Hybrid cloud infrastructures have become the norm for many organizations, driven by factors such as compliance requirements, latency concerns, and the need for flexibility. As an engineer working with organizations across industries, I frequently encounter the same challenges when it comes to hybrid cloud strategies.

The need for better governance, simplified management, and a unified approach to hybrid environments is universal.

Azure Arc is a game-changer for addressing these challenges. It provides tools and capabilities that allow businesses to manage their infrastructures, services, and applications across on-premises, multi-cloud, and edge environments.

Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure & Migration Challenges

When speaking to organizations embarking on their cloud migration journeys or expanding into hybrid environments, the following challenges often come up:

● Some resources must remain on-premises: For regulatory, latency, or legacy reasons, certain workloads and resources cannot move to the cloud, complicating hybrid setups.

● Complexity - Single Pane of Glass: Managing multiple environments without a unified view increases operational overhead.

● Compliance - Security across public cloud and data centers: Organizations struggle to maintain consistent security and governance across their environments.

● Consistency - Skills should stay in the same teams: Teams working with on-premises systems and cloud platforms need consistent tools to bridge skill gaps and ensure smooth collaboration.

Organizations increasingly seek consistent interoperability to unify their development practices and foster innovation across environments.

Azure Arc Overview

Azure Arc addresses these challenges head-on.

It acts as a bridge, extending Azure’s platform and capabilities to hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Here’s what makes Azure Arc essential:

● Single Control Plane: It provides a centralized way to manage resources, applications, and governance across environments.

● Infrastructure & Governance and Security: Connect and operate hybrid resources as native Azure resources. Benefit from Consistent Inventory and Change Tracking and get a consistent experience whether you’re working with on-premises servers or cloud-based systems.

● Manage and Govern Kubernetes Clusters at Scale: It enables organizations to manage Kubernetes clusters, whether they’re in the cloud, on-premises, or at the edge.

Services Enabled by Azure Arc

Azure Arc extends Azure’s capabilities to environments beyond the public cloud. This includes the ability to:

● Deploy and run Azure services outside of Azure while still managing them through Azure.

● Run Azure Data Services on any Kubernetes environment as if they were running natively in Azure.

● Deploy App Services (including web, function, and logic apps) and Event Grid on Kubernetes.

How to Join Resources with Azure Arc

Joining resources to Azure Arc is straightforward:

1. Navigate to the Azure Arc menu in the Azure portal.

2. Select “Add Resource” and choose the type of resource (e.g., Machines).

3. Add a single server by entering meta information.

4. Enter Meta Information

5. Copy the generated script to your server.

6. Run Code and follow the Link​.

7. Login and permit to finish.

Enable Azure Services

Azure Arc enables several services that simplify management, governance, and operations. These include:

Update Manager

● Conduct periodic update assessments to identify security and critical updates.

● View a centralized overview of products that need updates.

● Schedule updates to ensure consistent compliance.

Monitoring and Insights

● Detect and diagnose issues across applications and dependencies using Application Insights.

● Gain infrastructure-level insights for VMs, containers, and networks.

● Scale operations with smart alerts and automated actions.

● Dive deeper into diagnostics with Log Analytics.

Policies and Governance

● Activate built-in policies for Arc-enabled servers or Kubernetes clusters.

● Tailor policies to meet specific compliance requirements.

● Create and assign custom policies to ensure governance across environments.

Change Tracking

● Track changes in virtual machines to pinpoint operational and environmental issues.

● Tracked items include:

○ Windows and Linux software (packages).

○ Files, registry keys, services, and daemons.

Defender for Servers

● Add advanced threat detection and defences to Windows and Linux servers.

● Get compliance benchmarks mapped to industry standards.

● Use Just-in-Time VM access to control access to commonly attacked management ports.

● Block malware and set guardrails with Azure Policy integration.

SQL Server Management

● Manage SQL Server configurations directly from the Azure portal.

● Gain a single, consistent view of all your SQL Servers.

● Oversee license management, patching, and backups with ease.

● Enable extended security updates (ESUs) for legacy SQL Servers.

Cloud Native App Development

Azure Arc also supports organizations looking to modernize their application development practices. By enabling cloud native app development, it brings Azure’s PaaS capabilities to any infrastructure:

Join Kubernetes Clusters

● Use the az command with local kubeconfig to deploy Azure resources to Kubernetes clusters.

● Enable GitOps to simplify configuration management and deploy applications using Git repositories.

Key Vault Extensions

● Key Vault Extension: Fetch secrets into Kubernetes securely.

● Open Service Mesh or Istio Extension: Manage microservices with uniform security and out-of-the-box observability.

Platform as a Service Data Services

● Deploy Arc-enabled SQL Managed Instances or PostgreSQL to any infrastructure.

● Benefit from features such as multi-layer security, elastic scale, and simplified DevOps.

To get started, you’ll need to:

1. Create a custom location in Azure.
2. Enable the data service extension on your Kubernetes cluster.
3. Deploy the Arc Data Controller through the marketplace.
4. Deploy a managed instance in the     Arc-enabled Kubernetes cluster.

If you decide to use the connected mode, you can monitor, manage, and configure database operations directly from the Azure portal or with cli and you can use alert rules, metrics, and logs like on the native Azure Resources.

Why Use it for Cloud Migration and Cloud Native App Development?

It simplifies the complexity of managing hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Whether you’re navigating a cloud migration project or focusing on cloud native app development, Azure Arc equips you with the tools and capabilities to:

- Unify your development and operational practices.

- Simplify management and governance.

- Ensure security and compliance across environments.

- Enable consistent innovation, regardless of where your resources and applications are deployed.

Azure Arc offers a comprehensive solution for modernizing your infrastructure or streamlining cloud native App development practices.

Contact us today to learn how we can help you accelerate your cloud migration and development journey.