Modern organizations need to manage multiple resources across cloud, on-premises, and multi-cloud environments. Having these resources on different platforms can make management difficult. Azure Arc solves this problem by providing unified management of resources across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
What is Azure Arc?
Azure Arc is a service that extends the management and security capabilities of Microsoft Azure to on-premises, other cloud services (AWS, Google Cloud), and edge environments. Through this service, organizations can integrate physical servers, virtual machines, Kubernetes clusters, and databases into the Azure management model.
Azure Arc Key Capabilities
- Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Resource Management
All Azure management and security policies can be applied to on-premises and other cloud resources.
Resources in AWS, Google Cloud, and on-premises environments can be managed through the Azure Portal, Azure CLI, or PowerShell. - Azure Policy and Compliance
With Azure Arc, compliance policies can be automatically enforced across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
Azure Policy can be used to ensure compliance with standards such as ISO, GDPR, and NIST. - Kubernetes and Container Management
Azure Arc allows you to manage Kubernetes clusters, enforce security, and enforce policies.
Users can automate deployments with GitOps and CI/CD integrations. - Azure Services Anywhere
Services such as Azure SQL Managed Instance and Azure App Services can be run on-premises or in other clouds.
Organizations can leverage Azure’s cloud services in their infrastructure. - Security and Monitoring
Security events can be monitored across all environments through Azure Security Center and Defender for Cloud.
Hybrid and multi-cloud security analytics are provided with Azure Sentinel.
How Does Azure Arc Work?
The Azure Arc agent is installed on the appropriate servers, VMs, and Kubernetes clusters.
Resources can be managed by connecting to the Azure Portal through the agent.
Azure Policy and RBAC policies are applied to resources.
Security and compliance control is performed with Azure Monitor and Defender for Cloud.
Who is Azure Arc Suitable for?
On-Premises and Multi-Cloud Users – Companies that want to apply Azure management capabilities to their infrastructure.
Organizations with Security and Compliance Requirements – Those who want to maintain compliance and apply security policies uniformly.
Working with Kubernetes and Microservices – Teams that want to manage Kubernetes clusters in different environments.
Those Who Want to Use Azure Services On-Premises – Enterprises that want to run Azure SQL Managed Instance and Azure App Services in their data centers.