Readiness support: Prepare to activate your plug-and-play services

Use this guide to help you through your activation and to ensure you can begin using your services as quickly as possible.

Please read this guide carefully. If you have questions, please contact your customer care manager (CCM) or the project manager listed in your connection email.

Before activating your service, please complete the following steps:

1. Confirm your hardware is installed and set up on our network.
   
   
2. Ensure wiring is extended to the equipment location at your site.
   
   
3. Verify the port is in service.
   
   
4. Configure your hardware with applicable port settings and ensure light levels are adequate (if applicable).
   
   
5. If you ordered a third-party cross-connect or local loop, verify installation has been completed.

The following are common causes that prevent successful passing of traffic. To help you quickly resolve, we recommend that you double-check the following items before contacting us. Refer to your connection notice or IP configuration email for technical parameters and information associated to your service installation.

1. Verify power is correctly connected to your equipment by cycling the power or turning off and then back on if this will not disrupt any other services.
   
   
2. Confirm appropriate compatibility of physical port/SFP type (optical, electrical, OCn, ethernet) and cabling/fiber type (coax, single-mode, multi-mode) associated to the service type and adjacent equipment physical output.
   
   
3. If applicable, verify optical bandwidth (10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, 1000 Mbps) matches the adjacent Colt equipment. Our policy is to hardcode speed and duplex at 10/100 base T, inclusive of ports that are a 10/100 combination.
   
   
4. Confirm cabling is installed correctly by simply unplugging the cable and plugging it back in to ensure it has been connected properly. If that does not provide resolution, the cable may need a straight through or crossover, or the fiber connection may need to be rolled.
   
   
5. Verify distance of cabling run is within specifications for CAT-5/CAT-6/CAT-7/other fiber types related to the equipment transmit/receive parameters.
   
   
6. If applicable, verify light levels being received and transmitted are within equipment specifications.
   
   
7. Confirm the current state of equipment interface is in an ‘up’ or ‘in service’ state.
   
   
8. Confirm the interface settings match the Colt configuration speed, duplex and other port attributes as applicable.  If port is an Ethernet port, ensure sure the port has auto-negotiation set to ‘no’ or ‘off’.
   
   
9. If applicable, and if you ordered service with another carrier in between your equipment and our service, validate the local exchange carrier (LEC) loop/circuit is working as you requested. Confirm power to the LEC device and port connectivity. If there appears to be an issue with your LEC loop, engage and troubleshoot with the LEC first prior to contacting the Activation team.

Layer 1

• TDM services require protocol specifications at the link layer (such as speed, duplex, timing, framing) to function at the upper layers. Additionally, specific physical port parameters may need to be set. Please verify that port settings match the IP configuration email and the expected requirements.

Layer 2

• For layer 2 point to point private services (EVPL, E-Access, ELINE), we forward based on the layer 2 MAC address. Bidirectional MAC address learning is required to function between A and Z end points.
  
  
• MTU requirements to pass standard IP traffic to the UNI is 1500. At layer 2 service must support 1518 for untagged traffic, 1522 for single tag and 1526 for double tag frames. Any unfragmented IP traffic that requires IP payload higher than 1500 requires a jumbo special.
  
  
• Verify VLAN ID. Depending on the service, VLAN stacking (provider bridging) may have been configured. Please verify that your VLAN ID matches the IP configuration email and the expected requirements.
  
  
• Verify that CoS profile matches the service ready notice and the expected requirements; depending on the service type the marking may be 802.1p, IPP or DSCP.
  
  
• For Cloud Connect services, verify the service key and account information as well as IP configuration provided in your IP configuration email. If you have determined your problem is not a Colt service issue, please contact your cloud service provider.

Layer 3

• Verify that IPv4 addressing (and IPv6 if applicable) matches the IP configuration email and the expected requirements. HSIP/DIA activations may include additional LAN block(s).
  
  
• MTU requirements to pass standard IP traffic to the UNI is 1500. Any unfragmented IP traffic that requires IP payload higher than 1500 requires a jumbo special.
  
  
• Verify that static routes or dynamic routing protocol specifications match the IP configuration email and the expected requirements. Please note that protocols such as BGP may include additional details such as remote and local ASN, MD5, BFD, etc.
  
  
• EBGP multi-hop needs a static routing for remote peer address.
  
  
• For HSIP/DIA activations, a routing registry object will translate to a list of allowed prefixes, as well as a combination of prefixes advertised by Colt (full internet, internet + default, default only, Colt customers only). On IPVPN offerings, we announce the full VRF routing table and the default maximum is 10,000 unless specified otherwise by special requirements.
  
  
• Verify that CoS profile matches the IP configuration email and the expected requirements. Depending on the service type the marking may be either IPP, DSCP or EXP (certain NNI offerings).
  
  
• For Cloud Connect services, verify the service key and account information as well as IP configuration sent in your IP configuration email. If you have determined your problem is not a Colt service issue, please contact your cloud service provider.

The following variables impact actual throughput in a network during data transfer and testing:
 

1. To ensure maximum throughput efficiency, enable traffic shaping on your equipment (CPE) switch or router.
   
   
2. Traffic shaping is required to ensure that packets are not dropped when entering the network as traffic policing is applied on the Colt network.
   
   
3. If shaping is not enabled, Colt (or one of our third-party access vendors) will randomly drop traffic if your signal exceeds the committed information rate (CIR) that is contracted for the connection.
   
   
4. Most enterprise-class routers on the market should support traffic shaping.
   
   
5. Colt Ethernet services can scale from 3 Mbps to 1 Gbps as long as you can shape your traffic; if you are not able to shape your traffic, you should purchase service in the 10/100/1000 Mbps speed tiers to achieve maximum use of the bandwidth. Failure to comply with this recommendation will result in reduced throughput and performance.
   
   
6. Example traffic-shaping configuration parameters:
   
   
   • Purchased service = 50 Mbps CDR
   • Customer router = Cisco 2900
   • Configure port level traffic shaper to 50 Mbps
      
7. Resulting example configuration:
   

! Match any traffic with class-map:
class-map match-all class-cpe-wan-out
match any
! Parent policy-map matches class-map traffic and applies shaper
policy-map policy-cpe-wan-out
class class-cpe-wan-out
shape average 50000000
!
! Apply policy-map outbound on Colt-facing interface:
interface GigabitEthernet0/2
service-policy output policy-cpe-wan-out