BLOG: Azure Local Tools: Community Projects, Microsoft Official Utilities, and OEM Resources

Disclaimer: This blog is a community contribution and does not reflect the opinion on behalf of Microsoft. Statements herein should not be understood as an official statement from Microsoft in any way. The community is invited to participate through commenting.

Changelog

1.6 - added Azure Arc and Azure version history
1.5 - added CMTrace projects
1.4 - Improved readability by including long links into the description, added Lenovo section. Thank you to all contributors via LinkedIn!
1.3 - moved Azure Local LENS from Microsoft to Community section, added missing TSG Link
1.2 - Improved readability by including long links into the description, updated Dell and HPE sections
1.1 - Added LinkedIn Newsletter, added S2DCalc Link
1.0 - Initial version

Introduction

This blogpost serves as a practical guide and one-stop hub to community and official tooling for Azure Local, with links to GitHub, Microsoft Learn, and OEM docs.
Azure Local brings Azure services on-premises. This post maps the tooling ecosystem - community GitHub projects, official Microsoft utilities, and OEM documentation, with links to key resources. Use can use community tools for labs and production environments, if your internal regulations allow, or during PoC / deployment phases.

Reasoning

Azure Local (Azure services running on local hardware) is evolving rapidly. For teams evaluating or operating Azure Local, the tooling ecosystem matters: community projects accelerate labs and automation, Microsoft tools provide authoritative testing and sizing, and OEM documentation ensures hardware compatibility and supportability and official guidance tailored to OEM specific requirements. This article seperates community projects from Microsoft official tools, providing links to the most useful resources. 

Quick overview table

Community tools

Why community tools matter? Community projects fill practical gaps, provide automation for labs and PoCs, and iterate quickly to reflect real-world needs. They’re ideal for rapid prototyping and developer workflows, which may not be provided by the vendor to this extend.

Notable community projects

• Azure Local ODIN - A community toolkit for Azure Local that simplifies cluster setup and DevOps oriented deployment. It also incudes a hardwae and storage sizing tool. Will generate architecture diagrams of the current or a future deployment and support various types of deployment and resources. Documentation and examples are available on the ODIN for Azure Local site.  While maintained by Microsoft employees, this project should be considered for use without any product support by Microsoft. Link: https://azure.github.io/odinforazurelocal
  
  
• Azure Local LENS - Azure Local Lifecycle, Events & Notification Status (LENS) workbook brings together the signals you need to understand your Azure Local estate through a fleet lens. Instead of jumping between individual resources, you can use a consistent set of views to compare instances, spot outliers, and drill into the focus areas that need attention. LENS workbook provides comprehensive visibility into cluster health, update readiness, and workload status across your entire Azure Local fleet. JSON file to be imported into an Azure Dashboard. While the repository is hosted in the official Microsoft Azure repository, mind the disclaimer about supportability, indicating the same state as for Azure ODIN. Link: https://aka.ms/AzureLocalLENS
  
  
• Azure Local Management Tool - RBAC compatible community tool that helps with provisioning, upgrades, and lifecycle tasks for Azure Local clusters beyond anything currently available in the Azure Portal. If you have searched for a single website managing and operating Azure Local, search no longer.
  Link: https://azurelocalmanager.com/
  
  
• HVTools - as the name suggests HVTools ports the familiar strengths of a very well-known tool, available for Broadcom's VMware, to Hyper-V administrators, which includes Azure Local. Discover and inventory your Virtual Machine estate and their configuration at a glance. Link: https://hvtools.app/.
  Known Management restrictions apply to Azure created / deployed VMs on Azure Local.
  
  
• S2D Calculator - Prime calulator for Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) for Windows Server and Azure Local, returning reliable and production relevant results for all supported storage configurations. Link: https://s2d-calculator.com/ 
  
  
• CMTrace projects - CMTrace is a well-known tool provided and licensed by Microsoft, greatly simplying reading and understanding logs off many kinds.
  To overcome the licensing limitations, usually shipped as part of the System Center product family the community has established two noteable projects:
  • CMtrace.dev - A high performance browser-based CMtrace-like parser, which handles different logs, archives on your local device, without uploading them anywhere
  • CMtrace.Open - an open-source project bringing the capabilites of CMTrace to everyone, requires local installation.

