Greetings SAB Members,
At the August 2014 SAB Webinar, I presented a new set of Azure-based, hybrid cloud test environments and got your input on their utility, design, and configuration options. I previously blogged about the initial set that you can use to build a real hybrid cloud configuration with a cross-premises virtual network to your location on the Internet.
During the webinar, I presented three configuration variations for the simulated on-premises network:
- Test lab connected to the Internet
- Hosted on a Hyper-V server
- Hosted in an Azure virtual network
The voting for your preferences was spread pretty evenly across the three options. The first two variations are covered by the Set up a hybrid cloud environment for testing topic.
To address the last variation, I have also published the Set up a simulated hybrid cloud environment for testing topic, which builds a simulated on-premises network in a separate Azure virtual network and then connects them with a VNet-to-VNet connection. Here is the configuration:
I have also heard from multiple IT pros in the industry that direct connections to the Internet with a public IP address can be hard to come by, so this simulated configuration allows you to create a hybrid cloud in the cloud, so to speak. Once the base configuration is up, deploying workloads in the TestVNET virtual network is the same as if you had an on-premises Corpnet subnet.
For example, you could use the Set up a web-based LOB application in a hybrid cloud for testing topic to create the following:
In Phase 1 of the topic, you build the simulated hybrid cloud. In Phases 2 and 3, you build the SQL server and IIS-based LOB server.
Because time is money in the Azure world, I have also included instructions on how to minimize the cost of running this configuration by shutting down the virtual machines when not in use and by deleting and restoring the two virtual network gateways. With these instructions, you can maximize your trial or MSDN-based Azure subscription or save money on your paid subscription.
Thanks again for your feedback, which made this new topic possible!
Enjoy.
Joe Davies
Senior Content Developer
If you have questions, or if you’d like to join the SAB, email us at SAB@microsoft.com.