Direct Connect, and the Fact that It Is Not Encrypted
Gateway, connections, virtual interfaces and associations. A private circuit is a private path, not a private conversation: traffic crosses it in clear text unless MACsec is on, and should_encrypt quietly falls back to clear text.
Verification
Static-verifiedPassed: validated and lint-clean (provider-schema-validated for AWS/Azure/GCP; Terraform-language lint elsewhere).
Conformance
- Static validation (fmt · validate · tflint)
- Security scan clean (Checkov)
- Plan tests (mocked: validation rules · outputs)
Provenance
- SHA-256 checksum
- Signature (pending)
Functional
- Live test pending (no cloud run yet)
Last verified 2026-09-12 · how we verify
Use it from the registry
terraform · opentofumodule "direct_connect" {
source = "www.iac-bazaar.com/iac-bazaar/aws-direct-connect/aws"
version = "1.0.0"
}Needs a registry token from /account/tokens. The module itself is free; the account is what identifies you. Full setup: registry docs.
Cite it in your README
badge · attributionPaste this beside the module in the repository that uses it. The badge is rendered from this artifact's verification record, so it reads static-verified because the record says so, and the link lands on this page.
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Terraform module 1.0.0, static-verified on IaC Bazaar: [Direct Connect, and the Fact that It Is Not Encrypted](https://www.iac-bazaar.com/catalog/aws-direct-connect?utm_source=syndication&utm_medium=readme&utm_campaign=artifact)
```hcl
module "direct_connect" {
source = "www.iac-bazaar.com/iac-bazaar/aws-direct-connect/aws"
version = "1.0.0"
}
```Preview:
Inputs & outputs
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Documentation
aws-direct-connect
A Direct Connect gateway, its connections, the private virtual interfaces on
them, and the associations that reach a VPC or Transit Gateway. Works with
Terraform and OpenTofu (>= 1.6), AWS provider >= 6.0, < 7.0.
A Direct Connect link is not encrypted. This is the belief worth correcting first: a private circuit is a private path, not a private conversation. Traffic crosses it in clear text, through a colocation facility and a partner's equipment. Two things change that, and neither is the default:
- MACsec (
request_macsec) encrypts the link. Dedicated 10 or 100 Gbps at supporting locations only.encryption_modethen matters:should_encryptfalls back to clear text when the peer cannot negotiate - the setting that reads as secure and is not - whilemust_encryptdrops the link instead. The module defaults tomust_encrypt - A Site-to-Site VPN over a public virtual interface, at the cost of the tunnel's throughput ceiling
The encrypted_connections output names the connections that asked for MACsec,
which means everything not listed there is in clear text.
One connection is not redundancy. AWS's 99.9% SLA needs two; 99.99% needs
two at different locations. With one, a maintenance window on a single AWS
device is an outage, and the fibre is the last thing anybody suspects. The
distinct_locations output answers that question directly.
Smaller things the module states rather than leaves to be discovered:
skip_destroy, because a DX connection is a physical cross-connect somebody installed. Destroying the resource does not un-install it, and re-creating it means a new order and an engineer visitmtu = 9001needs jumbo frames end to end. On a path that does not carry them, large packets vanish silently and it looks like an application bugbgp_auth_keynull lets AWS generate one, which then lives in the console rather than your configurationsitelink_enabledbills per hour and per GB from the moment it is onallowed_prefixesempty is refused: nothing would be advertised, and the return path would silently not exist
Verification
Static validation runs tofu fmt, init, validate, tflint and checkov.
This module has not yet had a live test, so it is published as statically
validated with its live test pending and does not carry the live-tested mark.
Usage code & full reference need an account
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- Usage
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