Design and implement service endpoints and private endpoints for Azure Storage

Microsoft Azure provides various services, including Azure Storage, which allows you to store and manage your data in the cloud. When working with Azure Storage, it is important to consider the security and access controls to protect your data. In this article, we will explore how to design and implement service endpoints and private endpoints for Azure Storage, specifically in the context of planning and administering Azure for SAP workloads.

Service endpoints for Azure Storage

Azure service endpoints allow you to secure your Azure Storage accounts to your virtual networks. By enabling service endpoints, all traffic between the virtual network and the Azure Storage account is routed through the Microsoft backbone network, without going through the public internet. This improves security and performance.

To design and implement service endpoints for Azure Storage, follow these steps:

Step 1: Create a virtual network (VNet)

To enable service endpoints for Azure Storage, you need to have a virtual network. If you already have a virtual network, you can skip this step.

To create a virtual network, you can use the Azure portal, Azure PowerShell, Azure CLI, or ARM templates. For example, using Azure CLI, you can use the following command:

az network vnet create --name MyVNet --resource-group MyResourceGroup --location eastus --address-prefixes 10.0.0.0/16

Step 2: Enable service endpoints for Azure Storage

Once you have a virtual network, you can enable service endpoints for Azure Storage. This can be done using the Azure portal, Azure PowerShell, Azure CLI, or ARM templates. For example, using the Azure portal, you can follow these steps:

1. Go to the Azure portal and navigate to your virtual network.
2. In the settings section, click on “Service endpoints.”
3. Click on “Add service endpoint” and select “Microsoft.Storage” as the service.
4. Select the subscription and the Azure Storage account for which you want to enable the service endpoint.
5. Click on “Add” to enable the service endpoint.

Step 3: Configure network security group (NSG) rules

By default, service endpoints allow all traffic from the virtual network to the Azure Storage account. However, you may want to further limit access by configuring network security group (NSG) rules.

You can create NSG rules that only allow traffic from specific subnets or IP ranges within your virtual network. This provides additional security by restricting access to the Azure Storage account from within your virtual network.

To create NSG rules, you can use the Azure portal, Azure PowerShell, Azure CLI, or ARM templates. For example, using Azure PowerShell, you can use the following command:

$subnet = Get-AzVirtualNetworkSubnetConfig -VirtualNetworkName MyVNet -Name MySubnet
$nsg = Get-AzNetworkSecurityGroup -Name MyNSG -ResourceGroupName MyResourceGroup
$nsg | Add-AzNetworkSecurityRuleConfig -Name StorageAccess -Description "Allow access to Azure Storage" -Access Allow -Protocol Tcp -Direction Inbound -Priority 100 -SourceAddressPrefix $subnet.AddressPrefix -SourcePortRange * -DestinationAddressPrefix "*" -DestinationPortRange 443
$nsg | Set-AzNetworkSecurityGroup

Private endpoints for Azure Storage

In addition to service endpoints, Azure also provides private endpoints for Azure Storage. Private endpoints allow you to access your Azure Storage account over a private IP address within your virtual network. This further enhances security by preventing any public internet access to your storage account.

To design and implement private endpoints for Azure Storage, follow these steps:

Step 1: Create a private DNS zone

Before creating a private endpoint, you need to create a private DNS zone. The private DNS zone is used to resolve the DNS name of the storage account to the private IP address within your virtual network.

To create a private DNS zone, you can use the Azure portal, Azure PowerShell, Azure CLI, or ARM templates. For example, using the Azure portal, you can follow these steps:

1. Go to the Azure portal and navigate to your virtual network.
2. In the settings section, click on “Private DNS zones.”
3. Click on “+Add” and provide a name for the private DNS zone.
4. Select the resource group and virtual network for the private DNS zone.
5. Click on “Review + Create” and then “Create” to create the private DNS zone.

Step 2: Create a private endpoint

Once you have a private DNS zone, you can create a private endpoint for your Azure Storage account. This can be done using the Azure portal, Azure PowerShell, Azure CLI, or ARM templates. For example, using the Azure portal, you can follow these steps:

1. Go to the Azure portal and navigate to your Azure Storage account.
2. In the settings section, click on “Private endpoint connections.”
3. Click on “+Add” and provide a name for the private endpoint connection.
4. Select the subscription, resource group, and virtual network for the private endpoint connection.
5. Select the private DNS zone created in the previous step.
6. Click on “Review + Create” and then “Create” to create the private endpoint.

Step 3: Connect to Azure Storage using the private endpoint

Once the private endpoint is created, you can connect to your Azure Storage account using the private IP address within your virtual network. This ensures that all traffic between your virtual network and the storage account remains within the private network.

To connect to Azure Storage using the private endpoint, you can use the storage account name and the private IP address. For example, if the private IP address of your storage account is 10.0.0.4, you can use the following connection string in your code:

BlobServiceClient blobServiceClient = new BlobServiceClient(“DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;AccountName=myaccount;AccountKey=mykey;EndpointSuffix=core.windows.net;BlobEndpoint=https://10.0.0.4/mycontainer”);

Summary

In this article, we have explored how to design and implement service endpoints and private endpoints for Azure Storage in the context of planning and administering Azure for SAP workloads. By enabling service endpoints, you can secure your Azure Storage accounts to your virtual networks, improving security and performance. Private endpoints take it a step further by allowing access to the storage account over a private IP address within your virtual network, preventing any public internet access. By following these steps, you can ensure the secure and efficient usage of Azure Storage within your SAP workloads on Azure.