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Merge pull request #232919 from asudbring/vnet-old-review-3
Review of article for IP address 168.63.129.16
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---
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title: What is IP address 168.63.129.16?
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description: Learn about IP address 168.63.129.16, specifically that it's used to facilitate a communication channel to Azure platform resources.
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services: virtual-network
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author: asudbring
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manager: dcscontentpm
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editor: v-jesits
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tags: azure-resource-manager
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ms.service: virtual-network
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ms.topic: conceptual
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ms.workload: infrastructure-services
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ms.date: 05/15/2019
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ms.date: 03/30/2023
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ms.author: allensu
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---
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# What is IP address 168.63.129.16?
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IP address 168.63.129.16 is a virtual public IP address that is used to facilitate a communication channel to Azure platform resources. Customers can define any address space for their private virtual network in Azure. Therefore, the Azure platform resources must be presented as a unique public IP address. This virtual public IP address facilitates the following things:
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IP address 168.63.129.16 is a virtual public IP address that is used to facilitate a communication channel to Azure platform resources. Customers can define any address space for their private virtual network in Azure. Therefore, the Azure platform resources must be presented as a unique public IP address. This virtual public IP address facilitates the following operations:
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- Enables the VM Agent to communicate with the Azure platform to signal that it is in a "Ready" state.
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- Enables communication with the DNS virtual server to provide filtered name resolution to the resources (such as VM) that do not have a custom DNS server. This filtering makes sure that customers can resolve only the hostnames of their resources.
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- Enables [health probes from Azure load balancer](../load-balancer/load-balancer-custom-probe-overview.md) to determine the health state of VMs.
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- Enables communication with the DNS virtual server to provide filtered name resolution to the resources (such as VM) that don't have a custom DNS server. This filtering makes sure that customers can resolve only the hostnames of their resources.
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- Enables [health probes from Azure Load Balancer](../load-balancer/load-balancer-custom-probe-overview.md) to determine the health state of VMs.
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- Enables the VM to obtain a dynamic IP address from the DHCP service in Azure.
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- Enables Guest Agent heartbeat messages for the PaaS role.
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> [!NOTE]
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> In a non-virtual network scenario (Classic), a private IP address is used instead of 168.63.129.16. This private IP address is dynamically discovered through DHCP. Firewall rules specific to 168.63.129.16 need to be adjusted as appropriate.
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## Scope of IP address 168.63.129.16
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The public IP address 168.63.129.16 is used in all regions and all national clouds. This special public IP address is owned by Microsoft and will not change. We recommend that you allow this IP address in any local (in the VM) firewall policies (outbound direction). The communication between this special IP address and the resources is safe because only the internal Azure platform can source a message from this IP address. If this address is blocked, unexpected behavior can occur in a variety of scenarios. 168.63.129.16 is a [virtual IP of the host node](./network-security-groups-overview.md#azure-platform-considerations) and as such it is not subject to user defined routes.
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The public IP address 168.63.129.16 is used in all regions and all national clouds. Microsoft owns this special public IP address and it doesn't change. We recommend that you allow this IP address in any local (in the VM) firewall policies (outbound direction). The communication between this special IP address and the resources is safe because only the internal Azure platform can source a message from this IP address. If this address is blocked, unexpected behavior can occur in various scenarios. 168.63.129.16 is a [virtual IP of the host node](./network-security-groups-overview.md#azure-platform-considerations) and as such it isn't subject to user defined routes.
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- The VM Agent requires outbound communication over ports 80/tcp and 32526/tcp with WireServer (168.63.129.16). These should be open in the local firewall on the VM. The communication on these ports with 168.63.129.16 is not subject to the configured network security groups.
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- The VM Agent requires outbound communication over ports 80/tcp and 32526/tcp with WireServer (168.63.129.16). These ports should be open in the local firewall on the VM. The communication on these ports with 168.63.129.16 isn't subject to the configured network security groups.
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- 168.63.129.16 can provide DNS services to the VM. If this is not desired, outbound traffic to 168.63.129.16 ports 53/udp and 53/tcp can be blocked in the local firewall on the VM.
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- 168.63.129.16 can provide DNS services to the VM. If DNS services provided by 168.63.129.16 isn't desired, outbound traffic to 168.63.129.16 ports 53/udp and 53/tcp can be blocked in the local firewall on the VM.
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By default DNS communication is not subject to the configured network security groups unless specifically targeted leveraging the [AzurePlatformDNS](../virtual-network/service-tags-overview.md#available-service-tags) service tag. To block DNS traffic to Azure DNS through NSG, create an outbound rule to deny traffic to [AzurePlatformDNS](../virtual-network/service-tags-overview.md#available-service-tags), and specify "Any" as "Source", "*" as "Destination port ranges", "Any" as protocol and "Deny" as action.
