Windows Server Summit 2025
Windows Server Summit is now available, on demand! Improve your skills quick with deep dives and demos on the latest features and innovations. Get tips to help you strengthen security, build resiliency, improve performance, and simplify management. Hosted by Microsoft engineers, this virtual conference is also your opportunity to get answers to your questions. Day 1 - now on demand! Welcome to Windows Server Summit 2025! Upgrades made easy with Windows Server 2025 Modernize server management and connectivity with Azure Arc Harden security and build resiliency with Windows Server 2025 Securing Active Directory From on-premises to cloud with Azure File Sync What's next for advanced storage Assess cloud-readiness of your applications with Azure Migrate AD CS enhancements, innovations, and security Beyond the MCSE: Windows Server training and certification Day 2 - now on demand! Windows Server Hyper-V architecture, features, GPUs, and more! Migration and modernization: From VMware to the cloud SDN magic: Windows Server 2025 innovations Fine-tuned host networking for Windows Server 2025 Azure Arc-enabled management and pay-as-you-go for Windows Server Hotpatching and update management for Windows Server with Azure Arc What's new in 2025 with Windows Admin Center The support case files: Windows Server troubleshooting tips Highly available, always scalable: Failover clustering and S2D Enjoyed the Windows Server Summit? After you've viewed a few sessions, please share your feedback about what you'd like in the future via the QR code below.Introducing Azure Local: cloud infrastructure for distributed locations enabled by Azure Arc
Today at Microsoft Ignite 2024 we're introducing Azure Local, cloud-connected infrastructure that can be deployed at your physical locations and under your operational control. With Azure Local, you can run the foundational Azure compute, networking, storage, and application services locally on hardware from your preferred vendor, providing flexibility to meet your requirements and budget.Evolving Stretch Clustering for Azure Local
Stretched clusters in Azure Local, version 22H2 (formerly Azure Stack HCI, version 22H2) entail a specific technical implementation of storage replication that spans a cluster across two sites. Azure Local, version 23H2 has evolved from a cloud-connected operating system to an Arc-enabled solution with Arc Resource Bridge, Arc VM, and AKS enabled by Azure Arc. Azure Local, version 23H2 expands the requirements for multi-site scenarios beyond the OS layer, while Stretched clusters do not encompass the entire solution stack. Based on customer feedback, the new Azure Local release will replace the Stretched clusters defined in version 22H2 with new high availability and disaster recovery options. For Short Distance Rack Aware Cluster is a new cluster option which spans two separate racks or rooms within the same Layer-2 network at a single location, such as a manufacturing plant or a campus. Each rack functions as a local availability zone across layers from OS to Arc management including Arc VMs and AKS enabled by Azure Arc, providing fault isolation and workload placement within the cluster. The solution is configured with one storage pool to reduce additional storage replication and enhance storage efficiency. This solution delivers the same Azure deployment and management experience as a standard cluster. This setup is suitable for edge locations and can scale up to 8 nodes, with 4 nodes in each rack. Rack Aware Cluster is currently in private preview and is slated to public preview and general release in 2025. For Long Distance Azure Site Recovery can be used to replicate on-premises Azure Local virtual machines into Azure and protect business-critical workloads. This allows Azure cloud to serve as a disaster recovery site, enabling critical VMs to be failed over to Azure in case of a local cluster disaster, and then failed back to the on-premises cluster when it becomes operational again. If you cannot fail over certain workloads to cloud and require long distance of disaster recovery, like in two different cities, you can leverage Hyper-V Replica to replicate Arc VMs to the secondary site. Those VMs will become Hyper-V VMs on the secondary site, they will become Arc VMs once they fail back to the original cluster on the first site. Additional Options beyond Azure Local If the above solutions in Azure Local do not cover your needs, you can fully customize your solution with Windows Server 2025 which introduces several advanced hybrid cloud capabilities designed to enhance operational flexibility and connectivity across various environments. Additionally, it offers various replication technologies