Microsoft Azure Virtual Network Explained (2024)

FAQs

How does Azure virtual network work? ›

An Azure Virtual Network (VNet) is a network or environment that can be used to run VMs and applications in the cloud. When it is created, the services and Virtual Machines within the Azure network interact securely with each other.

A virtual network is a network where all devices, servers, virtual machines, and data centers that are connected are done so through software and wireless technology. This allows the reach of the network to be expanded as far as it needs to for peak efficiency, in addition to numerous other benefits.

Azure VPN Gateway connects your on-premises networks to Azure through Site-to-Site VPNs in a similar way that you set up and connect to a remote branch office. The connectivity is secure and uses the industry-standard protocols Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) and Internet Key Exchange (IKE).

A virtual network connects virtual machines and devices, no matter their location, using software. In a physical network, layer 2 and 3 functions of the OSI model happen within physical switches and routers.

Why use an Azure Virtual network? Azure virtual network enables Azure resources to securely communicate with each other, the internet, and on-premises networks.

VPNs and VLANs are different technologies with some similarities. VPNs connect authorized users to corporate network resources, while VLANs connect geographically separate devices. The technology answers to most remote work and education requirements have one word in common: virtual.

Virtual network and subnets. A subnet is a range of IP addresses in the virtual network. You can divide a virtual network into multiple subnets for organization and security. Each NIC in a VM is connected to one subnet in one virtual network.

What are the different types of VPN in Azure? ›

Virtual networks are classified into two broad types, external and internal. External virtual networks consist of several local networks that are administered by software as a single entity. The building blocks of classic external virtual networks are switch hardware and VLAN software technology.

Virtual private networks (VPNs) Virtual local area networks (VLANs) Virtual extensible local area networks (VXLANs)

A network's hardware devices usually define the three common types of virtual networks.

Azure VPN Gateway connects your on-premises networks to Azure through Site-to-Site VPNs in a similar way that you set up and connect to a remote branch office. The connectivity is secure and uses the industry-standard protocols Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) and Internet Key Exchange (IKE).

In terms of which is better, it largely depends on use case. VNet seems more enterprise focused, whereas Amazon VPC is ideal for more customer-facing resources -- per AWS' use cases.

Azure offers a massive range of IaaS facilities depending on the needs of your business, from compute and networking to security and storage, including Container Service and Virtual Machines. Find out more about individual services here.

Both VPN and virtual desktops can be secured, but virtual desktops present the least amount of risk to data as they secure data all the way through the endpoint and offer IT teams a faster, easier way to patch known vulnerabilities.

A virtual firewall, aka cloud firewall, is a network security solution designed specifically for environments in which deploying hardware firewalls is difficult or impossible, such as public and private cloud environments; software-defined networks, or SDN; and software-defined wide area networks, or SD-WAN.

VPNs can be divided into three main categories – remote access, intranet-based site-to-site, and extranet-based site-to-site. Individual users are most likely to encounter remote access VPNs, whereas big businesses often implement site-to-site VPNs for corporate purposes.

What is difference between VNet and subnet in Azure? ›

VNet concepts

For example, if you deploy a VM in a VNet with address space, 10.0. 0.0/16, the VM will be assigned a private IP like 10.0. 0.4. Subnets: Subnets enable you to segment the virtual network into one or more sub-networks and allocate a portion of the virtual network's address space to each subnet.

Azure VNet is one of the most commonly used Microsoft Azure Networking services. Azure VNet is sort of like a LAN within which you can have address spaces that can be divided into multiple subnets.

The problem with these types of intricate, hardware-heavy systems is that in addition to being complex to begin with, they can be inflexible, costly to maintain and highly consumptive of power.

Benefits include affordable expertise (particularly with HR, finance, marketing), flexible support, and access to a full suite of services. Disadvantages include challenges with virtual teams can lie in communication, poor leadership/management and incompetent team members.

Some VPNs may slow your connection speed. You could be blocked from using certain services or websites, like Netflix. VPNs are illegal or tightly controlled in certain countries, such as China. There's no way to tell just how encrypted your data is when using a VPN.

