Configure IP firewall in Azure Cosmos DB

APPLIES TO: NoSQL MongoDB Cassandra Gremlin Table

To secure the data stored in your account, Azure Cosmos DB supports a secret based authorization model that utilizes a strong Hash-based Message Authentication Code (HMAC). Additionally, Azure Cosmos DB supports IP-based access controls for inbound firewall support. This model is similar to the firewall rules of a traditional database system and provides another level of security to your account. With firewalls, you can configure your Azure Cosmos DB account to be accessible only from an approved set of machines and/or cloud services. Access to data stored in your Azure Cosmos DB database from these approved sets of machines and services will still require the caller to present a valid authorization token.

IP access control

By default, your Azure Cosmos DB account is accessible from internet, as long as the request is accompanied by a valid authorization token. To configure IP policy-based access control, the user must provide the set of IP addresses or IP address ranges in CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) form to be included as the allowed list of client IPs to access a given Azure Cosmos DB account. Once this configuration is applied, any requests originating from machines outside this allowed list receive 403 (Forbidden) response. When using IP firewall, it is recommended to allow Azure portal to access your account. Access is required to allow use of data explorer as well as to retrieve metrics for your account that show up on the Azure portal. When using data explorer, in addition to allowing Azure portal to access your account, you also need to update your firewall settings to add your current IP address to the firewall rules. Note that firewall changes may take up to 15 minutes to propagate and the firewall may exhibit an inconsistent behavior during this period.

You can combine IP-based firewall with subnet and VNET access control. By combining them, you can limit access to any source that has a public IP and/or from a specific subnet within VNET. To learn more about using subnet and VNET-based access control see Access Azure Cosmos DB resources from virtual networks.

To summarize, authorization token is always required to access an Azure Cosmos DB account. If IP firewall and VNET Access Control List (ACLs) are not set up, the Azure Cosmos DB account can be accessed with the authorization token. After the IP firewall or VNET ACLs or both are set up on the Azure Cosmos DB account, only requests originating from the sources you have specified (and with the authorization token) get valid responses.

You can secure the data stored in your Azure Cosmos DB account by using IP firewalls. Azure Cosmos DB supports IP-based access controls for inbound firewall support. You can set an IP firewall on the Azure Cosmos DB account by using one of the following ways:

• From the Azure portal
• Declaratively by using an Azure Resource Manager template
• Programmatically through the Azure CLI or Azure PowerShell by updating the ipRangeFilter property

Configure an IP firewall by using the Azure portal

To set the IP access control policy in the Azure portal, go to the Azure Cosmos DB account page and select Firewall and virtual networks on the navigation menu. Change the Allow access from value to Selected networks, and then select Save. If you change the public access network settings, either by disabling it or allowing it for all networks, you will lose the firewall IP that you may have set up before.

When IP access control is turned on, the Azure portal provides the ability to specify IP addresses, IP address ranges, and switches. Switches enable access to other Azure services and the Azure portal. The following sections give details about these switches.

Allow requests from the Azure portal

When you enable an IP access control policy programmatically, you need to add the IP address for the Azure portal to the ipRangeFilter property to maintain access.

Portal scenarios that require this option to be enabled include:

• Accessing API for MongoDB or API for Apache Cassandra accounts with Data Explorer or <cosmos.azure.cn>
• Using the following Azure Cosmos DB blades within the Azure portal:
  • Replicate Data Globally
  • Browse Collections
  • Power BI
  • Azure Synapse

The portal IP addresses are:

Region	IP address
China	139.217.8.252

You can enable requests to access the Azure portal by selecting the Allow access from Azure portal option, as shown in the following screenshot:

New Azure portal IP Addresses

Cosmos DB portal services are transitioning to new infrastructure in 2024. As part of this transition, accounts with firewall enabled will require new IP addresses to be allowed to continue access to some portal functionality, such as Data Explorer. This move also introduces dedicated IP addresses for Mongo DB and Apache Cassandra API accounts.

During this transition, the Allow access from Azure portal option adds both current and new IP addresses to account firewall settings (including MongoDB and Cassandra specific addresses for those accounts) When the transition is complete, a portal option will be made available to remove the old IP addresses.

