Azure Virtual Network (VNet) Documentation

This section provides comprehensive documentation for Azure Virtual Network (VNet), the fundamental building block for your private network in Azure. Azure VNet allows you to provision and manage a virtual network in Azure. It is logically isolated from other virtual networks in Azure, and it has its own IP address, policies, and security settings.

What is Azure Virtual Network?

Azure Virtual Network (VNet) enables you to create and manage a private network in the cloud. It allows Azure resources to securely communicate with each other, with on-premises devices, and with the internet. You can extend your on-premises data centers to Azure by using VNets.

Key Capabilities:

Isolation: Each VNet is isolated from every other VNet in Azure.
IP Addressing: Assign your own private IP address space to your VNet.
Connectivity: Connect VNets to each other, to on-premises networks, and to the internet.
Security: Control traffic flow between resources using Network Security Groups (NSGs) and implement advanced security features.
Scalability: VNets are designed to scale with your application's needs.

Core Components

Understanding the core components of Azure VNet is crucial for effective network design and management:

Subnets

Subnets divide a VNet into smaller address ranges. This segmentation allows for better security and route management within your virtual network. Each subnet must have an address range that is a subset of the VNet's address space.


# Example Azure CLI command to create a subnet
az network vnet subnet create \
    --resource-group MyResourceGroup \
    --vnet-name MyVNet \
    --name MySubnet \
    --address-prefixes 10.0.1.0/24

Network Security Groups (NSG)

NSGs are network security components that filter network traffic to and from Azure resources in an Azure virtual network. They contain security rules that allow or deny network traffic. NSGs can be associated with network interfaces (NICs) or subnets.

VNet Peering

VNet peering connects two Azure VNets privately through the Azure backbone network. This allows resources in each virtual network to communicate with each other as if they were within the same network. VNet peering is a non-transitive relationship.

Important:

When configuring VNet peering, ensure that the address spaces of the peered VNets do not overlap. Overlapping address spaces will prevent the peering from being established successfully.

Getting Started

Explore the following resources to learn more about creating and managing Azure Virtual Networks:

Note: Always follow best practices for network security and IP address management to ensure the security and efficiency of your Azure VNet.