Azure Arc Recent Updates

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    Many companies today have critical assets spanned across data centers, clouds, and on-premises environments. Managing all of these moving parts can become complex, time-consuming, and labor intensive very rapidly. Companies with similar infrastructures can greatly benefit from Azure Arc and its ability manage these various resources in a centralized and cohesive solution. As Microsoft Ignite 2022 took place last month there were several updates and added functionalities announced for a wide range of products and services. In this post, I’ll provide an overview of a few features that I believe bring tremendous value to Azure Arc.

Azure Automanage

    Automanage is a brand-new feature, available for use now, that assists in configuration and management of Arc-enabled servers and Azure VMs through the use of automation. To use Automanage the user defines a configuration profile in the Azure Portal that entails rules to be applied across all included deployments or can be implemented directly into an ARM template. This service provides several benefits that can enhance monitoring, security, and compliance of deployments. Automanage is free to use as users are only required to pay for the resources that they deploy. Implementing Automanage will make the deployment process of various resources much smoother, efficient, and cost effective providing direct value to your development teams and business as a whole.

Arc-Enabled SQL Servers Upgrades

    Arc-enabled SQL Servers hosted on-premises or in other public clouds can now enjoy added features similar to Azure SQL Servers. Arc-enabled SQL Servers now integrate with Azure AD to provide all of the added benefits that come with it like added security and a simplified authentication/authorization method. Another significant integration available is Microsoft Defender which provides a range of security benefits that help to keep your data safe and secure no matter where the server is hosted. Bringing these added functionalities to your new or existing SQL Server will provide immediate value for management as well as prevention and remediation of any security concerns.

Azure Kubernetes Service Deployment Upgrades

    The following upgrades are still in preview but are valuable to become familiar with as they approach general availability. The main functionality added by this upgrade is a central deployment and management experience for AKS on Windows devices including IoT, 2019 & 2022 Servers, and Azure Stack HCI hosts. Upon release, users will be able to run containerized applications no matter where they are be it an on-premises datacenter, the Azure cloud, or any public cloud offering. An important feature to note is the integration of GitOps configurations that can assist in syncing and automating updates across all deployments. These benefits allow simplified and expanded methods of hosting and deploying AKS that can provide immense value to development teams in all stages of the deployment process.

    For any inquiries on how Azure Arc, or any Azure cloud service, can benefit your organization, please submit a service request here.


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