Azure Firewall Manager Overview

Introduction to Azure Firewall Manager

Azure Firewall Manager is a service that enables you to centrally manage firewall policies and routing configurations across your Azure and hybrid environments. It provides a unified way to secure your network traffic at scale, ensuring consistent security posture and simplified management.

This service is ideal for organizations with complex network architectures, multiple virtual networks, and a need for advanced security controls. By leveraging Firewall Manager, you can reduce operational overhead and improve your overall security compliance.

Key Features and Benefits

• Centralized Policy Management: Define and manage firewall rules, network rules, and application rules from a single pane of glass.
• Hierarchical Structure: Organize your security policies logically, allowing for inheritance and customization across different environments.
• Global Deployment: Deploy and manage Azure Firewall instances across multiple regions and subscriptions.
• Simplified Operations: Automate deployment and configuration of firewalls, reducing manual effort and potential errors.
• Threat Intelligence Integration: Leverage Microsoft's threat intelligence feeds to automatically block malicious IPs and domains.
• Advanced Network Security: Supports features like Network Address Translation (NAT), Intrusion Detection and Prevention System (IDPS), and TLS inspection.
• Hybrid Connectivity: Extend your security policies to on-premises networks through integration with Azure Virtual WAN.

Architecture Overview

Azure Firewall Manager builds upon the capabilities of Azure Firewall, acting as a management layer. It typically involves the following components:

• Azure Firewall: The managed, cloud-native network security service that protects your Azure and hybrid cloud resources.
• Azure Firewall Policy: A collection of security rules and settings applied to Azure Firewall instances.
• Security Hub: Often integrated for threat intelligence and security posture management.
• Virtual WAN: For seamless integration with hub-and-spoke architectures and hybrid connectivity.

Use Cases

Azure Firewall Manager is well-suited for a variety of scenarios:

Centralized Security for Spoke Networks

In a hub-and-spoke network topology, Firewall Manager allows you to enforce consistent security policies across all spoke virtual networks managed by a central hub firewall.

Securing Large-Scale Deployments

For organizations with numerous subscriptions and virtual networks, Firewall Manager simplifies the management of security rules and firewall configurations.

Hybrid Network Security

Extend your security perimeter to your on-premises data centers by integrating Azure Firewall Manager with Azure Virtual WAN, ensuring unified security for both cloud and on-premises resources.

Compliance and Governance

Enforce strict security compliance by applying standardized firewall policies across all your deployed resources, making audits and governance easier.

Getting Started with Azure Firewall Manager

To begin using Azure Firewall Manager, you typically need to:

1. Deploy an Azure Firewall: Provision an Azure Firewall instance in your desired region.
2. Create a Firewall Policy: Define your network and application rules, as well as NAT rules, within a Firewall Policy.
3. Associate Policy with Firewall: Link the Firewall Policy to your Azure Firewall instance.
4. Configure Routes: Ensure traffic is routed through the Azure Firewall. For hub-and-spoke, this often involves configuring User Defined Routes (UDRs) in spoke VNets to point to the Firewall.

For more advanced scenarios involving hybrid connectivity, you would integrate with Azure Virtual WAN.

Related Services

Azure Firewall Manager works in conjunction with several other Azure services to provide a comprehensive security solution:

• Azure Firewall
• Azure Virtual WAN
• Microsoft Defender for Cloud
• Network Security Groups (NSGs)