Azure Arc - Extend Azure Management to Hybrid and Multicloud Environments

Azure Arc is a game-changer for managing resources across your on-premises datacenters, edge locations, and other cloud providers. It extends Azure's powerful management and development services to any infrastructure, enabling consistent deployment, management, and governance.

What is Azure Arc?

Azure Arc allows you to manage servers, Kubernetes clusters, and data services hosted outside of Azure, all from the Azure portal. This unified experience simplifies complexity, reduces operational overhead, and empowers your teams with familiar Azure tools and capabilities.

Key Benefits of Azure Arc:

Unified Governance and Management: Apply Azure Policies, Azure Lighthouse, and role-based access control (RBAC) to your hybrid and multicloud resources.
Consistent Deployment: Deploy Azure services, such as Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) and Azure SQL Managed Instance, to any environment.
Hybrid Data Services: Bring Azure data services like Azure SQL and PostgreSQL Hyperscale to your datacenter or edge.
Inventory and Monitoring: Gain visibility into your entire IT estate, enabling better security posture and performance monitoring with Azure Monitor and Microsoft Defender for Cloud.
DevOps and Automation: Leverage GitOps and Azure Pipelines to manage deployments and configurations across all your connected resources.

Core Components

Azure Arc introduces several key components to facilitate this extended management:

Azure Arc-enabled servers

Connect your Windows and Linux machines hosted outside of Azure (on-premises, in other clouds) to Azure Resource Manager. This allows you to manage them as if they were native Azure resources.

Tip: By enabling Azure Arc, you can gain access to features like Azure Policy, Azure Security Center, and Azure Monitor for these external servers.

Azure Arc-enabled Kubernetes

Connect your Kubernetes clusters from any location to Azure. This enables centralized management, GitOps-based configuration, and access to Azure services like Azure Policy for Kubernetes and Azure Monitor for containers.

Azure Arc-enabled data services

Run Azure data services like Azure SQL Managed Instance and PostgreSQL Hyperscale on any Kubernetes cluster, whether it's in Azure, on-premises, or at the edge. This provides a consistent data platform experience across your infrastructure.

Getting Started with Azure Arc

The process typically involves installing the Azure Arc agent on your target machines or clusters and then registering them with Azure. Here's a simplified outline:

Prerequisites: Ensure you have an Azure subscription and the necessary permissions.
Install the Agent: Download and install the appropriate Azure Arc agent for your operating system or Kubernetes distribution.
Connect to Azure: Use Azure CLI or PowerShell to connect your resource to Azure Arc.

For detailed instructions and specific scenarios, please refer to the official Azure Arc documentation.

Note: Azure Arc is a powerful tool for hybrid and multicloud management. Carefully plan your deployments and consider security implications before connecting your resources.

Learn More

Explore the following links for deeper dives into Azure Arc capabilities: