👉 Overview
👀 What ?
Azure Networking is a set of services provided by Microsoft Azure to help users build, manage and monitor their networks in the cloud. It includes services such as Virtual Network, Load Balancer, VPN Gateway, Application Gateway, Content Delivery Network, and others.
🧐 Why ?
Azure Networking is crucial due to its role in supporting cloud computing. It provides the infrastructure needed to deploy and manage applications and services in the Azure cloud, enabling businesses to scale and adapt quickly to changing business requirements. It's also important for securing applications and data, optimizing application performance, and ensuring high availability and reliability.
⛏️ How ?
To take advantage of Azure Networking, start by creating a Virtual Network (VNet) in Azure. Then, configure the VNet with your desired IP address range, subnets, DNS settings, routing policies, and more. Next, deploy your applications and services into the VNet. You can then use other Azure Networking services to load balance traffic, establish secure cross-premises connectivity, protect your applications from threats, and more.
⏳ When ?
Azure Networking has been used since the inception of the Azure cloud platform in 2010. However, its usage has grown significantly over the years as more businesses move their workloads to the cloud and as Microsoft continues to add new features and services to Azure Networking.
⚙️ Technical Explanations
Azure Networking operates on the same principles as traditional networking but with some key differences due to its cloud-based nature. For instance, Azure Virtual Network is similar to a traditional network in an on-premises data center, but it's based on software-defined networking (SDN) that allows for a high level of control and flexibility. It provides isolation between resources, secure communication between resources, and connectivity to on-premises networks. Other Azure Networking services like Load Balancer and Application Gateway help distribute traffic to applications, while VPN Gateway and ExpressRoute provide secure connectivity between Azure and on-premises environments. Moreover, Azure Networking includes advanced services like Azure Firewall and DDoS Protection for securing network resources, and Network Watcher for monitoring and diagnosing network issues.