IXP operator simply provides the switch, and it is up to the member to procure and provide the SFP and the suitable single mode fibre optic patch lead to get from their installation to the IXP switch. The IXP (or building operator) will still do the install though.
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 ===== Remote Peering =====
-Connecting to the IXP via Remote Peering is greatly simplified as the layer-2 infrastructure provider will already be present at the IXP.
+Remote Peering means that the network operator connects to the Internet Exchange Point via a layer-2 infrastructure provider who is already physically present there. This avoids the hassles of the network operator having to provision their own physical infrastructure to connect to the IXP.
+Connecting to the IXP via Remote Peering has fewer stages as the layer-2 infrastructure provider will already be present at the IXP.
+The considerations are similar if the layer-2 infrastructure provider is used for providing transport to the upstream provider or private peer.
 ==== Stage One ====
 The first step for connecting to an IXP by using a Remote Peering service is to contract with an operator who is already present at the IXP in question to provide the agreed layer-2 capacity to the IXP.
-Details of what this service and contract should look like are beyond the scope of the Peering Toolbox. However, it is important to ensure that the committed bandwidth from the layer-2 provider will meet the needs of the new member, and that this capacity can be easily upgraded or downgraded on reasonable notice. The last thing any IXP member will want is a congested IXP connection.
+Details of what this service and contract should look like are beyond the scope of the Peering Toolbox. However, it is important to ensure that the **committed** bandwidth from the layer-2 provider will meet the needs of the new member, and that this capacity can be easily upgraded or downgraded on reasonable notice. The last thing any IXP member will want is a congested IXP connection.
+Note that **shared** bandwidth is never a good idea for a peering (or transit) link as congestion will cause serious problems for what is really meant to be "unlimited" "free" capacity to other network operators.
 ==== Stage Two ====
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 Once the new member's router is in place and operational, a free port needs to be connected to the layer-2 infrastructure operator. The most common way is by ethernet whereby the remote IXP LAN is delivered over a particular identified VLAN. This method allows the layer-2 infrastructure operator to provide several different connectivity services to its customers, each allocated their own VLAN.
+This could look something like this (using Cisco IOS CLI as an example):
+{{:peering-toolbox:remote-peer-router.png?800| }}
 [[:peering-toolbox/next-steps| Back to 'Establishing Peering' page]]