#Microsoft Azure Arc enabled Servers managed with Windows Admin Center in #Azure #AzureHybrid #MVPBuzz

Microsoft Azure Hybrid Management

With Windows Admin Center in the Azure portal you can manage the Windows Server operating system of your Arc-enabled servers, known as hybrid machines. You can securely manage hybrid machines from anywhere–without needing a VPN, public IP address, or other inbound connectivity to your machine.

With Windows Admin Center extension in Azure, you get the management, configuration, troubleshooting, and maintenance functionality for managing your Arc-enabled servers in the Azure portal. Windows Server infrastructure and workload management no longer requires you to establish line-of-sight or Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)–it can all be done natively from the Azure portal. Windows Admin Center provides tools that you’d normally find in Server Manager, Device Manager, Task Manager, Hyper-V Manager, and most other Microsoft Management Console (MMC) tools.

In the following steps we will install Azure Windows Admin Center (Preview) on a Microsoft Azure Arc enabled Server from the Azure Portal.

Click on Windows Admin Center (Preview) on the Left side.
Then click op Setup

Set the port.
Click on Install

Installing extension Windows Admin Center

At the Activity log you can follow the installation.

and See the Quick Insights

No Problems here 😉

Let’s Connect

Sign in with your Username and Password

 

Running Windows Admin Center from the Azure Portal.

Azure Windows Admin Center of the Azure Arc enabled Server.

PowerShell session remote on the Azure Arc enabled Server.

Events of the Azure Arc enabled Server.

Conclusion

With Microsoft Azure Windows Admin Center and Azure Arc enabled Servers you can manage your servers from anywhere.
You got all the benefits of Microsoft Azure Hybrid features. Try it yourself, Windows Admin Center is still in preview and for testing only.
You can experience this awesome Azure Hybrid solution before it goes in production 😉

 

AKS Edge Essentials Architecture and Use Cases #Azure #AKS #AzureHybrid

Watch AKS Edge Essentials Architecture with @liorkamrat

The following Jumpstart scenario will show how to create an AKS Edge Essentials cluster in Azure Windows Server VM and connect the Azure VM and AKS Edge Essentials cluster to Azure Arc using Azure ARM Template. The provided ARM template is responsible for creating the Azure resources as well as executing the LogonScript (AKS Edge Essentials cluster creation and Azure Arc onboarding (Azure VM and AKS Edge Essentials cluster)) on the Azure VM.

 

AKS Edge Essentials

Keep your Azure Arc Server extensions up-to-date #AzureHybrid #HybridIT #Azure

Microsoft Azure Arc enabled Servers

When you have your Servers Azure Arc enabled, you will work with Azure Arc extensions to work with Azure hybrid features like Defender for Cloud, Azure Monitor, Windows Admin Center and more. For each Azure Arc extension you can get updates, and it’s important to keep them up-to-date for new functionality and security. You have Azure Arc extensions for Windows Servers but also for Linux Servers.
Some of the Azure Arc extensions will automatic upgrade when you have enabled it and some must go manually from the Azure Portal.
More information about Azure Arc extensions you can find them here

In the next steps you will see the Update management of the Azure Arc enabled extensions :

Here I update one extension.

Inside the WindowsOsUpdateExtension

Here you can see that the WindowsOsUpdateExtension is up-to-date
and Status Succeeded

On the right of this screenshot you see Automatic Upgrade and some extensions are enabled, but some are not supported.
That’s why it’s important to check these updates.

Here you can see in the Status that two Azure Arc extensions are updating

And sometimes it failed to update.
But you can see what you can do best with this failed Status.

Here you see the error message and the Tips.
And when you can’t fix it yourself you can make a Support ticket right away.

Here you can see that all the Azure Arc extensions are updated successfully

So I selected all my Azure Arc enabled Servers and updated them all.

Conclusion

With Microsoft Azure Arc enabled Servers you have do some IT management to keep your Azure Arc extensions up-to-date.
I did this without rebooting Servers, just from the Azure Portal update Azure Arc extension.
Here you find more information about Microsoft Azure Arc for Azure Hybrid IT

Join Azure Hybrid Community Group on LinkedIn

Thank you #Community and #Microsoft for this Awesome Year 2022! Happy Holidays

What a Year 2022!!

I like to thank you Community for Supporting, Sharing and Reading New Microsoft technologies on my Blog, Twitter, Facebook and
LinkedIn Community Groups 💗 I wish you all happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and a Healthy New Year 2023 may the Best Wishes comes true ! 🎄🥂

I’m very proud and Honored  on the Microsoft Global MVP Awards 2022-2023 !

