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Basic: Route traffic to indirect spokes or the internet

This article describes how to use Virtual WAN static routes to send traffic to a network virtual appliance in a spoke virtual network for indirect spoke connectivity, internet egress, or VPN/SD-WAN tunnels.

Scenario overview

This routing scenario explains how to configure Azure Virtual WAN to route traffic to a network virtual appliance (NVA) deployed in a Virtual WAN spoke virtual network. In this design, the NVA inspects traffic and then forwards it either to the Internet, virtual networks that are indirectly connected to the virtual hub (but peered with the NVA virtual network), or VPN/SDWAN tunnels terminated on the NVA.

Network diagram

Diagram that shows routing traffic to indirect spokes or the internet through NVAs deployed in Virtual WAN spoke virtual networks.

Traffic flows

The following sections explain how traffic is routed to indirect spokes and the Internet using Virtual WAN static routes.

Indirect spoke patterns

The following connectivity matrix summarizes whether traffic flows directly through Virtual WAN or traverses an NVA in this scenario.

Source/Destination Hub 1 Indirect Spokes Hub 1 Direct Spokes Hub 1 Branches Hub 2 Indirect Spokes Hub 2 Direct Spokes Hub 2 Branches
Hub 1 Indirect Spokes Via Hub 1 NVA Via Hub 1 NVA Via Hub 1 NVA Via Hub 1,2 NVA Via Hub 1 NVA Via Hub 1 NVA
Hub 1 Direct Spokes Via Hub 1 NVA Direct Direct Via Hub 2 NVA Direct Direct
Hub 1 Branches Via Hub 1 NVA Direct Direct Via Hub 2 NVA Direct Direct
Hub 2 Indirect Spokes Via Hub 1 and Hub 2 NVAs Via Hub 2 NVA Via Hub 2 NVA Via Hub 2 NVA Via Hub 2 NVA Via Hub 2 NVA
Hub 2 Direct Spokes Via Hub 1 NVA Direct Direct Via Hub 2 NVA Direct Direct
Hub 2 Branches Via Hub 1 NVA Direct Direct Via Hub 2 NVA Direct Direct

Internet access patterns

Note

The 0.0.0.0/0 route isn't propagated across Virtual WAN hubs. Each connection must use the local hub's NVA for Internet egress.

The following connectivity matrix summarizes Internet access in this scenario.

Source Internet
Hub 1 Direct Spokes Via Hub 1 NVA
Hub 1 Branches Via Hub 1 NVA
Hub 2 Direct Spokes Via Hub 2 NVA
Hub 2 Branches Via Hub 2 NVA

Configuration

The configuration in this section uses option 1 static route configuration. Option 2 can also be used, but requires additional configuration to add static routes with next hop NVA Virtual Network connections in all defaultRouteTable across the Virtual WAN.

Static routes for indirect spokes

The following static routes are configured by adding the static routes on the NVA virtual network connection directly, with Propagate static route set to true.

Hub Connection Prefix Next hop IP address
Hub 1 NVA Virtual Network Connection (Hub1) 10.2.0.0/16 10.3.10.5
Hub 2 NVA Virtual Network Connection (Hub2) 10.4.0.0/16 10.4.10.5

Static routes for internet egress

The following static routes are configured by adding the static routes on the NVA virtual network connection directly, with Propagate static route set to true (option 1 static routing model).

Hub Connection Prefix Next hop IP address
Hub 1 NVA Virtual Network Connection (Hub 1) 0.0.0.0/0 10.3.10.5
Hub 2 NVA Virtual Network Connection (Hub 2) 0.0.0.0/0 10.4.10.5

Virtual WAN Routing configuration

For both Virtual WAN hubs, all connections should propagate to all defaultRouteTables across the Virtual WAN. This configuration ensures that all directly connected spoke workloads and static routes are propagated to all connections, providing full-mesh reachability.

The following table describes the routing configuration of the Virtual WAN connections to Hub 1:

Hub Connection type Associated route table Propagated route table(s) Propagated label
Hub 1 Branches (ExpressRoute and VPN) defaultRouteTable (Hub 1) defaultRouteTable (Hub 1, Hub 2) default label (all defaultRouteTable in the Virtual WAN)
Hub 1 Virtual networks defaultRouteTable (Hub 1) defaultRouteTable (Hub 1, Hub 2) default label (all defaultRouteTable in the Virtual WAN)

The following table describes the routing configuration of the Virtual WAN connections to Hub 2:

Hub Connection type Associated route table Propagated route table(s) Propagated label
Hub 2 Branches (ExpressRoute and VPN) defaultRouteTable (Hub 2) defaultRouteTable (Hub 1, Hub 2) default label (all defaultRouteTable in the Virtual WAN)
Hub 2 Virtual networks defaultRouteTable (Hub 2) defaultRouteTable (Hub 1, Hub 2) default label (all defaultRouteTable in the Virtual WAN)

Additional indirect spoke routing configuration

Virtual WAN only configures routes on virtual networks that are directly connected to the Virtual WAN hub. Add user-defined routes on the indirect spoke virtual networks to route traffic to the correct NVA IP address.

This user-defined route is required so that workloads in the indirect spoke virtual networks have a path back to the NVA and, therefore, to the rest of the Virtual WAN.

In the example above, indirect spoke virtual networks on Hub 1 would need the following entries:

Prefix Next Hop IP address Purpose
0.0.0.0/0 10.3.10.5 Route internet traffic for inspection
192.168.0.0/16 10.3.10.5 Route to on-premises
10.1.0.0/16 10.3.10.5 Route to other indirect spokes on Hub 1
10.2.0.0/16 10.3.10.5 Route to indirect spokes on Hub 2
10.3.0.0/24 10.3.10.5 Route to direct spokes on Hub 1
10.4.0.0/24 10.3.10.5 Route to direct spokes on Hub 2

Alternatively, configure aggregate routes such as 10.0.0.0/8.

Additional considerations

  • If static routes overlap with the NVA virtual network address space, make sure the bypass next hop IP for workloads within this VNet setting is configured correctly on the virtual network connection. Toggling this setting to "true" is often required for scenarios where direct access to the management interface of the NVA is required. For more information, see Bypass next hop IP for workloads within this VNet.
  • Ensure the Propagate default route or Enable Internet Security setting is set to Off for the virtual network connection with the NVA. This ensures that the 0.0.0.0/0 route isn't advertised to the NVA and doesn't create routing loops. Alternatively, you can add a user-defined route for 0.0.0.0/0 with next hop Internet on the subnet where the public-facing NVA interface is deployed.