Announcing General Availability of Software Defined Networking (SDN) on Azure Local
Starting in Azure Local version 2510, we’re excited to announce the General Availability of Software Defined Networking (SDN) on Azure Local enabled by Azure Arc. This release introduces cloud-native networking capabilities for access control at the network layer, utilizing Network Security Groups (NSGs) on Azure Local. Key highlights in this release are: 1- Centralized network management: Manage Logical networks, network interfaces, and NSGs through the Azure control plane – whether your preference is the Azure Portal, Azure Command-Line Interface (CLI), or Azure Resource Manager templates. 2- Fine-grained traffic control: Safeguard your edge workloads with policy-driven access controls by applying inbound and outbound allow/deny rules on NSGs, just as you would in Azure. 3- Seamless hybrid consistency: Reduce operational friction and accelerate your IT staff’s ramp-up on advanced networking skills by using the same familiar tools and constructs across both Azure public cloud and Azure Local. Software Defined Networking (SDN) forms the backbone of delivering Azure-style networking on-premises. Whether you’re securing enterprise applications or extending cloud-scale agility to your on-premises infrastructure, Azure Local, combined with SDN enabled by Azure Arc, offers a unified and scalable solution. Try this feature today and let us know how it transforms your networking operations! Feature Capabilities Here’s what you can do today with SDN enabled by Azure Arc: ✅ Run SDN control plane (Network Controller) as a Failover Cluster service on the Azure Local physical hosts — no VMs required! ✅ Deploy logical networks — use VLAN-backed networks in your datacenter that integrate with SDN enabled by Azure Arc. ✅ Attach VM Network Interfaces — assign static or DHCP IPs to VMs from logical networks. ✅ Apply NSGs - create, attach, and manage NSGs directly from Azure on your logical networks (VLANs in your datacenter) and/or on the VM network interface. This enables a generic rule set for VLANs, with a crisper rule set for individual Azure Local VM network interface using a complete 5-tuple control: source and destination IP, port, and protocol. ✅ Use Default Network Policies — apply baseline security policies during VM creation for your primary NIC. Select well-known inbound ports such as HTTP (while we block everything else for you), while still allowing outbound traffic. Or select an existing NSG you already have! ✅ Azure Arc Resource Bridge (ARB) Disaster Recovery capable - In case ARB on the cluster needs to be recovered, NSGs and its rules can be recovered along with VMs and its associated resources. SDN enabled by Azure Arc vs. SDN managed by on-premises tools Choosing Your Path: Some SDN features like virtual networks (vNETs), Load Balancers (SLBs), and Gateways are not yet supported in SDN enabled by Azure Arc. But good news: you’ve still got options. If your workloads need those features today, you can leverage SDN managed by on-premises tools: - SDN Express (PowerShell) - Windows Admin Center (WAC) The SDN managed by on-premises tools continues to provide full-stack SDN capabilities, including SLBs, Gateways, and VNET peering, while we actively work on bringing this additional value to complete SDN enabled by Azure Arc feature set. You must choose one of the modes of SDN management and cannot run in a hybrid management mode, mixing the two. Please read this important consideration section before getting started! Thank You to Our Community This milestone was only possible because of your input, your use cases, and your edge innovation. We're beyond excited to see what you build next with SDN enabled by Azure Arc. To try it out, head to the Azure Local documentation Let’s keep pushing the edge forward. Together!
