Implement Custom Network Routes in Azure Virtual Network
Pluralsight Hands-On Lab — Networking
At a Glance
| Platform | Pluralsight |
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| Category | Azure Networking |
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| Lab Type | Guided + Challenge Mode |
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| Environment | Azure Portal, Windows VM via Remote Desktop, PowerShell |
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| Completed | 2026 |
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Overview
Azure User Defined Routes (UDRs) override default system routes to control how traffic flows within a virtual network — a key technique for forcing traffic through a network virtual appliance (NVA) for inspection before it reaches its destination. In this lab, I acted as a network engineer for Street Wise and configured a custom route table to redirect all traffic destined for the server subnet through a virtual appliance, enabled IP forwarding on the appliance NIC, and validated the routing path using tracert and ping from a user VM.
What I Did
- Noted the IP addresses of the appliance NIC (10.0.2.4) and server NIC (10.0.1.4) from the virtual network's connected devices list, and confirmed the server-subnet CIDR was 10.0.1.0/24
- Created a route table (streetwiseroutetable) in the same region as the lab resources with gateway route propagation enabled
- Added a custom route (routetonva) targeting the server subnet (10.0.1.0/24) with next hop type set to Virtual appliance and next hop address set to the appliance NIC IP (10.0.2.4)
- Associated the route table to the user-subnet, ensuring all traffic from the user VM destined for the server subnet is redirected through the appliance
- Enabled IP forwarding on the appliancenic under IP configurations, allowing the appliance to forward packets rather than drop them
- Connected to user-vm via Remote Desktop and opened PowerShell
- Ran tracert 10.0.1.4 and confirmed two hops: first to the virtual appliance at 10.0.2.4, then to the server at 10.0.1.4 — validating the custom route was in effect
- Ran ping 10.0.1.4 and confirmed successful responses, verifying end-to-end connectivity through the NVA
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