Create a Hosted Azure ExpressRoute Connection

Contents

Create an ExpressRoute circuit in the Azure portal
Create a PacketFabric Hosted Connection
Create the secondary connection
Configure peering
Create and link a virtual network gateway

Prerequisites

• Before you begin, you should already have a PacketFabric port and cross connect in place. For more information, see Create a Port.

• Review the steps outlined in the process overview.

Create an ExpressRoute circuit in the Azure portal

1. From the Microsoft Azure portal, use the search bar to find the ExpressRoute circuits page.

   

2. Click Create.

   

3. Under Basics, complete the following fields:

   • Header row

     • Field
     • Description

   • Row 1

     • Subscription
     • Your subscription is created at the account level and determines how you are billed.

   • Row 2

     • Resource group

     • The resource group is like a directory folder. You can use resource groups to perform bulk operations on resources. For example, you can cascade permissions, create copies, delete groups, and so on.

       Each resource can only belong to one group, and the group can only belong to one subscription.

   • Row 2

     • Region

     • Select the Azure region that works best for you. This region represents the availability zone or data center in which a resource is located.

       The region does not need to be the same as the PacketFabric on-ramp. For example, you might want to keep resources that are in a group within the same region or spread them among various regions for redundancy.

   • Row 2

     • Name
     • Provide a meaningful name for the circuit.

4. Under Configuration, complete the following fields:

   • Header row
     • Field
     • Description
   • Row 1
     • Port type
     • Select Provider.
   • Row 2
     • Create new or import from classic
     • Create new.
   • Row 2
     • Provider
     • Select PacketFabric.
   • Row 2
     • Peering location
     • Select from the available locations. This is the PacketFabric on-ramp.
   • Row 2
     • Bandwidth
     • Select your capacity.
   • Row 2

     • SKU

     • Select your service tier.

       The Premium add-on allows connectivity between geopolitical regions, more prefixes, and more virtual network connections. For more information, see Microsoft - What is ExpressRoute premium?

   • Row 2

     • Billing model

     • Select the appropriate billing model.

       This only applies to Microsoft’s billing model. All PacketFabric hosted cloud connections are billed separately and at a flat monthly rate.

       • Metered: Billed according to usage.
       • Unlimited: Pay a flat monthly rate.
   • Row 2

     • Allow classic operations

     • No - This is the default selection, and is appropriate in most situations.

       You would only need to select Yes if you are planning to connect to resources that were deployed under Azure’s classic model. This would include any resources created before 2014 that have not been migrated and/or post-2014 resources that you created through the classic portal.

5. Under Tags, you can optionally add name/value pairs. Tags allow you to organize resources across resource groups. They can be applied to subscriptions, resource groups, and resources.

   For example, you could use tags to note location (e.g. city: richmond or building: d ) and environments (e.g. environment: test or state: beta ).

6. Review your selections and click Create.

7. It might take a few moments for your circuit to deploy. When complete, click Go to resource.

   

   NOTE: If you do not see the Go to resource action, click Refresh or go to the resources page and re-select the ExpressRoute circuit.

8. From the ExpressRoute circuit overview page, locate the service key and copy it to your clipboard.

   

Create a PacketFabric Hosted Connection

1. Log in to the PacketFabric portal. Select Hosted Cloud from the menu on the left.

2. From the Hosted Clouds page, click Create Hosted Cloud in the upper right.

   NOTE: Read Only users do not see this action. If you need to create a connection and have Read Only permissions, contact your account administrator.

Complete the following fields:

Under the billing section on the right, select a term and the appropriate billing account to use. You can also optionally specify a PO number to associate with the service. The PO number will be included on your monthly invoice.

Click Place order.

Create the secondary connection

Each Microsoft service key allows for a primary and secondary circuit connection. See the diagram in Microsoft ExpressRoute Overview.

The first time you use your Microsoft service key to set up a connection, PacketFabric automatically provisions your primary circuit connection.

If you set up another connection using the same service key, PacketFabric provisions the secondary circuit connection.