A Guide to Adaptive Cloud at Microsoft Ignite 2025
Get ready to supercharge your Ignite experience! This guide is your go‑to playbook for all things Adaptive Cloud. You’ll find clear pointers on where to learn about the latest updates for unifying hybrid, multicloud, and edge environments, with the latest updates from Azure Monitor, Azure Local, Azure Backup, and more. Connect with experts and peers, prioritize sessions, and navigate the event flow with quick links to the session catalog and resources to confirm times and locations throughout the event. We can’t wait to connect!Azure Migrate Expands Capabilities to Accelerate Migration to Azure Local
As organizations accelerate their digital transformation, Microsoft provides flexible paths to migrate and modernize applications, enabling businesses to choose the best approach for their needs - whether embracing the cloud, leveraging cloud-managed infrastructure locally, or balancing both. Unified management, governance, and security can be applied across all strategies, empowering organizations to utilize cloud-based tools, policies, and monitoring wherever their workloads reside. Many organizations operate virtualized environments and can optimize and modernize their infrastructure with several proven approaches. These strategies allow teams to maximize existing investments while exploring new opportunities for agility, cost savings, and growth. Three Paths to Modernization Modernize and Move: For applications ready to evolve, Azure’s IaaS and PaaS offerings provide a secure and scalable foundation to reduce costs, increase agility, and spark innovation. Azure Migrate supports readiness assessments, cost estimates, business case development, and seamless transitions - all while maintaining centralized governance and security throughout the process. Lift and Optimize: For VMware customers looking for a fast path to the cloud, Azure VMware Solution (AVS) allows organizations to rehost existing VMware workloads with minimal disruption and no code changes. AVS is a VMware VCF private cloud in Azure that allows organizations to leverage their portable VCF licenses and connect to 200+ Azure services. Customers can use Azure Migrate for assessment and planning, leverage VMware HCX for seamless migrations, and connect Azure Arc for centralized governance, unified management and enhanced security across cloud and hybrid environments. Edge-Optimized Deployment: For workloads that need to remain close to where data is created or consumed – whether for low latency, regulatory compliance, data residency, or sovereign requirements - Azure Local leverages Azure Arc to extend Azure services across distributed environments, providing a sovereign, cloud-managed platform with local control. Azure Local and its centralized management enabled by Azure Arc supports OEM hardware partners such as Dell, Lenovo, HPE, and more, ensuring flexibility, operational assurance, and compliance-ready governance. Enhanced and Unified Management: Across all three options, organizations can enhance their strategy with unified management, governance, and security via Azure control plane - benefiting from cloud-based capabilities no matter where their workloads run. General Availability: Azure Migrate supports VMware VMs to Azure Local Today, we are excited to announce the General Availability of Azure Migrate support for migrating VMware VMs to Azure Local. With this release, organizations can easily move their VMware workloads to cloud-managed infrastructure while maintaining consistency across environments. Key Features Orchestrate migrations from Azure portal: Gain full visibility into replication progress, cutover readiness, and migration history. Leverage an agentless architecture: Simplify deployment across large VMware environments without installing agents on source VMs. Replicate with no downtime impact: Keep critical workloads running while data synchronizes in the background. Migrate securely with sovereign control: Maintain full data residency and operational sovereignty while keeping all VM migration traffic and data entirely on-premises. Perform cutovers with minimal downtime: Use optimized Azure Migrate techniques to reduce disruption. This GA milestone brings several advanced features shaped by customer and partner feedback during the preview, such as: Static IP address retention for Windows and Linux VMs. PowerShell migration support for scripting and automation. Advanced compute and disk customization during migration. Get Started! Ready to get started? Visit Azure Migrate documentation to explore: Monthly product updates. Prerequisites and requirements. Tutorials for VMware to Azure Local VM migrations. FAQs and troubleshooting guides. Thank you to our Community We’d like to thank all the customers and partners who participated in the preview program and provided invaluable feedback. Your input has directly shaped this GA release, and we’re excited to continue building with you.Operate everywhere with AI-enhanced management and security
Farzana Rahman and Dushyant Gill from Microsoft discuss new AI-enhanced features in Azure that make it simpler to acquire, connect, and operate with Azure's management offerings across multiple clouds, on-premises, and at the edge. Key updates include enhanced management for Windows servers and virtual machines with Windows Software Assurance, Windows Server 2025 hotpatching support in Azure Update Manager, simplified hybrid environment connectivity with Azure Arc gateway, a multicloud connector for AWS, and Log Analytics Simple Mode. Additionally, Azure Migrate Business Case helps compare the total cost of ownership, and new Copilot in Azure capabilities that simplify cloud management and provide intelligent recommendations.Public Preview: Audit and Enable Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) for Azure Arc-enabled Servers
