Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
68 lines (45 loc) · 4.91 KB

cache-network-isolation.md

File metadata and controls

68 lines (45 loc) · 4.91 KB
title description author ms.author ms.service ms.topic ms.date
Azure Cache for Redis network isolation options
In this article, you’ll learn how to determine the best network isolation solution for your needs. We’ll go through the basics of Azure Private Link, Azure Virtual Network (VNet) injection, and Azure Firewall Rules with their advantages and limitations.
flang-msft
franlanglois
cache
conceptual
10/15/2020

Azure Cache for Redis network isolation options

In this article, you’ll learn how to determine the best network isolation solution for your needs. We’ll discuss the basics of Azure Private Link, Azure Virtual Network (VNet) injection, and Azure Firewall Rules. We'll discuss their advantages and limitations.

Azure Private Link

Azure Private Link provides private connectivity from a virtual network to Azure PaaS services. Private Link simplifies the network architecture and secures the connection between endpoints in Azure. Private Link also secures the connection by eliminating data exposure to the public internet.

Advantages of Private Link

  • Supported on Basic, Standard, and Premium Azure Cache for Redis instances.
  • By using Azure Private Link, you can connect to an Azure Cache instance from your virtual network via a private endpoint. The endpoint is assigned a private IP address in a subnet within the virtual network. With this private link, cache instances are available from both within the VNet and publicly.
  • Once a private endpoint is created, access to the public network can be restricted through the publicNetworkAccess flag. This flag is set to Disabled by default, which will only allow private link access. You can set the value to Enabled or Disabled with a PATCH request. For more information, see Azure Cache for Redis with Azure Private Link.
  • All external cache dependencies won't affect the VNet's NSG rules.

Limitations of Private Link

  • Network security groups (NSG) are disabled for private endpoints. However, if there are other resources on the subnet, NSG enforcement will apply to those resources.
  • Currently, portal console support, and persistence to firewall storage accounts aren't supported.
  • To connect to a clustered cache, publicNetworkAccess needs to be set to Disabled and there can only be one private endpoint connection.

Note

When adding a private endpoint to a cache instance, all Redis traffic will be moved to the private endpoint because of the DNS. Ensure previous firewall rules are adjusted before.

Azure Virtual Network injection

VNet is the fundamental building block for your private network in Azure. VNet enables many Azure resources to securely communicate with each other, the internet, and on-premises networks. VNet is like a traditional network you would operate in your own data center. However, VNet also has the benefits of Azure infrastructure, scale, availability, and isolation.

Advantages of VNet injection

  • When an Azure Cache for Redis instance is configured with a VNet, it's not publicly addressable. It can only be accessed from virtual machines and applications within the VNet.
  • When VNet is combined with restricted NSG policies, it helps reduce the risk of data exfiltration.
  • VNet deployment provides enhanced security and isolation for your Azure Cache for Redis. Subnets, access control policies, and other features further restrict access.
  • Geo-replication is supported.

Limitations of VNet injection

  • VNet injected caches are only available for Premium Azure Cache for Redis.
  • When using a VNet injected cache, you must change your VNet to cache dependencies such as CRLs/PKI, AKV, Azure Storage, Azure Monitor, and more.

Azure Firewall rules

Azure Firewall is a managed, cloud-based network security service that protects your Azure VNet resources. It’s a fully stateful firewall as a service with built-in high availability and unrestricted cloud scalability. You can centrally create, enforce, and log application and network connectivity policies across subscriptions and virtual networks.

Advantages of firewall rules

  • When firewall rules are configured, only client connections from the specified IP address ranges can connect to the cache. Connections from Azure Cache for Redis monitoring systems are always permitted, even if firewall rules are configured. NSG rules that you define are also permitted.

Limitations of firewall rules

  • Firewall rules can be used with VNet injected caches, but not private endpoints currently.

Next steps