To connect to Microsoft cloud services using ExpressRoute, you need to set up and manage routing. Some connectivity providers offer setting up and managing routing as a managed service. Check with your connectivity provider to see if they offer this service. If they don't, you must adhere to the following requirements:
Refer to the Circuits and routing domains article for a description of the routing sessions that need to be set up in to facilitate connectivity.
Nóta
Microsoft doesn't support any router redundancy protocols such as HSRP or VRRP for high availability configurations. We rely on a redundant pair of BGP sessions per peering for high availability.
IP addresses used for peering
You need to reserve a few blocks of IP addresses to configure routing between your network and Microsoft's Enterprise edge (MSEEs) routers. This section provides a list of requirements and describes the rules regarding how these IP addresses must be acquired and used.
IP addresses used for Azure private peering
You can use either private IP addresses or public IP addresses to configure the peering. The address range used for configuring routes can't overlap with address ranges used for virtual networks in Azure.
IPv4:
You must reserve a /29 subnet or two /30 subnets for routing interfaces.
The subnets used for routing can be either private IP addresses or public IP addresses.
The subnets must not conflict with the range reserved by the customer for use in the Microsoft cloud.
If a /29 subnet is used, it's split into two /30 subnets.
The first /30 subnet is used for the primary link and the second /30 subnet is used for the secondary link.
For each of the /30 subnets, you must use the first IP address of the /30 subnet for your router. Microsoft uses the second IP address of the /30 subnet to set up a BGP session.
You must set up both BGP sessions for the availability SLA to be valid.
IPv6:
You must reserve a /125 subnet or two /126 subnets for routing interfaces.
The subnets used for routing can be either private IP addresses or public IP addresses.
The subnets must not conflict with the range reserved by the customer for use in the Microsoft cloud.
If a /125 subnet is used, it's split into two /126 subnets.
The first /126 subnet is used for the primary link and the second /126 subnet is used for the secondary link.
For each of the /126 subnets, you must use the first IP address of the /126 subnet for your router. Microsoft uses the second IP address of the /126 subnet to set up a BGP session.
You must set up both BGP sessions for the availability SLA to be valid.
Example for private peering
If you choose to use a.b.c.d/29 to set up the peering, it's split into two /30 subnets. In the following example, notice how the a.b.c.d/29 subnet is used:
a.b.c.d/29 is split to a.b.c.d/30 and a.b.c.d+4/30 and passed down to Microsoft through the provisioning APIs.
You use a.b.c.d+1 as the VRF IP for the Primary PE and Microsoft uses a.b.c.d+2 as the VRF IP for the primary MSEE.
You use a.b.c.d+5 as the VRF IP for the secondary PE and Microsoft uses a.b.c.d+6 as the VRF IP for the secondary MSEE.
Consider a case where you select 192.168.100.128/29 to set up private peering. 192.168.100.128/29 includes addresses from 192.168.100.128 to 192.168.100.135, among which:
192.168.100.128/30 is assigned to link1, with provider using 192.168.100.129 and Microsoft using 192.168.100.130.
192.168.100.132/30 is assigned to link2, with provider using 192.168.100.133 and Microsoft using 192.168.100.134.
IP addresses used for Microsoft peering
You must use public IP addresses that you own for setting up the BGP sessions. Microsoft must be able to verify the ownership of the IP addresses through Routing Internet Registries and Internet Routing Registries.
The IPs listed in the portal for Advertised Public Prefixes for Microsoft Peering creates ACLs for the Microsoft core routers to allow inbound traffic from these IPs.
You must use a unique /29 (IPv4) or /125 (IPv6) subnet or two /30 (IPv4) or /126 (IPv6) subnets to set up the BGP peering for each peering per ExpressRoute circuit, if you have more than one.
If a /29 subnet is used, it's split into two /30 subnets.
The first /30 subnet is used for the primary link and the second /30 subnet is used for the secondary link.
For each of the /30 subnets, you must use the first IP address of the /30 subnet on your router. Microsoft uses the second IP address of the /30 subnet to set up a BGP session.
If a /125 subnet is used, it's split into two /126 subnets.
The first /126 subnet is used for the primary link and the second /126 subnet is used for the secondary link.
For each of the /126 subnets, you must use the first IP address of the /126 subnet on your router. Microsoft uses the second IP address of the /126 subnet to set up a BGP session.
You must set up both BGP sessions for our availability SLA to be valid.
Public IP address requirement
Private peering
You can choose to use public or private IPv4 addresses for private peering. We provide end-to-end isolation of your traffic, so overlapping of addresses with other customers isn't possible for private peering. These addresses aren't advertised to Internet.
Microsoft peering
The Microsoft peering path lets you connect to Microsoft cloud services. The list of services includes Microsoft 365 services, such as Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Skype for Business, and Microsoft Teams. Microsoft supports bi-directional connectivity on the Microsoft peering. Traffic destined to Microsoft cloud services must use valid public IPv4 addresses before they enter the Microsoft network.
