Azure Route Server is a fully managed Azure service that revolutionizes how you handle routing in your virtual networks. It streamlines the integration of Network Virtual Appliances (NVAs) by enabling dynamic routing via the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). Forget the complexities of manual route table configurations; Azure Route Server automates the process, ensuring seamless communication between your NVAs and your Azure Virtual Network. This high-availability service simplifies network management, reduces operational overhead, and enhances the agility of your cloud infrastructure.
How Azure Route Server Simplifies Network Routing
Azure Route Server acts as a central routing hub within your virtual network, facilitating dynamic route exchange between Azure’s Software Defined Network (SDN) and your NVAs. By leveraging BGP, the industry-standard routing protocol, Route Server eliminates the need for manual route configurations and maintenance.
Consider a scenario with an SD-WAN NVA managing connectivity to your on-premises network and a security NVA inspecting internet-bound traffic. Once you establish BGP peering with Azure Route Server, these NVAs can advertise their routes. For example, the SD-WAN appliance might advertise a route to your on-premises network (e.g., 10.250.0.0/16), while the firewall could advertise a default route (0.0.0.0/0).
Azure Route Server then intelligently distributes these routes to all virtual machines within the virtual network. Consequently, traffic destined for the on-premises network is automatically directed to the SD-WAN appliance, and internet-bound traffic is routed through the firewall. In reverse, Azure Route Server advertises the virtual network address space (e.g., 10.1.0.0/16) to both NVAs, enabling them to propagate this information further as needed.
Key Advantages of Azure Route Server
Implementing Azure Route Server offers significant benefits for managing NVAs in Azure:
- Simplified Configuration: Say goodbye to manual updates of NVA routing tables. Azure Route Server dynamically adjusts routes based on virtual network address changes, eliminating manual intervention.
- Automated Route Management: User-Defined Routes (UDRs) become a thing of the past for NVA integration. Azure Route Server automatically learns and propagates new routes advertised by your NVAs and removes outdated ones, ensuring routing accuracy and reducing administrative burden.
- Scalable NVA Deployment: Easily peer multiple NVA instances with Azure Route Server. Configure BGP attributes on your NVAs to designate active or passive roles, enabling active-active setups for enhanced performance or active-passive configurations for high resiliency.
- Standards-Based Compatibility: Built on the BGP protocol, Azure Route Server seamlessly integrates with a wide range of NVAs that support this industry standard. This interoperability provides flexibility in choosing your preferred networking solutions.
- Flexible Deployment: Deploy Azure Route Server in both new and existing virtual networks, allowing you to integrate dynamic routing into your current Azure infrastructure without significant modifications.
Understanding Azure Route Server Limits
While Azure Route Server offers robust capabilities, it’s important to be aware of the following limitations per deployment:
| Resource | Limit |
|---|---|
| Number of BGP peers | 8 |
| Number of routes each BGP peer can advertise to Azure Route Server 1 | 1,000 |
| Number of VMs in the virtual network (including peered virtual networks) that Azure Route Server can support | 4,000 |
| Number of virtual networks that Azure Route Server can support | 500 |
| Number of total on-premises and Azure Virtual Network prefixes that Azure Route Server can support | 10,000 |
Note 1: Exceeding the route advertisement limit from an NVA will result in the BGP session being dropped.
It’s also crucial to note that when Branch-to-branch is enabled, the combined number of routes advertised from the virtual network address space and Route Server towards an ExpressRoute circuit should not exceed 1,000. Refer to ExpressRoute route advertisement limits for further details.
Azure Route Server Pricing and SLA
For detailed pricing information, please consult the Azure Route Server pricing page.
Azure Route Server is backed by a robust Service Level Agreement (SLA), ensuring high availability and reliability. You can find comprehensive SLA details in the Service Level Agreements (SLA) for Online Services.
Explore the Azure Route Server FAQ
For quick answers to common questions and troubleshooting tips, refer to the Azure Route Server FAQ. This resource provides valuable insights into common scenarios and best practices for utilizing Azure Route Server effectively.
