Traffic Manager Solution in AzureEnvironment

By

Date Name Version Change Reference

xx/xx/2019 Sikander Mirza 1.0 Released

Reviewers
Name Version Approved Date

Ch P Janadeo 1.0 xx/xx/2019

Table of Contents

1. Traffic Manager for HEC Environment in Azure ............................................................... 2

1.1 Traffic Manager routing methods ......................................................................................... 3
1.2 Infrastructure requirements for Traffic Manager ................................................................. 3
2. Traffic Manager Profile ..................................................................................................... 3
2.1 Configuration ........................................................................................................................ 5
2.2 Traffic View ........................................................................................................................... 5
2.3 Endpoints .............................................................................................................................. 6
2.4 Metrics and Alerts ................................................................................................................. 8
2.5 Resource Health .................................................................................................................... 9
2.6 Test Results ......................................................................................................................... 10
2.7 Pricing.................................................................................................................................. 12

1. Traffic Manager for HEC Environment in Azure

Azure Traffic Manager is a DNS-based traffic load balancer that enables you to distribute traffic
optimally to services across global Azure regions, while providing high availability and
responsiveness.

Traffic Manager uses DNS to direct client requests to the most appropriate service endpoint
based on a traffic-routing method and the health of the endpoints. An endpoint is any Internet-
facing service hosted inside or outside of Azure. Traffic Manager provides a range of traffic-
routing methods and endpoint monitoring options to suit different application needs and
automatic failover models. Traffic Manager is resilient to failure, including the failure of an
entire Azure region.

1.1 Traffic Manager routing methods

Azure Traffic Manager supports six traffic-routing methods to determine how to route network
traffic to the various service endpoints. For any profile, Traffic Manager applies the traffic-
routing method associated to it to each DNS query it receives. The traffic-routing method
determines which endpoint is returned in the DNS response.

1.2 Infrastructure requirements for Traffic Manager

Following components have been deployed for the Traffic Manager Solution.

EastUS Region
 Resource Group: Traffic-Manager-RG
 VNET
 WEB Subnet
 AV SET
 Windows 2012 VM with a Public IP assigned
 Install and Configure Webserver (IIS)
 Traffic Manager Profile

Southeast Asia Region

 Resource Group: Traffic-Manager-RG-Asia
 VNET
 WEB Subnet
 AV SET
 Windows 2012 VM with a Public IP assigned
 Install and Configure Webserver (IIS), identical to the EastUS Region

2. Traffic Manager Profile

Traffic Manager can be deployed by searching for “Traffic Manager Profile” in the search
window from the Azure Portal.
Click Add, specify a unique name, select a Routing method from the drop down, and select
Subscription & Resource Group.

The following features of Azure Traffic Manager helps in configuring the Load Balancer.
2.1 Configuration
Configuration tab under settings is used to configure the Routing Method, DNS TTL value in
seconds, Protocol for End Point Monitoring, Port 80 or 443 (if SSL), path & probing interval time
in seconds

2.2 Traffic View

Traffic View provides Traffic Manager with a view of your user bases (at a DNS resolver
granularity level) and their traffic pattern.

 Understand where your user bases are located (up to a local DNS resolver level
granularity).

 View the volume of traffic (observed as DNS queries handled by Azure Traffic Manager)
originating from these regions.

 Get insights into what is the representative latency experienced by these users.

 Deep dive into the specific traffic patterns from each of these user bases to Azure
regions where you have endpoints.
2.3 Endpoints
Microsoft Azure Traffic Manager allows you to control how network traffic is distributed to
application deployments running in different datacenters. You configure each application
deployment as an 'endpoint' in Traffic Manager. When Traffic Manager receives a DNS request,
it chooses an available endpoint to return in the DNS response. Traffic manager bases the
choice on the current endpoint status and the traffic-routing method.

Configure the EndPoints by clicking ‘Add’ from the EndPoint Tab

Endpoint gives options to select the type as Azure Endpoint or External/Nested

Endpoint, resource type can be cloud service/App Service/App Service Slot/Public IP,
2.4 Metrics and Alerts
Metrics is used to view the number of queries that a Traffic Manager profile processes
over a specified period.

In addition to the above metrics we can configure Alerts, based on the metrics and activity logs
alerts will be sent to the specified email address.
2.5 Resource Health
Resource Health Section helps to diagnose and get support when an Azure issue impacts the
resources. It informs about the current and past health of the resource and helps to mitigate
issues. Resource health provides technical support when we need help with Azure service
issues.

Resource Health gives us a personalized dashboard of the health of the resource. Resource
Health shows all the times the resource was unavailable in the past because of Azure service
problems.
2.6 Test Results

a) Web Servers in Running Status

b) Website hosted on East US Webserver accessed using the Public IP

c) Website hosted on “South East Asia” Webserver accessed using the Public IP
 d) Website accessed using the Traffic Manager FQDN

Note: In production scenario, we would create a CNAME record in our Public DNS pointing to
the Traffic Manager FQDN

e. g. www.contoso.com CNAME http://c4csolution.trafficmanager.net

e) As the website is browsed from India, the webpage is presented from the South East
Asia Datacenter.

f) When the South East Asia Web Server Stopped.

g) The Endpoint monitoring fails after the South East Asia Web Server is Stopped.
 h) Website Access using the Traffic Manager FQDN after the South East Asia Web Server is
stopped, the Traffic Manager directs the traffic to the East US Datacenter.

2.7 Pricing
Traffic Manager billing is based on the following pricing dimensions:

1. The number of DNS queries received, with a discount for services receiving more than 1
billion monthly queries.

2. The number of monitored endpoints. The rate depends on (1) whether it’s an Azure or
external service and (2) how frequently you want Traffic Manager to monitor the
endpoint.

3. The number of real user measurements received by the Traffic Manager Service.

4. The number of data points used to generate Traffic View outputs.

The following table gives the pricing details of network watcher with free services included by
default.

PRICE
First 1 billion DNS queries/month ₹35.692 per million queries
Over 1 billion DNS queries/month ₹24.787 per million queries
Basic Health Checks
₹23.795 per Azure
Basic health checks (Azure) endpoint/month
₹66.097 per Azure
Fast interval health checks add-on (Azure) endpoint/month
₹35.692 per external
Basic health checks (external) endpoint/month
₹132.193 per external
Fast interval health checks add-on (external)1 endpoint/month
Traffic Manager Real User Measurements currently supports
measuring only Azure regions.
REAL USER MEASUREMENTS
₹132.193 per million
Measuring Azure Regions measurements

TRAFFIC VIEW
₹132.193 per million data
Data points processed points processed

For updated information on pricing follow the below link

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/traffic-manager/

For detailed documentation on Azure Traffic Manager follow the below link

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/traffic-manager/traffic-manager-overview