VNet Integration Overview
Last Updated: October 26, 2023
Virtual Network (VNet) integration is a powerful feature that allows your cloud services to securely access resources within your private virtual networks. This provides enhanced security, compliance, and network control for your applications.
What is VNet Integration?
Traditionally, cloud services operate in a managed network environment separate from your private networks. VNet integration bridges this gap by enabling services to:
- Access resources directly within your VNet without exposing them to the public internet.
- Utilize private IP addressing for communication between services and VNet resources.
- Enforce granular network security policies using Network Security Groups (NSGs) and User Defined Routes (UDRs).
Key Scenarios and Benefits
- Secure Access to Databases: Connect your web applications hosted in the cloud to on-premises SQL Server databases or Azure SQL Database instances residing within a VNet.
- Hybrid Connectivity: Integrate cloud-based applications with legacy systems or services hosted in your own data center.
- Compliance Requirements: Meet strict regulatory and compliance mandates that require data and services to remain within private network boundaries.
- Simplified Network Management: Reduce the complexity of managing firewalls and network access rules by leveraging VNet's integrated security features.
How it Works
VNet integration typically involves establishing a secure connection between the managed environment of your cloud service and your virtual network. This can be achieved through several methods, including:
Service Endpoints
Service endpoints extend your virtual network's private address space and identity to Azure services. This allows you to secure specific Azure resources, like storage accounts or SQL databases, to only accept connections from your VNet. Communication between your VNet and the service travels over an optimized path on the Azure backbone network.
Private Endpoints
Private endpoints provide a network interface that privately and securely connects a virtual machine or service to a particular Azure service. When you create a private endpoint for a service, it provides a private IP address from your VNet, effectively bringing the service into your VNet. All traffic to the service will be routed through the private endpoint, ensuring it remains within your private network.
Supported Services
A growing number of Azure services support VNet integration, including:
- Azure App Service
- Azure Functions
- Azure Container Instances (ACI)
- Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
- Azure SQL Database
- Azure Storage
- And many more...
Getting Started
To implement VNet integration for your service, you will typically need to:
- Create or Select a Virtual Network: Ensure you have a VNet in place with appropriate subnets.
- Configure Integration: Navigate to the networking settings of your cloud service and enable VNet integration. This usually involves selecting your VNet and subnet.
- Set up Access Control: Configure NSGs on your VNet subnets to allow or deny traffic to/from your integrated service.
- Utilize Private DNS: For private endpoints, ensure proper DNS resolution is configured so your services can resolve the private IP addresses of the integrated resources.