like Hyper-V Replica, Storage Replica and external SAN replication that enable the development of tailored datacenter disaster recovery solutions. Learn more from the Windows Server 2025 now generally available, with advanced security, improved performance, and cloud agility - Microsoft Windows Server Blog What to do with existing Stretched clusters on version 22H2 Stretched clusters and Storage Replica are not supported in Azure Local, version 23H2 and beyond. However, version 22H2 stretched clusters can stay in supported state in version 23H2 by performing the first step of operating system upgrade as shown in the following diagram to 23H2 OS. The second step of the solution upgrade to Azure Local is not applicable to stretched clusters. This provides extra time to assess the most suitable future solution for your needs. Please refer to the About Azure Local upgrade to version 23H2 - Azure Local | Microsoft Learn for more information on the 23H2 upgrade. Refer the blog on Upgrade from Azure Stack HCI, version 22H2 to Azure Local | Microsoft Community Hub. Conclusion We are excited to be bringing Rack Aware Clusters and Azure Site Recovery to Azure Local. These high availability and disaster recovery options allow customers to address various scenarios with a modern cloud experience and simplified management.Windows Server Summit 2024 – Powered by Engineering
The significantly EXPANDED Windows Server Summit 2024, with content now powered by Microsoft Engineering teams has been announced. Join us on March 26th to March 28th to discover the latest updates on Windows Server 2025, on-prem and Hybrid scenarios, Azure Arc, Identity, Virtualization, SMB updates and more! Interact with expert speakers and engineering teams through live Q&A and comments section. Register now and don't miss out on this multi-day, deep technical content focused, virtual event hosted on Microsoft Tech Community.
Simplified access to Hotpatching enabled by Azure Arc for Windows Server 2025
With Windows Server 2025, we introduced hotpatch enabled by Azure Arc, delivering security updates to Windows Server across hybrid and multicloud environments – minimizing downtime (no reboot), accelerating protection, and unifying patch management. We know that keeping your servers updated with the latest patches is one of the critical tasks that IT teams perform day-to-day. We want to make it simpler to install the latest operating system (OS) updates without rebooting machines after every installation. The resounding feedback we have received from you underscored the criticality of this feature in the lifecycle management and security of your infrastructure. We are now taking it one step further to reduce the friction to deploying these critical updates: hotpatch enabled by Azure Arc is now available at no additional cost for Windows Server 2025. Which machines are eligible for this offer? To use hotpatch for Windows Servers running on-premises or in multicloud environments, you must be using Windows Server 2025 Standard or Datacenter, and your server must be connected to Azure Arc. With this announcement, enabling and usage of the hotpatching service is available at no additional charge. Please take note that there are no charges for customers running on Azure IaaS, or Azure Local, wherein hotpatching is available as part of the functionality of Windows Server Datacenter: Azure Edition. This feature is already included both with Windows Server 2022 Datacenter: Azure Edition and Windows Server 2025 Datacenter: Azure Edition. How do I manage hotpatches enabled by Azure Arc for Windows Server 2025? If your Windows Server 2025 machines aren't already connected to Azure Arc, install the Azure Connected Machine agent — it takes just a few minutes per server and supports at-scale rollout via Group Policy, service principal, or Terraform. Once connected, enable Hotpatch from the Azure portal, Azure PowerShell, Azure CLI, or the REST API — just confirm Virtualization-based security (VBS is enabled) first. From there, use Azure Update Manager to schedule and monitor rollouts at scale. For instructions on how to enable hotpatch for Azure Arc-enabled machines using group policy or scripts, learn more here: https://aka.ms/ws-hotpatch For patch orchestration at scale, you can use Azure Update Manager to deliver hotpatches enabled by Azure Arc for Windows server 2025 machines. This enables greater uptime with fewer reboots and faster deployment of updates with easy patch orchestration. Alternatively, you can use APIs or other management tools to manage hotpatches. Centralized management of hotpatch updates across hybrid and multicloud environments enabled by Azure Arc Once your machines are connected to Azure Arc, you