How can Azure Firewall, NSGs, and Private Endpoints work together to secure an enterprise Azure network?
Question
Understand how Azure Firewall, Network Security Groups (NSGs), and Private Endpoints provide multiple layers of protection for enterprise Azure workloads.
Explore how traffic can be controlled at the network, subnet, and service-access levels while reducing exposure to the public internet.
Learn practical architecture patterns for securing Azure VMs, applications, databases, Storage, and PaaS services.
A valuable discussion for aspiring Azure administrators, cloud engineers, DevOps professionals, and solution architects.
Answers
An enterprise Azure network should use these services as different layers of defense, not as substitutes for one another. Azure Firewall provides centralized traffic inspection and control, while NSGs filter network traffic at subnet/NIC boundaries. Private Endpoints provide private connectivity to supported Azure PaaS services through a private IP, reducing public exposure.
A typical architecture could be Hub VNet → Azure Firewall → Spoke VNet → Application Subnet → Private Endpoint → Azure SQL/Storage. NSGs can further restrict which workloads communicate with each subnet, while private DNS ensures applications resolve private endpoints correctly. Microsoft recommends disabling public network access where appropriate after validating private-endpoint connectivity.
The important skill for an Azure professional is understanding traffic flow, routing, DNS, segmentation and identity together, rather than simply knowing how to create each service.
Practical project: Build a hub-and-spoke environment with an application VM, Azure Firewall, NSGs and a private Azure SQL endpoint, then test and troubleshoot allowed and denied traffic.