Megaport - Azure ExpressRoute CXCs
Azure ExpressRoute lets you create private connections between Azure datacenters and your
IT environments. ExpressRoute connections don’t go over the public Internet and offer more
reliability, faster speeds, lower latencies, and higher security than typical Internet connections.
Features and Benefits
•
High speed, lower latency allows for faster access to Azure & Office 365 services.
•
Enable your borderless data center by interconnecting your data infrastructure
services, securely and privately. (For example, the ability to provision multiple VXCs
to different network locations and cloud environments important to your business.)
•
Our pay as you go model and automated provisioning using our online portal or set
of API’s gives you the flexibility and visibility in each of your services.
•
We offer redundant and diverse connectivity to provide reliability across your
network.
Three step process
1. Order AzureExpressRoute with Office 365 through Powershell - selecting Megaport
as the provider
2. Use your ExpressRoute service key to order a Megaport VXC
3. Configure your network and start consuming Azure and or Office 365 over
ExpressRoute
Overview
A single ExpressRoute circuit can provide connectivity to up to 10 Azure Virtual Networks, all
public Azure resources in the region as well as Microsoft public services such as Office 365.
Megaport provides point-to-point layer 2 connectivity between a customer port and Azure (a
“VXC”). BGP sessions are established between Azure and Megaport customers directly.
When you order ExpressRoute, Azure will always provision a pair of redundant circuits. A
Megaport VXC can connect to either the primary or redundant circuit. It is not necessary to
maintain VXC connections to both circuits.
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Azure ExpressRoute Pricing
Click for Microsoft Pricing
Azure ExpressRoute attracts charges to your Azure account, in addition to the VXC charged by
Megaport. Azure charges include a monthly port fee as well as outbound data charges.
Use PowerShell to order Azure ExpressRoute prior to placing your connection via the
Megaport Portal.
Bandwidth
Within powershell you can nominate your Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute bandwidth speeds. The
bandwidth will be shared between Azure resources and Office 365. Available speeds are 50M,
100M, 200M, 500M, 1G, 2G, 5G, 10G. The bandwidth does not need to match the speed of your
VXC. You may order VXCs at any speed up to the ExpressRoute circuit bandwidth. You can modify
the ExpressRoute bandwidth at any time.
Location
You do not need to have a Megaport in the same city as Azure or Office 365. You may order a
VXC from any connected Megaport location. For example:
• ‘Sydney’ to connect to the Azure Australia East region
• ‘Melbourne’ to connect to the Azure Australia South East region
• ‘Los Angeles’ to connect to the Azure West US region
• ‘New York’ to connect to the Azure East US region
Additional Azure regions available through Megaport.
Click for more Azure regions
Network Configuration
ExpressRoute supports three discreet connections over a single ExpressRoute circuit:
•
Private Peering - Connectivity to up to 10 Azure Virtual Networks
•
Public Peering - Connectivity to all public Azure resources in the region
•
Microsoft Peering - Connectivity to public Microsoft services, such as Office 365
Click for more technical details
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All three connections are supported in a single Megaport VXC. Each connection is delivered as a
Q-in-Q VLAN and requires a dedicated BGP session.
The Megaport VXC is presented on the outermost VLAN tag (shown in blue). The VLAN ID is
agreed between the customer and Megaport when ordering the VXC, and must be unique to
the port.
The inner VLAN tags are agreed between the customer and Azure. They are configured using the
Powershell console at the time of setting up the connection and IP addressing.
Private Peering
Public Peering
Azure VXC
Microsoft Peering
VXC
MEGAPORT
VXC
Each connection requires a dedicated BGP session between the customer and Azure. Using
Powershell, it is up to the customer to assign an IP subnet for use as the primary and secondary
BGP session for each connection type. It is necessary to assign both a primary and secondary IP
subnet even in if only the primary or secondary circuit will be in use.
Private peering sessions may use private IP addresses and a private autonomous system
number, while Public peering and Microsoft peering require the use of public IP addresses and
autonomous system numbers.
In order to meet the requirement for public IP addresses on Microsoft peering, customers may
make use of Source Network Address Translation (SNAT). In addition, the Microsoft peering
connection requires the use of Network Address Translation (NAT) for packets sourced from
Microsoft (SNAT). This configuration is sometimes known as reverse NAT.
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Further Reading
> ExpressRoute Technical Introduction
> ExpressRoute FAQ
> Linking VNets to ExpressRoute
> Linking multiple subscriptions to one ExpressRoute
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