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Megaport Documentation
Azure VMware Solution

Integrating Megaport with Azure VMware Solution (AVS)

You can use Megaport to create an Azure ExpressRoute Layer 2 connection between your on-premises or colocation-based infrastructure and your VMware environment on Azure. You can also use ExpressRoute to connect to a cloud-only instance of Azure VMware Solution.

Before you begin, ensure that you have created a Megaport connection, or Port. After you create the Port, you can connect a Virtual Cross Connect (VXC) from the Port to the virtual gateway associated with the Azure VNET infrastructure. A VXC is a point-to-point Ethernet connection between an A-End (your Port) and a B-End (in this case, your VMware Cloud on Azure instance).

If you aren’t a Megaport customer, you can create a 1 Gbps, 10 Gbps, or 100 Gbps Port in one of our global data centers/Points of Presence. If your company isn’t located in one of our PoPs, you can procure a last mile circuit to one of the sites to connect to Megaport. Contact Megaport for more information.

Note

If you require a Port in a different location to physically separate this solution from other existing traffic traversing your Ports, we recommend that you create a new one before proceeding.

How is VMware implemented in Azure?

Azure integrates VMware implementation into its platform using CloudSimple, a third-party vendor that provides VMware-as-a-Service in public clouds. CloudSimple is fully managed, validated, and supported by VMware and allows you to quickly implement a VMware solution using familiar tools and services including vSphere, vCenter, vSAN, and NSX.

Setting up VMware within Azure

  1. Log in to your Azure account and search for VMware or CloudSimple. Azure account

  2. Choose VMware Solution by CloudSimple – Service from the search results. VMware Solution by CloudSimple

  3. On the Create page, specify the project details:

    • Subscription – Select the subscription where you want to create the service.
    • Resource group – Select an existing Resource group or create a new one.
    • Name and Location – Enter a name for the service and the location/region to implement it.
    • Gateway CIDR (/28) – Enter a /28 IP subnet for the gateway. This IP block should be unique and not overlap with any other IP block associated with the CloudSimple environment.
  4. Click Review + create.
  5. Click Create to create the service.

After you have set up VMware in Azure, you can perform any of the following optional procedures:

Creating an authorization on the ExpressRoute circuit

To use ExpressRoute for connectivity between your on-premise infrastructure and VMware on Azure, you must create an authorization on the ExpressRoute circuit. You will then provide this authorization to CloudSimple.

  1. Log in to the Azure console and search for ExpressRoute. Azure console

  2. Create a new ExpressRoute circuit or choose an existing circuit to authorize.

    See the Microsoft documentation for more information on creating a new ExpressRoute service key in the Azure console.

  3. Once you have selected the circuit to authorize, select Authorizations from the navigation bar, enter a name for the authorization, and click Save. Azure Authorizations

  4. Click Refresh. Azure authentication key

  5. Copy the Resource ID and the Authorization key and paste them into a text file.

  6. Create a Support ticket in the Azure console. Search for Support and then select + New support request. Support ticket

  7. Complete the Support ticket details as follows:

    • Issue type – Technical
    • Subscription – Where you want to deploy the CloudSimple service
    • Service – VMware Solution by CloudSimple
    • Problem type – Service Request
    • Problem subtype – Create ExpressRoute connection to on-premises
    • Additional details to provide:
      • Authorization key and resource ID that you previously copied into a text file
      • A /29 IP network for the transit network
      • Whether you are sending default routes over ExpressRoute
      • Whether the Private Cloud traffic should use the default routes

Integrating Megaport with VMware Cloud on Azure

Once you have completed the ExpressRoute authorization process, you can use the Megaport Portal to create the VXC to the VMware Cloud on Azure environment.

  1. In the Megaport Portal, go to the Services page and select the Port you want to use.

  2. If this is the first connection for the Megaport, click the Microsoft Azure tile.
    The tile is a shortcut to the configuration page. Alternatively, click +Connection, click Cloud, and then click Microsoft Azure as the Provider.
    Select the Port

  3. Paste the Microsoft Azure Service Key that you obtained from your Azure Console.
    For more information on creating a Service Key, see the Microsoft documentation.
    After the Megaport Portal verifies the Service Key (in approximately 10 seconds), you will be presented with Primary and Secondary on-ramp options into the Azure infrastructure.
    On-ramp options

  4. Choose the Primary option and click Next.

  5. Specify the connection details:

    • Connection Name – The name of your VXC to be shown in the Megaport Portal.

