Understanding Azure Networking Components and Architecture

Azure Networking provides a scalable and secure way to connect your applications and services.

Azure Virtual Network (VNet) is a fundamental component of Azure Networking, allowing you to create a virtual network in your Azure subscription.

A VNet is a logical isolation of your network resources, enabling you to manage and secure them more effectively.

Azure Virtual Network (VNet) supports multiple IP address spaces, allowing you to create subnets for different applications and services.

Subnets are used to organize and isolate resources within a VNet, making it easier to manage and troubleshoot your network.

Azure Load Balancer is a key component of Azure Networking, providing high availability and scalability for your applications.

Azure Load Balancer distributes incoming traffic across multiple instances of your application, ensuring that no single instance is overwhelmed.

You can create a virtual network in the cloud to support your networking and security goals. This allows you to build an isolated, secure environment to run virtual machines and applications.

You can optionally connect to on-premises datacenters for a hybrid infrastructure that you control. This is done by bringing your own IP addresses and DNS servers, and securing connections with an IPsec VPN or ExpressRoute.

Azure provides two load balancers that can improve network performance. One is suitable for high-traffic applications, while the other is better for applications that require a high degree of customization.

Here are the core private networking services from Azure:

These services offer a range of features and benefits, including secure connections, hybrid infrastructure, and improved network performance. By choosing the right service for your needs, you can ensure a solid network architecture for your cloud infrastructure.

Azure Networking Components offer similar features to on-premises network environments. They include Load Balancer, Application Gateway, and Azure Front Door Service, which help deliver applications and workloads.

These components enable you to create advanced overlay architectures on top of Azure resources and services. This allows you to run WAN optimizers, load balancers, and application firewalls in a virtual network.

Some of the key components available in Azure Networks include Load Balancer, Application Gateway, and Azure Front Door Service.

A Virtual Network (VNet) in Azure is a virtualized network that contains subnets, which are smaller networks within the VNet. You can think of a VNet as a virtualized version of your on-premises network.

VNets can be divided into subnets, which are used to organize and manage your network resources. Each subnet has its own IP address range, and you can assign resources to specific subnets.

VNets are also the foundation for Azure Network Security Groups (NSGs), which control and enforce network traffic rules. With NSGs, you can limit access to your resources and ensure that only authorized traffic is allowed.

VNets can be peered with other VNets, both within the same region and across different regions. This allows for secure and private communication between VNets without the need for gateways, encryption, or public internet.

VNets also support service endpoints, which provide secure connectivity to Azure services without the need for public IP addresses. Service endpoints use the Microsoft Azure backbone network to connect your VNet to Azure services, improving security and reducing complexity.

VNets can be used to build sophisticated network topologies, allowing you to run virtual appliances and define traffic flows with a high degree of control.

Here's a quick summary of the types of VNets:

By understanding VNets and how they work, you can design and deploy secure and scalable network architectures in Azure.

In Azure, a Network Interface Card (NIC) is a virtual Ethernet card that helps communicate Virtual Machines in a network.

A Virtual Machine created in Azure automatically gets a NIC with default settings.

The NIC settings in Azure can be customized using command tools like Azure CLI and PowerShell.

A Network Security Group, or NSG, is a crucial component of Azure Networking that controls and enforces network traffic rules at the networking level.

It acts like a firewall at the network level, filtering traffic passing through Azure Resources in a virtual network. NSGs are a group of security rules that define the priority, source or destination, protocol, direction, port range, and action.

An NSG can be used to limit who can work with resources in a virtual network, and it restricts inbound and outbound network traffic depending upon the destination IP addresses, port, and protocol.

Here are some key features of a Network Security Group:

An NSG allows or denies inbound and outbound traffic, and the rules for entering traffic inside a resource is called ‘Ingress’, while the rules for exiting the traffic or going out of the resource is called ‘Egress’.

