Azure Private Link Overview

Introduction to Azure Private Link

Azure Private Link provides the best connectivity from a virtual network to Azure PaaS services (like Azure Storage and SQL Database) and Azure hosted customer-owned services. This connectivity leverages the Microsoft Azure backbone network. By bringing Azure services into your private network, you can avoid the public internet, which enhances security and simplifies network architecture.

What is Azure Private Link?

Azure Private Link is a service that enables you to access Azure PaaS services and customer-owned hosting services securely and privately within your Azure Virtual Network. It works by using a Private Endpoint, which is a network interface that privately connects an instance of a virtual network to an Azure service.

Core Components

Private Endpoint: A network interface in your virtual network that consumes a specific Azure service.
Private Link Service: A customer-hosted service that you expose to other Azure consumers via Private Link.

How it Works

When you create a Private Endpoint for an Azure service (e.g., a Storage Account), it receives a private IP address from your virtual network. All traffic destined for that service from your virtual network will be routed through this private IP address, bypassing the public internet. This ensures that data remains within the Azure network or your on-premises network connected via VPN or ExpressRoute.

[Placeholder for a diagram illustrating Private Endpoint connectivity to Azure PaaS services.]

Imagine your virtual network sending traffic directly to a service, not via the public internet.

For services hosted by your organization on Azure, you can create a Private Link Service. This allows other Azure customers to create Private Endpoints to access your service privately within their own virtual networks.

Key Benefits

Enhanced Security: Traffic between your virtual network and the Azure service stays on the Microsoft Azure backbone network, eliminating exposure to the public internet.
Simplified Network Architecture: Reduces the need for complex network configurations like VPNs or ExpressRoute for accessing many Azure services.
Compliance: Helps meet regulatory and compliance requirements by keeping sensitive data within a private network boundary.
Consistent Connectivity: Provides a consistent way to access both Azure PaaS services and your own services hosted on Azure.
Reduced Network Latency: Leverages Microsoft's backbone network for potentially lower latency compared to public internet routing.

Common Use Cases

Securely accessing Azure SQL Database from an Azure Virtual Machine or App Service.
Connecting to Azure Storage Accounts without exposing them to the public internet.
Enabling private access to Azure Key Vault for sensitive operations.
Providing secure access to customer-hosted applications running on Azure.
Connecting on-premises applications to Azure services via VPN/ExpressRoute and Private Link.

Getting Started with Azure Private Link

To start using Azure Private Link, you typically need to:

Ensure you have an Azure Virtual Network and a subnet where you want to deploy your Private Endpoint.
Identify the Azure service you want to connect to and ensure it supports Private Link.
Create a Private Endpoint in your virtual network, selecting the target Azure service and configuring the network settings.
Update your DNS records to resolve the service's FQDN to the private IP address of the Private Endpoint.

For more detailed instructions and configurations, please refer to the Create a Private Endpoint documentation.