Skip to main content

Port Redundancy

Our provider edge (PE) nodes, to which you are physically connected via a Fabric port, are designated as either primary or secondary. When you order a port and specify that the port is to be primary, it is installed on one of our primary edge nodes. Similarly, when you order a port and specify that the port is to be secondary, it is installed on a secondary edge node. This ensures that you have diverse, resilient and physically separate access into the Equinix Fabric network.

This mitigates against your service being impacted by a single event - either planned or unplanned. For planned outages, Equinix is systematic in it’s scheduling and execution of maintenance and it is Equinix policy to never conduct maintenance on both a primary and secondary chassis within the same window.

Chassis Groups​

To facilitate redundant and diverse connectivity, the Equinix Fabric platform is arranged into chassis groups, with each metro having both an "A" and "B" chassis group. Within each chassis group, one or more edge routers will exist.

Selecting Primary means your port will be provisioned on the A Chassis Group, and choosing Secondary will provision the port on the B Chassis Group.

It is important to understand that the use of Primary and Secondary does not mean services provided by Equinix on one port can or are subordinate to those on another port. Primary and secondary ports offer the same services and are only different by name and the chassis group in which they reside.

Ports can be named to include the chassis group to which they are provisioned, A or B, or any other naming convention of your choice, within the naming limitation of the platform. One such example is the use of PRI (Primary) and SEC (Secondary) to help distinguish which Equinix Fabric chassis group a port is provisioned.

Example Architectures​

Non-Redundant Configuration​

Multi-Chassis - LAG Configuration​

Multi-chassis LAG support is limited to customer equipment when the customer chooses an EPL port.

Redundant Configuration​

This option supports dual diverse physical Equinix Fabric ports to diverse Equinix Fabric Chassis (Primary and Secondary). It connects dual diverse Equinix Fabric Virtual circuits to the service providers.

Redundant LAG Configuration​

This allows LAG with one single physical link or member with an active Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) configuration (IEEE 802.3ad), forming LAG up to 8x ports.

This configuration option supports dual diverse physical Equinix Fabric ports to diverse Equinix Fabric Chassis (Primary and Secondary). In addition, this option connects dual diverse Equinix Fabric virtual circuits to the service providers.