can also use the cloud-native services from Azure to manage your windows machines running on-prem. Azure Arc enables you to standardize security and governance across a wide range of resources so you can easily organize, govern and secure Windows, Linux, SQL servers, and Kubernetes clusters running across data centers, edge, and multi-cloud environments – using Azure services such as Azure Policy, Azure Monitor, Microsoft Defender and more. At no additional cost for machines attached to Azure Arc Basic inventory across on-prem and multi-cloud Tag your resources, organize them into resource groups, subscriptions, and management groups, and query at scale with Azure Resource Graph to unify your environments. Infra as Code (Bicep, Terraform) Infra as code for provisioning and management of resources. VM Self Service Perform lifecycle management such as (create, resize, update and delete) and power cycle operations such as (start, stop, and restart on VMware vCenter and System Center Virtual Machine Manager Virtual Machines. Hotpatch for Windows Server 2025 NEW Windows Server hot patching enables you to apply security updates without rebooting, keeping systems secure while maintaining continuous uptime. VM Management Administrate your servers anywhere using SSH for Azure Arc, Run Command, and Custom Script Extension. Mgmt. Services included for no additional costs with Windows Server Software Assurance or Extended Security Updates Azure Update Manager Provides a unified, centralized service to monitor, orchestrate, and automate patching across Azure, on‑prem, and multi‑cloud environments ensuring security, compliance, and minimal downtime at scale. Azure Machine Configuration (Policy) Policy‑driven auditing and enforcement of OS and application settings as code across Azure and hybrid machines—ensuring consistent, compliant state at scale. Including compliance policies like CIS Benchmark and WinRE Change Tracking & Inventory Real‑time visibility into configuration changes and system state across your fleet enabling faster troubleshooting, improved security, and continuous compliance at scale. VM insights from Azure Monitor Delivers a unified, pre‑built observability experience that provides real‑time performance, health, and dependency visibility across VMs—enabling faster troubleshooting, optimization, and capacity planning at scale. Windows Admin Center Unified, browser‑based management plane to securely manage Windows servers, VMs, and hybrid infrastructure from anywhere—simplifying operations and improving efficiency at scale. Best Practices Assessment Continuously evaluation your server configurations against Microsoft-recommended standards to proactively identify risks and provide actionable remediation guidance—improving security, performance, and operational health at scale. Frequently Asked Questions What are hotpatch updates? Hotpatch updates are monthly security updates that take effect without requiring you to restart the device. They contain a full set of security updates equivalent to the standard updates released the same day. What is the hotpatch update cycle? All eligible Windows Server 2025 machines enrolled in hotpatch are offered up to 8 monthly hotpatch updates in a calendar year in a quarterly cycle: Baseline month: In January, April, July, and October, devices install the monthly cumulative security update and must restart for the update to take effect. This update includes the latest security fixes, cumulative new features, and enhancements since the last baseline. Subsequent two months: Devices receive hotpatch updates, which only include security updates and don't require a restart for the update to take effect. These devices will catch up on features and enhancements with the next cumulative baseline month (quarterly). Will billing be stopped for existing enrolled machines? Yes, as of 15 th May 2026 all billing for hotpatch has been stopped for all existing machines enrolled in hotpatch. What action do we need to take if we have machines enrolled in hotpatch already? There is no additional action needed for machines that are currently enrolled in hotpatch. These machines will remain enrolled in hotpatch and receive hotpatch updates when available. I want all my Windows Server 2025 machines to get hotpatches. How do I do it? If you have Windows Server 2025 machines on-premises or on cloud (other than Azure) then you can enable hotpatch on them. To do so, ensure these machines have Virtualization Based Security enabled and are connected to Azure Arc and then you can use Azure Arc portal, Azure Update manager or APIs to enable hotpatch. Learn more: https://aka.ms/ws-hotpatch Is anything changing for Hotpatching on Azure? Hotpatch continues to be available on Azure for your Windows Server 2022 and Windows Server 2025 VMs when using Azure Edition. There is no fee associated with Hotpatching on Azure. Learn more here. Is there a community forum for Arc? Yes, you can join the Azure Arc Monthly Forum here: aka.ms/ArcServerForumSignupAnnouncing General Availability: Windows Server Management enabled by Azure Arc
