Exam AZ-104 topic 5 question 148 discussion

am i the only one who saw 'Microsoft backbone network' and instantly thought private endpoint

The traffic between virtual machines in peered virtual networks uses the Microsoft backbone infrastructure. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/virtual-network-peering-overview ExpressRoute private peering supports connectivity between multiple virtual networks. Although this behavior happens by default when linking virtual networks to the same ExpressRoute circuit, Microsoft doesn't recommend this solution. To establish connectivity between virtual networks, VNet peering should be implemented instead for the best performance possible. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/expressroute/virtual-network-connectivity-guidance

I also saw "Microsoft backbone network" and thought private endpoint but it's not, dang, this is good 'ol communication between two VNets which is always peering. I am actually glad we had this question.

chatgpt To ensure that all traffic between VNet1 (in West US) and VNet2 (in Central Europe) traverses the Microsoft backbone network, you need to configure VNet peering. When you peer virtual networks in different regions (global VNet peering), the traffic between them is routed through the Microsoft backbone network, ensuring private and secure connectivity. The correct answer is: B. peering

Explanation: Virtual network peering in Azure allows you to connect virtual networks seamlessly. When you create peering between VNet1 and VNet2, Azure automatically routes traffic between them through the Microsoft backbone network. This ensures efficient and optimized routing of traffic between the virtual networks, leveraging Azure's high-performance backbone infrastructure. Options A, C, and D are not directly related to ensuring traffic traversal through the Microsoft backbone network between virtual networks in Azure. Private endpoint is used for private connectivity to Azure services, ExpressRoute is a dedicated private connection to Azure, and a route table is used for custom routing within a virtual network, but none of these options specifically address the requirement to leverage the Microsoft backbone network for inter-VNet traffic.

Analysis: Peering: If global peering is configured between VNet1 and VNet2, traffic will traverse the Microsoft backbone. Therefore, the configuration that ensures that all traffic between VNet1 and VNet2 traverses the Microsoft backbone is peering, specifically global peering. Correct Answer: B. Peering Configuring VNet peering between VNet1 and VNet2 will ensure that traffic between the two virtual networks uses the Microsoft backbone.

I guess express route is selected here because Microsoft is petty and want you to know that peering is different from global peering. It is stupid

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/virtual-network-peering-overview#connectivity

a private endpoint: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-app-configuration/concept-private-endpoint

Virtual network peering enables you to seamlessly connect two or more Virtual Networks in Azure. The virtual networks appear as one for connectivity purposes. The traffic between virtual machines in peered virtual networks uses the Microsoft backbone infrastructure. Like traffic between virtual machines in the same network, traffic is routed through Microsoft's private network only.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/virtual-network-peering-overview

ExpressRoute is for on-prem to Azure, not in-between Azure. Therefore -> peering

A - Private Endpoint