How to connect

In order to be able to use the Public Peering, Multicast and/or P2P Private VLAN services, you must connect your network to BIX.BG. The connection is made at any of the points of presence by using one or more 1G, 10G, 40G or 100G port/s. For each port you must order a cross connect (single mode, duplex fiber) to the corresponding data center.

Trial period and prices:

As a new member, you get a three-month free trial period that starts from the moment you begin using the chosen service. Within the test period, you have the right to unilaterally terminate your order, in which case you will not have any subsequent obligations to BIX.BG.
The purpose of the test period is to have the opportunity tо convince yourself of the benefits of our services in practice in relation to your specific needs and expectations, without having to take any risks (apart from the cross connect price, which is paid to the data center).
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Contact us to answer all your questions and arrange a live or online meeting if necessary.

Activation process:

1. Administrative stage

In order to proceed with the activation of the chosen services, it is necessary to decide in which data center and at what speed you wish to establish the connection between our networks;

Depending on the speed of the port, the following physical interfaces are used:
- 1G - 1000Base-LX/LH (single-mode, duplex fiber, 1310nm, 10/20km);
- 10G - 10GBASE-LR (single-mode, duplex fiber, 1310nm, 10km);
- 40G - 40GBASE-LR4 (single-mode, duplex fiber, 10km);
- 100G - 100GBASE-LR4 (single-mode, duplex fiber, 10km).

Contact us in your preferred way (by email or phone) and together we will specify all the necessary information, based on which we will send you a proposal for a Service Order, General Terms and Conditions and Service Level Agreement;

We organize the process of signing the documents (with e-signature or on paper depending on your preferences);

We send you an email with a Letter of Authorization (LOA) specifying the Demarcation Point. On this basis, you order a cross connect from the company managing the data center in which the connectivity is established;

We create a my.BIX.BG account for you so that you can access useful information, including total traffic volume, optical signal levels, errors, traffic volume with other members, etc. As a next step, you'll start receiving email notifications about upcoming maintenances, connecting other members, adding new content, and more.

2. Technical stage

The technical persons involved in the activation process on both sides clarify the specifics regarding the configuration:

  • If you only have one port, whether to configure Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) – this allows more ports at the same speed to be added later without service interruption;
  • VLAN numbers for the relevant services (Public Peering and Multicast) – you choose the P2P Private VLAN numbers yourself via my.BIX.BG;
  • Number of routers you will use for Public Peering – by default, BIX.BG provides one IPv4 and IPv6 IP address each. In case you have two routers that will work simultaneously, one additional IP address is provided;
  • In case you are a Multicast source, Multicast groups of your content are specified.

We configure the services as agreed above.

After activating the physical connectivity, the levels on both sides are checked. If necessary, we will double check with the data center for verification;

You activate the chosen service and from that moment the three-month free trial period begins.

Recommendations:

Public Peering:

Be sure to enable your BGP sessions to both Route Servers:
- rs1.bix.bg - 193.169.198.10; 2001:7f8:58::3d35:0:1
- rs2.bix.bg - 193.169.199.10; 2001:7f8:58::3d35:0:2
This is necessary in order to fully reserve your services.

You can find detailed information in our Technology Information Guide.

Get familiar with BGP Blackholing and DDoS Mitigation mechanisms and consider whether to use them;

If you do not have one, create a PeeringDB account and update your information regularly;

Note that Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft do not use Route Servers, but prefer to establish direct BGP sessions. More information about their requirements and procedures can be found here:
https://aws.amazon.com/peering/policy/
https://peering.azurewebsites.net/peering/

Multicast source:

Make sure that the traffic on this VLAN is prioritized in your network and reaches the BIX.BG network unconditionally (IGMP, PIM hello, etc. are not needed);

Set the TTL (time-to-live) IP packets that arrive on the BIX.BG network to be at least 16;

After finishing your configuration do not change any parameters of your content including unicast source IP, multicast group, service ID, video and audio codec and bitrate. For security reasons, BIX.BG "locks" all settings, so any change you make will cause a technical problem. If changes are required, contact us to coordinate and make them together.

Multicast receiver:

Make sure that traffic on this VLAN is prioritized in your network. This traffic is prioritized in the BIX.BG network, so it will not be affected when your port is overloaded as a result of large DDoS attacks, etc.;

On transit devices, be sure to disable IGMP Snooping for the corresponding VLAN so that Multicast packets pass unconditionally.

P2P Private VLAN:

There are no specific recommendations here. Just send valid Ethernet frames with MTU <= 9000 bytes and they will be served.