Azure Arc – Microsoft’s Ark That Ventures in All Waters
Azure Arc is a hybrid technology that extends the influence of Microsoft’s cloud computing service to on-premises, multi-cloud environments, and edge locations. With this, customers can manage their Windows and Linux Servers, Kubernetes clusters, and Azure data services from a centralized platform remotely. Users can now apply DevOps and Azure Security across asymmetric infrastructure and can run Azure data services seamlessly from anywhere.
What is Azure Arc and What Does It Do?
Across the globe, several customers are using Azure products for their business requirements. They use the Azure Resource Manager (ARM) to control their resources. In other words, resources like VMs, SQL Databases, and Azure Kubernetes Service are all resources that can be controlled with the ARM. These resources can be controlled with simple text files.
Microsoft has enabled the ARM to control other resources as well that were outside the purview of Azure thus far. Now the ARM works much like a universal remote that can be programmed to control TVs, air conditioners, and music systems. So VMs and Kubernetes services managed by any provider can be managed using the ARM once it has been registered with Azure Arc. This includes resources that operate behind firewalls or use proxies as well as database services that can run outside Azure. Moreover, cloud-native applications can be provided as microservices on Azure Arc managed VMs and Kubernetes clusters.
Environment Agnostic Implementation
Several organizations have their infrastructure spread across geographies as well as online resources that may be hosted with different cloud service providers. This siloed nature of data results in unnecessary complexities in data handling especially from a compliance perspective.
With Azure Arc, all these resources can be consolidated and brought under centralized control. This reduces logistical challenges, and manpower requirements while improving operational efficiency.
Azure Policy will be implemented across customer resources and permission can be granted based on user roles to manage the resources. This allows the admin to audit the activities on several resources to ensure compliance across applications, servers, and clusters.
Azure for On-Premises Implementation
Developers are increasingly becoming accustomed to using cloud DevOps and cloud-native configuration. This approach allows them to seamlessly access resources without lag.
Azure Arc extends this capability to distributed and disparate infrastructure. With this ability, developers can maintain consistency while deploying, configuring, and maintaining codes using GitOps-based configuration management while compartmentalizing their apps. They can use tools that they are most comfortable with in the form of Infrastructure as a service (IaaS).
Upgradability and Scalability
Azure Arc will never become a legacy as users will get instant updates and the latest build as soon as Microsoft releases. New features and capabilities can be downloaded from the internet and be implemented seamlessly without major disruptions to data workloads.
Moreover, data workloads can be scaled on-demand across different environments and can be deployed in a matter of seconds to simplify data administrative tasks.
Unparalleled Security
Azure uses complex multi-layer security to protect data on the cloud. It gives admins significant control over security policies, resources, and data access. These features are now extended to hybrid infrastructure including on-premises resources with Azure Arc. Admins get comprehensive information about activities on the resources under their control in the Azure activity log and automation abilities to protect data with Azure Lighthouse.
Summing up
As Azure gains traction among businesses leveraging cloud computing to further their business operations, Microsoft has introduced a powerful new tool to consolidate the position as a forerunner in the market. What distinguishes Azure Arc is its unique design that makes the product highly scalable.
To know more about all Azure related products and managed Azure services, feel free to contact our Apps4Rent experts now!
