Implementing Azure Arc for hybrid Windows servers

Azure Arc is a hybrid management and governance tool that supports physical and virtual Windows servers. These hybrid servers can be on-premises, in provider edge locations, or hosted on other cloud provider’s platforms. This is represented in the following diagram:

Figure 13.9 – Azure Arc for servers

When connected in this way, a hybrid server becomes an Azure resource that can be controlled, secured, and managed the same as an Azure native VM.

Each hybrid machine is given an Azure resource ID allowing the machine to be added to a resource group and be managed by the Azure Resource Manager (ARM); we class these Azure Arc-managed servers as Arc-enabled servers.

To connect a Windows server to Azure Arc, an Azure Connected Machine agent is deployed and configured on the server. It should be noted that this does not replace the Azure Monitor Agent (AMA) for Windows servers; both agents are required...