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Step-by-Step Guide: Application layer (OSI layer 7) load balancing with Azure Application Gateway (PowerShell Guide)

In my previous blog posts, I explained about two types of Azure solution to load balance web traffic.

• Azure Traffic Manager – If you are looking for DNS level load balancing which can distribute traffic to global endpoints, Azure traffic manager will be the product to look at. More info about deployment can be found on https://www.rebeladmin.com/2020/02/step-by-step-guide-dns-based-traffic-load-balancing-with-azure-traffic-manager/

• Azure Load Balancer – Azure load balancer works in layer 4 (transport layer) and can distribute network traffic to endpoints in the same Azure region. It can use to distribute internet traffic as well as internal traffic. More info about deployment can be found on https://www.rebeladmin.com/2020/01/step-step-guide-setup-azure-load-balancer-powershell-guide/

However, if you looking for Layer 7 (Application Layer) load balancing solution, Azure Application Gateway is the answer. Azure Application Gateway has the following features,

• Secure Sockets Layer (SSL/TLS) termination
• Autoscaling
• Zone redundancy
• Static VIP
• Web Application Firewall
• Ingress Controller for AKS
• URL-based routing
• Multiple-site hosting
• Redirection
• Session affinity
• Websocket and HTTP/2 traffic
• Connection draining
• Custom error pages
• Rewrite HTTP headers
• Sizing

More info about these features are available on https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/application-gateway/features

In this demo, I am going to show how we can setup URL-based routing using Azure Application Gateway.

To do that I will need to do the following tasks,

1. Setup new resource group
2. Create Virtual Networks
3. AG IP and frontend port configuration
4. Create Backend pool
5. Create listener and AG routing rule
6. Create Azure Application Gateway
7. Add Backend pools for videos and images
8. Add frontend port for the pool
9. Create Backend Listener
10. Create URL path map
11. Create routing rule
12. Create virtual machines
13. Add Web Content
14. Testing

For the configuration process, I will be using Azure PowerShell. Therefore, please make sure you have Azure PowerShell module installed. More info about it can find under https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/azure/install-az-ps?view=azps-2.6.0

Setup new resource group

Launch PowerShell console and connect to Azure using Connect-AzAccount

Then create a new resource group using,

New-AzResourceGroup -Name REBELRG1 -Location “East US”

In the above, REBELRG1 is the resource group name and East US is the resource group location.

Create Virtual Networks

In this demo, I am going to use two back end servers. Before VM setup, let’s go ahead and create a new virtual network in REBELRG1 resource group.

$vmsubnet = New-AzVirtualNetworkSubnetConfig -Name vmsubnet -AddressPrefix “10.0.2.0/24”
$agsubnet = New-AzVirtualNetworkSubnetConfig -Name agsubnet -AddressPrefix “10.0.3.0/24”
New-AzVirtualNetwork -Name REBELVN1 -ResourceGroupName REBELRG1 -Location “East US” -AddressPrefix “10.0.0.0/16” -Subnet $vmsubnet, $agsubnet

In the above, REBELVN1 is the new virtual network name. It has 10.0.0.0/16 address space. It also has a new subnet 10.0.2.0/24 (vmsubnet) for virtual machines and 10.0.3.0/24 subnet (agsubnet) for the application gateway.

Create new public IP address

We require public ip address for Azure Application gateway. This will be the external contact point for the gateway. To create that,

New-AzPublicIpAddress -ResourceGroupName REBELRG1 -Location “East US” -Name REBELPublicIP01 -AllocationMethod Static -Sku Standard

In the above, we are creating a public IP address called REBELPublicIP01 with standard SKU. [Read more…] about Step-by-Step Guide: Application layer (OSI layer 7) load balancing with Azure Application Gateway (PowerShell Guide)

Step-by-Step Guide to Azure Private Endpoints (PowerShell Guide)

Azure Private Link provides secure access to certain Azure PaaS services such as Azure SQL Database, Azure Storage, Azure Vault Services, MySQL Databases, Azure Cosmo DB via Microsoft backbone network. This will prevent sensitive data been transfer over the public internet. There are mainly two components in Azure Private Link.

Azure Private Endpoint – Azure private endpoint is a network interface that has a private ip address from a VNET. This allows us to connect to Azure services such as Azure vault, Azure Cosmo Database, Azure SQL database, Azure Storage etc. via Azure Private Link.

Azure Private Link Service – Azure Private Link service allows us to enable private access to our services which are placed behind Azure standard load balancer. Customers/Consumers can connect to these services via private endpoints placed in their own VNETs.

In this demo, I am going to demonstrate how to create Azure private endpoints and how we can access the Azure SQL database using it.

