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Google Cloud Platform v1.3 

Ordering Letter of  Summary 

This document describes in exact 
detail how a partner would order 

Authorization (LoA)  LoAs for the GCI-Partner project. 

These instructions are designed to 
be valid throughout the various 

for GCI-Partner   phases of the project. 

Status​: F
​ INAL 
Created:​ 2017-1-10 
 
 

 
Goal of this document 

Prerequisites before ordering interconnects 

Enabling GCP Project for GCI-Partner 

Create the GCP account 

Create the project 

Add the Credit Card 

Enable the Compute Engine API 

Upgrade to a paid account 

Project Enablement for API and gcloud access 

Ordering an Interconnect and obtaining the LoA 

Ordering Steps 

Explanation of fields: 

Next Steps 

Google LoA Correspondence 

Google Light Testing 

Google and Partner IP Testing 

Google Contacts 
 

 
  

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Goal of this document 

Letters of Authorization (LoA) are a critical piece in a network peering arrangement. The LoA 
authorizes facility providers (eg. Equinix, Digital Realty) to install the necessary peering links 
between the patch panels owned by the respective connecting parties. In many cases, the LoA 
to a partner must be provided weeks in advance prior to initial light and network testing so that 
the partner can obtain the necessary internal approvals to invest the capital costs in 
establishing a peering link with a cloud service provider. Due to criticality of this component, 
this documents aims to:  

● Provide the partner the guidance in order for them to request the LoA using screenshots 
and detailed explanation of each step 
● Provide the partner the proper contacts to track and monitor how to request and monitor 
the retrieval of the LoA  
● Provide the partner details on billing, setting projects, and any other information required 
to successfully obtain an LoA 

Ultimately, the partner should be able to order the LoA with minimal contact with Google.   

Prerequisites before ordering interconnects 

Partner will need a GCP project with an active billing account in order to order Interconnects 
which supplies the LoA. To activate a billing account the partner will need to supply a credit 
card for their project if a purchase account is not established. Without an active billing account 
the GCP project, the user interface will reject the partner's request for a new Interconnect.   

NOTE: Google does not anticipate any costs levied against this credit card in the given project 
for the purposes of establishing and maintaining Interconnects between the partner and Google. 
However, if GCP resources such as virtual machines, storage, or big data are spun up in this 
project, the credit card will be charged accordingly.   

Partners will ​not​ be billed for ordering and maintaining Interconnects for the purposes of 
offering the GCI-Partner service to customers.   

Enabling GCP Project for GCI-Partner 

Create the GCP account 

Follow the preceding step to create a new GCP project and to assign a credit card in order to 
activate billing: 

1. Go to ​https://cloud.google.com 
2. Click on the T​ RY IT FREE ​button 

 
  

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3. Sign in with a Google Account. If you do not have a Google account, you can create an 
account using an e
​ xisting​ email address such as your corporate address.   

Click on “More Options” and then select “Create account” 

 
  

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Create an account as appropriate. Accept the terms and Verify your account by supplying a 
working phone number.   

Create the project 

1. Log into your GCP account 
2. In the UI, click on the “Select a project” dropdown 

3. Press the “+” button 

 
  

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4. Provide your project a descriptive name such as “telconame-interconnect” or 

“telconame-gcipartner”. As an example, if your company name is “yourtelco” your project 
names would be “yourtelco-interconnect” or “yourtelco-gcipartner”. 

5.  Change your Project ID to m

​ atch​ your project name. To do so, click on the “edit” button 
to change the Project ID value. 

Add the Credit Card 

1. Under the hamburger menu, select billing and then Payment method 

 
  

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2. Click on “ADD PAYMENT METHOD” 

3. Select “Add credit or debit cards” You can add a bank account but it highly doubtful your 
institution would provide the requisite information to successfully add a bank account to your 
project.  

4. Add the necessary credit card info and then select “Save” 

Enable the Compute Engine API 

1. Under the hamburger menu, select “APIs & services” 

 
  

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2. Select ENABLE APIS AND SERVICES 

 
  

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3. Search for “Google Compute Engine API” and select it 

 
4. Enable the API 

Upgrade to a paid account 

You must upgrade from the free trial to a paid account through the Google Cloud Platform 
Console. Click the U
​ pgrade​ button at the top of the page. If you do not see ​Upgrade​, click ​Free 
trial status​ in the upper-right of the page and ​Upgrade​ will appear. You must be a Billing 
Administrator on the account to make this change. 

 
  

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Project Enablement for API and gcloud access 

In order to make the calls to create the LoAs and Interconnects, your project must be 
whitelisted. Please send the following information to your program manager counterpart at 
Google: 

Project name, Project ID, Project Number 

You can find these pieces of information on the Home screen of your GCP project. 

Ordering an Interconnect and obtaining the LoA 

Ordering Steps 
1. On the upper part of the menu, open the command line interface 

2. To order an new Interconnect, issue the following commands with the requisite fields 
completed: 

$ gcloud alpha compute interconnects create [name of interconnect]

--interconnect-type=PARTNER
--customer-name="[Partner's Name]"
--link-type=LINK_TYPE_ETHERNET_10G_LR
--requested-link-count=[number of circuits, 1-8 inclusive]
--location=[Name of location]
d88

Explanation of fields 
The [name of interconnect] following the ​create​ command ​cannot​ be changed after it is created. 
Therefore, special attention should be made when defining an interconnect name. 