A VPN helps you stay invisible and behind the scenes, but it doesn't give you immunity against online risks like malware, ransomware, phishing attacks, or even computer viruses. That's where your antivirus software comes in.

When should a VPN not be used? ›

Using a VPN at home is preferable, advised even, but it isn't always essential. The main reason it may not be necessary, is that your internet activity should already be shielded by your password-protected Wi-Fi network. The other concern is connecting to a remote server can slow your connection speed.

IP-based connection lets you connect to your on-premises, non-Azure, and Azure virtual machines via Azure Bastion over ExpressRoute or a VPN site-to-site connection using a specified private IP address.

TL;DR: ExpressRoute provides direct connectivity to Azure cloud services and connects Microsoft's global network. All transferred data is not encrypted, and do not go over the public Internet. VPN Gateway provides secured connectivity to Azure cloud services over the public Internet.

Crypto mining with Azure is restricted on certain subscriptions types, including the Azure Free Account and the Azure for Students account. However, on Pay-as-you-go subscription type it does not currently have any terms that prohibit cryptocurrency mining.

Guidance: Azure VPN supports standard IPsec/IKE protocols: UDP ports 500 and 4500. ESP protocol.

Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol (SSTP), a proprietary TLS-based VPN protocol. A TLS VPN solution can penetrate firewalls, since most firewalls open TCP port 443 outbound, which TLS uses. SSTP is only supported on Windows devices.

LAN (Local Area Network) MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) WAN (Wide Area Network)

Virtual Network in Azure is free of charge. Every subscription can create up to 50 Virtual Networks across all regions. VNET Peering links two virtual networks – either in the same region or in different regions - and enables you to route traffic between them using private IP addresses (carry a nominal charge).

A VNET is the address space. It hosts subnet, where you will connect resources. Subnet segment the address space into multiple subnetworks. By default, an IP in a subnet can communicate with any other IP inside the VNET. Azure route traffic between subnets and outside the VNET.

How do I make an Azure virtual network? ›

When a virtual network is configured, a zone sends traffic to an external host in the same way as a system without a virtual network. Traffic flows from the zone, through the VNIC to the virtual switch, and then to the physical interface, which sends the data to the network.

In order to do that, three basic virtualization techniques for embedded systems are considered: full virtualization, paravirtualization (as instances of hardware-level virtualization), and containers (as an instance of operating-system-level virtualization).

The three most popular types of desktop virtualization are Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), Remote desktop services (RDS), and Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS).

Virtual machines created by Virtual machine scale sets Flexible Orchestration mode don't have default outbound access. Virtual network NAT is the recommended outbound access method for Virtual machine scale sets Flexible Orchestration Mode.

PRO TIP: No, you cannot use Azure as a VPN. Azure is a cloud computing service that provides compute, storage, and networking resources. It is not designed to provide VPN services. Azure also provides a secure connection to the corporate network, and the VPN service is affordable.

Azure Virtual Network

Build an isolated, secure environment to run virtual machines (VMs) and applications. Optionally connect to on-premises datacentres for a hybrid infrastructure that you control. Bring your own IP addresses and DNS servers. Secure connections with an IPsec VPN or ExpressRoute.

VCNs help protect against system failures. Even if some physical devices or systems glitch, storing critical data in a virtual environment allows the company to access files and resources from other devices. In addition, most VCNs operate using two different servers.

Customers looking to provision their resources in the cloud can choose from the different private networks offered by the various cloud providers. The two most deployed private networks are Virtual Network (VNet) and Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) from Microsoft and Amazon respectively.

Can you create an Azure VM without a VNet? ›

A VNet is used to provide the VM with DHCP and Security Group services. A VM would be unable to obtain an IP address without it. In the same manner that a V1Vm could not be created without a cloud service, an Azure VM cannot be created without a vnet.

Lower overhead costs.

If you run your company virtually, you don't have to worry about leasing office space, buying furniture, paying for utilities, etc. Even if you establish a main office with just a few employees, you won't need to lease nearly as much office space.