New set of Hybrid Cloud Test Environments

Although there are plenty of resources out there that tell you how to create a dev/test environment in a cloud-only virtual network, what if you want to set up something that mimics a hybrid cloud, complete with a cross-premises virtual network to a VPN device at your organization?

To address this need, the following set of topics for hybrid cloud test environments are now published:

• Set up a hybrid cloud environment for testing
• Set up a SharePoint intranet farm in a hybrid cloud for testing
• Set up a web-based LOB application in a hybrid cloud for testing
• Set up Office 365 Directory Synchronization (DirSync) in a hybrid cloud for testing

These environments use your local Internet connection and one of your public IP addresses and step you through setting up a functioning, cross-premises Azure virtual network. When complete, you can begin performing application development, experimenting with simplified IT workloads, and gauge the performance of a site-to-site VPN connection relative to your location on the Internet.

Note: The performance of a site-to-site VPN connection will not be the same as an ExpressRoute connection.

Here is the configuration for the Set up a hybrid cloud environment for testing topic:

You can host the computers of the Corpnet subnet in a physical lab or as virtual machines on a single Hyper-V server that is directly connected to the Internet.

This is how I set up and tested these configurations.

With these new topics, you can create dev/test environments or proof-of-concept configurations for hybrid cloud-based IT workloads. You can also use these environments to experiment with Azure features.

For example, let’s say you want to see the Azure internal load balancer actually working before adding it to your design for a new line-of-business (LOB) application hosted in an Azure cross-premises virtual network. Here is what you could do:

1. Start with the Set up a hybrid cloud environment for testing topic and create the base infrastructure.
2. Add two LOB servers named LOB1 and LOB2, which run Windows Server 2012 R2 and Internet Information Services (IIS), to the TestVNET virtual network.
3. On both LOB1 and LOB2, modify the c:\iispub\wwwroot\iisstart.htm file to show the name of the web server (for example, add a simple

   LOBx

   line to the body of the page).
4. Configure an internal load balancer set that uses a static IP address and contains endpoints for unauthenticated web traffic to LOB1 and LOB2. For more information, see Configure an internal load-balanced set.
5. Add a DNS record for the name “LOBAPP” that resolves to the static IP address of the internal load balancer set.

Here is the resulting configuration:

Now, go to CLIENT1 on the Corpnet subnet and use Internet Explorer to browse http://lobapp. Note the name of the web server actually servicing CLIENT1’s request. Refresh the page in Internet Explorer multiple times and see how the name of the web server changes.

Imagine what else you could do to learn about additional Azure features.

Joe Davies
Senior Content Developer