The basic version of Microsoft’s virtual firewall should enable SMBs to introduce a virtual network into their network topology.

Azure Firewall Basic is a new formula within Microsoft Azure focused on SMBs. The public preview has been available for testing for some time, and now the application can be made generally available.

Microsoft targets organizations that use a traditional hub-and-spoke network topology, a network model for efficiently managing common communication or security needs. You can also activate the Azure Firewall in a virtual network there.

The tech giant is pleased that deploying a virtual firewall is easy and offers Layer 3-7 filtering and alerts against unwanted traffic. It is a cloud-native service that integrates seamlessly with other Azure applications and dashboards.

Three payment formulas

Azure Firewall Basic enables teams to use Infrastructure as Code (IaC) by providing native support through ARM templates. External platforms including Terraform already support IaC for an automatic rollout.

Azure Firewall comes in three formulas. We have already explained the basic version above. Azure Firewall Standard offers a higher peak traffic level, 30 Gbps, as well as DNS proxy, custom DNS, and web categories. The Basic formula can only handle speeds up to 250 Mbps.

Anyone running very sensitive applications like payment processing can use Azure Firewall Premium. This most expensive package includes everything in the standard formula but adds extra protection against malware and TLS inspection.