Azure Virtual WAN Overview
Azure Virtual WAN is a networking service that brings together various networking, security, and routing functionalities to provide a single operational interface. It enables you to connect branches, users, and on-premises environments securely and efficiently to Azure.
What is Azure Virtual WAN?
Azure Virtual WAN provides optimized and automated branch connectivity to Azure. It serves as a central hub that connects your on-premises networks, remote users, and other Azure Virtual Networks, offering a unified and scalable solution for Wide Area Network (WAN) management.
Key Benefits
- Global Transit Network: Acts as a global transit network in Azure, allowing you to connect multiple Azure regions and on-premises sites through a single, managed service.
- Simplified Branch Connectivity: Offers simplified connectivity from branches to Azure, reducing the complexity of managing multiple VPN tunnels and network devices.
- Optimized Routing: Provides intelligent routing capabilities to optimize traffic flow between your sites and Azure resources.
- Enhanced Security: Integrates with Azure Firewall and Network Security Groups (NSGs) for robust security across your network.
- Scalability and Reliability: Built on Azure's global infrastructure, ensuring high availability and scalability for your networking needs.
- Centralized Management: Enables centralized management of your network from a single pane of glass within the Azure portal.
Core Components
Virtual WAN is composed of several key components that work together to provide its functionality:
- Virtual WAN Hub: The central point of connectivity in a region. It is a managed Microsoft resource that hosts various network services like VPN gateways and ExpressRoute gateways.
- Virtual Hub Router: Provides routing services within the Virtual WAN hub, enabling connectivity between different networks connected to the hub.
- Site-to-Site VPN: Connects your on-premises network devices to Azure Virtual WAN.
- ExpressRoute: Provides private, high-bandwidth, low-latency connectivity between your on-premises environment and Azure.
- User VPN (Point-to-Site VPN): Enables remote users to connect securely to your Azure Virtual WAN.
- Virtual Network Connections: Connects your Azure Virtual Networks to the Virtual WAN hub, allowing resources in those VNETs to communicate with other connected sites.
Learn More
Dive deeper into the features and architecture of Azure Virtual WAN to understand how it can enhance your cloud networking strategy.
Use Cases
- Connecting multiple branch offices to Azure and to each other.
- Migrating on-premises applications to Azure while maintaining seamless connectivity.
- Providing secure remote access for employees to Azure resources.
- Building a global software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) in Azure.
Azure Virtual WAN simplifies and automates the complex process of building and managing global WANs, making it a powerful solution for modern enterprises.