Fabric Cloud Router
Equinix Fabric Cloud Router is an on-demand virtual routing service on Equinix Fabric that establishes flexible, private Layer 3 connectivity between public clouds, collocation, and other Equinix services across our software-defined global network. With these features, you can route traffic across your multicloud network efficiently and at scale.
How It Works
A Fabric Cloud Router is used to join two or more independent virtual connections to cloud providers within the same market into a single routing domain. These Cloud Routers do not require a physical connection or infrastructure.
A physical cross connect isn't required, so an Equinix Fabric port is not needed. However, a Fabric Cloud Router can host Layer 2 virtual connections which can be used to extend to an Equinix Fabric port.
You can create Fabric Cloud Routers in different markets, and then, by using the IP-WAN feature, you can join the devices into a single routing domain. This feature can be used to connect multiple markets, regions of a single cloud provider, or multiple cloud providers.
Technical Components
Fabric Cloud Router offers a component-based approach to service design and implementation. Users can create solutions using a set of micro-services, or with predefined configurations.
There are several components you can use for building your Cloud Router solutions:
- Deployment model – You can deploy Equinix virtual routing service in minutes. No hardware, no licensing, no software management required.
- Networking features – Includes basic network features such as BGP, route filtering, and ASN support. Can pass IPsec traffic.
- Availability – Available in all 55+ Equinix Fabric markets. No additional licensing is required. A single FCR is inherently redundant.
- Scalability and performance – High aggregate bandwidth, with >10 Gpbs in select markets. No limit on the number of connections. Includes built-in high availability.
Service Tiers
Equinix offers three service tiers for Cloud Router, based on the number and type of connections you need.
| Tier | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lab* | Basic | Standard | Advanced | |
| Number of connections | Maximum 10 | Recommended up to 15 | Recommended up to 25 | Recommended up to 35 |
| Maximum number of routes (IPv4/IPv6) | 50/50 | 250/50 | 1,000/100 | 4,000/250 |
| Per virtual connection (VC) bandwidth | Up to 50 Mbps | Up to 1 Gbps | Up to 10 Gbps | Up to 50 Gbps |
| Connections | ||||
| VC to Fabric Port | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| VC to Network Edge virtual devices | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| IP-WAN (regional/global) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| VC to Amazon Web Services (AWS) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| VC to Google Cloud Platform | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| VC to Microsoft Azure | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| VC to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| VC to Equinix Metal VLAN | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Other L2 service profiles | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
* Limit of three Lab Tier Cloud Routers per organization.
For more information on Equinix Fabric Cloud Router, see the data sheet.
Prerequisites
Fabric Account
You must have an active Equinix Fabric user account.
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New users – To set up a new Fabric user account, see Create a New User Account.
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Existing Equinix users without a Fabric user account – If you don't have a Fabric user account, you can request user account access from your administrator. See Permissions for instructions.
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Existing Equinix users with a Fabric user account – If you already have a Fabric user account:
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Navigate to the Customer Portal and sign in.
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Click the left side menu, then select Fabric.
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Billing Account
You must have an active Billing Account that covers the region and metro where you plan to deploy your Cloud Router.
If you don't have a billing account, you can set one up through the Customer portal as described in Creating a New Billing Account. When your new billing account is created, it might require up to 24 hours to be activated.
Identity and Access Management
Your organization must be onboarded to an Equinix Customer Resource Hierarchy/Access Management (CRH/AM) platform with an assigned billing account. This platform enables the management of user access to the resources within a hierarchy, as well as the assignment of billing accounts to organizations and projects to enable users to order select product assets. The platform also includes identity management features for security settings.
To ensure that appropriate permissions are available, these CRH/AM roles must be assigned in the Identity and Access Management (IAM) portal to Admin Users and Users:
| Role | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Admin User – Create/Edit/Delete permissions: | ||
| Fabric Cloud Router Manager | Manages Cloud Router projects and resources | |
| Fabric Manager | Manages Fabric projects and resources | |
| Project Viewer | Views projects and project resources | |
| User – View permissions: | ||
| Fabric Cloud Router Viewer | Views Cloud Router projects and resources | |
| Project Viewer | Views projects and project resources |
For instructions about assigning these roles, see Assign Users to Organizations or Projects. For more information about the Cloud Router roles and permissions, see Roles and Permissions.
If your organization has not been onboarded to CRH/AM, go to IAM Case Management in the ECP and file a Trouble Ticket requesting help with this CRH/AM process. (To make sure that your ticket is routed correctly, don't open a case for Cloud Router assistance.)
Support
For more help with Cloud Router, open a support case in the Customer portal. See Submit a Case for instructions, and select Fabric Cloud Router as the Case Type.