Windows Server Management enabled by Azure Arc offers customers with Windows Server licenses that have active Software Assurances or Windows Server licenses that are active subscription licenses the following key benefits: Azure Update Manager Azure Change Tracking and Inventory Azure Machine Configuration Windows Admin Center in Azure for Arc Remote Support Network HUD Best Practices Assessment Azure Site Recovery (Configuration Only) Upon attestation, customers receive access to the following at no additional cost beyond associated networking, compute, storage, and log ingestion charges. These same capabilities are also available for customers enrolled in Windows Server 2025 Pay as you Go licensing enabled by Azure Arc. Learn more at Windows Server Management enabled by Azure Arc - Azure Arc | Microsoft Learn or watch Video: Free Azure Services for Non-Azure Windows Servers Covered by SA Powered by Azure Arc! To get started, connect your servers to Azure Arc, attest for these benefits, and deploy management services as you modernize to Azure's AI-enabled set of server management capabilities across your hybrid, multi-cloud, and edge infrastructure!Microsoft 365 Local is Generally Available
In today’s digital landscape, organizations and governments are prioritizing data sovereignty to comply with local regulations, protect sensitive information, and safeguard national security. This growing demand for robust jurisdictional controls makes the Microsoft Sovereign Cloud offering especially compelling, providing flexibility and assurance for complex requirements. For those with the most stringent needs, Azure Local enables data and workloads to remain within jurisdictional borders, supporting mission-critical workloads and now expanding to include Microsoft’s productivity solutions—so customers can securely collaborate and communicate within a sovereign private cloud environment. Today, we’re excited to announce the general availability of Microsoft 365 Local. Microsoft 365 Local is a deployment framework for enabling core collaboration and communication tools—including Exchange Server, SharePoint Server, and Skype for Business Server—on Azure Local. Built on a validated reference architecture using Azure Local Premier Solutions , it provides compatibility and support for sovereign deployments. Partner-led services provide guidance on sizing and configuration, ensuring a full-stack deployment including best practices for networking and security. Managing infrastructure across a wide range of workloads is simplified with Azure as your control plane, offering cloud-consistent, at-scale management capabilities. In the Azure portal, you get full visibility into your Microsoft 365 Local deployment across the servers and clusters. All hosts and virtual machines (VMs) are Arc-enabled out of the box, providing built-in visibility into connectivity, health, updates, and security alerts and recommendations. Microsoft 365 Local leverages Azure Local’s best-in-class sovereign and security controls, including Network Security Groups managed with Software Defined Networking enabled by Azure Arc, to isolate networks and secure access to infrastructure and workloads. Azure Local also uses a secure by default strategy by applying a security baseline of over 300 settings on both the host infrastructure and the VMs running the productivity workloads. These security baselines incorporate best practices for network security, identity management, privileged access, data protection, and more—helping organizations maintain compliance and reduce risk. Customers who want to take advantage of Azure as the control plane for Microsoft 365 Local can now benefit from a seamless cloud-based infrastructure management experience, including Azure services like Azure Monitor and Microsoft Defender for Cloud—available today with Microsoft 365 Local connected to Azure. For organizations with the most stringent jurisdictional requirements that need to operate Microsoft 365 Local in a fully disconnected environment, support for Azure Local disconnected operations will be available in early 2026. To learn more about Microsoft 365 Local, visit https://aka.ms/M365LocalDocs. If you’d like to connect with an authorized partner for consultation and deployment support, reach out to your Microsoft account team or visit https://aka.ms/M365LocalSignup.
