How to Configure an Azure Point-to-Site VPN – Part 1

This blog post is the first in a series of three which will demonstrate how to configure a Point-to-Site VPN step-by-step. Today’s post will teach you how to configure a virtual network and a dynamic routing gateway, and the following blog posts will demonstrate how to create the certificates, and how to configure the VPN client.

Nowadays we are opting to move parts of, or even entire systems to the cloud. In order to build a hybrid environment, we need to find a way to connect our enterprise/local network, also known as on-premises, and the cloud.

Currently, we have two options to connect Azure and On-Premises:

1. Using a Point-to-Site VPN
2. Using a Site-to-Site VPN

The first option, using a Point-to-Site VPN is the option I’ll be demonstrating. It is recommended when you need to connect only some servers of your network to Azure. On the other hand, the Site-to-Site VPN connects your entire on-premises network to Azure.

CONFIGURE A VIRTUAL NETWORK AND A DYNAMIC ROUTING GATEWAY

To start, connect to your Azure account (https://manage.windowsazure.com/) and click in the “add button”, in the bottom left corner.

1. Now follow the options that you can see in the image, and create a custom virtual network:|
2. Fill the Virtual Network name and the location you want to create.
3. Check “Configure a Point-to-Site VPN” (DNS server is an option setting, used for name resolution between this virtual network and your on-premises network):
4. Set the the IP range accordingly, after verify if this range is not overlapping with your on-premises network.
5. Click in the “add gateway subnet” button and than in the finish button (check mark).
6. Now you need to wait few minutes, while the virtual network is being created.
7. You will see a message like this when the process is done:
8. At this stage, you will be able to see the network created, under the network section.
9. Now we need to create a “Dynamic Routing Gateway”. To complete this, click on the network you just created and go to the Dashboard.
10. Click on “CREATE GATEWAY” button, in the page bottom and confirm your intention by selecting “Yes”.
11. It may take few minutes. You will see the message “CREATING GATEWAY”, as shown in the image bellow:
12. After a successfully creating, you will see the following:

At this point, we are done with the Virtual Network creation. Now we can proceed to the certificate creation steps… Stay tuned for my next two posts.