Official Microsoft tools

Why use official tools: Microsoft’s tools are the authoritative source for performance testing, sizing, and troubleshooting; they align with Azure Local support boundaries and validated configurations. All tools are supported by the respective vendor, unless stated otherwise.

• Microsoft VMfleet 2.0 - Scales VM workload generation across nodes for stress and performance testing; ideal for validating cluster behavior under realistic load. Documentation
  
  
• Microsoft DiskSPD- Microsoft’s I/O supported workload generator for storage performance characterization. Use diskspd for storage microbenchmarks and to validate storage subsystem behavior under customizeable and relastic workloads. Works best with VMfleet, with or without Arc Enablement.
  
  
• Microsoft Azure Local TSG (Troubleshooting Guide) - Official runbooks and troubleshooting steps for common Azure Local issues; consult the Azure Local docs for the latest TSG content. See Azure Local documentation for troubleshooting and operational guidance. In addition the GitHub repository includes the CSSTool for Azure Local. Community can and should contribute here filing issues, when reproducible, as well as checking before raising support requests, if the issue is a known one, and a remediation description is available. 
  
  
• Microsoft Azure Local Solutions
  • Catalog- The offical list of certified hardware offerings for Azure Local deployments; always cross-check catalog entries before procurement.
  • Solution categories - Understanding differences of Microsoft Azure Local solution categories
  • Sizing tool (rather limited) - Official sizing tool to estimate hardware and configuration needs for target workloads.

OEM-specific resources

OEM documentation and compatibility matrices are essential because Azure Local runs on certified hardware stacks. Vendor docs cover firmware, management interfaces, licensing, and validated configurations.

Dell

• Dell Azure Local Deployment Guides - provides a step-by-step documentation for Dell Azure Local deployments.
• Dell Open Manage Extension for Windows Admin Center (OMIMSWAC) - Management extension and compliance checks for Azure Local clusters and hardware. Also supports Windows Server Standalone and Windows Server S2D clusters.
• Dell Demo Center - Interactive demos and product walkthroughs that show Dell hardware and management integration.
• Dell Learning - Dell’s learning portal includes courses and search for Azure Local–related content.
• Dell Compatibility Matrix - offers information and dowloads about SBE, factory images, driver and firmware best recipes and common HW related settings, that come preconfigured. Caveat: Please ensure checking for the correct version. Classical browser favorites tend to become outdated, rapidly!

HPE

• HPE Azure Local Main Landing Page - highlights the HPE platforms and storage platforms supported with Azure Local.
• HPE Azure Local Technical Whitepaper - Describes the tiers for Azure Local, the HPE platforms for each, server options that are supported, HPE switches that are supported, critical information relative to deployment, Windows Admin Extensions, available HPE services, and more.
• HPE ProLiant for Azure Local Solutions User Guide - Targeting Integrated Systems and Premier Solutions, this guide provides information related to Azure Local hardware, solution management, credential management, system expansion, deployment and redeployment of the OS, known issues, troubleshooting, and more.
• HPE ProLiant for Azure Local Solutions Firmware and Software Compatibility Guide - Illustrates the N and N-1 driver, firmware, and software versions included in the Standard Solution Builder Extension for Azure Local.
• HPE Minimal Solution Builder Extension - For Validated Nodes ONLY, includes a Windows Defender Application Control policy enabling deployment of HPE components included in specific releases of the Service Pack for ProLiant. Note that the package does NOT include drivers, firmware, or other software.
• HPE Standard Solution Builder Extension - For Integrated Systems and Premier Solutions ONLY, includes a Windows Defender Application Control policy as well as the drivers, firmware, and software necessary for updating an Azure Local instance/cluster.

Lenovo

• Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Series for Microsoft Azure Local - Main Lenovo Azure Local landing page featuring ThinkAgile MX solutions, deployment resources, product guides, and customer case studies. 
• Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Documentation Portal - Official deployment, administration, lifecycle management, and operations guidance for Azure Local solutions. 
• Lenovo XClarity Integrator for Microsoft Windows Admin Center - Windows Admin Center Management extension providing hardware monitoring, compliance checks, firmware lifecycle management, and cluster-aware updates for Windows Server and Azure Local environments.
• Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Certified Configuration Guides - Microsoft-certified hardware guidance including supported server, storage, and networking configurations for Azure Local deployments. 
• Lenovo Solution Builder Extension (SBE) - Support matrix, release notes, firmware and driver update guidance, and supported Azure Local versions.
• Lenovo XClarity Integrator Support Portal - Support downloads, release notes, and lifecycle management resources for ThinkAgile MX and Azure Local solutions.

