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The enterprise is currently experiencing a technology evolution as it shifts towards utilizing hybrid resources. It is becoming increasingly common for enterprise organizations to not solely rely on on-premises resources, but rather utilize a combination of public cloud resources such as infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and software-as-a-service (SaaS) environments. A notable advancement in this area is the option to run “cloud” resources on-premises, as seen with platforms like Microsoft Azure. Organizations can now take advantage of Azure Arc VM management to achieve this
Introduction to Azure Arc
Azure Arc is a cloud computing platform that offers a wide range of services and tools to help users manage and operate their applications and data. It enables users to seamlessly connect and manage resources across multiple cloud environments, including on-premises, hybrid, and multicloud. With Azure Arc, users can easily deploy and manage their resources on any infrastructure, making it a flexible and scalable solution for modern businesses.
What is Azure Arc and its VM management capabilities? Azure Arc is a recently released solution by Microsoft that connects on-premises environments with Microsoft Azure. Instead of using separate tools for on-premises and cloud, Azure Arc expands the Azure control plane to on-premises resources, enabling teams to utilize the same tools for both environments.
The control plane for Microsoft Azure is referred to as Azure Resource Manager (ARM). All interactions with Azure through the Azure portal, PowerShell, SDKs, or connection to Azure APIs involve communication with the Azure Resource Manager. Azure Arc enables the inclusion of on-premises resources or resources from other public cloud platforms into Microsoft Azure, providing management and configuration capabilities as if they were native Azure resources.
With Azure Arc, organizations can benefit from a unified management and control platform, using the same tools and automation features as they would with native Azure resources, regardless of whether they are located on-premises or in a different public cloud setting.At present, Azure Arc permits the management of the following infrastructure:
Computer systems
Groups of Kubernetes
Database management system
Virtualization platform
Software for managing data centers
Hybrid cloud solution
Overview of Azure Arc VM Management (Preview)
Utilizing Azure Arc VM management, the Azure portal facilitates the creation and supervision of virtual machines on Azure Stack HCI environments, VMware vSphere, and SCVMM. Moreover, administrators have the option to assign lifecycle operations to developers, application owners, DevOps teams, and other parties for self-service virtual machine provisioning, management, and other tasks. With the capabilities offered by Azure Arc, teams can utilize Azure management tools for self-service duties, such as the Azure portal, Azure CLI, Azure PowerShell, and ARM templates.
Azure Arc Resource Bridge
The Azure Arc Resource Bridge enables the connection and integration of resources within Azure Arc.
The management of VMs through Azure Arc utilizes a component known as the resource bridge. Previously referred to as the Arc Appliance in previous documentation and self-service VMs, the resource bridge allows for the provisioning of VMs via the Azure portal within an on-premises Azure Stack HCI environment. It is built on Kubernetes and is a compact, independent virtual machine that enables tasks to be carried out using various Azure management tools such as the Azure portal, Azure CLI, and Azure PowerShell.
Azure Arc connects with the Azure Resource Manager and generates the original components in Azure for virtual machine disks, images, interfaces, networks, and other resources.
Requirements for Resource Bridge
The Preview for managing Azure Arc VM has several prerequisites and requirements related to resources, Microsoft Azure, and networking. Microsoft has specified that a cluster-shared volume with a minimum of 50 GB free space is necessary for the Arc Resource Bridge VM. Additionally, the VM should have 4 vCPUs and 8 GB of memory.
When using the resource bridge on VMware vSphere, the OVA appliance is utilized to establish a connection between the vSphere environment and Microsoft Azure. To meet the requirements of Azure, you will need an Azure subscription, the latest version of the Azure Command-Line interface, and the appropriate permissions, such as the Contributor role for the resource group.
For networking needs, it is necessary to have an external virtual switch, available DHCP IP addresses for the Resource Bridge VM, internet connectivity, routable IP addresses, and an IP address for the cloud agent hosted within the resource bridge. If there is any outbound traffic filtering, it is important to ensure that the servers have access to the URLs specified by Microsoft in their documentation for the resource bridge.
Introduction to Azure Stack HCI
Azure Stack HCI is the central component of Azure Arc VM Management, offering a managed and licensed hyper-converged infrastructure solution bundled with Azure cloud services. This means that the physical hardware and software are located on-premises, while the management tools are hosted in the Azure cloud. In short, Azure Stack HCI combines on-premises infrastructure with cloud services for a comprehensive solution.
Azure Stack HCI is designed as a virtualization host and therefore it is not possible to utilize general Windows Services on it. This means that creating a file share or other common Windows services on the Azure Stack HCI operating system is not feasible. Additionally, the hardware is specifically optimized and configured to support Azure Stack HCI. These integrated systems can be acquired from a Microsoft partner or validated nodes that are guaranteed to be compatible with Azure Stack HCI can be purchased.
Azure Stack HCI Preview: Enhancing VMs with Extensions
The ability to run VM extensions on Azure Stack HCI is also available on the Azure Arc-enabled VMware vSphere solution. This feature also offers post-deployment configuration, software installation, and configuration management for various management tasks.Enabling this functionality indicates that administrators have activated Azure guest management on Arc-enabled virtual machines.
To utilize this feature, access to an Arc-enabled Azure Stack HCI virtual machine with guest management enabled is necessary. It is important to mention that guest management is currently limited to Windows virtual machines.Enabling Guest Management for a virtual machine that is enabled with Azure Arc.
Frequently Asked Questions about Managing Azure Arc Virtual Machines
Introduction to Azure Arc
Microsoft has introduced a new solution, called Azure Arc, which permits enterprises to expand the management and control capabilities of Microsoft Azure to their on-premises and other public cloud resources. This allows for the use of a unified set of tools, policies, workflows, and resources, instead of maintaining separate ones for Azure and on-premises resources. By utilizing the Azure Resource Manager (ARM), Azure Arc extends its control and policies to on-premises resources.
Understanding Azure Arc VM management
What is the concept of managing Azure Arc VMs?
With Azure Arc VM management, users can utilize the Azure portal to establish and oversee virtual machines that are operating on Azure Stack HCI environments, VMware vSphere, and SCVMM locally. Furthermore, system administrators have the ability to assign lifecycle tasks to developers, application owners, DevOps teams, and other parties for self-service provision, management, and other operations related to virtual machines.
Understanding Azure Stack HCI
What exactly is Azure Stack HCI?
Microsoft’s latest HCI solution, Azure Stack HCI, functions on approved hardware within an on-premises setting and is controlled through the Microsoft Azure cloud. This solution offers extra advantages to enterprises, granting them the ability to operate native Azure solutions such as Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) on their own premises.
Conclusion
Currently, in the field of enterprise infrastructure, there is a lot of excitement around the ability for organizations to utilize a combination of both on-premises and cloud infrastructure through a hybrid approach. Microsoft Arc presents a valuable solution that enables businesses to expand their Azure control plane to their on-premises infrastructure, simplifying their tooling and management capabilities regardless of resource location.