Azure Firewall is a cloud-native platform provided by Microsoft Azure, facilitating advanced, fully stateful firewall controls such as network, application, and threat-intelligence filtering. Understanding and mastering the creation and configuration of Azure Firewall is essential for the AZ-500 Microsoft Azure Security Technologies examination.
To create and configure an Azure Firewall, you firstly need to understand the core components it involves:
- Firewall Rules: These define what traffic is allowed or disallowed.
- Azure Firewall Subnets: The Azure Firewall is deployed into its own subnet.
- Route Tables: These instruct the traffic to flow via the Azure Firewall.
- Public IP Addresses: Azure Firewall uses a static public IP address from the AzureFirewallSubnet.
The following is a step-by-step guide on how to create and configure the Azure Firewall:
Step 1: Create a Firewall
From the Azure portal, navigate to ‘Create a resource’ -> ‘Networking’ -> ‘Firewall’. Here you enter the required details, such as name, subscription, resource group, location, etc., You also need to provide the IP address assigned to the firewall.
Step 2: Create Firewall Rules
This step involves defining the application or network rules as per your security requirements. This can be accomplished via Azure Portal -> Resource Group -> Firewall -> Rules, where you can add or update application rules and network rules.
For instance, to create a network rule:
- Select your firewall and pick ‘Network rule collection’.
- Click on Add network collection rule.
- Fill the required data, including Priority, Name, Action (i.e., whether to allow or deny the mentioned traffic) and Protocol.
Step 3: Configure Routing
To ensure all traffic passes through the Azure Firewall, you must update the route table associated with your subnets. For instance, to create a new route table:
- Navigate to Azure Portal -> Create a resource -> Networking -> Route table.
- Fill in your resource details and hit the Create button.
- Post creation, navigate to the ‘Route table’ pane, select ‘Routes’ and click the ‘+Add’ button.
- Fill in the details including the address prefix and the next hop (the Firewall’s private IP).
Finally, make sure to associate your subnets with this route table.
It’s essential to remember that Azure Firewall uses a static public IP from the Azure Firewall subnet. It’s 1:1 NAT outbound, DNAT inbound; this makes it less prone to attacks, ensuring stability and safety.
In essence, Azure Firewall provides secure, foolproof connection to your Azure Virtual Network resources, critical for the AZ-500 examination. It is pivotal in achieving superior threat protection by restricting unwanted traffic and encouraging a secure, clean network environment.
Note: Both Azure Firewall configuration and rule creation can be automated using Azure PowerShell or Azure CLI for more scalable deployments.
Practice Test
True or False: Azure Firewall is a stateful, cloud-native network security service.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Azure Firewall is indeed a stateful, cloud-native network service. It provides threat intelligence and protection across your Azure and on-premises environments.
Which of the following can Azure Firewall perform? Choose all that apply.
- A. Inbound Analysis
- B. Outbound Analysis
- C. Application filtering
- D. Load balancing
Answer: A, B, C
Explanation: Azure Firewall can perform inbound analysis, outbound analysis, and application filtering. It does not provide load balancing functionality.
True or False: Azure Firewall rules are case-sensitive.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Azure Firewall rules are not case-sensitive.
Which of the following can you filter with Azure Firewall?
- A. Network traffic
- B. Application traffic
- C. Both A and B
- D. None of the above
Answer: C. Both A and B
Explanation: Azure Firewall allows you to filter both network and application traffic.
True or False: You can log and analyze Azure Firewall traffic with Azure Monitor.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Azure Firewall integrates with Azure Monitor, enabling logging and analytics of firewall traffic.
Which of the following can be integrated with Azure Firewall for threat intelligence?
- A. Azure Active Directory
- B. Azure Security Center
- C. Azure Logic Apps
- D. All of the above
Answer: D. All of the above
Explanation: Azure Firewall can be integrated with all these services for threat intelligence.
True or False: Azure Firewall cannot process encrypted traffic.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Azure Firewall can inspect outbound and inbound encrypted traffic, providing an additional layer of security.
Which of the following is not a feature of the Azure Firewall?
- A. Stateful firewall as a service
- B. Built-in high availability
- C. Unlimited cloud scalability
- D. Vulnerability scanning
Answer: D. Vulnerability scanning
Explanation: Azure Firewall does not provide vulnerability scanning. It provides application and network-level security.
Azure Firewall provides integration with which of the following for automated firewall deployments?
- A. Azure DevOps
- B. Azure Functions
- C. Azure Monitor
- D. Azure Logic Apps
Answer: A. Azure DevOps
Explanation: Azure Firewall provides integration with Azure DevOps for automated deployment and centralized management.
True or False: Azure Firewall does not support multiple public IP addresses.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Azure Firewall supports multiple public IP addresses, enabling SNAT for outbound traffic and DNAT for inbound traffic.
Interview Questions
What is Azure Firewall?
Azure Firewall is a managed, cloud-based network security service that protects your Azure Virtual Network resources. It’s a fully stateful firewall as a service with built-in high availability and unrestricted cloud scalability.
What are the types of Azure Firewall available?
There are two types of Azure Firewall available: Azure Firewall Standard and Azure Firewall Premium.
What is the difference between Azure Firewall Standard and Azure Firewall Premium?
Azure Firewall Standard provides basic functionalities such as outbound filtering and inbound filtering. Azure Firewall Premium has additional capabilities of performing threat intelligence-based filtering, web categories, and TLS inspection.
How to enable Azure Firewall Premium?
Azure Firewall Premium can only be enabled when creating new firewall. You cannot upgrade the standard version to premium or vice versa.
What protocol and traffic does Azure Firewall support?
Azure Firewall supports both inbound and outbound filtering and supports the following protocols and traffic: TCP, UDP, and ICMP, any TCP or UDP-based protocol, Application FQDNs in network rules.
Can Azure Firewall be integrated with Azure log analytics?
Yes, Azure Firewall logs can be integrated with Azure Log Analytics for advanced analytics and reporting.
How to deploy Azure Firewall?
Azure Firewall can be deployed using Azure portal, Azure CLI or Azure Powershell. It can also be deployed using an ARM template.
In Azure Firewall, what is Threat intelligence-based filtering?
Threat intelligence-based filtering allows Azure Firewall to alert or deny traffic from/to known malicious IP addresses and domains in near real-time.
What is the maximum number of firewall rule collections that can be created in an Azure Firewall?
Azure Firewall allows you to create up to 10000 firewall rule collections per region for each subscription.
Can Azure Firewall filter outbound traffic from a Virtual Network?
Yes, Azure Firewall has built in outbound network level filtering capabilities.
Is it possible to use both Azure Firewall and Network Security Groups (NSGs) together?
Yes, Azure Firewall and Network Security Groups (NSGs) can be used together. NSGs provide segmentation within a virtual network at the subnet and NIC levels, while Azure Firewall provides a protection boundary for all resources within a virtual network.
How are rules processed in Azure Firewall rules collection?
In Azure Firewall, rules are processed in priority order within each rule collection type. Network rule collections are processed before application rule collections.
Which action has higher priority in Azure Firewall – Allow or Deny?
‘Deny’ action has higher priority in Azure Firewall. If there is a conflict between an allow rule and a deny rule, the deny rule wins.
Does Azure Firewall provide encrypted threat intelligence feeds?
Yes, Azure Firewall can provide threat intelligence feeds over encrypted channels.
What is Azure Firewall Manager?
Azure Firewall Manager is a security management service that provides central security policy and route management for cloud-based security perimeters.
extutorials.com