Azure offers two main NAT (Network Address Translation) options: Azure NAT Gateway and Azure NAT Gateway. The main difference between them is that Azure NAT Gateway is a resource that simplifies outbound internet connectivity for virtual networks.

Azure NAT Gateway automatically scales IP addresses needed for outbound connectivity, which can help minimize the impact on network bandwidth of compute resources using software-defined networking. This allows you to route VM traffic to the internet while keeping VMs and compute resources private.

NAT Gateway simplifies outbound-only Internet connectivity for virtual networks by using your specified static public IP addresses. This means that outbound connectivity is possible without a load balancer or public IP addresses directly attached to virtual machines.

Here are the key benefits of using Azure NAT Gateway:

Azure Route Server is a powerful tool that simplifies dynamic routing between your network virtual appliance (NVA) and your virtual network. It allows you to exchange routing information directly through Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routing protocol between any NVA that supports the BGP routing protocol and the Azure Software Defined Network (SDN) in the Azure Virtual Network (VNet).

This eliminates the need to manually configure or maintain route tables, making it a game-changer for network administrators. With Azure Route Server, you can dynamically exchange route information with virtual networks, making it a great option for existing or new deployments.

Here are some benefits of using Azure Route Server:

By using Azure Route Server, you can build sophisticated network topologies and create advanced overlay architectures on top of Azure resources and services. This allows you to run WAN optimizers, load balancers, and application firewalls in a virtual network and define traffic flows with a high degree of control.

Azure's Container Network Interface (CNI) is a game-changer for container networking. It enables containers to use virtual network capabilities, allowing them to connect to resources and other containers in a seamless way.

With Azure CNI, you can dynamically assign IP addresses to containers and Kubernetes Pods running in a VM, making it easy to manage your network infrastructure. This feature is particularly useful when working with large-scale container deployments.

Azure CNI also enables Pods to connect to a virtual network and access services protected by virtual network service endpoints. This means you can secure your services and ensure only authorized traffic reaches them.

Here are the key benefits of using Azure CNI:

Azure Networking Services offer a range of features to help you manage and secure your network traffic. Azure Route Server enables network appliances to exchange route information dynamically with virtual networks, eliminating the need to manually configure network routes.

You can use Azure Load Balancer to distribute traffic across multiple virtual machines, ensuring high availability and scalability. It costs $0.025 per hour for the first five rules and $0.01 per every additional rule per hour, with data processing at $0.005 per GB.

Azure Load Balancers are available in two SKUs: basic and standard, differing in scalability and features. Azure Traffic Manager directs traffic to the relevant destination using DNS, with three destination selection modes: failover, performance, and round robin.

Here's a summary of the key features of Azure Load Balancers:

Load Balancing is a critical component of Azure Networking Services, helping to distribute traffic efficiently and ensure high availability for business applications. Azure Load Balancer provides high-performance, low-latency Layer 4 load-balancing for all UDP and TCP protocols.

You can configure public and internal load-balanced endpoints, and define rules to map inbound connections to back-end pool destinations using TCP and HTTP health-probing options. This helps manage service availability and ensures that traffic is directed to the most suitable instance.

Azure Load Balancer is available in Standard, Regional, and Gateway SKUs, and costs $0.025 per hour for the first five rules and $0.01 per every additional rule per hour. Data is processed at $0.005 per GB.

A load balancer takes new inbound flows and distributes the traffic to the backend pool instances, according to resource availability and rule assignment. This helps scale business applications and create high availability for services.

Azure Load Balancers are available in two SKUs: basic and standard, differing in scalability and features. Here are some of the key differences between Azure Traffic Manager and Azure Application Gateway:

Routing Tables are a powerful feature in Azure Networking Services that allow you to change how traffic routes.

You can use Routing Tables to overwrite the automatically provisioned Azure route systems, giving you more control over your network traffic.

Routing changes made to a subnet can be set to go to the next hop of a virtual machine, virtual network, or a virtual network gateway.

