Continued Operations Solution for Azure and On-Premises VMs Communication

Ensure Business Continuity: Solutions for Azure VMs and On-Premises Communication

Question

A company hosts virtual machines (VMs) in an on-premises datacenter and in Azure. The on-premises and Azure-based VMs communicate using ExpressRoute.

The company wants to be able to continue regular operations if the ExpressRoute connection fails. Failover connections must use the Internet and must not require Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) support.

You need to recommend a solution that provides continued operations.

What should you recommend?

Answers

Explanations

Click on the arrows to vote for the correct answer

A. B. C. D.

D

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/hybrid-networking/expressroute-vpn-failover

The company currently uses ExpressRoute to enable communication between on-premises and Azure-based virtual machines. ExpressRoute is a dedicated private connection between the company's on-premises infrastructure and Azure datacenters that provides more reliability, faster speeds, and lower latencies than typical internet connections. However, in the event of an ExpressRoute failure, the company wants to ensure that regular operations can continue without any major disruption.

Option A, which involves setting up a second ExpressRoute connection, is a viable solution. This approach would involve duplicating the ExpressRoute connection to create a redundant path for communication in the event of an outage. The downside to this solution is that it can be expensive to maintain multiple ExpressRoute connections.

Option B, increasing the bandwidth of the existing ExpressRoute connection, is also a valid solution. By increasing the bandwidth of the ExpressRoute connection, the company can ensure that communication between on-premises and Azure-based virtual machines continues to operate at an acceptable level even in the event of increased traffic due to an outage. However, this approach can also be expensive, as the cost of the ExpressRoute connection increases with the amount of bandwidth allocated.

Option C, increasing the bandwidth of the on-premises internet connection, is not a viable solution in this case. While this option might work for scenarios where the on-premises infrastructure is communicating with Azure over the public internet, it is not applicable in this case because the on-premises infrastructure already communicates with Azure through ExpressRoute.

Option D, setting up a VPN connection, is a feasible solution. By setting up a VPN connection between the on-premises infrastructure and Azure, the company can continue regular operations even if the ExpressRoute connection fails. VPN connections are typically slower than ExpressRoute connections, but they are a cost-effective and easy-to-implement solution for failover scenarios.

In summary, the recommended solution for providing continued operations in the event of an ExpressRoute failure is either to set up a second ExpressRoute connection or a VPN connection, depending on the company's budget and infrastructure requirements.