AWS Transit Gateway — Sharing Direct Connect Across Multiple AWS Accounts | Overview.

An Overview of how to share AWS Direct Connect (DX) across multiple AWS accounts using AWS Transit Gateway (TGW)

Scope:

•        Networking flows,
•        BGP models,
•        DXGW attachment behavior,
•        Multi-account architecture patterns,
•        Quotas,
•        Routing design,
•        Common pitfalls.

Breakdown:

• How the sharing process Works (High-Level),
• Why DX Must Go Through DXGW (Not TGW Directly),
• Detailed Architecture,
• Routing Flow,
• How Multiple AWS Accounts Use the Same DX,
•  Security & Isolation Controls,
• Throughput (DX + TGW),
• Advanced Multi-Account Design Patterns,
• Common Pitfalls (and Fixes),
• Summary.

Intro:

AWS Direct Connect (DX) can be shared across many AWS accounts only when combined with:

•         Direct Connect Gateway (DXGW)
•         Transit Gateway (TGW)
•         Resource Access Manager (RAM)

NB:

•        This model allows many AWS accounts to consume on-prem connectivity through a single DX circuit, while maintaining strict account boundaries.

 How the sharing process Works (High-Level)

1.     DX circuit → DX Gateway (DXGW)

2.     DXGW is associated with TGW (one or more TGWs)

3.     TGW is shared via RAM with other AWS accounts

4.     Workload accounts create VPC attachments to that shared TGW

5.     Traffic flows:

NB:

This enables full multi-account, scalable, hub-and-spoke connectivity.

 Why DX Must Go Through DXGW (Not TGW Directly)

Direct Connect never attaches directly to a TGW.

Instead:

•         TGW attachments are regional
•         DXGW is a global construct
•         DXGW supports:
•    Multiple VGWs
•    Multiple TGWs
•    Multi-account routing boundaries
•    Route filtering + CIDR control

DXGW = the global routing hub for DX.

 Detailed Architecture

1. The Central Networking Account

This is where centralized networking teams host:

•         Direct Connect circuits (1G, 10G, 100G)
•         LAGs (Link Aggregation Groups)
•         Transit VIFs
•         DXGW
•         Central TGW

This account becomes the network hub.

2. Linking DXGW to TGW

twtech creates a Transit Gateway Association:

DXGW  ↔  TGW

One DXGW can associate with up to 3 TGWs (Useful for multi-region hub architectures)

3. Publishing TGW to other Accounts via RAM

The TGW is shared using AWS Resource Access Manager:

Networking Account  →  Shared TGW →  Application Accounts

Each workload account creates its own VPC attachment to the shared TGW.

This allows:

•         Full isolation
•         Separate teams/accounts
•         Independent VPC CIDR space
•         Shared connectivity through DX

Routing Flow

On-Prem → AWS Routing

1.     On-prem router advertises routes into DX using BGP.

2.     DXGW receives those routes.

3.     DXGW passes routes to TGW only if they are allowed by the route filter.

4.     TGW propagates routes to all VPC attachments.

AWS → On-Prem Routing

1.     Each VPC advertises its CIDR(s) to TGW.

2.     TGW can aggregate or propagate them upward.

3.     TGW advertises routes to DXGW (again, filtered).

4.     DXGW advertises filtered routes to on-prem through BGP.

 How Multiple AWS Accounts Use the Same DX

Sample setup:

·        Networking account

•    DX circuit
•    DXGW
•    TGW

·        Application Account A

•    VPC (10.10.0.0/16)
•    TGW VPC attachment

·        Application Account B

•    VPC (10.20.0.0/16)
•    TGW VPC attachment

Flows:

On-Prem  ↔  DX  ↔  DXGW  ↔  TGW  ↔  VPC A

                                     ↕

                                   VPC B

NB:

Both accounts use the same physical DX, but only through their VPC attachments to the shared TGW.

 Security & Isolation Controls

AWS ensures boundaries at three layers:

1. DXGW Route Filtering (CIDR-based)

twtech configures which VPC CIDRs are allowed to be advertised to on-prem.

Example:

Allow:

  10.10.0.0/16

  10.20.0.0/16

Deny:

  172.31.0.0/16

2. TGW Route Tables

Each VPC attachment can be associated with a different route table.

This supports:

•         Isolated account partitions
•         Shared services partitions
•         Regional segmentation

3. IAM / RAM Controls

Only selected AWS accounts can:

•         Attach to TGW
•         View routes
•         Modify routing tables

 Throughput  (DX + TGW)

Baseline numbers:

•         Single Transit VIF: up to the speed of twtech DX line (1G/10G/100G)
•         TGW supports ECMP across multiple Transit VIFs

Sample:

Number of Transit VIFs	Aggregate Throughput
1 × 10 Gbps	10 Gbps
2 × 10 Gbps (ECMP)	20 Gbps
4 × 10 Gbps	40 Gbps
2 × 100 Gbps	200 Gbps

Important:

TGW does flow-based hashing, so single TCP flows typically max at:

•         5–10 Gbps per flow (depending on NIC/ENA Express)
•         But aggregate flows = use all links

 Advanced Multi-Account Design Patterns

Pattern 1 — Single Region, Many Accounts (Most Common)

DX ↔ DXGW ↔ TGW (central region) ↔ VPCs in many accounts

Best for enterprise shared services.

Pattern 2 — Multi-Region with Shared DX

           Region A

DX ↔ DXGW ↔ TGW-A ↔ VPCs (many accounts)

             ↓ (peering)

           TGW-B ↔ VPCs (many accounts)

              Region B

DXGW can associate with up to 3 TGWs.

Pattern 3 — Segmented Multi-Account Design

•         “Prod TGW”
•         “Non-prod TGW”
•         “Shared services TGW”

All sharing the same DX circuit via DXGW.

 Common Pitfalls (and Fixes)

Problem	Explanation	Fix
No traffic from account B through DX	DXGW route filters not updated	Add the new CIDR
Overlapping VPC CIDRs	TGW rejects overlapping prefixes	Re-IP or use NAT segmentation
Traffic asymmetric routing	Mixed VPN + DX inbound	Force route priorities (AS-PATH prepending)
Single-flow bottlenecks	TGW is flow-hashed	Add parallel streams or ENA Express
Application account can’t attach to TGW	IAM + RAM permissions missing	Update RAM share

 Design Summary

Using:

•         DX Gateway
•         TGW
•         RAM

twtech can:

•         Share 1 physical DX circuit with hundreds of AWS accounts
•         Maintain strong security boundaries
•         Scale DX bandwidth using ECMP
•        Centralize twtech networking without slowing down application teams