Mike: Welcome to Network Routing in Azure.
In this lesson, we will explore the concepts
and mechanisms behind network routing in Azure.
We will discuss why you might need to modify routing,
different routing types available,
and how to enable outbound connectivity
for your Azure resources.
So why modify routing?
There are scenarios where you might need
to modify the default routing behavior
to meet specific requirements.
Modifying routing allows you
to create custom network topologies,
isolate segment traffic,
implement force tunneling to on-premises networks,
and integrate with other network environments.
By modifying routing, you can improve network performance,
enhance security and control,
and simplify network management.
Azure supports different types of routing
to control how traffic flows
within and between virtual networks.
The most basic type is system routes,
which are the default routes
automatically created and managed by Azure.
System routes control traffic flow
based on the virtual network address space
and connected subnets.
When you need more granular control over routing,
you can use user-defined routes, or UDRs.
UDRs allow you to create custom routing rules
that override or augment the system routes.
With UDRs, you can specify the next hop for traffic,
directing it to virtual appliances,
VPN gateways, or other networks.
For more advanced routing scenarios,
Azure supports Border Gateway Protocol, or BGP.
BGP is a dynamic routing protocol
that enables the exchange of routing information
between Azure and on-premises networks.
BGP allows for dynamic and efficient routing,
especially in complex network topologies
and hybrid cloud environments.
When it comes to enabling outbound connectivity
for your Azure resources,
you have several options available.
One option is to use a load balancer,
which distributes outbound traffic
across multiple backend instances,
providing high availability and scalability.
Another option is the Azure NAT Gateway,
which translates private IP addresses
of virtual machines to public IP addresses,
enabling outbound internet connectivity.
This is useful when you need to allow virtual machines
to access the internet without exposing them directly.
Azure Firewall is a fully managed
cloud-native firewall service
that provides advanced security features
for controlling and filtering outbound traffic.
It allows you to enforce granular security policies
and protect your Azure resources from external threats.
Finally, in addition to Azure Firewall,
you can also leverage third party
Network Virtual Appliances, or NVAs,
for outbound connectivity,
VAs offer additional functionality
and customization options,
allowing to integrate with existing security solutions
or meet specific compliance requirements.
Let's consider a real world scenario.
"Reroute Media Group is migrating
their application workloads to Azure.
They have multiple networks
hosting different application tiers
and need to ensure secure
and efficient communication between them.
Additionally, they require outbound internet connectivity
for certain application components,
while maintaining security and control."
To meet these requirements,
Reroute Media Group can leverage user-defined routes, UDRs,
to control traffic flow between virtual networks
and application tiers.
By implementing a hub-and-spoke network topology,
they can centralize connectivity and security management.
Deploying Azure Firewall in the Hub Virtual Network
allows Reroute Media group to control
and filter outbound internet traffic,
enforcing granular security policies.
For specific subnets
requiring outbound internet connectivity,
they can configure Virtual Network NAT Gateway
to translate private IP addresses to public IP addresses.
To enable dynamic routing between virtual networks
and on-premises networks,
Reroute Media Group can leverage BGP.
This ensures efficient and automated routing
in their hybrid cloud environment.
By combining these network solutions,
Reroute Media Group can achieve secure
and efficient communication between their application tiers,
enabled control outbound internet connectivity,
and maintain a robust network architecture in Azure.
This is just one example of how the various components
that we talked about here
can be used in a real world scenario.
Thanks so much for being here,
and I hope to see you in the next video.