Azure operated by 21Vianet

Database Account API	IP addresses
All	163.228.137.6, 143.64.170.142
MongoDB only	52.131.240.99, 143.64.61.130
Apache Cassandra only	40.73.99.146, 143.64.62.47

Allow requests from multiple-regional Azure datacenters or other sources within Azure

If you access your Azure Cosmos DB account from services that don't provide a static IP (for example, Azure Stream Analytics and Azure Functions), you can still use the IP firewall to limit access. You can enable access from other sources within the Azure by selecting the Accept connections from within Azure datacenters option, as shown in the following screenshot:

When you enable this option, the IP address 0.0.0.0 is added to the list of allowed IP addresses. The 0.0.0.0 IP address restricts requests to your Azure Cosmos DB account from Azure datacenter IP range. This setting does not allow access for any other IP ranges to your Azure Cosmos DB account.

Requests from your current IP

To simplify development, the Azure portal helps you identify and add the IP of your client machine to the allowed list. Apps running your machine can then access your Azure Cosmos DB account.

The portal automatically detects the client IP address. It might be the client IP address of your machine, or the IP address of your network gateway. Make sure to remove this IP address before you take your workloads to production.

To add your current IP to the list of IPs, select Add my current IP. Then select Save.

Requests from cloud services

In Azure, cloud services are a common way for hosting middle-tier service logic by using Azure Cosmos DB. To enable access to your Azure Cosmos DB account from a cloud service, you must add the public IP address of the cloud service to the allowed list of IP addresses associated with your Azure Cosmos DB account by configuring the IP access control policy. This ensures that all role instances of cloud services have access to your Azure Cosmos DB account.

You can retrieve IP addresses for your cloud services in the Azure portal, as shown in the following screenshot:

When you scale out your cloud service by adding role instances, those new instances will automatically have access to the Azure Cosmos DB account because they're part of the same cloud service.

Requests from virtual machines

You can also use virtual machines or virtual machine scale sets to host middle-tier services by using Azure Cosmos DB. To configure your Cosmos DB account such that it allows access from virtual machines, you must configure the public IP address of the virtual machine and/or virtual machine scale set as one of the allowed IP addresses for your Azure Cosmos DB account by configuring the IP access control policy.

You can retrieve IP addresses for virtual machines in the Azure portal, as shown in the following screenshot:

When you add virtual machine instances to the group, they automatically receive access to your Azure Cosmos DB account.

Requests from the internet

When you access your Azure Cosmos DB account from a computer on the internet, the client IP address or IP address range of the machine must be added to the allowed list of IP addresses for your account.

Add outbound rules to the firewall

To access a current list of outbound IP ranges to add to your firewall settings, please see Download Azure IP Ranges and Service Tags.

To automate the list, please see Use the Service Tag Discovery API.

Configure an IP firewall by using a Resource Manager template

To configure access control to your Azure Cosmos DB account, make sure that the Resource Manager template specifies the ipRules property with an array of allowed IP ranges. If configuring IP Firewall to an already deployed Azure Cosmos DB account, ensure the locations array matches what is currently deployed. You cannot simultaneously modify the locations array and other properties. For more information and samples of Azure Resource Manager templates for Azure Cosmos DB see, Azure Resource Manager templates for Azure Cosmos DB

The example below shows how the ipRules property is exposed in API version 2020-04-01 or later:

{
  "type": "Microsoft.DocumentDB/databaseAccounts",
  "name": "[variables('accountName')]",
  "apiVersion": "2020-04-01",
  "location": "[parameters('location')]",
  "kind": "GlobalDocumentDB",
  "properties": {
    "consistencyPolicy": "[variables('consistencyPolicy')[parameters('defaultConsistencyLevel')]]",
    "locations": "[variables('locations')]",
    "databaseAccountOfferType": "Standard",
    "enableAutomaticFailover": "[parameters('automaticFailover')]",
    "ipRules": [
      {
        "ipAddressOrRange": "139.217.8.252"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Here's the same example for any API version prior to 2020-04-01:

