Implement Network Security Groups (NSGs) and Application Security Groups (ASGs) in Azure

Network Security Groups (NSGs) act as cloud-based firewalls that control network traffic to Azure resources. Application Security Groups (ASGs) let you group virtual machines by application role, making security rules easier to manage and scale. Together, they help you implement secure multi-tier architectures without managing individual IP addresses.

In this lab, you will secure a two-tier web application using NSGs and ASGs. You'll create application security groups for web and database tiers, configure network security rules, and test how priority-based rule evaluation controls traffic between application layers.

Objectives

Upon completion of this beginner level lab, you will be able to:

• Create and assign Application Security Groups to organize VMs by application tier
• Deploy a Network Security Group and associate it with virtual network subnets
• Configure custom inbound security rules using priority-based evaluation
• Implement least privilege security by combining allow and deny rules with ASGs
• Test and validate security configurations to verify allowed and blocked traffic flows

Who is this lab for?

This lab is designed for:

• Azure Administrators managing virtual network security
• Cloud Security Engineers implementing network-level controls
• IT Professionals preparing for Azure certifications (AZ-104, AZ-500)
• DevOps Engineers maintaining scalable security policies
• Anyone new to Azure networking and security concepts