Azure Service Endpoints
Azure Virtual Network service endpoints provide a secure and direct connection to Azure services over an optimized route from your virtual network to the Azure service, without requiring a public IP address on the edge of the virtual network.
What are Service Endpoints?
Service endpoints extend the private IP address space of your VNet and the identity of your VNet to the Azure service. This enhances security by allowing you to lock down your Azure service resources to only your virtual network.
Benefits of Service Endpoints
- Enhanced Security: Traffic from your VNet to the Azure service travels on the Microsoft backbone network, bypassing the public internet. You can configure service access to be restricted to specific virtual networks.
- Simplified Network Architecture: Eliminates the need for complex firewall configurations or NAT devices to access Azure services.
- Optimized Routing: Traffic takes an optimized path to the Azure service.
- Cost-Effective: No additional costs are associated with using service endpoints.
How Service Endpoints Work
When you enable service endpoints for an Azure service on a subnet, the traffic destined for that service from that subnet is automatically routed over the Microsoft backbone network. This direct connection leverages the service's private IP address range and the identity of your VNet.
Tip: Service endpoints are enabled on a subnet basis. You can enable them for specific Azure services on a per-subnet configuration.
Supported Azure Services
Service endpoints are supported for various Azure services, including but not limited to:
- Azure Storage
- Azure SQL Database
- Azure Cosmos DB
- Azure Key Vault
- Azure Service Bus
- Azure Event Hubs
Configuration Steps
To configure service endpoints for a subnet:
- Navigate to your Virtual Network in the Azure portal.
- Select the subnet you want to configure.
- In the subnet settings, under "Service endpoints," select the desired Azure services.
- Save the changes.
After enabling service endpoints, you can further secure your Azure service resources by configuring their access to allow traffic only from your virtual network's subnets.
Important: When service endpoints are enabled, ensure that any network security rules or service firewall configurations are updated to allow traffic from the correct VNet and subnet.
Example: Securing Azure Storage with Service Endpoints
To restrict access to an Azure Storage account to a specific VNet:
- Enable the
Microsoft.Storageservice endpoint on the desired subnet(s) of your VNet. - Go to your Azure Storage account in the Azure portal.
- Under "Networking," configure the firewall settings to allow access from "Virtual networks."
- Select your VNet and the specific subnet(s) where the service endpoint is enabled.
This ensures that only traffic originating from the specified subnet within your VNet can access the Azure Storage account.
Considerations
- Service endpoints are enabled per subnet.
- The VNet and the Azure service must be in the same region, or the Azure service must support geo-replication to the VNet's region.
- Service endpoints are not applicable to VNet peering or VPN gateway connections to Azure services.
For detailed command-line examples using Azure CLI or PowerShell, please refer to the official Azure documentation.