How can I test the resiliency of my Direct Connect connection?

Short description

Use the Failover Testing feature to test the resiliency of AWS Direct Connect connections. With this feature, turn off one or more Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) sessions on a Direct Connect virtual interface for a configured duration. Then, verify that traffic is routed to redundant virtual interfaces as appropriate.

Resolution

Note: If you receive errors when running AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) commands, make sure that you’re using the most recent AWS CLI version.

Before you begin testing, be sure that you have redundant Direct Connect virtual interfaces or VPN connections to avoid an outage.

Start the failover test

Note: You can run the test on any type of virtual interface (public, private, or transit). However, only the owner of the AWS account that includes the virtual interface can initiate the test.

1.    Open the Direct Connect console.

2.    In the navigation pane, choose Virtual Interfaces.

3.    Select your virtual interface.

4.    Choose Actions, and then choose Bring down BGP.

5.    In the Start failure test dialog box, complete the following:

For Peerings, choose the peering session to bring down for your test (IPv4 or IPv6).

For Test maximum time, enter the duration of the test in minutes. The maximum value is 4,320 minutes (72 hours), and the default value is 180 minutes (3 hours).

For To Confirm test, enter Confirm, and then choose Confirm.

The BGP peering session is now in the DOWN state. To verify that there are no outages and validate the resiliency of your connection, send traffic to your virtual interface.

Note: If required, you can stop the test immediately.

You can also use the StartBgpFailoverTest API call with AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) or AWS SDK to perform the failover test.

View the failover test history

In the Direct Connect console, check the Test history column on your virtual interface page. Or, use the ListVirtualInterfaceTestHistory API call in the AWS CLI or AWS SDK.

Test history data is stored for up to 365 days.

Stop the failover test

Note: You can stop the failover test at any time.

1.    Open the Direct Connect console.

2.    In the navigation pane, choose Virtual Interfaces.

3.    Select your virtual interface.

4.    Choose Actions, and then choose Cancel test.

You can also use the StopBgpFailoverTest API call with AWS CLI or AWS SDK to stop the failover test.

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Related information

What is AWS Direct Connect?

Configure redundant connections