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Create a mesh topology with Azure Virtual Network Manager

In this article, you learn how to create a mesh topology using Azure Virtual Network Manager. With this configuration, all the virtual networks of the same region in the network groups included in this configuration can communicate with one another. You can enable cross-region connectivity by enabling the global mesh setting in the connectivity configuration.

Prerequisites

Create a network group

This section helps you create a network group containing the virtual networks you're using for the mesh topology.

Note

This how-to guide assumes you created an Azure Virtual Network Manager instance using the quickstart guide.

  1. Browse to your resource group, and select the network-manager resource.

  2. Under Settings, select Network groups. Then select + Create.

  3. On the Create a network group pane, then select Create:

    Setting Value
    Name Enter network-group.
    Description (Optional) Provide a description about this network group.
    Member type Select Virtual network from the dropdown menu.

  4. Confirm that the new network group is now listed on the Network groups pane.

Define network group members

Azure Virtual Network Manager provides you with two methods for adding membership to a network group. You can manually add virtual networks or use Azure Policy to conditionally add virtual networks to the network group. This how-to manually adds membership. For information on defining group membership with Azure Policy, see Define network group membership with Azure Policy.

Manually adding members

To manually add the desired virtual networks to your network group for use in your connectivity configuration, follow these steps:

  1. From the list of network groups, select your network group and select Add virtual networks under Manually add members on the network group page.

  2. On the Manually add members pane, select all desired virtual networks and select Add.

  3. To review the network group membership that you manually added, select Group Members on the Network Group page under Settings.

Create a mesh connectivity configuration

This section guides you through creating a mesh configuration with the network group you created in the previous section.

  1. Select Configurations under Settings, then select + Create.

  2. Select Connectivity configuration from the drop-down menu to begin creating a connectivity configuration.

  3. On the Basics page, enter the following information, and select Next: Topology >.

    Setting Value
    Name Enter a name for this configuration.
    Description Optional Enter a description about what this configuration does.

  4. On the Topology tab, select the Mesh topology if not already selected, and leave the Enable mesh connectivity across regions unchecked. Cross-region connectivity isn't required for this setup since all the virtual networks in the network group are in the same region.

  5. On the Add network groups page, select the network group you want to add to this configuration. Then select Select to save.

    Important

    You can add multiple network groups to a mesh connectivity configuration to establish connectivity between all the member virtual networks of all the selected network groups in the same regions by default. Enable mesh connectivity across regions connects all virtual networks of all selected network groups across all regions.

  6. Select Review + create and then Create to create the mesh connectivity configuration.

Deploy the mesh configuration

To have this configuration take effect in your environment, you need to deploy the configuration to the regions in which your selected virtual networks reside.

  1. Select Deployments under Settings, then select Deploy configuration.

  2. On the Deploy a configuration page, select the following settings:

    Setting Value
    Configurations Select Include connectivity configurations in your goal state.
    Connectivity Configurations Select the name of the configuration you created in the previous section.
    Target regions Select all the regions that apply to virtual networks you select for the configuration. You might choose to select a subset of regions at a time if you want to gradually roll out this configuration.

  3. Select Next and then select Deploy to complete the deployment.

  4. The deployment displays in the list for the selected region. The deployment of the configuration can take a few minutes to complete. Select the Refresh button to check on the status of the deployment.

Confirm deployment

  1. See view applied configurations.

  2. To test connectivity between virtual networks, deploy a test virtual machine into each virtual network and start an ICMP request between them.

Next steps