A private link, arranged with a connectivity provider, between an on-premises network and Microsoft's cloud that avoids the public internet. Compared with a VPN it offers better reliability, higher speeds and steadier latency.
Read more: Microsoft Learn
In the Ultra Transcenders books
Each book explains Azure ExpressRoute in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
- Azure Private Link
Azure capability placing PaaS services such as Azure Storage behind a private endpoint in your VNet. Traffic stays on the Microsoft backbone with no public IP involved, though VNet and DNS configuration are required.
- Connectivity provider
Telecoms partner that, given the circuit's service key, provisions ExpressRoute at a peering location; with ExpressRoute Direct you connect without one.
- VPN
Traffic sent through an encrypted tunnel across a public network, as in a site-to-site connection to a VPN gateway in an Azure GatewaySubnet.
- Reliability
How well a system bounces back from failures and keeps running. It is a cloud benefit and also a pillar of the Azure Well-Architected Framework, which has five in total.