{
  "type": "Microsoft.DocumentDB/databaseAccounts",
  "name": "[variables('accountName')]",
  "apiVersion": "2019-08-01",
  "location": "[parameters('location')]",
  "kind": "GlobalDocumentDB",
  "properties": {
    "consistencyPolicy": "[variables('consistencyPolicy')[parameters('defaultConsistencyLevel')]]",
    "locations": "[variables('locations')]",
    "databaseAccountOfferType": "Standard",
    "enableAutomaticFailover": "[parameters('automaticFailover')]",
    "ipRangeFilter":"139.217.8.252"
  }
}

Configure an IP access control policy by using the Azure CLI

The following command shows how to create an Azure Cosmos DB account with IP access control:

# Create an Azure Cosmos DB account with default values and IP Firewall enabled
resourceGroupName='MyResourceGroup'
accountName='mycosmosaccount'
ipRangeFilter='192.168.221.17,183.240.196.255,139.217.8.252'

# Make sure there are no spaces in the comma-delimited list of IP addresses or CIDR ranges.
az cosmosdb create \
    -n $accountName \
    -g $resourceGroupName \
    --locations regionName='China North 2' failoverPriority=0 isZoneRedundant=False \
    --locations regionName='China East 2' failoverPriority=1 isZoneRedundant=False \
    --ip-range-filter $ipRangeFilter

Configure an IP access control policy by using PowerShell

The following script shows how to create an Azure Cosmos DB account with IP access control:

# Create an Azure Cosmos DB account with default values and IP Firewall enabled
$resourceGroupName = "myResourceGroup"
$accountName = "mycosmosaccount"
$ipRules = @("192.168.221.17","183.240.196.255","139.217.8.252")

$locations = @(
    @{ "locationName"="China North 2"; "failoverPriority"=0; "isZoneRedundant"=False },
    @{ "locationName"="China East 2"; "failoverPriority"=1, "isZoneRedundant"=False }
)

# Make sure there are no spaces in the comma-delimited list of IP addresses or CIDR ranges.
$CosmosDBProperties = @{
    "databaseAccountOfferType"="Standard";
    "locations"=$locations;
    "ipRules"=$ipRules
}

New-AzResource -ResourceType "Microsoft.DocumentDb/databaseAccounts" `
    -ApiVersion "2020-04-01" -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName `
    -Name $accountName -PropertyObject $CosmosDBProperties

Troubleshoot issues with an IP access control policy

You can troubleshoot issues with an IP access control policy by using the following options:

Azure portal

By enabling an IP access control policy for your Azure Cosmos DB account, you block all requests to your account from machines outside the allowed list of IP address ranges. To enable portal data-plane operations like browsing containers and querying documents, you need to explicitly allow Azure portal access by using the Firewall pane in the portal.

SDKs

When you access Azure Cosmos DB resources by using SDKs from machines that are not in the allowed list, a generic 403 Forbidden response is returned with no additional details. Verify the allowed IP list for your account, and make sure that the correct policy configuration is applied to your Azure Cosmos DB account.

Source IPs in blocked requests

Enable diagnostic logging on your Azure Cosmos DB account. These logs show each request and response. The firewall-related messages are logged with a 403 return code. By filtering these messages, you can see the source IPs for the blocked requests. See Azure Cosmos DB diagnostic logging.

Requests from a subnet with a service endpoint for Azure Cosmos DB enabled

Requests from a subnet in a virtual network that has a service endpoint for Azure Cosmos DB enabled sends the virtual network and subnet identity to Azure Cosmos DB accounts. These requests don't have the public IP of the source, so IP filters reject them. To allow access from specific subnets in virtual networks, add an access control list as outlined in How to configure virtual network and subnet-based access for your Azure Cosmos DB account. It can take up to 15 minutes for firewall rules to apply and the firewall may exhibit an inconsistent behavior during this period.

Private IP addresses in list of allowed addresses

Creating or updating an Azure Cosmos DB account with a list of allowed addresses containing private IP addresses will fail. Make sure that no private IP address is specified in the list.

Next steps

To configure a virtual network service endpoint for your Azure Cosmos DB account, see the following articles:

• Virtual network and subnet access control for your Azure Cosmos DB account
• Configure virtual network and subnet-based access for your Azure Cosmos DB account