> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://astronomer.io/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Create a network connection between Astro and Azure

Use this document to learn how you can grant an Astro cluster and its Deployments access to your external Azure resources.

Publicly accessible endpoints allow you to quickly connect your Astro clusters or Deployments to Azure through an Airflow connection. See [Create a connection to a public Azure endpoint](/docs/astro/connect-azure-public). If your cloud restricts IP addresses, you can add the external IPs of your Deployment or cluster to an Azure resource's allowlist.

If you have stricter security requirements, you can [create a private connection](#create-a-private-connection-between-astro-and-azure) to Azure in a few different ways.

After you create a connection from your cluster to Azure, you might also need to individually authorize Deployments to access specific resources. See [Authorize your Deployment using workload identity](/docs/astro/authorize-deployments-to-your-cloud).

## Standard and dedicated cluster support for Azure networking

Standard clusters have different connection options than dedicated clusters.

Standard clusters can connect to Azure in the following ways:

* Using [static external IP addresses](/docs/astro/connect-azure-public#allowlist-a-deployment’s-external-ip-addresses-on-azure).

### Create a private connection between Astro and Azure

Dedicated clusters can also connect to Azure using static IP addresses. Additionally, they support a number of private connectivity options including:

* [VNet peering](/docs/astro/connect-azure-vnet-peering)
* [VHub peering](/docs/astro/connect-azure-vhub-peering)
* [VPN](/docs/astro/connect-azure-vpn)
* [Azure Private Link](/docs/astro/connect-azure-private-link)
* [Hostname resolution options](/docs/astro/connect-azure-hostname-resolution)

If you require a private connection between Astro and Azure, Astronomer recommends configuring a dedicated cluster. See [Create a dedicated cluster](/docs/astro/create-dedicated-cluster).

## See Also

* [Manage Airflow connections and variables](/docs/astro/manage-connections-variables)