This is particularly useful when you need to make routing changes, such as directing traffic to a different virtual network or gateway.

Azure Routing Tables are handy when there is a need to change how the traffic routes, which overwrites the automatically provisioned Azure route systems.

Here are some key benefits of using Routing Tables:

A network service provider supplies a direct connection to Azure through the ExpressRoute option. This connection is managed by the provider, but each site or department uses multiple point connectivity.

ExpressRoute offers additional Azure features, such as Azure Site Recovery (ASR), which allows you to replicate data without worrying about bandwidth availability. This is a big plus, especially for organizations that need to ensure their data is safe and secure.

An ExpressRoute connection is a more reliable option compared to the public internet, with faster speeds and lower latencies. This makes it ideal for organizations that require high-speed data transfers between their on-premises environment and the Azure data center.

With ExpressRoute, you can enjoy significant cost savings on data transfers between your on-premises environment and the Azure data center. This is a major advantage for organizations that handle large volumes of data.

Azure Private Link is a game-changer for secure connectivity. It enables you to access Azure PaaS Services and Azure-hosted customer-owned/partner services over a private endpoint in your virtual network.

Traffic between your virtual network and the service travels through the Microsoft backbone network, eliminating the need to expose your service to the public internet. This is a huge security boost.

You can create your own private link service in your virtual network and deliver it to your customers. This is especially useful for businesses that need to share resources securely.

Private endpoints are accessible via on-premises VPN tunnels and peered networks. This makes it easy to integrate with your existing network infrastructure.

Azure Private Link charges $0.01 per hour for a private endpoint, and $0.01 per GB for processed inbound and outbound data. This is a relatively small price to pay for the security and convenience it offers.

Azure Networking Security is a crucial aspect of protecting your resources in the cloud. You can add encryption to the Virtual Network default security controls to enhance protection for your data in transit.

To create a secure environment, you can use the service to provision private networks. This allows you to build an isolated, secure environment to run virtual machines (VMs) and applications. You can also optionally connect to on-premises datacenters for a hybrid infrastructure that you control.

To manage virtual networks at scale, you can centrally manage your virtual network resources. This reduces operational overhead and allows you to create and manage network security rules globally across subscriptions and regions.

Azure Firewall Manager is a security management service that provides central security policy and routing management for cloud-based security perimeters. It can provide security management for two different types of network architecture: secure virtual hub and hub virtual network.

Here are some key features of Azure Firewall:

Azure DDoS Protection provides countermeasures against the most sophisticated DDoS threats. It consists of two tiers: DDoS Network Protection and DDoS IP Protection.

Azure Firewall Manager is a security management service that provides central security policy and routing management for cloud-based security perimeters. It's a game-changer for managing network security at scale.

Azure Firewall Manager can provide security management for two different types of network architecture: secure virtual hub and hub virtual network. This means you can have a more streamlined and efficient way of managing your network security.

You can deploy multiple Azure Firewall instances across Azure regions and subscriptions, implement DDoS protection plans, manage web application firewall policies, and integrate with partner security-as-a-service for enhanced security.

Azure Firewall Manager is a key component of Azure's networking security offerings, and it's essential to understand how it works and how it can benefit your organization.

Here are some key benefits of using Azure Firewall Manager:

Azure Firewall Manager is a powerful tool for managing network security at scale, and it's an essential component of any Azure networking security strategy.

Azure Network Watcher provides tools to monitor, diagnose, view metrics, and enable or disable logs for resources in an Azure virtual network.

Centralized management of virtual network resources can reduce operational overhead, allowing you to create and manage network security rules globally across subscriptions and regions.

With Azure Network Watcher, IT teams can keep track of resources, diagnose problems, view metrics, and analyze logs, giving them a comprehensive view of the network of IaaS products.

Network Watcher monitors deployed Azure networking services, providing visibility into the interconnections between resources and their usage.