Mastering Virtual Hub Routing in Azure Virtual WAN

The Azure Virtual WAN service provides a powerful and flexible routing solution for your hybrid and multi-cloud networks. At the heart of this solution is the virtual hub, which serves as the central point of connectivity and routing for your network. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore how to configure and manage virtual hub routing using the Azure portal, empowering you to optimize your network’s performance and connectivity.

Understanding Virtual Hub Routing

A virtual hub can contain multiple gateways, including site-to-site VPN, ExpressRoute, and point-to-site gateways, as well as Azure Firewall. The routing capabilities within the virtual hub are provided by a router that manages all routing, including transit routing, between these gateways using Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). This virtual hub router also enables transit connectivity between virtual networks connected to the virtual hub, with the ability to support up to 50 Gbps of aggregate throughput.

These powerful routing capabilities are available to customers using the Standard Virtual WAN offering. For a deeper dive into virtual hub routing, be sure to check out the About virtual hub routing article.

Creating a Route Table

Let’s start by creating a custom route table within the virtual hub. This will allow you to define and manage the routing behavior for your network connections.

  1. In the Azure portal, navigate to your virtual hub and select Route Tables in the left-hand menu.
  2. Click + Create route table to open the Create Route Table page.
  3. On the Basics tab, provide a name for your route table and the individual route. Then, configure the destination type, prefix, next hop, and optional next hop IP address.
  4. Move to the Labels tab to logically group your route tables, if desired.
  5. On the Associations tab, select the connections (branches, virtual networks, etc.) that you want to associate with this route table.
  6. Finally, on the Propagations tab, choose the settings to propagate routes from the associated connections to this route table.
  7. Review your settings and click Create to finalize the route table.

Editing Route Tables and Routes

If you need to make changes to an existing route table or individual routes, the process is straightforward:

  1. Navigate to the Route Tables page in your virtual hub.
  2. Click the name of the route table you want to edit.
  3. On the Edit route table page, make the necessary changes to the route table or individual routes.
  4. Click Review + create to apply the updates.

Deleting Routes and Route Tables

Occasionally, you may need to remove a route or even an entire route table. Here’s how:

  1. Go to the Route Tables page in your virtual hub.
  2. To delete a route, locate the route in the list, click the ellipsis (…) at the end of the row, and select Remove.
  3. To delete a route table, select the checkbox next to the route table you want to delete (do not click the name), then click the ellipsis (…) and select Delete.

Viewing Effective Routes

Understanding the effective routes in your virtual hub is crucial for troubleshooting and optimizing your network. To view the effective routes:

  1. Navigate to your virtual hub and select Effective Routes in the left-hand menu.
  2. From the dropdown menus, select the route table you want to inspect.
  3. The Effective Routes page will display the routes that have been propagated to the selected route table.
  4. If needed, you can download this information to a CSV file for further analysis.

Configuring Routing for Virtual Network Connections

Finally, let’s review the process for configuring routing for your virtual network connections to the virtual hub:

  1. In the Azure portal, go to your virtual hub and select Virtual Network Connections in the left-hand menu.
  2. Click the name of the virtual network connection you want to configure.
  3. On the Edit virtual network connection page, you can customize the routing settings for that connection.

By following the steps outlined in this guide, you’ll be well on your way to mastering virtual hub routing in Azure Virtual WAN. Remember, the About virtual hub routing and Virtual WAN FAQ articles are excellent resources for further information and troubleshooting.

Happy routing!