    • Service Level Reference (optional) – Specify a unique identifying number for the VXC to be used for billing purposes, such as a cost center number or a unique customer ID. The service level reference number appears for each service under the Product section of the invoice. You can also edit this field for an existing service.

      Note

      Partner-managed accounts can apply a Partner Deal to a service. For more information, see Associating a Deal With a Service.

    • Rate Limit – The speed of your connection in Mbps. This populates automatically based on the rate defined with the service key.

    • VXC State – Select Enabled or Shut Down to define the initial state of the connection. For more information, see Shutting Down a VXC for Failover Testing.

      Note

      If you select Shut Down, traffic will not flow through this service and it will behave as if it was down on the Megaport network. Billing for this service will remain active and you will still be charged for this connection.

    • Preferred A-End VLAN – Specify an unused VLAN ID for this connection. This is the S-Tag, or outer tag, associated with the Port that transparently carries the inner C-Tags for ExpressRoute. This VLAN ID must be a unique ID on this Port and can range from 2 to 4090. If you specify a VLAN ID that is already in use, Megaport will assign the next closest available value. If you don’t specify a value, Megaport will assign one.

      Important

      Megaport delivers ExpressRoute services to Microsoft ports using Q-in-Q. For network devices that do not support Q-in-Q, you can Untag the A-End VLAN. Untagging removes the VLAN tag for the outer connection (S-Tag), and delivers the three inner tags (C-Tags) natively as 802.1Q VLANs. Be aware that using an untagged VLAN limits that VXC to one Port. Because you can’t deploy any other VXCs on the Port, such as a secondary ExpressRoute VXC, we don’t recommend this workaround as a long-term solution.

    • Minimum Term – Select No Minimum Term, 12 Months, 24 Months, or 36 Months. Longer terms result in a lower monthly rate. 12 Months is selected by default.
      Take note of the information on the screen to avoid early termination fees (ETF). See VXC Pricing and Contract Terms and VXC, Megaport Internet, and IX Billing for more information.

    Connection details

  6. Click Next.

  7. Click Add VXC on the Summary page. Add VXC

  8. Click Order.
    Order VXC

  9. Click Order Now.
    Order now

You have created a single Layer 2 connection into your Azure infrastructure.

Redundancy

You can achieve redundancy for the connectivity portion of this overall solution by establishing additional VXCs to the Azure environment. If the VXCs are implemented on separate Ports, you can achieve additional physical redundancy.

Creating a second VXC connection into your Azure infrastructure (along with the associated BGP session) will qualify the setup for Microsoft Azure’s SLA. When you paste your Microsoft Azure Service Key into the appropriate field, choose the Secondary on-ramp location (the Primary on-ramp location will be grayed out and unavailable). Follow the above process from step 5 to to complete the second VXC.

At this point, you will have created the second Layer 2 connection from your Port to your Azure infrastructure and your work in the Megaport Portal is complete.

To complete the connectivity process, log in to the Azure portal and enter the AS number, VLAN ID, and Primary and Secondary IP subnet for the Primary and Secondary BGP connections into your Azure infrastructure.

Note

Microsoft Azure requires that you use BGP to connect your on-premises environment with your Azure infrastructure. For more information on setting up Microsoft peering and private peering from your Azure console, see the Microsoft documentation.

Background information

What does the architecture look like?

Azure has simplified the connectivity model using Azure ExpressRoute to reach VMware Cloud by CloudSimple. Using Megaport as your Network-as-a-Service provider, you can seamlessly deploy ExpressRoute for VMware consumption from your on-premises Data Center infrastructure. This image shows the components associated with an on-premises environment connecting to a Port to reach VMware Cloud on Azure.

Azure architecture

What are the benefits for an enterprise using VMware Cloud?

VMware Cloud provides a multitude of benefits, including the ability to take a slow and low-risk approach to cloud adoption. You can augment an existing on-premises infrastructure with cloud resources for growth purposes. This augmentation reduces the need for new capital expenditures on equipment and allows increased or decreased workloads in the cloud. If you’re contemplating an eventual full migration to the cloud, you can take full advantage of existing equipment and infrastructure while it’s still in a productive and usable state.

This solution can also be incorporated into an overall disaster recovery plan by using the cloud as a primary deployment with the on-premise infrastructure used as a backup. You can reverse Primary and Backup deployment locations to align with your business requirements. For additional information on benefits of VMware Cloud, see VMware Solution on Azure by CloudSimple – features, benefits, and use case scenarios.

Where is VMware on Azure available?

Existing Azure VMware Regions by CloudSimple can be found in this FAQ.

Last update: 2024-04-15