Use the same VLAN IDs, capacity, and on-ramp location you used for the primary connection.

However, you must select a different source port; we do not support landing both the primary and secondary connection on the same PacketFabric access port.

Configure peering

When the cloud connection has completed provisioning, return to the Azure portal and refresh the ExpressRoute overview page.

The provider status should update to the Provisioned status:

When you configure peering, you are asked to provide VLAN IDs. Use the IDs you provided when you created your PacketFabric circuit above.

To confirm which IDs you are using, navigate to the port details page for the source port and view the Active VCs table.

Private peering

Click Azure private to configure a private connection to your Azure VNet.

Select Enable peering and then complete the following fields:

For more information, see the following Microsoft articles:

• ExpressRoute routing requirements

• Optimize ExpressRoute routing

Microsoft peering

Set up Microsoft peering if you are using Microsoft 365 or Office 365 and would like to provide on-premises users with a dedicated connection. Microsoft 365 apps still require public internet endpoints.

Select Enable peering and then complete the following fields:

For more information, see the following Microsoft articles:

• ExpressRoute routing requirements.

• Optimize ExpressRoute routing

• Azure ExpressRoute for Office 365

• Routing with ExpressRoute for Office 365

Create and link a virtual network gateway

Create a virtual network gateway for ExpressRoute

Before you continue, consider whether you want to utilize Azure’s zone-redundant gateways. For more information, see see High Availability and Redundancy in ExpressRoute Connections.

1. Use the search bar at the top of the Azure portal to find and select Virtual network gateways.

   

2. Click Add.

   

3. Under Basics, complete the following fields:

   • Header row
     • Field
     • Description
   • Row 1
     • Subscription
     • Select the subscription associated with your virtual network.
   • Row 2
     • Resource group
     • The resource group is autopopulated based on the virtual network you select.
   • Row 2
     • Name
     • Provide a meaningful name for the gateway.
   • Row 2
     • Region
     • Select the region associated with your virtual network.
   • Row 2
     • Gateway type
     • Select ExpressRoute.
   • Row 2

     • SKU

     • Select one of the following:

       • Standard/ErGw1AZ: 1,000 Megabits/second
       • High Performance/ErGw2AZ: 2,000 Megabits/second
       • Ultra Performance/ErGw3AZ: 10,000 Megabits/second

       The SKUs that begin with ErGw indicate that the gateway is in a zone-redundant region.

       If you are planning to implement FastPath, you must select the Ultra Performance gateway.

       For more information about the differences between SKUs, see Estimated performances by gateway SKU.

   • Row 2
     • Virtual network
     • Select the virtual network to which you are connecting.
   • Row 2

     • Public IP address

     • Select a previously created IP address or create a new one. If you are using zone-redundant gateways, the IP address must have a Standard SKU.

       For more information, see Microsoft - Public IP addresses.

4. Click Next to add tags (optional).

5. Click Next and then Create.

Link a virtual network gateway to the ExpressRoute circuit

1. In the Azure portal, go to the overview page for your ExpressRoute circuit.

2. From the menu on the left, select Connections.

   

3. Click Add.

4. Provide a meaningful name and then click Next.

5. Under Settings, complete the following fields:

   • Header row
     • Field
     • Description
   • Row 1
     • Virtual network gateway
     • Select the gateway leading to the appropriate virtual network.
   • Row 2
     • Redeem authorization
     • Select this if the virtual network is under a different subscription than the ExpressRoute circuit. For more information, see Microsoft - Connect a VNet to a circuit - different subscription.
   • Row 2

     • Routing weight

     • The routing weight is relevant when both of the following conditions are met:

       • A virtual network is connected to multiple circuits,

         AND

       • Those circuits are advertising the same network prefixes.

       In that situation, traffic is sent to the ExpressRoute circuit with the highest routing weight. You can enter a value between 0 and 32000.

6. Click Next to add tags (optional).

7. Click Next and then Create.

Next steps

If you are using Microsoft 365 peering, you also need to set up route filters. For more information, see Configure route filters for Microsoft peering.

Related APIs

• Cloud Services - Azure