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Enable multicloud cross-region interconnectivity between Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

Introduction

To create an integrated multicloud experience, Microsoft and Oracle offer direct interconnection between Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) using Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute and OCI FastConnect. The Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute and OCI FastConnect interconnection, provides low latency, high throughput, and private direct connectivity between the two clouds.

You can set up the interconnection between Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure using instructions provided in this step-by-step guide. Once the interconnect is set up, you must connect Virtual Network to ExpressRoute.

This tutorial outlines how you can extend interconnected cross-region connectivity using ExpressRoute cross connection and OCI region peering.

Objective

Enable cross-region connectivity between Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and Microsoft Azure environment through OCI-Azure Interconnect network connectivity. We have covered deploying the environment within Azure and OCI and validating network connectivity between OCI/Azure interconnected regions.

Prerequisites

Audience

This tutorial is intended for Cloud Service Provider professionals and multicloud administrators.

Architecture

Below is a sample network topology and high level architecture of the solution.

OCI Azure Interconnect Cross Region Connectivity Architecture

You can refer to this architecture when you want to extend interconnected region connectivity using ExpressRoute cross connections and region peering within OCI regions.

Task 1: Configure Virtual Network and Subnet on Azure

  1. Sign in to the Azure Portal.

  2. On the upper-left side of the screen, select Create a resource, Networking, Virtual network or search for Virtual network in the search box.

  3. In the Create virtual network screen, enter or select this information in the Basics tab.

    Project Details

    • Subscription: Select your Azure subscription
    • Resource Group: Select Create new, enter resource-group-name, then select OK, or select an existing resource-group-name based on parameters.

    Instance details

    • Name: Enter virtual-network-name.

    • Region: Select region-name.

  4. Select the IP Addresses tab or select the Next: IP Addresses button at the end of the page.

  5. In the IP Addresses tab, enter the following information.

    • IPv4 address space: Enter ipv4-address-range; Example: 10.20.0.0/16 for US East Region, 10.40.0.0/16 for US West3 Region.

  6. Under Subnet name, select the word default.

  7. In Edit subnet, enter the following information.

    • Subnet name: Enter subnet-name.
    • Subnet address range: Enter subnet-address-range; Example: 10.20.1.0/24 for Compute Subnet in US East , 10.40.1.0/24 for Compute Subnet in US West3.

  8. Select Save.

  9. Select the Review + create tab or select the Review + create button.

  10. Select Create.

Repeat Steps 1-9 for both Interconnected Regions and then proceed to the next section to create Gateway Subnets and Virtual Network Gateways.

Task 2: Create a Gateway Subnet and Virtual Network Gateway on Azure

Task 3: Connect your ExpressRoute Circuit to the Virtual Network Gateway via a connection on Azure

Note: [Optional] You can also enable Global Reach at ExpressRoute level to support connectivity from either on-premises or a fall back option between OCI region peering to support connectivity. To learn more about Global reach, check this step-by-step guide.

Task 4: Create ExpressRoute cross connections using Virtual Network Gateways on Azure

Task 5: Create virtual machine on Azure

In this section you will create virtual machines to validate the connectivity from Azure to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

  1. On the upper-left side of the screen in the Azure portal, select Create a resource, Compute, Virtual machine.

  2. In Create a virtual machine - Basics, enter or select this information.

    Setting Value
    Project details  
    Subscription Select your subscription.
    Resource group Select your-resource-group. Select the resource group which you have created during prerequisite steps.
    Instance details  
    Virtual machine name Enter vm-name.
    Region Select (US) East US or Region where you are deploying.
    Availability options Leave the default No infrastructure redundancy. required.
    Image Select Ubuntu Server 18.04 LTS - Gen1.
    Size Select Standard_B2s.
    Administrator account  
    Authentication type Select Password. You can also choose SSH based authentication and update required value as needed.
    Username Enter a user name.
    Password Enter a password. The password must be at least 12 characters long and meet the defined complexity requirements.
    Confirm Password Re-enter password.
    Inbound port rules  
    Public inbound ports Select None.

  3. Select Next: Disks.

  4. In Create a virtual machine - Disks, leave the defaults and select Next: Networking.

  5. In Create a virtual machine - Networking, select this information:

    Setting Value
    Virtual network Select virtual-network.
    Subnet Select compute-subnet. Example: 10.20.1.0/24 in US East Region.
    Public IP Leave the default (new) my-vm-ip.
    Public inbound ports Select Allow selected ports.
    Select inbound ports Select SSH.

  6. Select Review + create. You’re taken to the Review + create page where Azure validates your configuration.

  7. When you see the Validation passed message, select Create.

Repeat Steps 1-7 for both region VMs and proceed to the next section to create required resources on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

Task 6: Create resources on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

In this section you will create the required resources to support validation from OCI console within interconnected regions. In the OCI console, create following resources in each region:

You can follow this step-by-step guide to create a VM and complete required Virtual Cloud Network/Subnet set up. You need to follow this step-by-step guide to establish region peering between OCI Regions through DRG.

Once you have created the required resources and configuration based on architecture, proceed to the next section to validate interconnected regions connectivity.

Task 7: Validate the traffic in OCI/Azure Interconnect

In this section, you will connect to Linux VMs of both Cloud Providers and do a ping test to check the connectivity.

  1. Connect to Linux VMs on both cloud providers using your terminal.

  2. Initiate a ICMP RTT from Azure VMs to OCI VMs and vice-versa.

    • This will ensure network connectivity.

    • Below table shows a connectivity test performed based on shared network topology and reflects you can reach from OCI Ashburn, OCI Phoenix to US East, US West3 and vice-versa.

      Traffic Validation SRIOV/Accelerated Networking ICMP RTT (Milliseconds)
      OCI Ashburn VM to Azure US East VM; 10.10.0.168 > 10.20.1.4 yes 2.2
      OCI Ashburn VM to Azure US West3 VM; 10.10.0.168 > 10.40.1.4 yes 48.47
      OCI Ashburn VM to OCI PHX VM; 10.10.0.168 > 10.30.0.194 yes 58.75
      OCI PHX VM to Azure US East VM; 10.30.0.194 > 10.20.1.4 yes 62.00
      OCI PHX VM to Azure US West3 VM; 10.30.0.194 > 10.40.1.4 yes 2.2
      OCI PHX VM to OCI Ashburn VM; 10.30.0.194 > 10.10.0.168 yes 49.0
      Azure US East VM to OCI Ashburn VM; 10.20.1.4 > 10.10.0.168 yes 2.3
      Azure US East VM to OCI PHX VM; 10.20.1.4 > 10.30.0.194 yes 61.7
      Azure US East VM to Azure US West3 VM; 10.20.1.4 > 10.40.1.4 yes 52.9
      Azure US West3 VM to OCI Ashburn VM; 10.40.1.4 > 10.20.1.4 yes 59.5
      Azure US West3 VM to OCI PHX VM; 10.40.1.4 > 10.30.0.194 yes 2.2
      Azure US West3 VM to Azure US East VM; 10.40.1.4 > 10.30.1.4 yes 62.0

    • ICMP RTT between Azure and OCI reflects connectivity established between regions using ExpressRoute cross connection and regions peering as per our network topology.

    • Note: The above table reflects ICMP RTT as a reference point which could vary depending on the regions and use-case architecture. It is recommended to do a POC.

    • You can find more information about Azure latency between regions in Microsoft Learn: Azure network round-trip latency statistics.

    • For more information on how to test Virtual Machine latency, see Microsoft Learn: Test Azure virtual machine network latency in an Azure virtual network.

    • Note: You can validate DR failover using disabling ExpressRoute private peering option to ensure traffic: Microsoft Learn: Azure ExpressRoute: Reset circuit peering by using the Azure portal.

Task 8: Clean up resources

After you are done using the resources, delete the resource group and associated resources.

  1. Delete the interconnect link if you haven’t done already. For details see the step-by-step guide.

  2. Enter your-resource-group-name in the Search box at the top of the portal and select your-resource-group-name from the search results.

  3. Select Delete resource group.

  4. Enter your-resource-group-name for TYPE THE RESOURCE GROUP NAME and select Delete.

  5. Similarly delete the resources in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

Acknowledgments

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