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By default DNS communication isn't subject to the configured network security groups unless targeted using the [AzurePlatformDNS](../virtual-network/service-tags-overview.md#available-service-tags) service tag. To block DNS traffic to Azure DNS through NSG, create an outbound rule to deny traffic to [AzurePlatformDNS](../virtual-network/service-tags-overview.md#available-service-tags). Specify **"Any"** as **"Source"**, **"*"** as **"Destination port ranges"**, **"Any"** as protocol and **"Deny"** as action.
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- When the VM is part of a load balancer backend pool, [health probe](../load-balancer/load-balancer-custom-probe-overview.md) communication should be allowed to originate from 168.63.129.16. The default network security group configuration has a rule that allows this communication. This rule leverages the [AzureLoadBalancer](../virtual-network/service-tags-overview.md#available-service-tags) service tag. If desired this traffic can be blocked by configuring the network security group however this will result in probes that fail.
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- When the VM is part of a load balancer backend pool, [health probe](../load-balancer/load-balancer-custom-probe-overview.md) communication should be allowed to originate from 168.63.129.16. The default network security group configuration has a rule that allows this communication. This rule uses the [AzureLoadBalancer](../virtual-network/service-tags-overview.md#available-service-tags) service tag. If desired, this traffic can be blocked by configuring the network security group. The configuration of the block result in probes that fail.
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## Troubleshoot connectivity
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> [!NOTE]
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> When running the tests below, the action need to be run as Administrator (Windows) and Root (Linux) to ensure accurate results.
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> When running the following tests, the action must be run as Administrator (Windows) and Root (Linux) to ensure accurate results.
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### Windows OS
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You can test communication to 168.63.129.16 by using the following tests with PowerShell.
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```
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```powershell
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Test-NetConnection -ComputerName 168.63.129.16 -Port 80
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Test-NetConnection -ComputerName 168.63.129.16 -Port 32526
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Invoke-RestMethod -Headers @{"Metadata"="true"} -Method GET -Uri http://168.63.129.16/?comp=versions
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```
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Results should return as shown below.
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```
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Results should return as follows.
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```powershell
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Test-NetConnection -ComputerName 168.63.129.16 -Port 80
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ComputerName : 168.63.129.16
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RemoteAddress : 168.63.129.16
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TcpTestSucceeded : True
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```
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```
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```powershell
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Test-NetConnection -ComputerName 168.63.129.16 -Port 32526
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ComputerName : 168.63.129.16
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RemoteAddress : 168.63.129.16
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TcpTestSucceeded : True
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```
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```
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```powershell
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Invoke-RestMethod -Headers @{"Metadata"="true"} -Method GET -Uri http://168.63.129.16/?comp=versions
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xml Versions
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--- --------
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version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" Versions
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```
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You can also test communication to 168.63.129.16 by using telnet or psping.
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If successful, telnet should connect and the file that is created will be empty.
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You can also test communication to 168.63.129.16 by using `telnet` or `psping`.
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```
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If successful, telnet should connect and the file that is created is empty.
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```powershell
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telnet 168.63.129.16 80 >> C:\<<EDIT-DIRECTORY>>\168-63-129-16_test-port80.txt
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telnet 168.63.129.16 32526 >> C:\<<EDIT-DIRECTORY>>\168-63-129-16_test--port32526.txt
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```
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```
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```powershell
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Psping 168.63.129.16:80 >> C:\<<EDIT-DIRECTORY>>\168-63-129-16_test--port80.txt
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Psping 168.63.129.16:32526 >> C:\<<EDIT-DIRECTORY>>\168-63-129-16_test-port32526.txt
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```
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### Linux OS
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On Linux, you can test communication to 168.63.129.16 by using the following tests.
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```
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```bash
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echo "Testing 80 168.63.129.16 Port 80" > 168-63-129-16_test.txt
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traceroute -T -p 80 168.63.129.16 >> 168-63-129-16_test.txt
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echo "Testing 80 168.63.129.16 Port 32526" >> 168-63-129-16_test.txt
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curl http://168.63.129.16/?comp=versions >> 168-63-129-16_test.txt
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```
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Results inside 168-63-129-16_test.txt should return as shown below.
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Results inside 168-63-129-16_test.txt should return as follows.
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```
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```bash
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traceroute -T -p 80 168.63.129.16
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traceroute to 168.63.129.16 (168.63.129.16), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
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1 168.63.129.16 (168.63.129.16) 0.974 ms 1.085 ms 1.078 ms
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traceroute -T -p 32526 168.63.129.16
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traceroute to 168.63.129.16 (168.63.129.16), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
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1 168.63.129.16 (168.63.129.16) 0.883 ms 1.004 ms 1.010 ms
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curl http://168.63.129.16/?comp=versions
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
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<Versions>
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## Next steps
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- [Security groups](./network-security-groups-overview.md)
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- [Create, change, or delete a network security group](manage-network-security-group.md)

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