Forum Discussion

Chaffy's avatar
Chaffy
Copper Contributor
Mar 10, 2025

Azure Arc, on-prem servers, and MDE

I've onboarded a handful of on-prem server into Azure Arc and I would like to rollout the MDE extension.  Do I have to enable MDE on the resource group or subscription before I can install it?  I don't see it listed as an available extension when I go here: 
Azure Arc | Machines > server01 | Extensions > Install extension

1 Reply

  • Take this:

     

    • Enable Defender for Servers Plan:
      • Go to Microsoft Defender for Cloud in the Azure portal.
      • Navigate to Environment settings and select the subscription containing your Azure Arc-enabled servers.
      • Under Settings and monitoring, enable the Defender for Servers plan.
    • Check Extension Availability:
      • Once the plan is enabled, the MDE extension should become available for installation under Azure Arc | Machines > Extensions > Install extension.
    • Manual Installation (if needed):
      • If the extension still doesn’t appear, you can manually onboard the servers to Defender for Endpoint using the onboarding package from the Microsoft Defender Security Center.

Resources