Azure Update Manager to support CIS hardened images among other images
What’s coming in by first week of August: Azure Update Manager will add support for 35 CIS hardened images. This is the first time that Update Management product in Azure is supporting CIS hardened images. Apart from CIS hardened images, Azure Update Manager will also add support for 59 other images to unblock Automation Update Management migrations to Azure Update Manager. What’s coming in September: After this release, another batch of 30 images will be added support for. Please refer to the article below to check the details of which images will be supported. Below 35 CIS images will be supported by Azure Update Manager by first week of August. Please note Publisher for all these images is center-for-internet-security-inc. Offer Plan cis-windows-server cis-windows-server2016-l1-gen1 cis-windows-server2019-l1-gen1 cis-windows-server2019-l1-gen2 cis-windows-server2019-l2-gen1 cis-windows-server2022-l1-gen2 cis-windows-server2022-l2-gen2 cis-windows-server2022-l1-gen1 cis-windows-server-2022-l1 cis-windows-server-2022-l1 cis-windows-server-2022-l1-gen2 cis-windows-server-2022-l2 cis-windows-server-2022-l2 cis-windows-server-2022-l2-gen2 cis-windows-server-2019-v1-0-0-l1 cis-ws2019-l1 cis-windows-server-2019-v1-0-0-l2 cis-ws2019-l2 cis-windows-server-2016-v1-0-0-l1 cis--l1 cis-windows-server-2016-v1-0-0-l2 cis-ws2016-l2 cis-windows-server-2012-r2-v2-2-1-l2 cis-ws2012-r2-l2 cis-rhel9-l1 cis-rhel9-l1 cis-rhel9-l1-gen2 cis-rhel-8-l1 cis-rhel-8-l2 cis-rhel8-l2 cis-rhel-7-l2 cis-rhel7-l2 cis-rhel cis-redhat7-l1-gen1 cis-redhat8-l1-gen1 cis-redhat8-l2-gen1 cis-redhat9-l1-gen1 cis-redhat9-l1-gen2 cis-ubuntu-linux-2204-l1 cis-ubuntu-linux-2204-l1 cis-ubuntu-linux-2204-l1-gen2 cis-ubuntu-linux-2004-l1 cis-ubuntu2004-l1 cis-ubuntu-linux-1804-l1 cis-ubuntu1804-l1 cis-ubuntu cis-ubuntu1804-l1 cis-ubuntulinux2004-l1-gen1 cis-ubuntulinux2204-l1-gen1 cis-ubuntulinux2204-l1-gen2 cis-oracle-linux-8-l1 cis-oracle8-l1 Apart from CIS hardened images, below are the other 59 images which will be supported by Azure Update Manager by first week of August: Publisher Offer Plan almalinux almalinux-x86_64 8_7-gen2 belindaczsro1588885355210 belvmsrv01 belvmsrv003 cloudera cloudera-centos-os 7_5 cloud-infrastructure-services rds-farm-2019 rds-farm-2019 cloud-infrastructure-services ad-dc-2019 ad-dc-2019 cloud-infrastructure-services sftp-2016 sftp-2016 cloud-infrastructure-services ad-dc-2016 ad-dc-2016 cloud-infrastructure-services hpc2019-windows-server-2019 hpc2019-windows-server-2019 cloud-infrastructure-services dns-ubuntu-2004 dns-ubuntu-2004 cloud-infrastructure-services servercore-2019 servercore-2019 cloud-infrastructure-services ad-dc-2022 ad-dc-2022 cloud-infrastructure-services squid-ubuntu-2004 squid-ubuntu-2004 cognosys sql-server-2016-sp2-std-win2016-debug-utilities sql-server-2016-sp2-std-win2016-debug-utilities