Blog ENG - MS Azure - Post 3 2024
In today’s fast-paced digital world, businesses require robust and reliable connectivity solutions to ensure seamless operations. Microsoft Azure’s ExpressRoute Direct is a game-changer, offering direct connectivity into the Microsoft global network at strategically distributed peering locations worldwide. This article delves into the key features, technical requirements, and benefits of ExpressRoute Direct.
What is ExpressRoute Direct?
ExpressRoute Direct provides dual 100-Gbps or 10-Gbps connectivity, supporting Active/Active connectivity at scale. This service allows you to work with any service provider to set up a direct connection to the Microsoft global network, ensuring high performance and reliability.
Key Features of ExpressRoute Direct
ExpressRoute Direct offers several key features that make it an ideal choice for businesses with demanding connectivity needs:
- Large Data Ingestion: Ideal for services like Azure Storage and Azure Cosmos DB, enabling efficient handling of large volumes of data.
- Physical Isolation: Essential for industries such as banking, government, and retail that require dedicated or isolated connectivity.
- Granular Control: Allows for precise control of circuit distribution based on business units, ensuring optimal resource allocation.
ExpressRoute Direct Infrastructure
To leverage ExpressRoute Direct, you need a 100-Gbps or 10-Gbps infrastructure and full management of all layers. This setup provides direct and dedicated capacity, making it suitable for regulated industries and large data ingestion scenarios.
Circuit SKUs
Customers can select from various circuit SKUs based on their bandwidth requirements:
- 100-Gbps ExpressRoute Direct:
- 5 Gbps
- 10 Gbps
- 40 Gbps
- 100 Gbps
- 10-Gbps ExpressRoute Direct:
- 1 Gbps
- 2 Gbps
- 5 Gbps
- 10 Gbps
ExpressRoute Direct Circuits
Azure ExpressRoute extends your on-premises network into the Microsoft cloud over a private connection. Each peering location has access to the Microsoft global network, allowing access to any region in a geopolitical zone by default. Premium circuits enable access to global regions.
ExpressRoute Direct circuits offer additional capabilities, such as enabling or disabling rate limiting at the circuit level, supporting large data ingestion scenarios, and providing multiple virtual circuits on physical port pairs.
Technical Requirements
To set up ExpressRoute Direct, you need to meet specific technical requirements:
- Microsoft Enterprise Edge Router (MSEE) Interfaces:
- Dual 10 Gigabit or 100-Gigabit Ethernet ports across router pairs
- Single Mode LR Fiber connectivity
- Support for QSFP-100G-LR-4 for 100Gbps
- IPv4 and IPv6
- IP MTU 1500 bytes
- Switch/Router Layer 2/Layer 3 Connectivity:
- Support for 802.1Q (Dot1Q) or QinQ tag encapsulation
- Ethertype = 0x8100
- Outer VLAN tag (STAG) based on VLAN ID specified by Microsoft
- Multiple BGP sessions (VLANs) per port and device
- Optional Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) support
VLAN Tagging
ExpressRoute Direct supports both QinQ and Dot1Q VLAN tagging:
- QinQ VLAN Tagging: Allows for isolated routing domains on a per ExpressRoute circuit basis. Azure dynamically assigns an S-Tag at circuit creation, with each peering using a unique C-Tag.
- Dot1Q VLAN Tagging: Allows for a single tagged VLAN on a per ExpressRoute Direct port pair basis, with unique C-Tags across all circuits and peerings.
Service Level Agreement (SLA)
ExpressRoute Direct provides an enterprise-grade SLA with Active/Active redundant connections into the Microsoft Global Network. The infrastructure is redundant, ensuring diverse and scalable connectivity to meet customer requirements.