Make sure that your IP address and AS number are registered to you in one of the following registries:
If your prefixes and AS number aren't assigned to you in the preceding registries, you need to open a support case for manual validation of your prefixes and ASN. Support requires documentation, such as a Letter of Authorization that proves you're allowed to use that prefix.
A Private AS Number is allowed with Microsoft Peering, but requires manual validation. In addition, we remove private AS numbers in the AS PATH for the received prefixes. As a result, you can't append private AS numbers in the AS PATH to influence routing for Microsoft Peering. Additionally, AS numbers 64496 - 64511 reserved by IANA for documentation purposes aren't allowed in the path.
Tábhachtach
Do not advertise the same public IP route to the public Internet and over ExpressRoute. To reduce the risk of incorrect configuration causing asymmetric routing, we strongly recommend that the NAT IP addresses advertised to Microsoft over ExpressRoute be from a range that is not advertised to the internet at all. If this is not possible to achieve, it is essential to ensure you advertise a more specific range over ExpressRoute than the one on the Internet connection. Besides the public route for NAT, you can also advertise over ExpressRoute the Public IP addresses used by the servers in your on-premises network that communicate with Microsoft 365 endpoints within Microsoft.
Dynamic route exchange
Routing exchange is over eBGP protocol. EBGP sessions are established between the MSEEs and your routers. Authentication of BGP sessions isn't a requirement. If necessary, an MD5 hash can be configured. See the Configure routing and Circuit provisioning workflows and circuit states for information about configuring BGP sessions.
Autonomous System numbers (ASN)
Microsoft uses AS 12076 for Azure public, Azure private and Microsoft peering. We have reserved ASNs from 65515 to 65520 for internal use. Both 16 bit and 32-bit AS numbers are supported.
There are no requirements around data transfer symmetry. The forward and return paths may traverse different router pairs. Identical routes must be advertised from either sides across multiple circuit pairs belonging to you. Route metrics aren't required to be identical.
Route aggregation and prefix limits
ExpressRoute supports up to 4000 IPv4 prefixes and 100 IPv6 prefixes advertised to Microsoft through the Azure private peering. This limit can be increased up to 10,000 IPv4 prefixes if the ExpressRoute premium add-on is enabled. ExpressRoute accept up to 200 prefixes per BGP session for Azure public and Microsoft peering.
The BGP session is dropped if the number of prefixes exceeds the limit. ExpressRoute accept default routes on the private peering link only. Provider must filter out default route and private IP addresses (RFC 1918) from the Azure public and Microsoft peering paths.
Transit routing and cross-region routing
ExpressRoute can't be configured as transit routers. You have to rely on your connectivity provider for transit routing services.
Advertising default routes
Default routes are permitted only on Azure private peering sessions. In such a case, ExpressRoute routes all traffic from the associated virtual networks to your network. Advertising default routes into private peering results in the internet path from Azure being blocked. You must rely on your corporate edge to route traffic from and to the internet for services hosted in Azure.
Some services are not able to be accessed from your corporate edge. To enable connectivity to other Azure services and infrastructure services, you must use user-defined routing to allow internet connectivity for every subnet requiring Internet connectivity for these services.
This section provides an overview of how BGP communities get used with ExpressRoute. Microsoft advertises routes in the private, Microsoft and public (deprecated) peering paths with routes tagged with appropriate community values. The rationale for doing so and the details on community values are describe as followed. Microsoft, however, doesn't honor any community values tagged to routes advertised to Microsoft.
For private peering, if you configure a custom BGP community value on your Azure virtual networks, you'll see this custom value and a regional BGP community value on the Azure routes advertised to your on-premises over ExpressRoute.
Nóta
In order for Azure routes to show regional BGP community values, you first must configure the custom BGP community value for the virtual network.
For Microsoft peering, you're connecting to Microsoft through ExpressRoute at any one peering location within a geopolitical region. You also have access to all Microsoft cloud services across all regions within the geopolitical boundary.
For example, if you connected to Microsoft in Amsterdam through ExpressRoute, you have access to all Microsoft cloud services hosted in North Europe and West Europe.
Refer to the ExpressRoute partners and peering locations page for a detailed list of geopolitical regions, associated Azure regions, and corresponding ExpressRoute peering locations.
You can purchase more than one ExpressRoute circuit per geopolitical region. Having multiple connections offers you significant benefits on high availability due to geo-redundancy. In cases where you have multiple ExpressRoute circuits, you receive the same set of prefixes advertised from Microsoft on the Microsoft peering paths. This configuration results in multiple paths from your network into Microsoft. This set up can potentially cause suboptimal routing decisions to be made within your network. As a result, you may experience suboptimal connectivity experiences to different services. You can rely on the community values to make appropriate routing decisions to offer optimal routing to users.