Windows Recovery Environment is a secure, isolated partition that enables diagnostics and repair when a system encounters critical failures – such as a stop error (commonly known as the blue screen of death). WinRE provides a reliable fallback mechanism for mission-critical workloads, allowing IT administrators to recover systems quickly and securely. With this Public Preview, Azure Arc introduces a set of Azure Policies that allow organizations to audit and enable WinRE across their fleet of Arc-enabled Windows Servers. These policies are powered by the Machine Configuration component of the Azure Connected Machine agent, which ensures secure and compliant configuration enforcement. Through the Azure Policy, the Azure Connected Machine agent detects whether WinRE is configured and reports its health status. If WinRE is not configured and the WinRE partition has been provisioned, customers can enable WinRE through the Azure Policy. These Azure Policies are available at no additional cost for servers covered under: Windows Server 2012 Extended Security Updates (ESUs) Microsoft Defender for Servers Plan 2 Windows Server Software Assurance attestation Windows Server Pay-as-you-Go licensing For other servers, these policies will incur charges associated with Azure Machine Configuration. To get started, deploy and assign these Azure Policies to Azure Arc-enabled servers in your existing subscription. [Preview]: Audit Windows machines that do not have Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) enabled [Preview]: Configure Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) on Windows machines Auditing and enablement of WinRE through Azure Arc underscores the capability of Azure Arc to increasingly afford resiliency across hybrid, multicloud, and edge workloads.
Addressing Air Gap Requirements through Secure Azure Arc Onboarding
This blog post explores the challenges and solutions for implementing air gap environments in highly regulated sectors like finance, healthcare, and government. It discusses the complexities of air gap implementation, the importance of control and data plane separation, and provides architectural patterns for secure Azure Arc onboarding. By adopting a zero-trust approach and leveraging Azure Arc, organizations can achieve secure, compliant connectivity while modernizing their IT operations.Announcing the General Availability of the Azure Arc Gateway for Arc-enabled Servers!
We’re excited to announce the General Availability of Arc gateway for Arc‑enabled servers. Arc gateway dramatically simplifies the network configuration required to use Azure Arc by consolidating outbound connectivity through a small, predictable set of endpoints. For customers operating behind enterprise proxies or firewalls, this means faster onboarding, fewer change requests, and a smoother path to value with Azure Arc. What’s new: To Arc‑enable a server, customers previously had to allow 19 distinct endpoints. With Arc gateway GA, you can do the same with just 7, a ~63% reduction that removes friction for security and networking teams. Why This Matters Organizations with strict outbound controls often spend days, or weeks, coordinating approvals for multiple URLs before they can onboard resources to Azure Arc. By consolidating traffic to a smaller set of destinations, Arc gateway: Accelerates onboarding for Arc‑enabled servers by cutting down the proxy/firewall approvals needed to get started. Simplifies operations with a consistent, repeatable pattern for routing Arc agent and extension traffic to Azure. How Arc gateway works Arc gateway introduces two components that work together to streamline connectivity: Arc gateway (Azure resource): A single, unique endpoint in your Azure tenant that receives incoming traffic from on‑premises Arc workloads and forwards it to the right Azure services. You configure your enterprise environment to allow this endpoint. Azure Arc Proxy (on every Arc‑enabled server): A component of the connected machine agent that routes agent and extension traffic to Azure via the Arc gateway endpoint. It’s part of the core Arc agent; no separate install is required. At a high level, traffic flows: Arc agent → Arc Proxy → Enterprise Proxy → Arc gateway → Target Azure service. Scenario Coverage As part of this GA release, common Arc‑enabled Server scenarios are supported through the gateway, including: Windows Admin Center SSH Extended Security Updates (ESU) Azure Extension for SQL Server For other scenarios, some customer‑specific data plane destinations (e.g., your Log Analytics workspace or Key Vault URLs) may still need to be allow‑listed per your environment. Please consult the Arc gateway documentation for the current scenario‑by‑scenario coverage and any remaining per‑service URLs. Over time, the number of scenarios filly covered by Arc gateway will continue to grow. Get started Create an Arc gateway resource using the Azure portal, Azure CLI, or PowerShell. Allow the Arc gateway endpoint (and the small set of core endpoints) in your enterprise proxy/firewall. Onboard or update servers to use your Arc gateway resource and start managing them with Azure Arc. For step‑by‑step guidance, see the Arc gateway documentation on Microsoft Learn. You can also watch a quick Arc gateway Jumpstart demo to see the experience end‑to‑end. FAQs Does Arc gateway require new software on my servers? No additional installation - Arc Proxy is part of the standard connected machine agent for Arc‑enabled servers. Will every Arc scenario route through the gateway today? Many high‑value server scenarios are covered at GA; some customer‑specific data plane endpoints (for example, Log Analytics workspace FQDNs) may still need to be allowed. Check the docs for the latest coverage details. When will Arc gateway for Azure Local be GA? Today! Please refer to the Arc gateway GA on Azure Local Announcement to learn more. When will Arc gateway for Arc-enabled Kubernetes be GA? We don't have an exact ETA to share quite yet for Arc gateway GA for Arc-enabled Kubernetes. The feature is currently still in Public Preview. Please refer to the Public Preview documentation for more information. Tell us what you think We’d love your feedback on Arc gateway GA for servers—what worked well, what could be improved, and which scenarios you want next. Use the Arc gateway feedback form to share your input with the product team.
