Azure ExpressRoute: A Guide to Its Availability and Pricing

Azure ExpressRoute is a fast and secure way to connect your datacenter to Microsoft Azure. It's available in over 100 countries and regions.

ExpressRoute circuits can be provisioned in as little as 10 days, and can be scaled up or down as needed. This flexibility makes it easy to adapt to changing business needs.

ExpressRoute pricing varies depending on the location and the amount of bandwidth used. The cost of an ExpressRoute circuit can range from $1,000 to $50,000 per month.

To get started with Azure ExpressRoute, you'll want to begin with the technical overview. This will give you a solid foundation to build upon.

The ExpressRoute circuit quickstart is a great resource to help you quickly set up and configure your ExpressRoute circuit. It's designed to get you up and running in no time.

To automate tasks and manage your ExpressRoute resources, you can use the ExpressRoute REST API. This API provides a programmatic way to interact with your ExpressRoute resources.

For detailed documentation and guides, be sure to check out the ExpressRoute documentation. This is where you'll find the most up-to-date information on using and configuring Azure ExpressRoute.

You can connect your datacenters to Azure ExpressRoute for high throughput and low latency, extending the scale and economics of the public cloud without compromising network performance.

To connect your virtual networks to an ExpressRoute circuit, you need to establish the circuit, configure the BGP peering(s), and link the virtual network to the circuit.

ExpressRoute offers a rich connectivity partner ecosystem, with a constantly growing list of providers and systems integrator partners. For the latest information, see ExpressRoute partners and peering locations.

Here are some connection options for ExpressRoute:

Connecting to Microsoft 365 services requires a separate setup process, including reviewing prerequisites, planning capacity requirements, and following specific workflows.

ExpressRoute locations are co-location facilities where Microsoft Enterprise Edge (MEEE) devices are situated, serving as entry points to Microsoft's network worldwide.

These locations are globally distributed, offering the ability to connect to Microsoft's network across all regions within a geopolitical region if you're connecting to at least one ExpressRoute location within the geopolitical region.

You can create an ExpressRoute circuit with a resource location in one region while connecting to an ExpressRoute location in another region, such as creating an ExpressRoute circuit with the resource location in East US for the Seattle peering location.

ExpressRoute partners and locations are listed on the Microsoft website, where you can find information on service providers and locations.

You can select a regional carrier and land Ethernet connections to one of the supported exchange provider locations and then peer with Microsoft at the provider location.

ExpressRoute partners and locations include a list of service providers and locations, which you can check to see if your service provider is present in any of the exchange locations.

You can order an ExpressRoute circuit through the service provider to connect to Azure, making it easy to get started with ExpressRoute.

You can have ExpressRoute circuits with many service providers, each associated with one service provider only. This allows for flexibility in choosing the best provider for your needs.

ExpressRoute has a constantly growing ecosystem of connectivity providers and systems integrator partners. For the latest information, see ExpressRoute partners and peering locations.

To connect to ExpressRoute Direct, you need to work with your local carriers and colocation providers to get connectivity to ExpressRoute routers. This requires collaboration with your local service providers.

ExpressRoute is available in multiple locations, and you can select a regional carrier and land Ethernet connections to one of the supported exchange provider locations. This allows for a high degree of flexibility in setting up your connection.

You can order an ExpressRoute circuit through the service provider to connect to Azure. This is a straightforward process that leverages the existing infrastructure of your service provider.

To disable ExpressRoute premium, you must scale your connectivity needs to meet the default limits first.

You can disable ExpressRoute premium by calling the REST API or PowerShell cmdlet.

Make sure to check your utilization to avoid any issues with the request to disable ExpressRoute premium failing.

ExpressRoute Traffic Collector deployment by default has availability zones enabled in the regions where it's available, so keep that in mind when planning your setup.

Always verify that ExpressRoute premium is actually disabled after making the necessary changes.

ExpressRoute connections offer higher security than typical connections over the internet.

ExpressRoute connections are more reliable than typical internet connections. They provide faster speeds and lower latencies, making them ideal for applications that require real-time data transfer.

ExpressRoute connections are private, meaning they don't route through the public internet. This reduces the risk of data breaches and cyber attacks.

ExpressRoute connections offer significant cost benefits in some cases, especially for large data transfers between on-premises systems and Azure.

Here are some of the key benefits of ExpressRoute connections:

You can select from three billing models for Azure ExpressRoute: unlimited data, metered data, and ExpressRoute premium add-on. The unlimited data plan includes all inbound and outbound data transfer charges in a single fixed monthly port fee.

There are different pricing zones for Global Reach data transfer, with rates varying by region. Here's a breakdown of the Global Reach data transfer pricing by zone:

ExpressRoute Direct is billed for the port pair at a fixed amount, with standard circuits included at no extra charge and premium circuits having a slight add-on charge.

The Standard plan is a great option for those who need to access multiple Azure regions within the same geopolitical area.

An ExpressRoute Standard circuit gives you access to all Azure regions in the same geopolitical area at no additional cost over existing plan charges.

In North America, customers can send or retrieve data to or from any Azure region in North America without the need to pay an additional fee on top of their existing plan charges.

You can see the list of Azure regions associated with each geopolitical area on the Azure ExpressRoute page on Microsoft Docs.

You've got options when it comes to billing with ExpressRoute. There are three flexible billing models to choose from.

