A Closer Look At Azure Arc

As We’re living in a Multi-Cloud World which is Growing Applications, Databases, Virtual Machines, Serverless and Containers. at the same time, customer environments are increasingly complex Multi-Cloud Environment Microsoft Azure AWS and Google Cloud

With Azure Arc you can simplify complex and distributed environments across on-premises, edge, and multicloud. Azure Arc helps you extend Azure management to any infrastructure and enables deployment of Azure data services anywhere

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Azure Arc enables cloud-native Azure management across any infrastructure and also allows you to run Azure data services to be deployed anywhere. It includes hybrid server management, Kubernetes and Azure data services

Why Azure Arc

Using Azure Arc will help you to unifying Orchestration & Governance in Multi-cloud Deployments & enables deployment of Azure services anywhere and extends Azure management to any infrastructure and cloud such as Amazon, Google

Features of Azure Arc

• Implement consistent inventory, management, governance, and security for your servers across your environment.
• Configure Azure VM extensions to use Azure management services to monitor, secure, and update your servers.
• Manage and govern Kubernetes clusters at scale.
• Use GitOps-based configuration as code management to deploy applications and configuration across one or more clusters directly from source control, such as GitHub.
• Zero touch compliance and configuration for your Kubernetes clusters using Azure Policy.
• Run Azure data services on any Kubernetes environment, specifically Azure SQL Managed Instance and Azure Database for PostgreSQL Hyperscale, with benefits such as upgrades/updates, security, and monitoring as if it runs in Azure. Leverage elastic scale, apply updates, without any application downtime, even if it doesn't have a continuous connection to Azure.
• A unified experience viewing your Azure Arc enabled resources whether you are using the Azure portal, the Azure CLI, Azure PowerShell, or Azure REST API.

Azure Arc enabled servers
which is allows you to manage machines which are outside of Azure Non-Azure machine when connected to Azure, it becomes a Connected Machine - A resource in Azure Connected Machine has a Resource ID

Key-Features:

Flexibility

• Works for both Linux and Windows
• Works with virtual machines (VMs), bare-metal servers, and other clouds
• Domain-agnostic—works across multiple domains at the same time

Management

• Searchable inventory at scale
• Same server management experience across environments
• Consistent VM Extensions for agent management

Governance and security

• Built-in Azure policies for servers
• Server security baselines
• Ability to view and search for noncompliant servers across environments
• Advanced data security

Role-based access control

• Central IT–based, at-scale operations
• Management by workload owner, based on access privileges
• Integrated with Azure Lighthouse for managed service providers (MSPs)

Deployment Guide:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-arc/servers/learn/quick-enable-hybrid-vm

Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes
You can attach and configure Kubernetes clusters inside or outside of Azure. When a Kubernetes cluster is attached to Azure Arc, it will appear in the Azure portal. It will have an Azure Resource Manager ID and a managed identity. Clusters are attached to standard Azure subscriptions, are located in a resource group, and can receive tags just like any other Azure resource.

Key-Features:

Flexibility

• Container platform of your choice with out-of-the-box support for most CNCF (Cloud Native Computing Foundation)–certified Kubernetes
• Use across Dev, Test and Production Kubernetes clusters in your environment

Management

• Inventory, organize and tag Kubernetes clusters
• Deploy apps and configuration as code using GitOps
• Monitor and Manage at scale with policy-based deployment

Governance and security

• Built in Kubernetes Gatekeeper policies
• Apply consistent security configuration at scale

Role-based access control

• Central IT based at-scale operations
• Management by workload owner based on access privileges

Deployment Guide:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-arc/kubernetes/connect-cluster

Azure Arc enabled SQL server
Use Azure Portal to register and track the inventory of your SQL Server instances across on-premises and multi-cloud in a from the portal
You can use Azure Security Center to produce a comprehensive report of vulnerabilities in SQL Servers and get advanced, real-time security alerts for threats to SQL Servers and the OS and Investigate threats in SQL Servers using Azure Sentinel.
Periodically assess SQL Server environment to receive actionable health guidance.

Key-Features:

Flexibility

• Unmatched flexibility across VMs and bare-metal servers
• SQL Server capabilities across on-premises and multicloud scenarios

Management

• Searchable global inventory of SQL servers
• Free ongoing SQL assessment

Governance and security

• Ability to drive governance standards across infrastructures with Azure Policy
• Advanced data security to protect your SQL footprint

Deployment Guide:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/sql-server/azure-arc/connect?view=sql-server-ver15

Price
Azure Arc control plane functionality is offered at no additional cost meanwhile, Any Azure service that is used on Arc enabled servers, for example Azure Security Center or Azure Monitor, will be charged as per the pricing for that service. For more information, see Azure pricing page.