Announcing General Availability of Azure Local on Microsoft Azure Government Cloud
We are excited to announce that Azure Local is now generally available for Azure Government customers. Building on the momentum from our public preview, Azure Local is ready for production deployments, enabling government organizations to run cloud-connected infrastructure at their own physical locations under their operational control and helps them align compliance with stringent regulatory and security requirements. What is Azure Local? Azure Local brings the familiar Azure experience to your on-premises infrastructure allowing agencies to deploy, manage, and scale infrastructure locally while more easily integrating with the broader Azure ecosystem. With Azure Local, government customers benefit from unified management, robust security, and operational flexibility, whether running virtual machines, containers, or mission-critical applications. Key Features Streamlined Deployment & Management: Azure Local enables agencies to deploy, configure, and manage infrastructure directly from the Azure portal or using infrastructure-as-code tools like ARM templates. This approach helps simplify provisioning, allows for consistency across environments, and reduces operational overhead. IT teams can quickly set up clusters, define networking and storage, and automate updates, making day-to-day management predictable and efficient. Unified Observability: With native integration to Azure Monitor and Azure Arc, Azure Local provides comprehensive visibility across all distributed resources. Agencies can monitor virtual machines, Kubernetes clusters, and physical infrastructure from a single dashboard, leveraging over 60 built-in metrics, insights dashboards, and customizable alert rules. This unified view helps teams proactively manage performance, troubleshoot issues, and maintain compliance across both local and cloud environments. Non-Disruptive Updates: Azure Local helps support easier update management through Azure Update Manager. Administrators can schedule and apply updates to one or multiple instances with just a few clicks. The platform orchestrates workload migration and rolling updates across physical nodes, helping mission-critical applications remain available and uninterrupted, even during maintenance windows. Flexible Workload Support: Agencies can run a wide range of workloads on Azure Local, from general-purpose Azure Local Virtual Machines to containerized applications using Arc enabled Azure Kubernetes Services. The platform helps offer flexible sizing, networking, and storage options to meet diverse requirements. Customers can bring their own VM images for specialized needs or select from a curated set of images in the Azure Marketplace, enabling rapid deployment of both legacy and modern workloads. Security by Default: Azure Local is built with a hardened security posture, leveraging Microsoft’s best practices for infrastructure protection. Integration with Microsoft Defender for Cloud helps provide more unified security management, continuous threat detection, and automated remediation across all resources. Agencies can benefit from advanced security controls, including network isolation, identity management, and compliance monitoring. Extended Security Updates (ESU): For agencies running legacy Microsoft products, Azure Local helps offer access to Extended Security Updates, enabling continued protection with fundamental patches beyond end-of-support dates. This capability helps organizations maintain compliance and security for older workloads while planning for modernization. Trusted Launch: Azure Local supports Trusted Launch for virtual machines, providing enhanced protection against rootkits and bootkits. VMs are equipped with virtual TPM (vTPM), enabling Secure Boot and features like BitLocker encryption. The vTPM state is preserved during live migration and automatic failover, enabling data integrity and security throughout the VM lifecycle. Getting Started Visit the https://portal.azure.us/ to download the latest Azure Local OS image and create your instance. Customize your deployment to meet your agency’s requirements for cluster configuration, networking, and storage. To learn more, visit https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/ Why Azure Local for Government? Azure Local helps deliver the scalability, reliability, and