As hybrid infrastructure and cloud models become the new standard, so does the need to manage the infrastructure behind them. Organizations require secure, consistent management experiences that let IT teams administer systems wherever they run. Yet many remote management solutions still lack the depth needed to investigate issues, resolve problems, and handle critical day-to-day tasks.
Since the initial introduction of Windows Admin Center for Azure Virtual Machines, thousands of customers have benefited from an in-depth OS management experience in the Azure Portal, creating a consistent experience across their hybrid estate. Today, we're extending that experience with the general availability of Windows Admin Center for Azure Arc-enabled Servers, so you can manage Arc-enabled Windows servers and virtual machines directly from the Azure portal with granular control and confidence. With Windows Admin Center, you can perform detailed server management securely from the cloud, without a VPN, public IP address, or other inbound connectivity.
Let's dive into the new and unique features.
Unlock deeper management capabilities for Azure Arc-enabled servers with Windows Admin Center
Simplicity and convenience
By bringing together on-premises Windows Server systems, Azure Virtual Machines, and other Azure resources into a single interface in the Azure portal, users can save time because Windows Admin Center for Arc enabled Servers removes the need to remote desktop into servers for administration, making it easier to deploy and maintain Arc-enabled servers.
By default, Azure Arc provides users with the essential elements to manage infrastructure, such as centralized security, monitoring, and governance. With a one-click experience, Windows Admin Center in Azure adds deep operational management capabilities for Arc-enabled servers.
Secure
Windows Admin Center in Azure enhances security for your servers. It allows you to manage your infrastructure without requiring any public IP addresses, VPNs, or inbound connectivity to your systems. Traffic is sent over the existing connection between the Azure Arc agent and Azure. Because it runs over Azure Arc, no extra configuration is required. Communication between you and your systems is end-to-end encrypted, with transport layer security (TLS) occurring directly on your infrastructure.
Windows Admin Center for Arc-enabled servers also uses Microsoft Entra ID for authentication—no need to provide credentials for a local administrator account and Azure RBAC roles to control who has access to the machine.
Familiar UI
You can now configure, troubleshoot, and perform maintenance tasks with the Windows Admin Center interface that you’re already familiar with. Beyond a consistent interface, you can manage files, view expired certificates, monitor performance, view critical events, use PowerShell, use an in-browser RDP session, and much more without leaving the Azure portal.
Designed for the cloud
While the Windows Admin Center you see in the Azure portal is familiar and has most of the same functionality, it is tailored to provide a cloud-first experience. We are continuously innovating to deliver new capabilities and experiences. In the Azure portal, Windows Admin Center’s content is delivered faster with Azure and is always kept up to date, seamlessly giving you the latest and greatest features. In addition, Windows Admin Center is backed by the support infrastructure that provides reliability for all your other Azure services. You now have a great way to manage your on-premises servers from Azure.
An extendable platform
Windows Admin Center was built to be extended. On-premises, Windows Admin Center offers additional tools beyond what is included by default. These extensions reach below the operating system to manage the server hardware itself: inventory, firmware and driver updates, and hardware-level configuration. We're beginning to bring that ecosystem to the portal, so the cloud experience isn't a thinner version of Windows Admin Center; it's the same extensible platform, now reachable through Arc.
Interested in building an extension for Windows Admin Center for Arc-enabled servers? Check out the documentation and contact a Microsoft representative to get started.
Getting started
Windows Admin Center for Azure Arc-enabled servers was previously available as a benefit through Windows Server Management enabled by Azure Arc. We’re excited to announce that with this announcement of general availability, we’ve lifted all usage restrictions—it comes at no additional cost with your Windows Server license. If you haven’t given Windows Admin Center for Azure Arc-enabled servers a try due to the licensing restrictions, now’s your chance to try it out.
Windows Admin Center for Azure Virtual Machines, as well as the Windows Admin Center on-premises offering, also remain free to use, regardless of the license type of your system.
You can begin managing your infrastructure in Azure using Windows Admin Center by navigating to an Azure Arc-enabled server resource and selecting the “Windows Admin Center” blade under the “Windows management” group.
Learn more
Want to learn more? Check out the Windows Admin Center for Azure Arc-enabled servers documentation.
New to Azure Arc-enabled servers? Learn more about Azure Arc-enabled servers.
New to Windows Admin Center? Check out this Introduction to Windows Admin Center video.
Interested in on-premises Windows Admin Center? Read our Windows Admin Center documentation.
Microsoft