--interconnect-type​ should be PARTNER 

--customer-name​ is the name written to the LoA and should be the partner’s company name 

--link-type​ should be set to LINK_TYPE_ETHERNET_10G_LR 

--requested-link-count​ should be set to the number of circuits requested in the LACP bundle for 
this single interconnect. Google currently supports up to 8 connections in a group so this 
number should between 1-8 inclusive. 

--location​ is the name of the location as specified in this d

​ oc​. An example would be s
​ in-01-388 
for an interconnect at the Singapore location.  

For every metropolitan area, this command should be run twice. First for zone1 and the second 
run for zone2.   

 
  

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Example: 
$ gcloud alpha compute interconnects create joshua-test-partner-ic
--interconnect-type=PARTNER
--customer-name=JoshuaTelecom
--link-type=LINK_TYPE_ETHERNET_10G_LR
--requested-link-count=1
--location=iad-zone1-1 

This will create a new Interconnect called “joshua-test-partner-ic” in the “iad-zone1-1” Metro with 
a single connection in the LAG group.  
You should see output that resembles: 

Created
[https://www.googleapis.com/compute/alpha/projects/joshua-test-project/global/i
nterconnects/joshua-test-partner-ic]. 

Next Steps 
1. Verify that the interconnect was successfully ordered for your project 

Issue the following command 

$ gcloud compute interconnects list

You should see output that resembles: 

NAME LOCATION OPERATIONAL_STATUS

ADMIN_ENABLEDjoshua-test-partner-ic iad-zone1-1 OS_UNPROVISIONED
Truejoshuacha@joshua-test-project:~$ 

Upon successful order entry, you should see an interconnect for each submission returned in 
the command line. The OPERATIONAL_STATUS will be set to OS_UNPROVISIONED because the 
circuit has not been provisioned.   

You can describe the interconnect with the following command: 

$ gcloud compute interconnects describe <name of your interconnect>

You should see output that resembles : 

circuitInfos:- customerDemarcId: '' googleCircuitId: GCP-00091

googleDemarcId:
EQNIX:DC6:1:61160:GOOGLE:CP:0000:190642:119,120creationTimestamp:
'2017-11-14T11:23:25.775-08:00'customerName: JoshuaTelecomgoogleReferenceId:
'67178441'id: '2694039292571221058'kind: compute#interconnectlinkType:
LINK_TYPE_ETHERNET_10G_LRlocation:
https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/joshua-test-project/global/inter
connectLocations/iad-zone1-1name: joshua-test-partner-icoperationalStatus:
OS_UNPROVISIONEDprovisionedLinkCount: 1requestedLinkCount: 1selfLink:
https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/joshua-test-project/global/inter
connects/joshua-test-partner-ic 

 
  

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If you would like to delete the Interconnect, please issue the following commands: 

$ gcloud compute interconnects delete joshua-test-partner-ic

Confirm the deletion when asked and you will receive a confirmation that the Interconnect was 
deleted in the command line as well as in the email. 

  

Google LoA Correspondence 

1. Shortly after requesting the interconnect, you will receive an email from Google indicating 
when you will receive the LoA. An example email looks like this: 

You will be provided with a ticket number to track this order. The LoA typically takes ​3 days 
after this email.   

2. When the LoA does arrive, it will be attached to an email as seen below: 

If you do not receive a the LoA within 3 days, please contact your Google program management 
counterparts or email: g ​ [email protected] 

The LoA will resemble this doc: 

 
  

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Note: The LoA will be valid for 3 months 

 
  

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Google Light Testing 

After 24 hours of issuing the LoA, Google will start automatic light testing every day during the 
following week. After adequate light levels are detected, Google will automatically start the 
process of testing the IP connectivity of the links. 

For timeframes outside the automated workflow, please work with your circuit provisioning 
contact. 

Google and Partner IP Testing 

As part of the turn up process and once light levels are reached, Google will supply a set of /30 
ip addresses to test for IP connectivity over the physical ports. An email will be set with some 
temporary IP addresses: 

Configure the interfaces of your on-premises router with the correct IP addresses. Google pings 
your device 30 minutes after detecting light, and then every 24 hours thereafter. 

● If you ordered one circuit (one 10G link), Google tests your connection by using link local 
IP addresses with LACP enabled. 
● If you ordered more than one circuit (multiple 10G links), Google tests your connection 
by using public IP addresses with LACP disabled. 

After a successful ping over the physical port, Google sends you a follow up email:  

● If you ordered one circuit (one 10G link), Google notifies you that your interconnect is 
ready to use. You are done.   
● If you ordered more than one circuit (multiple 10G links), Google sends link local IP 
addresses. Configure these IP addresses on the bundled interface with LACP enabled. 
After a successful ping, Google notifies you that your interconnect is ready to use. 

 
  

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Google Contacts  
For overall integration questions: 

Joshua Cha / j​ [email protected] 

For LoA and circuit provisioning questions: 

Please email: g
​ [email protected]