Microsoft announces Windows Azure Infrastructure services and virtual networks

Last week, we announced the public release of Windows http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/13357.html ">azure infrastructure services and virtual networks." With virtual network services, you can create a separate private network in Windows Azure as an extension of the datacenter. You can assign a dedicated IP address to a virtual machine on a virtual network, specify DNS, and use a Cisco or Juniper hardware VPN device to connect it to the internal deployment infrastructure in a "site to site" manner.

Today, we are pleased to announce that we have expanded the capabilities of virtual networks and have further implemented the ability to use hardware VPN devices for cross-border connections.

First, we will enhance our existing site to site VPN connections so that you can use Windows Server RRAS (Routing and Remote Access) as an internal deployment VPN server. This allows you to flexibly use a software-based VPN solution to connect your internal deployment network to Windows Azure. Of course, if you prefer traditional routes, you can still connect virtual networks to hardware-based VPNs, and we will continue to extend the scope of the supported VPN devices.

Second, we have added a new feature called Point-to-Point VPN, which allows you to establish a VPN connection between a personal computer in Azure and a virtual network. We built this feature based on customer requests and lessons learned from the preview feature called Windows Azure Connect. Point-to-Point VPN greatly simplifies the process of establishing a secure connection between Azure and client computers, whether from your office environment or from a remote location.

See the figure below:

With point-to-point VPN, you can connect to Windows Azure in a refreshing way that other cloud providers cannot. Here are a few examples:

You can safely connect to your Windows Azure environment from any location. You can continue coding by connecting your laptop to the Windows Azure test and development environment while sipping coffee at the airport café. For small business or internal organizations, if you do not have existing VPN devices and/or network expertise to manage VPN devices, you can rely on point-to-point VPN capabilities to securely connect to workloads running in Windows Azure virtual machines. Even if your computer is protected by an enterprise agent or firewall, you can quickly establish a secure connection to Windows Azure. The point-to-point VPN feature provides a seamless application experience for independent software distributors (ISVs) who want to provide secure access to their cloud applications.

By enabling you to integrate your internal deployment environment with Windows Azure, the Windows Azure Virtual network will continue to provide the power of convergence. For more information about Windows Azure virtual network and its features and scenarios, click here.

Please download the free trial version and experience it yourself.