Warning
Merged into 0-draft/aws-connectivity on 2026-11-08, archived on 2026-11-08. Direct Connect is one road into AWS, and its deep dive and the road map were two sites with overlapping facts and two price lists. The whole site now lives at https://0-draft.github.io/aws-connectivity/direct-connect/ (research notes in docs/direct-connect/); the old URL redirects there.
AWS Direct Connect, drawn. An illustrated, bilingual (English / 日本語) explainer that walks from the cross connect in a colocation facility to BGP path selection, resiliency models, MACsec and the monthly bill. It is built around the specific reasons people find Direct Connect hard (research), with a guide character, Hikari, a photon who lives in the fiber.
Site: https://0-draft.github.io/aws-connectivity/direct-connect/ (日本語)
Direct Connect is one of several roads into AWS. For the others (internet, Site-to-Site VPN, SD-WAN, VGW / Transit Gateway / Cloud WAN hubs, how AWS chooses between DX and VPN, PrivateLink, hybrid DNS) see the road map on the same site, AWS Connectivity (repo).
| Section | Interactive part |
|---|---|
| Why is it hard? | The four root causes, a layer map with tap-to-define terms, who owns what, and the common traps linked to where each is untangled |
| Overview | Clickable end-to-end path: router, carrier, cage, cross connect, DX router, VIFs, gateways |
| Connections | Speed ladder, dedicated vs hosted, step-by-step LOA-CFA ordering |
| LAG and MACsec | Cut LAG members and watch minimum links; should_encrypt vs must_encrypt |
| Virtual interfaces | Switch private / public / transit and see what each reaches |
| Direct Connect gateway | VGW / TGW / Cloud WAN modes, allowed-prefix lab, SiteLink toggle |
| BGP | Path selection lab: prefix length, 7224:7x00 communities, AS_PATH prepend, home Region, VPN backup, and an asymmetric-routing warning when your outbound choice disagrees with AWS |
| Resiliency | Failure lab for the Maximum / High / Dev-Test / Classic models |
| Security | Which segment MACsec, IPsec and TLS protect |
| Operations | Yes/no troubleshooting tree, metrics worth an alarm |
| Pricing | Monthly estimate from list prices, flat-rate break-even |
| Patterns | Seven questions to a topology, anti-patterns |
| Quiz | Ten myth-or-fact cards on the most common misconceptions |
| Timeline | 2011–2026 launches |
| Glossary | Every term with its official English and Japanese console name and what it is often confused with |
The research behind every number lives in docs/, with sources. Facts were verified against AWS documentation on 2026-10-12.
Requires Node.js 24.
npm ci
npm run dev # http://localhost:5173/cross-connect/
npm run check # typecheck, lint, format, markdownlint, tests, build
npm run test:e2e # real-browser layout checks (needs: npx playwright install chromium)The simulators (src/lib/) are pure functions with unit tests: BGP path selection, resiliency models, LAG and MACsec rules, allowed-prefix behavior, the pricing calculator (checked against AWS's own worked examples) and the topology advisor.
| Workflow | What it does |
|---|---|
ci.yml |
typecheck, ESLint, Prettier, markdownlint, build, tests with coverage, Playwright E2E (desktop and phone, EN and JA), actionlint, npm audit, dependency review on PRs |
codeql.yml |
CodeQL for JavaScript/TypeScript and GitHub Actions |
deploy.yml |
Since the merge, deploys only redirect/ to GitHub Pages, which forwards the old URL to the new site |
| Dependabot | Weekly grouped updates for npm and GitHub Actions |
An independent explainer, not affiliated with or endorsed by Amazon Web Services. Prices and quotas change; check the AWS documentation before you design or buy.