What is the difference between Local, Standard, and Premium SKUs?

Local SKU provides connectivity only to Azure regions at or near the peering location, offers unlimited data egress (no per-GB charges), and is the most cost-effective for workloads in a single region. Standard SKU connects to all Azure regions within the same geopolitical region (e.g., all North American regions) with metered or unlimited egress options. Premium SKU connects to all Azure regions globally, supports up to 10,000 routes on Private Peering (vs 4,000 for Standard), and up to 10 VNet connections (vs 10 for Standard, expandable with add-ons).

How does ExpressRoute failover work?

Each ExpressRoute circuit consists of two physical connections (primary and secondary) for built-in redundancy. If one connection fails, traffic automatically fails over to the other. For higher availability, deploy two circuits from different peering locations and configure both as connections on your ExpressRoute Gateway. Use BGP AS-path prepending or connection weight to control active-passive or active-active failover behavior. For critical workloads, also maintain a VPN Gateway as a backup path in case both ExpressRoute circuits fail.

ExpressRoute Config Builder

NetworkingAzure

Build ExpressRoute circuit configurations with peerings and route filters.

ExpressRoute Configuration

Build ExpressRoute circuit configs with peerings, route filters, and VNet gateway connections.

Required Fields

nameresourceGroupserviceProviderNamepeeringLocationbandwidthInMbpssku.tierpeerings

{
  "name": "er-contoso-equinix-dc6",
  "resourceGroup": "rg-networking",
  "location": "eastus2",
  "serviceProviderName": "Equinix",
  "peeringLocation": "Washington DC",
  "bandwidthInMbps": 1000,
  "sku": {
    "tier": "Premium",
    "family": "UnlimitedData"
  },
  "allowClassicOperations": false,
  "globalReachEnabled": true,
  "peerings": [
    {
      "name": "AzurePrivatePeering",
      "peeringType": "AzurePrivatePeering",
      "peerASN": 65020,
      "primaryPeerAddressPrefix": "172.16.0.0/30",
      "secondaryPeerAddressPrefix": "172.16.0.4/30",
      "vlanId": 100,
      "sharedKey": "s3cur3K3y!"
    },
    {
      "name": "MicrosoftPeering",
      "peeringType": "MicrosoftPeering",
      "peerASN": 65020,
      "primaryPeerAddressPrefix": "172.16.1.0/30",
      "secondaryPeerAddressPrefix": "172.16.1.4/30",
      "vlanId": 200,
      "microsoftPeeringConfig": {
        "advertisedPublicPrefixes": ["203.0.113.0/24"],
        "customerASN": 65020,
        "routingRegistryName": "ARIN"
      },
      "routeFilter": {
        "name": "rf-microsoft-peering",
        "rules": [
          {
            "name": "allow-exchange-online",
            "access": "Allow",
            "communities": ["12076:5010"]
          },
          {
            "name": "allow-sharepoint-online",
            "access": "Allow",
            "communities": ["12076:5020"]
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ],
  "connections": [
    {
      "name": "conn-er-to-vnet-hub",
      "virtualNetworkGatewayId": "/subscriptions/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/resourceGroups/rg-networking/providers/Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworkGateways/vgw-hub-eastus2",
      "routingWeight": 10,
      "enableFastPath": true
    }
  ]
}

Generated Output

Output will appear here...

About This Tool

Azure ExpressRoute provides dedicated private connectivity between on-premises networks and Azure datacenters, bypassing the public internet for higher reliability, faster speeds (up to 100 Gbps), and lower latency. An ExpressRoute circuit requires selecting a connectivity provider, peering location, bandwidth tier, and SKU (Local, Standard, or Premium). You then configure peerings — Azure Private Peering for VNet access and Microsoft Peering for Microsoft 365 and Azure PaaS services. The ExpressRoute Config Builder helps you define circuit parameters, peering configurations, and route filter settings.

When to Use This Tool

•Configuring ExpressRoute circuits with Private Peering for secure hybrid connectivity to Azure VNets
•Setting up Microsoft Peering with route filters to selectively advertise routes for specific Azure services
•Building ExpressRoute Global Reach configurations to connect on-premises sites through Microsoft's backbone

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Local, Standard, and Premium SKUs?: Local SKU provides connectivity only to Azure regions at or near the peering location, offers unlimited data egress (no per-GB charges), and is the most cost-effective for workloads in a single region. Standard SKU connects to all Azure regions within the same geopolitical region (e.g., all North American regions) with metered or unlimited egress options. Premium SKU connects to all Azure regions globally, supports up to 10,000 routes on Private Peering (vs 4,000 for Standard), and up to 10 VNet connections (vs 10 for Standard, expandable with add-ons).
How does ExpressRoute failover work?: Each ExpressRoute circuit consists of two physical connections (primary and secondary) for built-in redundancy. If one connection fails, traffic automatically fails over to the other. For higher availability, deploy two circuits from different peering locations and configure both as connections on your ExpressRoute Gateway. Use BGP AS-path prepending or connection weight to control active-passive or active-active failover behavior. For critical workloads, also maintain a VPN Gateway as a backup path in case both ExpressRoute circuits fail.

Related Learning Guides

Azure Networking Deep Dive30 min read

Disclaimer: This tool runs entirely in your browser. No data is sent to our servers. Always verify outputs before using them in production. AWS, Azure, and GCP are trademarks of their respective owners.