Table of Contents

Order and configure your VirtualPNI to a third-party provider

Joseph Thorwest Updated by Joseph Thorwest

What this covers

Use this guide when the far end belongs to a partner who has published a discoverable port. You select the partner's port, and the portal locks it in as your B-Side — you only configure your own side (A-Side).

Both endpoints on your own account? See Order and configure your VirtualPNI between two Accesses

The list only shows ports that partners have explicitly marked as discoverable. A network can be connected to DE-CIX and still not appear here — if you know your partner is on our platform, ask them to make one of their ports discoverable. Looking for potential partners? The Connected Networks list on the DE-CIX locations page shows every network present at each location. Want to be discoverable yourself, so other customers can find your ports and connect to you? Contact our customer service team.

Prerequisites

  • One Access for your A-Side (see also Create a new Access).
  • The partner must have made their port discoverable on the DE-CIX platform.

Steps

  1. Login to our portal and click on Add Services either on the dashboard or the Service overview page.
  2. Select Add VirtualPNI Service.
  3. On "Who owns both endpoints?"**, select **Third-party B-Side** and click **Next**.
  4. Search for and select the partner account.
  5. From that provider, select a discoverable port — each is shown with its metro area and data center.
  1. Click Next.
  2. On the configuration screen, the following information are required:
    1. B-Side Location: Already pre-filled and locked to the partner's port (shown with a lock icon and a note naming the partner).
    2. A-Side Location: Choose the metro area for your side.
    3. Service name: A name to recognise this service by.
    4. Purchase order: Your optional internal Purchase Order reference.
    5. Bandwidth: Drag the slider (10 Mbit/s up to 10 Gbit/s).
    6. Contract duration: Pick a term; the price updates to match your selection
  1. Click Next.
  2. Review the order summary, optionally add a confirmation email address, and place the order.
  1. The portal provisions the service and shows progress. When it finishes you'll see "Your VirtualPNI has been created". Click on Next.
  2. On "How do you want to connect?", choose the connectivity model and click Next:
    1. Access ↔ Access: Continue with this step .
    2. Access ↔ Cloud ROUTER: TBD. 

Configure an Access ↔ Access connection as A-Side

You configure only your own side — the B-Side is managed by the partner. On the configuration step, select Access ↔ Access, then for your A-Side:

  1. Select the Access Port. The list only shows ports in that side's metro area.
  1. Set the encapsulation: It's determined by the Access port you choose:
    1. A Dot1Q configured port uses Dot1Q and Untagged automatically.
    2. A QinQ configured port lets you choose Dot1Q, QinQ or Untagged.
  2. Enter the VLAN:
    1. Dot1Q: A single VLAN ID (1–4094).
    2. QinQ: An Inner VLAN ID (C-Tag) and an Outer VLAN ID (S-Tag), each 1–4094.
  3. Click Review, check the details, and confirm.
The partner is responsible for their side of the connection. Coordinate any B-Side changes with them.

Accept a third party connection as third party provider (B-Side)

A third-party connection only goes live once the partner accepts it by configuring their side. There is no separate accept or decline button — acceptance happens through configuration:

  1. Once the requesting party (A-Side) has placed the order, the VirtualPNI appears in the portal as an unassigned service on the Services overview page. Click the unassigned service to open its modal, then click Edit to go to the service detail page.
  2. On the service detail page, the B-Side shows No configuration. Click Add Configuration to open the configuration modal, then:
  3. Once you submit your B-Side configuration, both sides are configured and the VirtualPNI becomes active. Until then, the A-Side sees the B-Side as awaiting, and the service stays incomplete.

Need help? Get in touch with our customer service.

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