Cross border Azure cloud strategy and technology parallel solution to slow and lagging??? Solution/

 Cross border Azure cloud strategy and technology parallel solution to slow and lagging??? Solution//Global IPLC service provider of Shigeng Communication

一、Cloud computing, as the cornerstone of enterprise digital transformation, directly affects the collaborative efficiency of global business through its access experience. Especially for multinational enterprises, the slow and lagging issues of Azure cloud services not only reduce work efficiency, but may also trigger chain reactions such as data synchronization delays and real-time collaboration interruptions. This article will delve into the pain points of cross-border access to Azure and provide a comprehensive solution from network architecture optimization, cloud service configuration to security compliance.

1. Typical pain points and root cause analysis of cross-border access to Azure

When accessing Azure cloud services across borders, enterprises often encounter the following issues:

High latency and jitter: For example, Australian users accessing Western European servers can experience latency of up to 300ms or more and significant jitter. This is mainly due to the long physical distance (data needs to go through multi hop routing), international export bandwidth congestion, and uncertainty in public network transmission.

Connection instability and packet loss: The congestion and unreliability of the public Internet may cause connection interruption.

Uneven performance: Even between different regions of the same cloud service provider (such as the central southern and eastern regions of the United States), there may be significant communication delays.

Security and compliance risks: Public network transmission of sensitive data must comply with regulatory requirements such as China's Data Security Law, and direct public network access carries risks.

2. Core optimization strategies and technical solutions

To solve the above problems, it is necessary to approach from multiple dimensions such as network connectivity, cloud service configuration, and data distribution.

1. Build high-performance cross-border network connections

Azure FHIR dedicated connection:

ExpressRoute allows you to extend the local network to the Azure cloud and bypass the public Internet by connecting to the private connection provided by the service provider. Its value lies in:

Significantly reducing latency and jitter: providing more reliable, lower latency, and higher throughput connections.

Enhanced security: Provides a more reliable connection than Internet based links.

Hybrid deployment suggestion: An active passive mode with "FHIR dedicated line as the main and S2S VPN as the auxiliary" can be adopted to achieve high availability network connectivity.

SD-WAN intelligent routing:

For multi branch or hybrid cloud scenarios, SD-WAN is the ideal choice:

Intelligent routing and load balancing: SD-WAN solutions can dynamically distribute traffic (such as video conferencing using dedicated lines and file synchronization using the public network).

Cost optimization: Under typical configurations, SD-WAN can help reduce cross-border transmission costs.

Simplified management: Centralized controllers simplify the management difficulty of global networks.

Azure Virtual WAN (Virtual Wide Area Network):

Azure Virtual WAN optimizes and automates connections from branch offices to Azure and between branch offices. It, combined with Secure Hub, is a powerful combination to address connectivity and compliance challenges with China.

2. Optimize Azure cloud service configuration and architecture

Reasonable selection and utilization of Azure regions:

Node selection strategy: Azure operates over 60 regional cloud data centers and more than 185 global network POP access points worldwide. When selecting nodes, close physical distance ≠ fast access, and comprehensive consideration should be given to node load, operator matching, and routing optimization. Azure's latency testing tool can be used for actual testing.

Regional Peer to Peer Interconnection and Deployment: For enterprises using multiple Azure regions, Azure Virtual Network (VNet) Peer to Peer Interconnection can directly connect VNet in different Azure regions through Azure's backbone network, providing low latency network connectivity. Meanwhile, placing closely collaborating resources such as application services and databases in the same area can avoid unnecessary network latency.

Application performance optimization configuration:

In services such as Azure App Service, performance can be improved through the following configurations:

Enable HTTP/2: Specify the use of HTTP/2 version in the application service configuration.

Turn off ARR affinity cookies: For stateless applications, turning off this cookie can improve load balancing efficiency and resilience.

Keep 'always on': prevent application services from shutting down due to idle time.

Use local cache.

3. Utilize content distribution and acceleration services

Azure CDN (Content Delivery Network):

Azure CDN significantly reduces user access latency and improves response speed by caching content on edge servers around the world. Its Smart Routing function can dynamically select the optimal path based on real-time network conditions. Azure CDN also supports Geo filtering functionality, which allows for setting caching policies based on country or region.

Azure Front Door and Static Web Apps Enterprise Edge:

Azure Front Door provides HTTP load balancing and global acceleration. The enterprise level edge networking capabilities of Azure Static Web Apps are supported by Azure Front Door, which accelerates global applications without additional configuration, improves page loading speed, and automatically fails over to healthy nodes.

3. Implementation process and best practices

Needs assessment and planning:

Clearly define the requirements of the business for latency, bandwidth, and stability (such as video conferencing requiring latency<150ms).

Draw a global business traffic map, identify key access paths and user groups.

Plan IP address space to avoid conflicts.

Technical selection and design:

Priority will be given to using FHIR dedicated lines for core business.

Multi branch or cost sensitive scenarios combined with SD-WAN.

Static content is widely accelerated using Azure CDN.

Design Hub Spoke network topology to achieve secure interconnection.

Deployment and Configuration:

Gradual deployment: first verify VPN connectivity → perform dedicated line stress testing → optimize SD-WAN strategy.

Fine tune routing policies, security groups (NSG), and firewall rules, following the principle of minimum privilege.

Enable necessary performance optimization options (such as HTTP/2).

Conclusion

Optimizing cross-border Azure access is a system engineering that involves multiple levels such as network, architecture, and security. Enterprises need to choose a combination strategy of "FHIR dedicated line+SD-WAN intelligent scheduling+Azure CDN acceleration+strict security compliance" based on their own business needs, user distribution, and budget, and follow a scientific implementation process. By continuously optimizing and embracing new technologies such as SASE and AIOps, enterprises can build an efficient, stable, and secure global cloud network, providing solid support for international business expansion.

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