For the configuration process, I will be using PowerShell. Therefore, please make sure you have Azure PowerShell module installed. More info about it can find under https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/azure/install-az-ps?view=azps-2.6.0

Let’s go ahead and start the configuration process by creating a new resource group.

1. Launch PowerShell console and connect to Azure using Connect-AzAccount

2. Then create a new resource group using,

New-AzResourceGroup -Name REBELRG -Location “East US”

In the above, REBELRG is the resource group name and East US is the resource group location.

3. The next step is to create a new virtual network.

$vmsubnet = New-AzVirtualNetworkSubnetConfig -Name vmsubnet -AddressPrefix “10.0.2.0/24” -PrivateEndpointNetworkPoliciesFlag “Disabled”

New-AzVirtualNetwork -Name REBELVN1 -ResourceGroupName REBELRG -Location “East US” -AddressPrefix “10.0.0.0/16” -Subnet $vmsubnet

In the above, REBELVN1 is the new virtual network name. It has 10.0.0.0/16 address space. It also has a new subnet 10.0.2.0/24 (vmsubnet) for virtual machine and private endpoint. In the above -PrivateEndpointNetworkPoliciesFlag is set to disable. This will disable applying network policies on private endpoint in the subnet.

4. We now have the virtual network ready. The next step is to create a new virtual machine for testing.

$mylogin = Get-Credential

New-AzVm -ResourceGroupName REBELRG -Name “REBELTVM01” -Location “East US” -VirtualNetworkName “REBELVN1” -SubnetName “vmsubnet” -addressprefix 10.0.2.0/24 -PublicIpAddressName “REBELVM01IP1” -OpenPorts 3389 -Image win2019datacenter -Size Standard_D2s_v3 -Credential $mylogin

In the above, I am creating a virtual machine called REBELTVM01. It is running windows server 2019 data centre edition. I have specified it using -Image parameter. It also using Standard_D2s_v3 vm size. [Read more…] about Step-by-Step Guide to Azure Private Endpoints (PowerShell Guide)

Step-by-Step Guide: DNS based traffic load balancing with Azure Traffic Manager (PowerShell Guide)

In my previous blog post, I explained how to setup an Azure Traffic Manager. In there, I used GUI method to set it up. In this post I am going to show how we can set up Azure Traffic Manager using Azure PowerShell.

In this demo, I am going to demonstrate how we can use Azure traffic managers to improve the application/service performance by pointing users to the closest endpoint. This demo includes the following tasks,

1. Setup two new resource groups (East US, UK South)
2. Setup two new windows VM (East US, UK South)
3. Setup IIS with sample web page
4. Create a Traffic Manager profile
5. Add endpoints to Traffic Manager profile
6. Testing

Setup two new resource groups (East US, UK South)

Let’s go ahead and start the setup process by creating a new Azure resource group.

For the configuration process, I will be using Azure PowerShell. Therefore, please make sure you have an Azure PowerShell module installed. More info about it can find under https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/azure/install-az-ps?view=azps-2.6.0

1. Launch PowerShell console and connect to Azure using Connect-AzAccount
2. Then create a new resource group using,

New-AzResourceGroup -Name REBELRGEUS -Location “East US”
New-AzResourceGroup -Name REBELRGUKS -Location “UK South”

In the above, we are creating two resource groups. The first one called REBELRGEUS and it is created on East US Azure region.
The second group is called REBELRGUKS and it is created on UK South azure region.

Setup two new windows VM (East US, UK South)

1. In this demo, I am going to use two back end servers. Before VM setup, let’s go ahead and create a new virtual network in REBELRGEUS resource group

$vmsubnet = New-AzVirtualNetworkSubnetConfig -Name vmsubnet -AddressPrefix “10.0.2.0/24”

New-AzVirtualNetwork -Name REBELVN1 -ResourceGroupName REBELRGEUS -Location “East US” -AddressPrefix “10.0.0.0/16” -Subnet $vmsubnet

In the above, REBELVN1 is the new virtual network name. It has 10.0.0.0/16 address space. It also has a new subnet 10.0.2.0/24 (vmsubnet) for virtual machines.

2. Then let’s go ahead and create another virtual network under REBELRGUKS resource group.

$vmsubnet2 = New-AzVirtualNetworkSubnetConfig -Name vmsubnet2 -AddressPrefix “10.1.3.0/24”

New-AzVirtualNetwork -Name REBELVN2 -ResourceGroupName REBELRGUKS -Location “UK South” -AddressPrefix “10.1.0.0/16” -Subnet $vmsubnet2

In the above, REBELVN2 is the new virtual network name. It has 10.1.0.0/16 address space. It also has a new subnet 10.1.3.0/24 (vmsubnet2) for virtual machines.

3. As the next step of the configuration, I am going to create a new virtual machine under REBELRGEUS resource group. This will be used for testing purposes.

