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Azure VMware Solution – Network Connectivity Azure VNet and On-premise

15 Feb

In this blog post, we shall take a deeper look into the Azure VMware Solution network connectivity between the Azure VNet for accessing Azure native services such as Bastion, Azure AD, SQL etc. and further connectivity to the On-premise network to migrate virtual machines or hyrbid setup.

AVS Networking – Image courtesy @Microsoft

Step 1 & 2 – Connectivity between Azure VMware Solution (AVS) – Express Route to Azure VNet

  • After the deploying the AVS we need to connect it to the Azure VNet for consuming Azure Native Services such as Bastion, SQL, AAD etc.
    • Note AVS pre-deploys the ExpressRoute for you (AVS – Manage – Connectivity – Express Route).
  • We need to have a Virtual Network Gateway (VNG) existing on Azure VNet, or we need to create one. All steps to be performed under portal.azure.com
  • Deploy the Virtual Network Gateway (VNG) on Azure subscription
    • Make sure you have a VNG created on Azure VNET
    • Give it a name – AZ104-VNG01
    • Resource Group – Select New or existing
    • Location – Australia East
    • SKU – Standard (for demo and testing purposes)
    • Virtual Network – Select the existing VNET (E.g. 10.0.0.0/16) for Azure. Note it will create the Gateway Subnet automatically (10.x.x.x/24)
    • Type – ExpressRoute
    • Public IP Address – Create New (It will auto assign a public IP)
    • Optional Create Tags
    • Save and Create
  • Under AVS – Connectivity – Express Route
    • Request the Authorization key
      • Name – ToAzureVNET
      • Copy the Key and Express Route ID
  • Open the VNG (AZ104-VNG01) and Settings – Connections
    • Click on Add
    • Name – FromAVSPrivateCloud
    • Connection Type – Express Route
    • Enter the Authorization Key and Express Route ID and paste them here
    • Click OK
    • The Status will change from Updating to Succeeded
  • Now we have the connectivity between the AVS and Azure VNet.

Step 1 & 3 – Connectivity between Azure VMware Solution – ExpressRoute Global Reach to On-premise networks

  • Now we will establish the connectivity between AVS and On-premise networks
  • ExpressRoute Circuits – This is the coming from On-premise into Azure VNet
    • This will depend upon the partner network (Equinix, Telstra etc.)
    • Note there are different type of Peerings available. Select based on your design – Azure ExpressRoute Overview: Connect over a private connection | Microsoft Docs
      • Azure Private – We are going with this option at the moment
      • Azure Public (Public IP address required)
      • Microsoft (Office 365 etc.)
    • Click under Settings – Authorizations
    • Click on Add
    • Name – AuthorizationforAVS
    • Copy the Authorization Key
    • Copy the Resource ID, which is the Express Route Circuit ID
  • Under AVS – Connectivity – ExpressRoute Global Reach
    • Click on Add
    • Select the Subscription and Resource Group
    • Copy and paste the Authorization key and Express Route Circuit ID
    • Click Create
    • It will show as Connected

The intention here is to get you a few useful links on the Networking on Azure VMware Solution:

DescriptionLinks
AVS Network Setup – Video from Trevor DavisAzure VMware Solution – Network Setup – YouTube
VMware Documentation – Using Azure ExpressRoute with AVSDesignlet: Using Azure ExpressRoute with Azure VMware Solution for On-premises Connectivity | VMware
Azure ExpressRoute PricingPricing – ExpressRoute | Microsoft Azure
Previous Blog post – Mindmap AVS Networking guidanceMindmap – Azure VMware Solution – Guidance on Deployment and Networking | AskAresh
ExpressRoute Private PeetingGitHub – microsoft/Deploy-and-Optimize-Azure-ExpressRoute-Private-Peering: This deployment guide is focused on helping you deploy and optimize the Azure private peering, which enables connectivity between your private network and your Azure VNets over ExpressRoute.
Useful Links

I hope you will find this helpful information on your AVS Networking journey. Please let me know if I have missed any steps or good reference links, and I will be happy to update the post.

Thanks,
Aresh Sarkari

VMware Community Podcast #584 – Guest Speaker on Azure VMware Solution Deployment & Networking Guidance Mindmap

9 Dec

On Dec 8th 2021 I got the oppurtunity to come to the VMware Community Podcast as a guest speaker and talk about my previously written blog post – Mindmap – Azure VMware Solution – Guidance on Deployment and Networking | AskAresh. I am told my blog post was trending among VMware Social Media feeds 🙂

It was an honour to come and speak at the podcast with host Eric L Nielsen and co-host Matt Langguth. A treat to watch and speak live, and catch-up on the signature Eric’s introduction of “Across the nation or around the world” and the “color of the bay”. The entire overall experience on the podcast was outstanding and I hope to come back again soon. Following is the Audio/Video version on Youtube the podcast is available on leading platform such as Apple, Google, Spotify etc.

I hope you find our conversation useful and feel free to revert if you have further questions.

Thanks,
Aresh

Mindmap – Azure VMware Solution – Guidance on Deployment and Networking

12 Oct

I have been trying out the Azure VMware Solution (AVS) on the VMware HOL and going through the techzone documentation. In this post, we shall take a look into these topics:

  • Mindmap – Steps for AVS Deployment and Networking
  • Quick Start Links
  • Optional – Deploy AVS via Azure Resource Manager Templates

Mindmap for AVS Deployment/Networking

Managed to put together a mindmap on the AVS deployment and networking steps of the service. The idea here is the mindmap acts like an excellent visual representation of what to do during deployment and you can figure out in advance the requirements/steps and pre-requisites.

Azure VMware Solution

Here is the PDF version if you would like to download and zoom-in

Quick Start Links

The intention here is to get you quickly started on Azure VMware Solution:

DescriptionLinks
AVS TechzoneAzure VMware Solution | VMware
AVS Hands-on LabAzure VMware Solution Hands-on Labs | VMware
AVS PricingPricing – Azure VMware Solution | Microsoft Azure
AVS (Microsoft Doco)Azure VMware Solution documentation – Azure VMware Solution | Microsoft Docs
AVS Logical DiagramAzure VMware Solution Logical Design
Useful Links

Optional – Deploying AVS using Azure Resource Manager

We can also deploy the AVS solution via PowerShell and using the Azure Resource Manager (ARM) template. The advantage here is you have slightly more advanced options that are not available via the GUI. (E.g. You can set the desired password for vCenter and NSX)

{
  "type": "Microsoft.AVS/privateClouds",
  "apiVersion": "2021-06-01",
  "name": "AE-1-AVS-01",
  "location": "Australia East",
  "tags": {
    "Billing": "IT",
    "Department": "IT"
  },
  "sku": {
    "name": "AV36"
  },
  "properties": {
    "circuit": {},
    "identitySources": [
      {
        "alias": "string",
        "baseGroupDN": "string",
        "baseUserDN": "string",
        "domain": "string",
        "name": "string",
        "password": "string",
        "primaryServer": "string",
        "secondaryServer": "string",
        "ssl": "string",
        "username": "string"
      }
    ],
    "internet": "string",
    "managementCluster": {
      "clusterSize": "3"
    },
    "networkBlock": "10.19.0.0/22",
    "nsxtPassword": "yourchoicepassword",
    "vcenterPassword": "yourchoicepassword"
  }
}

I hope you will find this helpful information on your AVS journey. Please let me know if I have missed any steps in the mindmap or reference links and I will be happy to update the post.

Thanks,
Aresh Sarkari