Customer Offerings: Azure Local - Implementation, Migration, and Management
Hi everyone! Brandon here, back once again to talk to you about a couple of new offerings that have just been released to assist our Unified customers with their on-premises virtualization needs! I continue to have the privilege of leading a great program and team helping customers to migrate from VMware to more cost-effective and/or modern solutions. These new offerings are <drum roll>: Hyper-V - Implementation, Migration, and Management Azure Local - Implementation, Migration, and Management NOTE: These offerings do not provide hands on keyboard support, do not create custom documentation for customers, and cannot provide direct support for any 3 rd party products that may be used in the process of migrations. Many customers are reassessing their virtualization strategies and are actively exploring alternatives to VMware that align with long‑term hybrid cloud goals. Azure Local offers a purpose‑built platform that combines proven Windows Server–based virtualization with Azure services and management tooling, enabling customers to modernize on‑premises infrastructure while maintaining tight integration with Azure management, security, and governance capabilities. Whether driven by changing licensing models, cost optimization, or the need for deeper hybrid cloud integration, a successful transition requires more than a technology shift—it requires a structured, outcome‑focused approach. While we are providing these new offerings to customers, you do also have the option of more extended engagements as well that are broader in scope and more tailored to the end goals while we work side by side with you. If you are a Unified customer and looking to move off of VMware to Azure Local, or you just need help with your on-premises Microsoft virtualization technologies in general, have your account manager (CSAM) reach out to me! Planning to go at it alone?? Virtually (no pun intended) every environment reviewed by my team (and that is a LOT) that was set up prior to our review will have configuration issues, at times warranting extensive efforts to correct. Problem 1: There are some potentially significant differences between the way VMware and Azure Local are architected from the start, especially in areas of networking and storage, where mimicking methods used in the VMware world can actually lead to performance degradation in your target Azure Local environment. Problem 2: Your management method must also change. Additionally, if you are converting/migrating to Azure Local, the available methods need to be determined, the terminology and functional differences identified and learned…there can be a lot to unpack in this area. Problem 3: Perhaps the most obvious is that this may be a new platform for your team, and its important for them to gain experience through guided actions and knowledge transfer on the fly for those questions they really have, which is exactly what we aim to provide in guiding implementations and migrations! A Structured Engagement Model Successful Azure Local implementations are built around a guided engagement model rather than a one‑size‑fits‑all checklist. Each engagement is tailored to the customer environment, acknowledging that differences in scale, workloads, hardware, and operational maturity directly influence the migration approach. The framework emphasizes collaboration, clarity of expectations, and incremental progress instead of disruptive “lift‑and‑shift” execution. Whether we are talking about migration from another virtualization platform, or simply trying to reduce costs by implementing a new virtualization infrastructure, we’re here to help! Key Phases of an Azure Local Implementation and/or Migration Most Azure Local implementation and migration engagements progress through a common set of phases: Engagement scoping and technical discovery to understand goals and current state (this is the conversation I, or one of the TZ Leads in the VMware Migration Program have with customers) Planning and design aligned to business and operational outcomes, with a limited scope Deployment and configuration validation to ensure platform readiness Security and migration testing to reduce risk and confirm workload compatibility Feature enablement, including Azure Arc, to extend governance and management While these phases provide structure, the sequence and depth of each stage are adapted based on the customer environment and objectives. Key Outcomes for Customers Organizations that engage in Azure Local implementation or migration efforts commonly achieve: Deeper familiarity with Microsoft virtualization technologies Successful deployment of PoC, pilot, or production environments Validated test migrations of virtual machines Identification and resolution of technical blockers Increased confidence in operational readiness These engagements are advisory and collaborative in nature, prioritizing customer enablement and success. Knowledge Transfer and Operational Readiness A central focus of the Azure Local engagements is ensuring that IT teams are prepared to operate the platform long after deployment completes. Knowledge transfer is embedded throughout the engagement through working sessions and direct participation in implementation activities. This approach helps organizations move confidently into steady‑state operations without relying on long‑term external support. As I mentioned above, if you do feel you will need longer term support, we have your back on that front as well. Looking Beyond Migration An Azure Local migration is often the first step in a broader transformation journey. Many organizations use this transition to enable hybrid management, strengthen security posture, and prepare for future application or cloud modernization initiatives. When approached strategically, Azure Local becomes a platform for long‑term innovation and a step to modernizing your infrastructure, not just a replacement hypervisor. Conclusion Moving from VMware to Azure Local is not simply a technical migration—it is an opportunity to modernize how infrastructure is managed and governed. With structured planning, guided execution, and a focus on operational readiness, organizations can transition with confidence to a virtualization platform built for today’s hybrid cloud realities and tomorrow’s growth. Thanks for reading, and maybe we’ll talk soon!Digital event: The Future of VMware Is in Azure – July 16th, 2024
Take a deep dive into options for migrating and optimizing your workloads in a rapidly evolving VMware landscape. Join this free digital event and learn how Azure VMware Solution can support your VMware workloads while minimizing migration disruption. Register for this event with technical sessions for VMware administrators such as: Security—with topics on securing the management plane, role-based access control, patch management, and integration with Microsoft Defender for Cloud and Azure VMware Solution. Networking—with topics on hub-and-spoke vs. mesh network design, securing network traffic, traffic and networking monitoring, and hybrid deployments. Disaster recovery and resiliency—with topics on replication and cold site setup, business continuity, and easier vSphere migration with Azure VMware Solution. VMware integration with Azure services—with topics on data warehousing and data lakes, AI and machine learning analytics, DevOps solutions, and automation and lifecycle management. Join us for talks from industry leaders, technical sessions, and live Q&A. Register now > The Future of VMware Is in Azure Tuesday, July 16, 2024 9:00 AM–10:30 AM Pacific Time (UTC-7)Azure VMware Solution (AVS) for VMware Admins Primer
It’s funny to think there was such a pushback on virtualization when it first came out versus being the norm for most of us now. As a VMware admin myself, I remember all the discussion with application teams trying to convince them we could run their application on a virtual machine. Informing people that a vMotion would not impact the uptime and could potentially optimize performance on another ESXi host with more resources free, or how HA (High Availability) being built in results in a simple reboot with minimal downtime to the virtual machine and application.
How to Use Azure Market Place Linux Images on AVS (Azure Vmware Solution) Platform
Hi All, Really appreciate inputs for below requirement I am doing POC on Azure Vmware Solution (AVS) platform and need to spin VM'S using Vsphere cleint. Also like to use Azure Market place RHEL (Linux) image with billing "pay as you go" but not sure how to get this done. Getting licenses externally from RHEL vendor will be little time taking and will not able to leverage of deploying solution on Azure Vmware solution platform. Thanks, Neeraj Mohan