Official learning resources and community content

Microsoft Learning & docs

• Azure Local documentation - The official docs are the authoritative source for deployment steps, architecture guidance, and runbooks. See the Azure Local docs for ESU and other operational topics. Consider using the en-us pages, receiving the timely updates.
  
  • What's new? - Connected Deployments- describing changes and fixes of each releases for all supported connected scenarios.
  • What's new? - Disconnected Deyploments - describing changes and fixes of each releases for all supported disconnected scenarios (ALDO, M365 etc).
    For both, please consider reading the respective release notes to learn more about version specific fixes and known issues.

• Azure Arc-enabled Infrastructure Technical Event Series - A helpful primer on hybrid infrastructure and Azure Arc concepts; good for teams new to hybrid and Azure Local.
  
  
• Azure Arc Agent Version History - What's new and changed in Azure Arc (Connected Machine Agent)? 

 

• Microsoft Learning Paths: 

  • Azure Local Accreditation 2025

  • Windows Server 2025 and Hybrid Accreditation 2026

  • Azure Local Small Form Factor Deployment

• Microsoft Official Announcements - related to Azure Local and Azure Arc. Link: Azure Arc | Microsoft Community Hub

Community blogs and MVP content

How to find MVPs, get in touch, learn from their expierence and contribute myself in a growing community?
The MVP community hub and its Find an MVP is an excellent starting point getting in touch with MVPs near you and discover their voluntary contributions to the Microsoft community, e. g. blogs with for real-world deployment stories and troubleshooting tips.

Visit the Microsoft MVP site to find Azure Local and Azure Arc MVPs. Link: https://mvp.microsoft.com. Find your MVP near to you using the country filter, then using the technology area "Azure Hybrid and Migrate". Please keep in mind Azure Local is an Azure product, which means other Azure services and as such other technology areas could be relevant if you'd like to connect and learn about other community contributions.

 

YouTube channels and demos

• Carsten Rachfahl - Excellent recurring topic related shows, walkthroughs and demos for Azure Stack Local and Microsoft HCI and Hybrid Infrastructure. 
  Link: https://www.youtube.com/@CarstenRachfahl
  
  
• Manfred Helber - Azure Stack HCI basics video - Example recorded session covering fundamentals and demos. This is a about older releases of Azure Local, yet grants deeper insights and understanding about the technology.
  Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=ukJ3tvTmO4c&list=PL7cBl3ig-01NKNgTWtDy0KUDW_YNX50_1
  
  

• The Hybrid Friends - YT Channel hosted by a group of technical experts, covering different topics, including Azure Local.
  The content might include videos about older releases of Azure Local, yet grants deeper insights and understanding about the technology. Link: https://www.youtube.com/@thehybridfriends/playlists

• Thomas Maurer - Microsoft Global Black Belt Team Sovereign Cloud (EMEA) - Thomas' Azure Local related playlist. Link: 

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7UorFASe7o&list=PLddMzSrepwAj1DLQg5ydUSmipzC9tI7lf

Protip for Youtube closed captions (CC) - Auto translation:
Enable CC > click on CC. Then click on Settings > Subtitles > Automatic Translation > select your language

Open communities

Azure Local Slack - News, expert discussions, voluntary community support, occasional surveys from Microsoft

• • access request / registration: https://aka.ms/azurelocal-slack
  • server: azurelocal.slack.com

LinkedIn: 

• Azure Local Tech Talk - news and discussion group: 
  
  
• Azure Local Unlocked Newsletter - technical series
  
  
• Azure Local Insider Newsletter - compact news about Azure Local

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This blogpost will be updated in the future. Community contributions are very welcome. If you are seeing noteable projects, missing links, like to add anything to the OEM section, please let me know in the comments below.

Community tools - as the name says - grow with from contribution and feedback provided by the community. Feel invited to contribute using the GitHub repositories or provided contact options.