Microsoft Azure Mastery for .NET Architects
Lesson 13 of 30 43% of course

Azure Virtual Network (VNet): Subnets, Peering, and Gateways

18 · 8 min · 5/23/2026

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Digital Foundations

A VNet is your private network in Azure. It provides isolation and security for your .NET resources.

1. VNet Peering

Want to connect two different VNets (e.g., a 'Shared Services' VNet and an 'App' VNet)? Use **VNet Peering**. It allows resources in different VNets to talk to each other over the Microsoft backbone network as if they were in the same network. This is the core of the 'Hub-and-Spoke' architecture.

2. Private Endpoints

This is critical for security. By default, Azure SQL and Key Vault have public internet endpoints. A **Private Endpoint** gives these services a private IP address inside your VNet. Your .NET app then talks to them over a private line, and you can disable all public access completely.

3. Architect Insight

Q: "How should I design my subnets?"

Architect Answer: "Use specialized subnets. Create a **GatewaySubnet** for your VPN/ExpressRoute, a **WebSubnet** for your Load Balancers, and a **DataSubnet** for your databases. Always use **Network Security Groups (NSGs)** at the subnet level to restrict traffic (e.g., 'Only allow WebSubnet to talk to DataSubnet on port 1433')."

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Microsoft Azure Mastery for .NET Architects

On this page

1. VNet Peering 2. Private Endpoints 3. Architect Insight
1. Azure Identity & Governance
Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD): Scaling identity for .NET apps App Registrations & Service Principals: Secure machine identity Azure Policy & Blueprints: Enforcing architecture standards Resource Groups & Management Groups: Organizing the Cloud
2. Azure Web & Compute
Azure App Service: Managed hosting for ASP.NET Core Azure Functions: Serverless logic with Durable Functions Azure Container Apps (ACA): Serverless K8s for microservices Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS): Enterprise orchestration
3. Azure Databases
Azure SQL Database: The king of cloud-native SQL Azure Cosmos DB: Global scale with multi-model NoSQL Azure Cache for Redis: Managed memory performance Azure Database for PostgreSQL/MySQL: Flexible server scaling
4. Networking & Security
Azure Virtual Network (VNet): Subnets, Peering, and Gateways Azure Front Door: Global CDN & Load Balancing Azure Key Vault: Managing secrets, keys, and certificates Azure Application Gateway (WAF): Protecting the front-end
5. Messaging & Integration
Azure Service Bus: Enterprise-grade message queuing Azure Event Grid: Building reactive, event-driven systems Azure Event Hubs: Large-scale data ingestion for .NET Logic Apps: No-code orchestration for .NET developers
6. AI & Data Services
Azure OpenAI Service: Integrating GPT into .NET apps Cognitive Services: Vision, Speech, and Language APIs Azure Search (AI Search): Semantic search and vector indexing Azure Data Factory: ETL and data movement
7. Monitoring & Hybrid
Azure Monitor & Application Insights: Deep .NET observability Log Analytics: KQL (Kusto) for large-scale log analysis Azure Arc: Managing on-premise and multi-cloud from Azure Azure Bicep: Modern Infrastructure as Code for Azure
8. Enterprise Scale & Patterns
Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF): The Architect's strategy Case Study: Global retail scaling with Cosmos DB and AKS