Azure Private Endpoint for Secure Access to Azure Services

Azure Private Endpoint provides a secure way to access Azure services by creating a private endpoint in your virtual network. This allows you to connect your virtual network to Azure services securely.

A private endpoint is a network interface that connects your virtual network to an Azure service. This is done by creating a private IP address in your virtual network that is accessible only from within your network.

You can create a private endpoint for an Azure service, such as Azure Storage or Azure Cosmos DB, to access it securely from within your virtual network. This is especially useful for sensitive data that needs to be kept secure.

By using a private endpoint, you can reduce the attack surface of your Azure service by limiting access to only the necessary users and applications. This is a key benefit of using Azure Private Endpoint.

Azure Private Endpoint is a separate billable service provided by Azure Private Link.

You can create a private endpoint for a search service in the Azure portal, or use the Management REST API, Azure PowerShell, or the Azure CLI.

Portal access to a search service with a private endpoint must be initiated from a browser session on a virtual machine inside the virtual network.

Private endpoints are associated with a specific Azure subscription and resource group.

Creating a private endpoint for a search service requires a VM on a virtual network and a search service with a private endpoint.

Private endpoints for Azure AI Search allow a client on a virtual network to securely access data in a search index over a Private Link. This eliminates exposure from the public internet.

Network traffic between the client and the search service traverses over the virtual network and a private link on the Microsoft backbone network. You can block all connections on the public endpoint for your search service, increasing security for the virtual network.

Private endpoints provide a privately accessible IP address for the Azure service, but do not necessarily restrict public network access to it. Additional access controls, such as Network Security Groups (NSGs), User Defined Routes (UDRs), and Application Security Groups (ASGs), are required for extra network security.

Here are some limitations to keep in mind when using private endpoints:

Private Link offers a secure way to connect to PaaS services without exposing them to the public internet. This is achieved by configuring a private IP address endpoint for your PaaS applications, allowing internal resources and customers to connect to it over your VPN or peered networks.

Private Link eliminates the need for public IP addresses and DNS updates, which can be handled by external parties. This is a huge benefit for organizations bound by compliance or governance requirements that require traffic to be privately secured throughout the organization.

Private Link also allows you to extend your private endpoints to business partners or customers, with an added layer of security through an approval process. This prevents unintended access to your internal resources.

Each private endpoint is linked to a specific instance of the PaaS resource it represents, preventing data leakage. This means that each private endpoint only facilitates access to the specific service and instance combination, rather than the entire service.

Here are the benefits of Private Link/Endpoint Service:

Network Security Group limitations come into play when using private endpoints. Effective routes and security rules are unavailable for the private endpoint network interface.

You won't be able to view effective routes and security rules for the private endpoint NIC in the Azure portal.

NSG flow logs are unsupported for inbound traffic destined for a private endpoint.

The number of members in an Application Security Group is limited to 50. This means you can only tie 50 IP Configurations to each respective ASG that's coupled to the NSG on the private endpoint subnet.

Here are some key limitations of Network Security Groups with private endpoints:

DNS configuration is crucial for connecting to private-link resources in Azure. You'll need to use separate DNS settings for private endpoints, which are often configured via private DNS zones.

To ensure your DNS settings are correct, you should use the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for the connection, which must resolve to the private IP address of the private endpoint. This information can be found in the network interface associated with the private endpoint.

When creating a private DNS zone, make sure to link it to the VNet containing the private endpoint. This involves adding an A record pointing to the private IP address of the private endpoint. You can do this by creating a private DNS zone with a name like azure.yugabyte.cloud, linking it to the VNet, and then adding an A record.

To map the private endpoint DNS, you'll need to follow these steps:

By following these steps, you'll be able to connect to your cluster using DNS instead of the bare IP address.

Testing and troubleshooting are crucial steps in ensuring your Azure Private Endpoint is working correctly.

To test private network access to the search service, verify that the search service endpoint is private. This means some portal features are disabled for security reasons.

You can verify private network access by opening PowerShell in the Remote Desktop of your VM and running an nslookup command to retrieve the private IP address of the search service.

Here are the steps to follow:

Address: 168.63.129.16

Non-authoritative answer:

Name: [search service name].privatelink.search.windows.net

Address: 10.0.0.5

Aliases: [search service name].search.windows.net

To confirm that the service is fully operational, complete the quickstart from the VM using the REST API. This will test your private endpoint configuration.

Testing private network access to your search service is a crucial step in ensuring everything is working as it should. You can verify this by using the nslookup command in PowerShell.

