Is it true that data transfer is more expensive when using private endpoint?

Question

Hi all,

We have a storage account and a AKS cluster in same datacenter. We are transferring more than 10 TB data each month and its increasing every month.

Originally we connected the AKS cluster to the storage account using the public endpoint and where facing the charging of Data processed (GB) in our load balancer of $0.005 per GB.

Then we wanted to connect the two resources more securely and created a private link between the resources. Now we are facing double transfer charges since it cost $0.01 per GB using a private link.

I always counted data transfer inside the same Azure datacenter free of charge and even inbound data from outside of Azure, therefore i find a bit absurd that we have to pay for the traffic.

Is there any solution where we can connect our AKS nodes and our storage account without the traffic touching the load balancer or the private link and save the money?

Thanks,

Answer 1

@Mikkel Eskildsen Adding additional information for @Ben Gimblett response.

Yes there is an additional premium that comes with Private Link’s added security. The work around with Service Endpoints, but it comes with added management considerations with opening up the customer’s firewall.

Note Also as the Data process increases there is an inbuilt discount à Pricing - Azure Private Link | Microsoft Azure

I would recommend to reach the Azure Billing and Subscription team would be the best to provide more insight and guidance on this scenario based on your requirement and region specific, It's a free support
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/support/options/

Please let us know if you have any further queries. I’m happy to assist you further.

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Answer 2

For those ending up here researching and trying to gage if private endpoints are cost effective. I will just highlight some gotchas. This is before considering the additional data inbound and outbound cost.
It sounds like pennies or almost free when you start:)

Apart from the data transfer costs, consider the fact that you pay around 7,30USD for each deployed private endpoint.

So if you have dev, stg and production for a simple project that contains sql, app service, function, storage, keyvault and a cognitive service:
7,30USD x 6 (private endpoints per environment) = 43,8 USD per month
x 3 (env) = 131,40 USD per month

If you want to take full advantage of the security offering of private endpoints, this will also unlock the following cost requirements: self hosted devops agent, jumpbox as well as vpn access.

Then if you are using azure api management or service bus, you will need the premium solutions, you can easily add another 1000USD per month to your solution.

If cost is a concern, rather look at service endpoint, found it harder to initially setup and manage, but way more cost effective. Private Endpoints are super cool and resolves a lot of issues, but security and convenience comes at a premium cost and are geared toward large enterprises were the focus is security. fyi - I have both solutions running for different teams.