Networking Guide

Direct Connect Service Overview
VMware delivers Direct Connect jointly with our vCloud Air network partners. The partner network service
providers (NSPs)
Customers work with NSPs to set up end-to-end private connections from their locations to vCloud Air. (To
set up a connection from a customer cage in the same data center as vCloud Air, customers work with the
data center owner to connect to a patch panel in the Meet Me Room.) For connections from remote locations,
NSPs provide the circuits to the vCloud Air connection point in the Meet Me Room. VMware provides the
port connectivity and the cross connection from the Meet Me Room (the NSP termination point or data
center patch panel) to the vCloud Air environment.
Direct Connect supports the following dedicated connection options from your customer premises or co-
located equipment:
n
“Direct Connect with Cross Connect,” on page 44
n
“Direct Connect for Network Exchange,” on page 45
These two options differ primarily around the time in which you can obtain a dedicated connection to
vCloud Air.
Connection Components
For both connection options, the connection from your equipment to vCloud Air has two components:
n
External to vCloud Air: the connection from your customer location or your co-located equipment in
the vCloud Air data center to the termination point in the Meet Me Room within a data center
n
Internal to vCloud Air: the connection from the NSP termination point or data center patch panel to
your gateway for your vCloud Air service
Figure 5‑1. Connection Components for Direct Connect to vCloud Air
VM
Network Service
Provider (NSP)
vCloud Air data center
Customer’s
cage
Meet Me Room
vCloud Air
infrastructure
Customer premises
Customer’s cloud
Gateway
VMware
managed –
L2 network
(VLAN)
vCloud Air
connection
point
Data center
owner
managed
NSP managed
NSP termination
point
Customer
managed –
VxLAN
network
Patch panel
Chapter 5 Direct Connect for vCloud Air
VMware, Inc. 43