compliance government agencies desire while maintaining operational control and data residency. Agencies can confidently modernize infrastructure, support mission-critical workloads, and meet evolving regulatory standards. Conclusion The general availability of Azure Local in Azure Government marks a major milestone in empowering agencies with secure, scalable, and efficient distributed cloud infrastructure. We invite government customers to deploy Azure Local today and unlock new possibilities for modernization and operational excellence. Stay tuned for ongoing enhancements as we continue to innovate and expand Azure Local’s capabilities to support your mission.Announcing the General Availability of Arc Gateway for Azure Local
Hello everyone, Now that the Azure Arc gateway is GA is announced, we are super happy to also announce the General Availability of the Arc Gateway for Azure Local! This launch represents a major leap forward in how organizations can securely and efficiently connect their on-premises and edge environments to Azure. Arc Gateway revolutionizes Azure Local connectivity to Azure If you’ve ever tried to connect on-premises resources to Azure, you know the challenges: dozens (sometimes hundreds!) of outbound firewall rules, complex configurations, and ongoing security concerns. It’s a lot to manage, and frankly, it’s not the experience we want for our customers or partners. Arc Gateway changes the game. With a single, centralized HTTPS egress point for all Azure-bound traffic from your Azure Local instances and workloads, you dramatically reduce complexity and risk. Instead of managing countless endpoints, you only need to allow a small, well-defined set—making your environment more secure and much easier to operate. What Makes Arc Gateway for Azure Local to Stand Out? Let me highlight what makes Arc Gateway stand out: Unified and secure Azure Traffic Management: All HTTPS traffic from your Azure Local instances flows through one front door—the Arc Gateway. No more sprawling firewall rules or wildcards. Significantly Fewer Endpoints: We’ve reduced the number of required endpoints from over 100 to fewer than 28. This means less guess work and a much simpler security posture. Comprehensive Integration for your workloads: Arc Gateway isn’t just for infrastructure endpoints. It also fully supports Azure Local VMs with Arc gateway, and AKS clusters in preview mode, streamlining connectivity across your entire hybrid estate. Seamless Enterprise Proxy Integration: Already using an enterprise proxy? Arc Gateway fits right in, routing outbound traffic through your existing proxy before heading to Azure. For a deeper technical dive, I encourage you to check out our detailed article: Azure Local – Arc gateway outbound connectivity deep dive FAQs: Is it possible to enable Arc gateway on my existing Azure local clusters? We are working hard to enable this feature in a future release of Azure Local. Can I enable Arc gateway on my existing Azure Local VMs if it was not enabled for the infrastructure during deployment? Using Arc gateway for your Azure Local VMs is possible regardless of the infrastructure. If you have a working Arc gateway resource you can deploy new Azure Local VMs or attach existing Azure Local VMs if guest management is enabled. Can I enable Arc gateway on my existing Azure Local AKS Clusters? If you enabled Arc gateway during deployment for the Azure Local infrastructure, AKS Clusters will implicitly leverage the Arc gateway running on the hosts. AKS Clusters running in Azure Local with Arc gateway will remain in Public Preview until GA is released in the future. Getting Started: To get started with Arc gateway for Azure Local, visit our documentation and deployment guides. We encourage you to explore the new capabilities and share your feedback with the team. Arc gateway in Azure Local overview Overview of Azure Arc gateway for Azure Local - Azure Local | Microsoft Learn How to deploy Azure Local using Arc gateway. Register Azure Local using Arc gateway - Azure Local | Microsoft Learn How to deploy Azure Local VMs using Arc gateway. Create Azure Local virtual machines using Arc gateway - Azure Local | Microsoft Learn How to deploy AKS Clusters on Azure Local using Arc gateway. Create AKS cluster in Azure Local with Arc gateway | Microsoft Learn Cristian Edwards, Azure Local Principal Product Manager
