What is Microsoft Azure Networking used for?

Microsoft Azure Networking is a set of cloud computing services provided by Microsoft Azure to enable the creation and management of networking infrastructure in the Azure cloud environment. These services play a crucial role in facilitating communication and connectivity within and outside Azure resources. Here are some key aspects and functionalities of Microsoft Azure Networking: 1. **Virtual Networks (VNet):** Azure Virtual Networks allow you to create isolated, private, and securely connected networks in the Azure cloud. They enable the segmentation of Azure resources and provide a way to define and control communication between these resources. 2. **Subnets:** Within a Virtual Network, you can create subnets to organize and partition resources. Subnets help in controlling network traffic and allow you to apply network security policies more granularly. 3. **Network Security Groups (NSG):** NSGs are used to filter network traffic to and from Azure resources within a Virtual Network. They allow you to define inbound and outbound security rules to control access to resources based on IP addresses, port ranges, and protocols. 4. **Azure Firewall:** Azure Firewall is a managed network security service that provides stateful firewall capabilities for your Virtual Network. It allows you to create and enforce policies to govern traffic flows between your Azure resources and the internet. 5. **Azure Load Balancer:** Azure Load Balancer distributes incoming network traffic across multiple servers to ensure no single server becomes overwhelmed. This helps in achieving high availability and reliability for applications. 6. **VPN Gateway:** Azure VPN Gateway enables the creation of secure, site-to-site connections between your on-premises network and your Azure Virtual Network. It also supports point-to-site connections, allowing individual devices to connect securely to Azure over the internet. 7. **Azure ExpressRoute:** ExpressRoute provides dedicated, private network connections between your on-premises data centers and Azure. It offers higher reliability, lower latency, and more predictable performance compared to internet-based connections. 8. **Azure Traffic Manager:** Azure Traffic Manager is a DNS-based traffic load balancer that distributes user traffic across global Azure data centers. It helps improve application availability and responsiveness. 9. **Azure Application Gateway:** This service provides application-level routing and load balancing services that allow you to build scalable and highly available web applications. 10. **Network Watcher:** Network Watcher is a monitoring and diagnostic service that provides tools to monitor, diagnose, view metrics, and enable or disable logs for resources in an Azure Virtual Network. In summary, Microsoft Azure Networking is a comprehensive set of services that enable you to design, implement, and manage networking solutions in the Azure cloud, providing the foundation for building secure, scalable, and interconnected applications and services.