Microsoft Azure region
Regional BGP community (private peering)
Regional BGP community (Microsoft peering)
Storage BGP community
SQL BGP community
Azure Cosmos DB BGP community
Backup BGP community
North America
East US
12076:50004
12076:51004
12076:52004
12076:53004
12076:54004
12076:55004
East US 2
12076:50005
12076:51005
12076:52005
12076:53005
12076:54005
12076:55005
West US
12076:50006
12076:51006
12076:52006
12076:53006
12076:54006
12076:55006
West US 2
12076:50026
12076:51026
12076:52026
12076:53026
12076:54026
12076:55026
West US 3
12076:50044
12076:51044
12076:52044
12076:53044
12076:54044
12076:55044
West Central US
12076:50027
12076:51027
12076:52027
12076:53027
12076:54027
12076:55027
North Central US
12076:50007
12076:51007
12076:52007
12076:53007
12076:54007
12076:55007
South Central US
12076:50008
12076:51008
12076:52008
12076:53008
12076:54008
12076:55008
Central US
12076:50009
12076:51009
12076:52009
12076:53009
12076:54009
12076:55009
Canada Central
12076:50020
12076:51020
12076:52020
12076:53020
12076:54020
12076:55020
Canada East
12076:50021
12076:51021
12076:52021
12076:53021
12076:54021
12076:55021
South America
Brazil South
12076:50014
12076:51014
12076:52014
12076:53014
12076:54014
12076:55014
Europe
North Europe
12076:50003
12076:51003
12076:52003
12076:53003
12076:54003
12076:55003
West Europe
12076:50002
12076:51002
12076:52002
12076:53002
12076:54002
12076:55002
UK South
12076:50024
12076:51024
12076:52024
12076:53024
12076:54024
12076:55024
UK West
12076:50025
12076:51025
12076:52025
12076:53025
12076:54025
12076:55025
France Central
12076:50030
12076:51030
12076:52030
12076:53030
12076:54030
12076:55030
France South
12076:50031
12076:51031
12076:52031
12076:53031
12076:54031
12076:55031
Switzerland North
12076:50038
12076:51038
12076:52038
12076:53038
12076:54038
12076:55038
Switzerland West
12076:50039
12076:51039
12076:52039
12076:53039
12076:54039
12076:55039
Germany North
12076:50040
12076:51040
12076:52040
12076:53040
12076:54040
12076:55040
Germany West Central
12076:50041
12076:51041
12076:52041
12076:53041
12076:54041
12076:55041
Norway East
12076:50042
12076:51042
12076:52042
12076:53042
12076:54042
12076:55042
Norway West
12076:50043
12076:51043
12076:52043
12076:53043
12076:54043
12076:55043
Asia Pacific
East Asia
12076:50010
12076:51010
12076:52010
12076:53010
12076:54010
12076:55010
Southeast Asia
12076:50011
12076:51011
12076:52011
12076:53011
12076:54011
12076:55011
Japan
Japan East
12076:50012
12076:51012
12076:52012
12076:53012
12076:54012
12076:55012
Japan West
12076:50013
12076:51013
12076:52013
12076:53013
12076:54013
12076:55013
Australia
Australia East
12076:50015
12076:51015
12076:52015
12076:53015
12076:54015
12076:55015
Australia Southeast
12076:50016
12076:51016
12076:52016
12076:53016
12076:54016
12076:55016
Australia Government
Australia Central
12076:50032
12076:51032
12076:52032
12076:53032
12076:54032
12076:55032
Australia Central 2
12076:50033
12076:51033
12076:52033
12076:53033
12076:54033
12076:55033
India
India South
12076:50019
12076:51019
12076:52019
12076:53019
12076:54019
12076:55019
India West
12076:50018
12076:51018
12076:52018
12076:53018
12076:54018
12076:55018
India Central
12076:50017
12076:51017
12076:52017
12076:53017
12076:54017
12076:55017
Korea
Korea South
12076:50028
12076:51028
12076:52028
12076:53028
12076:54028
12076:55028
Korea Central
12076:50029
12076:51029
12076:52029
12076:53029
12076:54029
12076:55029
South Africa
South Africa North
12076:50034
12076:51034
12076:52034
12076:53034
12076:54034
12076:55034
South Africa West
12076:50035
12076:51035
12076:52035
12076:53035
12076:54035
12076:55035
UAE
UAE North
12076:50036
12076:51036
12076:52036
12076:53036
12076:54036
12076:55036
UAE Central
12076:50037
12076:51037
12076:52037
12076:53037
12076:54037
12076:55037
All routes advertised from Microsoft are tagged with the appropriate community value.
Tábhachtach
Global prefixes are tagged with an appropriate community value.
Service to BGP community value
In addition to the BGP tag for each region, Microsoft also tags prefixes based on the service they belong to. This tagging only applies to the Microsoft peering. The following table provides a mapping of service to BGP community value. You can run the 'Get-AzBgpServiceCommunity' cmdlet for a full list of the latest values.
Service
BGP community value
Exchange Online (2)
12076:5010
SharePoint Online (2)
12076:5020
Skype For Business Online (2) and (3)
12076:5030
CRM Online (4)
12076:5040
Azure Global Services (1)
12076:5050
Microsoft Entra ID
12076:5060
Azure Resource Manager
12076:5070
Other Office 365 Online services (2)
12076:5100
Microsoft Defender for Identity
12076:5220
Microsoft PSTN services (5)
12076:5250
(1) Azure Global Services includes only Azure DevOps at this time.