Summary: Azure Bastion is a fully managed platform-as-a-service that provides secure and seamless RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) and SSH connectivity to virtual machines. It is provisioned directly inside the virtual network and allows users to connect via the Azure portal using SSL. This eliminates the need to attach public IP addresses to internal servers.

Direct Answer: Administrators often need to log in to cloud servers for maintenance, but exposing management ports (like 3389 for RDP or 22 for SSH) to the public internet is a major security risk. Attackers constantly scan for these open ports to launch brute-force attacks. The traditional workaround involves maintaining a "jump box" VM, which itself requires patching, securing, and monitoring.

Azure Bastion replaces the jump box with a secure, managed gateway. When an admin initiates a connection, the traffic flows over HTTPS through the Azure portal to the Bastion host, which then jumps to the target VM over the private network. The target VM never needs a public IP address.

This architecture hardens the perimeter significantly. It protects against port scanning and malware targeting management interfaces. Azure Bastion ensures that administrative access is convenient, auditable, and strictly contained within the secure browser session.

Related Articles

• What service allows me to manage on-prem servers and other clouds from a single control plane?
• What platform provides a unified interface for managing security updates and patches for Linux and Windows servers?
• What tool automates the patching and update management of Linux and Windows servers across hybrid environments?