New Hybrid Features in Windows Server 2022.
Let's take a look at what we're going to cover. We're going to look at Azure
Arc‑enabled servers and also Automanage. This allows a good hybrid
environment and for you to control your on‑premises machine for Microsoft
Azure. Let's begin with Arc‑enabled servers.
A large benefit to Windows Server 2022 is the hybrid capability.
Azure Arc‑enabled servers allow you consistency on your management through the
Azure portal. You can manage your Windows and Linux physical servers and VM
hosted outside of Microsoft Azure. Your Arc‑enabled servers are treated just
as another resource, and each one of these has a resource ID that can be
identified and differentiates it in Microsoft Azure. Let's go in and enable a
server for Azure Arc.
We begin right here in the Microsoft Azure Home page. Notice up here I
have Azure Arc. That's because I've used it recently.
If it's not up there, you can search for it in the search menu.
I'm going to click on Azure Arc, and this opens up the page for
Azure Arc, and we use this page to set this up.
Notice down here we have Servers, and that's what we
need, so let's go ahead and click on it.
It says no servers in Arc, and we're going to fix that.
We just click on Add, and this brings up some options here.
We have a single server, we have multiple servers,
we can add servers from Update Management, and add servers
from Azure Migrate. We're going to select a single server and
then click on Generate script.
Were first met with the prerequisites. Basically, it makes sure that your
server can connect to Microsoft Azure with HTTPS. You have a local
administrator permission on that server, and you have the connectivity,
along with an existing resource group.
Well, we have all of those, so let's go ahead and continue by clicking Next.
We don't need a lot of information in order to connect our
server and start managing it with a familiar Microsoft Azure
interface. We'll need a subscription,
we got that, a resource group, which in our case will be RG‑AzureArcServers. We
need to know the region, and we're going to use the default East US. Scrolling
down, we can select the connectivity method, and if that is all set, we click
Next. We have the option to apply tags.
It's good to note where your servers are in the world because Microsoft
Azure doesn't necessarily know where they are, so adding a tag for the
location or data center is a good idea.
We're not going to add any tags at this time, so let's click Next.
Here's our script.
You can run the script anyway you would like to, but
I'd like to show you the easiest way.
Let's go ahead and select all, copy the entire script, and then go to
the PowerShell ISE. This is important. We have to right‑click and say
Run as administrator, or this is not going to work. Now we simply paste
the script in and hit Return.
This runs the script and does everything in the background in order to
connect our on‑premises server up to Microsoft Azure. It installs this
local package after downloading it, and when it's done, we get this little
line right here. It says open your web browser to this link and then enter
this code. Simple as that.
So let's go ahead and copy this link.
Go to Microsoft Edge and paste it into the browser, and this brings
this up where it says, well, give me the code.
So let's go back to our ISE, copy the code,
come back to Microsoft Edge, and then enter it. We'll click on Next,
and it asks us for the credentials we need for Microsoft Azure. I'm
going to go ahead and put in my credentials here, and it gives us a
little warning sign. We get past that and then tells us go ahead and
close the page.
Now let's go back to the PowerShell ISE, and we can see right here,
Successfully Onboarded this Resource to Azure.
So let's go to our page, go to our Azure Arc,
hit refresh, wait just a moment, and there it is.
This server is now under the management of our Microsoft Azure page.
We can treat it like any other resource that we have in Microsoft
Azure. Let's go ahead and click on this server, and here we have an
overview, and notice all the information on it.
I'm going to scroll down, and this machine is truly
treated as a Microsoft resource.
We have managing logs, insights, policies,
inventory, security,
all the things that we would have with a regular
Microsoft Azure virtual machine.
The policy,
that's a big deal, because if we want governance over our entire hybrid network,
it's a good idea to consolidate all of that in one
place, and that's what this does.
So that is how you use Microsoft Azure Arc to connect to your Windows Server 2022 in order to have a more comprehensive hybrid environment.