Azure Arc — Cloud-native Management for Hybrid Cloud

What is Azure Arc for servers ?
Azure Arc for servers allows you to manage machines which are outside of Azure. When a non-Azure machine is connected to Azure, it becomes a Connected Machine and is treated as a resource in Azure. Each Connected Machine has a Resource ID, is managed as part of a Resource Group inside a subscription, and benefits from standard Azure constructs such as Azure Policy and tagging.
Quick Technical Notes : Azure Arc consists of a set of different technologies and components like:
- Organize and govern all your servers — Azure Arc extends Azure management to physical and virtual servers anywhere. Govern and manage servers from a single scalable management pane. You can learn more about Azure Arc for servers here.
- Manage Kubernetes apps at scale — Deploy and configure Kubernetes applications consistently across all your environments with modern DevOps techniques.
- Run data services anywhere — Deploy Azure data services in moments, anywhere you need them. Get simpler compliance, faster response times, and better security for your data. You can learn more here.
- Adopt cloud technologies on-premises — Bringing cloud-native management to your hybrid environment
Azure Arc for Server is currently in public preview, while you can sign up for the preview to manage Kubernetes and data services. To enable hybrid server management, you must register the required Resource Providers.
- Microsoft.HybridCompute
- Microsoft.GuestConfiguration
You can register the resource providers with the following Azure PowerShell commands:
Login-AzAccount
Set-AzContext -SubscriptionId [subscription you want to onboard]
Register-AzResourceProvider -ProviderNamespace Microsoft.HybridCompute
Register-AzResourceProvider -ProviderNamespace Microsoft.GuestConfigurationor with Azure CLI:
az account set --subscription "{Your Subscription Name}"
az provider register --namespace 'Microsoft.HybridCompute'
az provider register --namespace 'Microsoft.GuestConfiguration'An agent package needs to be installed on each machine to connect it to Azure. The rest of this document explains the process in more detail.
Machines will have a status of Connected or Disconnected based on how recently the agent has checked in. Each check-in is called a heartbeat. If a machine has not checked-in within the past 5 minutes, it will show as offline until connectivity is restored.

Azure Arc use cases

If you want to know more, check out the following Microsoft Website
Curious to see more updates on capabilities, limitations, pros and cons on upcoming days .
Stay Tuned ….
