In this post, we will learn how to create Azure Virtual Networks. Before that, I would recommend going through our blog on IP Addressing and Subnetting as we would use them while creating Virtual Networks on Azure.
In an Organization, to manage resources, you need networks. A Network can be a group of devices linked to each other for sharing resources such as computers, printers, etc. A Network can be a wired or wireless connection. Similarly, a Network on Cloud/Azure is called Virtual Network. Why Virtual? Because it does not have any physical routers or switches. Similarly, to build networks on Azure, we have Virtual Networks.
What are Azure Virtual Networks?
Azure Virtual Networks are one of the core components that help you build private networks in your organization. They help your Azure resources to communicate securely across regions. For any two Azure resources to Communicate, you need a Virtual Network (V-net).
Core Components of v-net’s include subnets and network security groups (NSG’s).
- Subnets are a group of IP address Ranges that help you build efficient networks by segregating/dividing them into smaller networks.
- Network Security Groups (NSG’s) are rules that you apply across subnets or v-nets to control the network traffic.
NOTE! Communication within or across v-nets in Azure happens using private IP Addressing, and the data packets will never leave the Azure backbone network.
Steps to create Virtual Network on Azure
Below is a step-by-step guide to creating a Virtual Network and the things you need to configure while creating the network.
- Login to the Azure Portal, you can search for Virtual Networks in the search bar at the top or you can select Virtual Networks from the list of recent resources listed as highlighted below.
- Click on Create from the operations listed.
- Select Subscription, Resource Group, provide a name to the Virtual Network that you are going to create along with the region where you would like to create the Virtual Network. Once all the details are provided, Click on Next : IP Addresses >
- Under IP Addresses section by default you will see a CIDR already present and also a subnet created by default as highlighted below, you can either go by default CIDR and subnet or you can add a new CIDR and subnet. Here, I am adding a new CIDR 172.16.0.0/24 and also lets see how to create a new subnet. Once you have given CIDR of your choice, 172.16.0.0/24 in this case. Click on Add Subnet.
- On right hand side, a pane will be displayed to enter the subnet details as below. Provide details like subnet name, address range etc. If you notice the highlighted section under subnet address range, it shows you the no. of IP addresses that can be used. I have tried to explain this in my blog IP Addressing in Azure. Please go through this blog for better understanding of IP Address allocation in Azure. Once you have provided all the details, Click on Add.
- Once you click on Add, you should be able to see that the new subnet successfully created under subnets section. Leaving rest of the sections default. go-ahead and click on Review + Create.
- Once the validation is successful, you can click on Create. If the validation fails you can go back and check if you have missed something.
- Once the Virtual Network is created, you can go-to the virtual network and see if it has been created as expected. You can go-to subnets section in the left pane to check if the subnets were created successfully. Also, you can try and create a new subnet anytime you like.
That brings us to the end of this blog. In the coming articles, we will take a look at Virtual Network peering to establish communication between two Virtual Networks.