Significance of the Associated Region when working with AWS Direct Connect

When using AWS Direct Connect (DX) to establish a private connection between your on-premises network and the AWS Cloud, the concept of the "Associated Region" is crucial to understand.

The Associated AWS Region is the default region for your DX connection:

• When you order a Direct Connect connection on the AWS Console or CLI, you need to specify the Associated AWS Region that corresponds to the DX Location (also known as DX PoP) you are using.
• This Associated Region is where the Direct Connect connection and its associated resources (such as virtual interfaces) will be configured and managed in the AWS Console and CLI.

Metrics and Monitoring:

• CloudWatch metrics for the Direct Connect connection and virtual interfaces (VIFs) will be captured and available in the Associated Region of the DX connection.

Routing and Connectivity:

• When attaching a Private Virtual Interface (Private VIF) directly to a Virtual Private Gateway (VGW), the region of the VGW must match the Associated Region of the DX connection's Location.
• When using a Direct Connect Gateway (DXGW), you can associate DX VIFs (Private VIFs or Transit VIFs) with regional gateways (VGW or Transit Gateway) in any AWS Region(except China). This allows customer traffic to flow directly from the DX Location to the target Region, without being routed through the Associated Region. It is recommended to choose a Direct Connect location with geoproximity to on-prem locations/DCs.
• For Public VIFs, you can access AWS public APIs in any AWS region(except China) directly through the DX Location without being routed through the Associated Region.

Service Level Agreement:

• At the time of writing this article, one of the minimum configuration requirements for Direct Connect is that you must have at least one of the Direct Connect connections in a Direct Connect location with an Associated AWS Region that is the same as the AWS Region where your workloads or endpoints are hosted. Read more here for SLA’s on Direct Connect.