Open PowerShell in the Remote Desktop of your VM and enter the command nslookup [search service name].search.windows.net. You'll receive a message similar to this: Server: UnKnown Address: 168.63.129.16 Non-authoritative answer: Name: [search service name].privatelink.search.windows.net Address: 10.0.0.5 Aliases: [search service name].search.windows.net

This command checks the DNS records for your search service. If everything is set up correctly, you should see the private endpoint listed.

To confirm that your service is fully operational, create an index using the REST API. You can follow the quickstart for creating a new search index in your service. This will test the connection to the search service and create an index.

Here's a step-by-step guide to creating an index:

If you receive an error that the remote server doesn't exist, you've successfully configured a private endpoint for your search service.

Logging and monitoring strategies are crucial in Azure Private Link. However, we're not talking about monitoring private endpoints as resources, but rather using Private Link to facilitate monitoring within an existing Azure environment.

The Azure Monitor Private Link Scope (AMPLS) was designed to enable access to Azure monitor privately. This solution uses the Private Link Service to enable Azure monitoring for a specific scope of backend resources.

You can use AMPLS to send logging and diagnostic information directly to a private endpoint scoped to the designated Log Analytics Workspace. This eliminates the need for many resources to have access to the public Internet.

This approach ensures that logs for your application are only accessible via a private endpoint. Consider placing the AMPLS in a central hub network and scoping coverage to all monitoring infrastructure covered by the hub and spoke networks.

An example of this can be seen in Figure 2, where a shared services model is used for AMPLS.

Azure Private Link Service allows businesses to make their internal services available to other business units or customers via private endpoint. This service pairs the internal service with a Standard Load Balancer, enabling access from outside the network while maintaining security.

Access to the Private Link Service is restricted through Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), subscription, or alias, ensuring only authorized parties can access the service. The customer can request access via an approval process, making it a secure and controlled way to share internal services.

The Private Link Service supports Network Security Groups (NSG) and User-Defined Routes (UDR), providing an additional layer of security and control.

Creating a search service with a private endpoint is a great way to secure your data in Azure. You can do this by selecting Create a resource > AI + machine learning > AI Search in the Azure portal.

To create a new Azure AI Search service, you'll need to enter some basic information such as your subscription, resource group, and instance details. This includes selecting a unique URL, location, and pricing tier - note that private endpoints aren't supported on the Free tier, so you'll need to choose Basic or higher.

You'll also need to select Next: Networking, where you'll choose Private for Endpoint connectivity (data). From there, you can add a private endpoint to associate your search service with the virtual network you've created.

Some important settings to note when creating a private endpoint include the subscription, resource group, location, and name. You'll also want to select the virtual network and subnet you created earlier, and enable Private DNS Integration.

Here's a summary of the key settings you'll need to fill in when creating a private endpoint:

Once you've created your private endpoint, you can access your search service from a virtual machine inside the virtual network. This is because the portal uses the private endpoint on the connection to give you visibility into content and operations.

Private Link eliminates a huge hurdle for organizations bound by compliance or governance requirements by privately securing traffic throughout the organization.

This is especially beneficial for organizations that need to connect to private endpoints via site-to-site VPN or ExpressRoute without traversing the public Internet.

Private Link also benefits from private DNS and IP addressing, allowing you to manage and maintain your private IP spaces and internal DNS systems without requiring public IP or DNS updates.

Private endpoints are linked to specific instances of PaaS resources, preventing data leakage by only facilitating access to the specific service and instance combination.

This greatly reduces the risk of data leakage, as applications and resources must reference the specific service and instance combination rather than the entire service.

By using Private Link in parallel with Azure Standard Load Balancer, you can make internal PaaS or IaaS services available via Private Endpoint to business units or external customers without allowing traffic to or from the Internet.

Here are some key benefits of Private Link:

You can make your internal Private Link service available for another business unit or customer to consume via private endpoint using Azure's Private Link Service. This service pairs your internal service or application with a Standard Load Balancer that allows access from parties outside your network.

Access is restricted via RBAC (within the same tenant), subscription, or alias, and the customer can request access to the Private Link Service via an approval process. This way, businesses can utilize completely private network components without the trouble or security considerations of maintaining VPN connectivity or peering to the consumers of their application.

Private Link Service supports Network Security Groups (NSG) and User-Defined Routes (UDR), making it a robust solution for secure network connectivity.

To connect to a Private Link Service, you can use an alias, which is a unique moniker generated when a service owner creates a private-link service behind a standard load balancer. This alias can be shared offline with consumers of your service, and they can request a connection to a private-link service by using either the resource URI or the alias.

Here are the benefits of using a private endpoint: