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A private endpoint is a network interface that uses a private IP address from your virtual network to connect securely to an Azure Private Link service. By using this setup, network traffic travels exclusively over the Azure backbone network instead of the public internet. This design isolates traffic and provides granular access to specific resource instances, which greatly reduces the risk of data exfiltration. These endpoints can be established within the same virtual network or across peered networks, but they require you to register the Microsoft.Network resource provider first.
To set up a private endpoint, you must first gather a few essential resources and permissions. You need a resource group containing both the target service and the destination virtual network with an assigned subnet. You must also have appropriate role-based access control (RBAC) permissions on both the target resource and its resource group. During creation, you must decide between an auto approval flow, which uses in-line RBAC permissions, or a manual approval flow that requires the service owner to approve the connection.
To ensure traffic routes correctly, you must integrate a private DNS zone that maps the fully qualified domain name of the service to the private IP of the endpoint. You connect this private DNS zone to your virtual networks using virtual network links, ensuring you use only a single link per zone to prevent duplicate records or resolution conflicts. To enforce this secure path, you can configure network security groups (NSGs) on your virtual machine subnets. These groups block outbound internet traffic, forcing all communication destined for the service through the private endpoint.
After deploying the endpoint, you should validate its health and access controls from a virtual machine located in the same subnet. Running an nslookup command confirms that the service name resolves to the private IP address rather than a public one. You should also attempt to access the service publicly to verify that you receive a 403 Forbidden error response. Finally, you can use Azure Monitor and Network Watcher to continuously track connectivity health and diagnose any routing issues that may arise.
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Provisioning a private endpoint requires registering the Microsoft.Network resource provider and having a resource group containing both the target service and destination virtual network with an assigned subnet. You must also hold appropriate role-based access control (RBAC) permissions on both the target resource and its resource group.
You must integrate a private DNS zone that maps the fully qualified domain name of the service to the private IP address of the private endpoint. Connect this zone to your virtual networks using virtual network links, ensuring only a single link is used per zone to prevent duplicate records or resolution conflicts.
You can validate functionality from a virtual machine in the same subnet by running an nslookup command to confirm the service resolves to its private IP address instead of a public one. You should also attempt public access to the service to verify that it returns a 403 Forbidden error response.
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