The Unlimited Data plan offers a single fixed monthly port fee that includes all outbound and inbound data transfer charges. This can be a cost-effective option for those with high data transfer needs.

Metered Data is another option, where billing is based on a monthly fee, and all inbound data transfer is free of charge. However, outbound data transfer is charged per GB of data transfer, with rates varying by region.

ExpressRoute Premium Add-on provides additional capabilities, but its pricing is not explicitly stated in the article sections.

Here are the three flexible billing models in a table for easy reference:

ExpressRoute Direct has a fixed port pair charge, with standard circuits included at no extra charge and premium circuits having a slight add-on charge. Egress is billed on a per-circuit basis based on the zone of the peering location.

Azure ExpressRoute is a highly available solution, but designing for high availability and disaster recovery is crucial. See here for more information on designing for high availability and here for designing for disaster recovery.

ExpressRoute Direct is built on the same enterprise-grade platform as ExpressRoute, ensuring a high level of reliability and performance.

Redundancy is key to ensuring your ExpressRoute connection remains up and running, even if one circuit goes down. Each ExpressRoute circuit consists of two connections to two Microsoft Enterprise edge routers (MEEs) at an ExpressRoute Location from the connectivity provider or your network edge.

Microsoft requires dual BGP connections from the connectivity provider or your network edge – one to each MEE. This redundancy ensures that your connections are handed off to Microsoft in a redundant manner.

For maximum resiliency, Microsoft recommends establishing connections to two ExpressRoute circuits in two peering locations. This will give you the highest level of redundancy and ensure your connection remains up even if one circuit or location goes down.

You can achieve standard resiliency by connecting to a single ExpressRoute circuit that offers redundant connections within a single peering location. However, this is not recommended for production workloads.

To implement redundancy for private peering, you can connect multiple ExpressRoute circuits from different peering locations or up to four connections from the same peering location to the same virtual network. This will provide high-availability in the case a single circuit becomes unavailable.

Assigning higher weights to one of the local connections can also help prefer a specific circuit. It's recommended that your setup has at least two ExpressRoute circuits to avoid single points of failure.

Implementing redundancy for Microsoft peering requires multiple circuits in different peering locations to avoid single points of failure. You can either advertise the same prefix on both circuits and use AS PATH prepending or advertise different prefixes to determine path from on-premises.

Microsoft peering allows you to access Azure public services over your ExpressRoute circuit, including Microsoft 365, Power BI, and Azure DevOps.

You can validate availability for a specific service by checking the documentation for that service and comparing its IP ranges with the ranges listed in the Azure IP Ranges and Service Tags – Public Cloud XML file.

To ensure high-availability, it's recommended to implement multiple ExpressRoute circuits in different peering locations, especially when using Microsoft peering for services like Azure Storage or Microsoft 365.

To establish routing between site-to-site VPN connections and ExpressRoute, you need to set up Azure Route Server.

Services like Azure Public IP addresses for IaaS and most other Azure services are also supported through Microsoft peering, but you should check directly with the service to verify support.

Here are some services that are supported through Microsoft peering:

Redundancy can be implemented for private peering by connecting multiple ExpressRoute circuits from different peering locations to the same virtual network, or by connecting up to four connections from the same peering location.

Peering allows you to access Azure public services over an ExpressRoute circuit. Microsoft peering provides access to services hosted on Azure, but geo-restrictions apply depending on your circuit's SKU.

You can validate availability for a specific service by checking its documentation and comparing the IP ranges with those listed in the Azure IP Ranges and Service Tags – Public Cloud XML file. Alternatively, you can open a support ticket for clarification.

Microsoft 365, Power BI, Microsoft Entra ID, Azure DevOps, and Microsoft PSTN services are supported via Microsoft peering. Most other Azure services are also supported, but you should check directly with the service to verify support.

CDN, Azure Front Door, Multifactor Authentication Server (legacy), Traffic Manager, and Logic Apps are not supported via Microsoft peering.

To implement redundancy for private peering, you can connect multiple ExpressRoute circuits from different peering locations or up to four connections from the same peering location to the same virtual network.

For Microsoft peering, we recommend implementing multiple circuits in different peering locations to avoid single points of failure.

Azure service routes are not advertised until you attach a route filter to your circuit to start prefix advertisements. If you're using route filters, anyone can turn on Microsoft peering, but you still need to get authorized by Microsoft 365.

Here are some key differences between Microsoft peering of ExpressRoute circuits configured before and after August 1, 2017:

We don't accept private prefixes (RFC1918) for the Microsoft peering BGP session. We accept any prefix size up to /32 prefix on both the Microsoft and the private peering.

When setting up your BGP session, there are some important things to keep in mind when it comes to advertising IP ranges.

You can advertise any prefix size up to /32 on both the Microsoft and private peering.

Private prefixes, as defined by RFC1918, are not accepted for the Microsoft peering BGP session.

Here's a summary of the restrictions on IP ranges you can advertise:

If you're using ExpressRoute, you can access Microsoft 365 services over this connection.

Microsoft 365 URLs and IP address ranges page is where you'll find an up-to-date list of services supported over ExpressRoute.

ExpressRoute is a great option for accessing Microsoft 365 services, especially for organizations with high-bandwidth needs.

For an accurate and current list of supported services, refer to the Microsoft 365 URLs and IP address ranges page.