Microsoft Azure offers an application gateway solution that enables users to control inbound traffic to their web apps. For improved security and speed, it provides load balancing capabilities and a web application firewallIn this article, we’ll walk you through using Azure Application Gateway for load balancing and web application firewall.
Terminologies
Before moving on to the guide, let’s first define a few terms that are associated with Azure Application Gateway.
- Backend Pool: A collection of physical or virtual servers to which the Application Gateway will distribute traffic load.
- Listener: The Application Gateway’s listener setting determines how it will look for incoming traffic.
- Routing Rules: These guidelines describe how the Application Gateway will route traffic to the appropriate backend pool.
- Web Application Firewall (WAF): A firewall that monitors and filters incoming traffic to shield web applications from threats is known as a web application firewall (WAF).
How To Utilise Azure Application Gateway for Load Balancing and Web Application Firewall?
Step 1: Create an Azure Application Gateway Resource in the first step.
The procedures listed below to create an Azure Application Gateway resource:
- Select the “Create a resource” option on the Azure Portal.
- Choose “Application Gateway” from the list of results after conducting a search.
- Select a resource group, a subscription, and a name for your application gateway
- Set up your application gateway’s size according to your requirements.
- Choose the area where your Application Gateway will be installed.
- Set up your application gateway’s size according to your requirements.
Step 2: Configure Frontend Pools
The steps following should be followed to configure frontend pools:
- Choose “Frontend pools” from the menu
- Select Frontend IP address type
- Click on “Add new” to create new public IP address
- Give name to you Public IP address and then click on “OK”
Step 3: Configure Backend Pools
The steps following should be followed to configure backend pools:
- Choose “Backend pools” from the menu
- To build a new backend pool, click “Add.”
- Give your backend pool a name and indicate the backend servers’ target type (IP address or hostname).
- Include the hostnames or IP addresses of your backend servers.
- To save the backend pool, click “Add.”
Step 4: Configure Routing Rules
The steps below should be followed to configure routing rules:
- Select “Configuration” tab
- Click on “Add a routing rule”
- Give details about your routing rule’s listener, backend pool, and routing criteria (URL path, hostname, or HTTP header).
- If other customizations, like rewrite or redirection rules, are required, add them.
- Click on “Backend Targets”
- Add Backend target Poll. To create new Cick on “Add new”
- Add Name of Backend Poll and click “Add”
- Similarly Click on “Add new” to add new backend settings.
- Give backend settings name and other additional details if required.
- Cleck on “Add” to add backend settings.
- After completion Click on “Add” to add routing rules sucessfully.
Step 5:
- Click on “Review + Create” tab and click on Create
- Your application gateway will be deployed
Similarly, Repeat the same steps in case of Web Application firewall resource pack and deploy it .
Overall, Azure Application Gateway offers a quick and efficient method for cloud-based load balancing of web applications. You can quickly divide traffic across several servers with its robust load-balancing and routing features, preserving the high availability and responsiveness of your online service.