esri arcgis-enterprise byol-108 byol-109 byol-111 byol-1081 byol-1091 esri arcgis-enterprise-106 byol-1061 esri arcgis-enterprise-107 byol-1071 esri pro-byol pro-byol-29 filemagellc filemage-gateway-vm-win filemage-gateway-vm-win-001 filemage-gateway-vm-win-002 github github-enterprise github-enterprise matillion matillion matillion-etl-for-snowflake microsoft-ads windows-data-science-vm windows2016 windows2016byol microsoft-dsvm ubuntu-1804 1804-gen2 netapp netapp-oncommand-cloud-manager occm-byol nginxinc nginx-plus-ent-v1 nginx-plus-ent-centos7 ntegralinc1586961136942 ntg_oracle_8_7 ntg_oracle_8_7 procomputers almalinux-8-7 almalinux-8-7 procomputers rhel-8-2 rhel-8-2 RedHat rhel 8_9 redhat rhel-byos rhel-lvm79 rhel-lvm79-gen2 rhel-lvm8 rhel-lvm82-gen2 rhel-lvm83 rhel-lvm84 rhel-lvm84-gen2 rhel-lvm85-gen2 rhel-lvm86 rhel-lvm86-gen2 rhel-lvm87-gen2 rhel-raw76 redhat rhel 8.1 redhat rhel-sap 7.4 redhat rhel-sap 7.7 redhat rhel 89-gen2 southrivertech1586314123192 tn-ent-payg Tnentpayg southrivertech1586314123192 tn-sftp-payg Tnsftppayg suse sles-sap-15-sp2-byos gen2 suse sles-15-sp5 gen2 talend talend_re_image tlnd_re thorntechnologiesllc sftpgateway Sftpgateway veeam office365backup veeamoffice365backup veeam veeam-backup-replication veeam-backup-replication-v11 zscaler zscaler-private-access zpa-con-azure Below images will be supported in September: Publisher Offer Plan aod win2019azpolicy win2019azpolicy belindaczsro1588885355210 belvmsrv03 belvmsrv001 center-for-internet-security-inc cis-rhel-7-v2-2-0-l1 cis-rhel7-l1 center-for-internet-security-inc cis-rhel-7-stig cis-rhel-7-stig center-for-internet-security-inc cis-win-2016-stig cis-win-2016-stig center-for-internet-security-inc cis-windows-server-2012-r2-v2-2-1-l1 cis-ws2012-r2-l1 cloudrichness rockey_linux_image rockylinux86 Credativ Debian 8 microsoftdynamicsnav dynamicsnav 2017 microsoftwindowsserver windowsserver-hub 2012-r2-datacenter-hub 2016-datacenter-hub MicrosoftWindowsServer WindowsServer-HUB 2016-Datacenter-HUB ntegralinc1586961136942 ntg_cbl_mariner_2 ntg_cbl_mariner_2_gen2 openvpn openvpnas access_server_byol rapid7 nexpose-scan-engine nexpose-scan-engine rapid7 rapid7-vm-console rapid7-vm-console suse sles 12-sp3 suse sles-15-sp1-basic gen1 suse sles-15-sp2-basic gen1 suse sles-15-sp3-basic gen1 gen2 suse sles-15-sp4-basic gen2 suse sles-sap 12-sp3 15 gen2-15 suse sles-sap-byos 15 suse SLES-SAP-BYOS 15 suse sles-sap-15-sp1-byos gen1 Tenable tenablecorenessus tenablecorenessusbyolAnnouncing Preview of Run Command on Arc-enabled servers
We are excited to announce the Public Preview of Run Command on Azure Arc-enabled servers. This feature is a game-changer for remotely and securely managing your Azure Arc-enabled servers. You can start using Azure CLI or API for Run Command today, without requiring any additional extensions or configurations, and at no additional cost.