$mylogin = Get-Credential

New-AzVm -ResourceGroupName REBELRGEUS -Name “REBELTVMEUS” -Location “East US” -VirtualNetworkName “REBELVN1” -SubnetName “vmsubnet” -addressprefix 10.0.2.0/24 -PublicIpAddressName “REBELTVMEUSIP1” -OpenPorts 3389,80 -Image win2019datacenter -Size Standard_D2s_v3 -Credential $mylogin

[Read more…] about Step-by-Step Guide: DNS based traffic load balancing with Azure Traffic Manager (PowerShell Guide)

Step-by-Step Guide: How to setup Azure VNET Peering? (PowerShell Guide)

In infrastructure, there are many reasons for allowing traffic between virtual networks such as application requirements, backup/DR requirements, replication requirements and so on. If it is internal networks, we can do this using inter-VLAN routing. If it is between networks in different physical locations, we can do it using VPN & Firewalls. 

If it is Azure, how we can allow traffic between two virtual networks? Well, there are two options to choose from.

1. Azure VPN Gateways

2. Azure VNET Peering 

Azure VPN Gateways

If we are connecting virtual networks over the internet, we have to use VPN gateway option. This is the same for connecting Azure networks with on-premises networks. Also, if the encryption is a requirement, we have to use VPN gateways. 

Azure VNET Peering

Azure VNET peering allows connecting virtual networks seamlessly via Azure backbone infrastructure. This is similar to inter-VLAN routing in on-premises networks. The traffic will not pass via the public internet. It provides low latency, high bandwidth connectivity between virtual networks. VNET peering can use to connect virtual networks in the same Azure region or different Azure regions. 

In this demo, I am going to demonstrate how to connect two virtual networks using Azure VNET peering. 

For the configuration process, I will be using PowerShell. Therefore, please make sure you have an Azure PowerShell module installed. More info about it can find under https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/azure/install-az-ps?view=azps-2.6.0

Create two resource groups and new virtual networks

As the first part of the configuration, I am going to create two new resource groups and two virtual networks.

1. Launch PowerShell console and connect to Azure using Connect-AzAccount

2. Then create two new resource group using,

New-AzResourceGroup -Name REBELRG1 -Location "East US"

New-AzResourceGroup -Name REBELRG2 -Location "East US"

In the above, REBELRG1 & REBELRG2 are the resource group names and East US is the resource group location.

3. The next step is to create a new virtual network under REBELRG1 resource group.

$vmsubnet  = New-AzVirtualNetworkSubnetConfig -Name vmsubnet -AddressPrefix "10.0.2.0/24"

New-AzVirtualNetwork -Name REBELVN1 -ResourceGroupName REBELRG1 -Location "East US" -AddressPrefix "10.0.0.0/16" -Subnet $vmsubnet

In the above, REBELVN1 is the new virtual network name. It has 10.0.0.0/16 address space. It also has a new subnet 10.0.2.0/24 (vmsubnet) for virtual machines. [Read more…] about Step-by-Step Guide: How to setup Azure VNET Peering? (PowerShell Guide)

Step-by-Step Guide: Crete Azure VM using Managed Image (PowerShell Guide)

Each organization has different standards when it comes to server/desktop provisioning. These standards change based on the nature of the business, compliances, server/desktop role and so on. By keeping the customized OS image simplifies the provisioning process as well as prevent configuration errors. In the local environment, we can do this simply using WDS, System Centre or other 3rd party solutions. But what if need to do the same in Azure environment ?

In this blog post, I am going to demonstrate how to create a managed image in Azure and how to use it to deploy Azure VM. 

For the configuration process, I will be using PowerShell. Therefore, please make sure you have Azure PowerShell module installed. More info about it can find under https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/azure/install-az-ps?view=azps-2.6.0

Let's go ahead and start the configuration process by creating a new resource group. 

1. Launch PowerShell console and connect to Azure using Connect-AzAccount

2. Then create a new resource group using,

New-AzResourceGroup -Name REBELRG -Location "East US"

In the above, REBELRG is the resource group name and East US is the resource group location.

3. The next step is to create a new virtual network.

$vmsubnet  = New-AzVirtualNetworkSubnetConfig -Name vmsubnet -AddressPrefix "10.0.2.0/24"

New-AzVirtualNetwork -Name REBELVN1 -ResourceGroupName REBELRG -Location "East US" -AddressPrefix "10.0.0.0/16" -Subnet $vmsubnet

In the above, REBELVN1 is the new virtual network name. It has 10.0.0.0/16 address space. It also has a new subnet 10.0.2.0/24 (vmsubnet) for virtual machines. 

[Read more…] about Step-by-Step Guide: Crete Azure VM using Managed Image (PowerShell Guide)