• MVP Award for Cloud and Datacenter Management
• MVP Award for Windows Insiders
• MVP Award for Azure Hybrid

Thank you Microsoft Product Groups, MVP Award Program, Windows Insider Team, Azure Hybrid Team, Windows Server and Azure Stack HCI Team for all your support, NDA PGI sessions, and for the Awesome software, Features, solutions you are building 🙂
Wish you all Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and a Healthy New Year 2023 may the Best Wishes comes true ! 🎄🥂

Here are some Great links for Reading and Sharing :

JOIN these LinkedIn Community Groups for free and Share New Microsoft Technologies Together:

Windows Admin Center Community Group

Containers in the Cloud Community Group

Microsoft Azure Monitor & Security for Hybrid IT Community Group

Azure Hybrid Community Group

Azure DevOps Community Group

What I really love is the Microsoft Tech Community platform

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For Microsoft Azure Hybrid:

Azure Arc Jumpstart site

Azure Hybrid and Multi Cloud documentation

Microsoft Azure Arc Community monthly Meetup (GitHub)

Follow on Twitter for Azure Hybrid:

@ThomasMaurer

@LiorKamrat

@rcTibi

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For Windows Insiders:

Microsoft Windows Insiders Blog

Windows Insider Team on YouTube

The Windows Insider Program Team is really active on Twitter:
@WindowsInsider

@JenMsft

@NorthFaceHiker

@brandonleblanc

@amanda_lango

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Get started with the Windows Server Insider program

What’s New in Windows Server 2022

Overview of Windows Admin Center

What’s New in SQL Server 2022

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#MVPLABSerie Azure Defender for Cloud with #AzureArc enabled SQL Server #AzureHybrid #Security

Azure Arc enabled SQL Servers Architecture

To keep your Business running, It’s important to secure and monitor your data. One of the security measures is doing Vulnerability assessments in your datacenter(s) to see the status and results for remediation. With Microsoft Azure Arc Defender for Cloud you can do a SQL Server vulnerability assessment in your on-premises datacenter or anywhere with the Azure Arc agent running.
Here you find more information about Azure Arc enabled SQL Server

Microsoft Defender for Cloud on Azure Arc enabled SQL Server

Here I activated Microsoft Defender for Cloud on Azure Arc enabled SQL Server, and Azure Defender for Cloud is doing a SQL vulnerability assessment to get the security status and results for remediation.

On this same Azure portal page you will see the Vulnerability assessment findings.

When you Open a Vulnerability finding, you get more information and the remediation for the issue.

Here you see the complete Resource Health of the Azure Arc enabled SQL Server.
Look at the Status of each severity.

Here you see all the vulnerability findings on these four databases.

When you do the remediation you will see the healthy status.
on the Passed tab.

Here I open only the OperationsManager database.
Now you see only the Vulnerability findings on this database.

Here you see a vulnerability finding on the SCOM database with the Remediation 🙂

You can make your Own Workbooks or use them from the Gallery.

Workbook example of Vulnerability Assessment findings.

Conclusion

With Azure Defender for Cloud vulnerability assessment and management you will learn a lot to set your Security Baseline on a higher level in your datacenter(s). Getting the right remediation of Microsoft to solve security issues is Great! You can do your assessments frequently to show your current status on demand. I Really like these Azure Hybrid Tools to make my work easier and the data more secure for the business.

Please join the Azure Hybrid Community Group on LinkedIn for free ( Sharing is Caring together )

#MVPLABSerie Azure Arc enabled Servers #AzureHybrid

Azure Arc Infrastructure overview

In the last blogpost of MVPLABSerie we learned how to add Servers from anywhere to Microsoft Azure Arc services to get the Azure Hybrid benefit with awesome features and Management tools. you can find that blogpost over here:

MVPLABSerie Azure Hybrid with Arc Enabled Windows Servers on-premises

So with this I have added my on-premises Windows Insider Servers to Microsoft Azure Arc:

Connected Azure Arc Servers

In the following steps we are going to add Windows Admin Center to the Arc enabled Windows Servers on-premises.
Here you can read more about Azure Arc-enabled Servers using Windows Admin Center in Azure (preview)

With Windows Admin Center in the Azure Portal you can manage the Windows Server operating system of your Arc-enabled servers, known as hybrid machines. You can securely manage hybrid machines from anywhere–without needing a VPN, public IP address, or other inbound connectivity to your machine.

Open Servers and open your Azure Arc Enabled Server.

First of all we have to add the right Role assignment.
Click on Access Control on the Left.
Click on Add => Add Role Assignment.

Here you have to add the following Role Assignment.
Windows Admin Center Administrator Login.
Add this to your account

When the account is done, then go to Windows Admin Center (Preview)
on the left panel. Click then on Setup.

Click on Install

Setup Successfully!

Now you can Connect your Azure Arc Enabled Windows Server.

Here we have my Storage Windows Insider Server in mvplab.local domain.
From here you can do your IT Management with WAC.

Remote PowerShell on Azure Arc enabled Server.

Microsoft Azure Arc Insights Monitoring and Log Analytics

For IT Management and troubleshooting, monitoring and getting Insights is important to act quickly to keep the business and IT solutions running. With Azure Arc Insights you can see with Maps the connections of the Windows Server.

Azure Arc Insights with Map.
See also the Quick Link to Connection details

This is a really cool overview of your connections.
Here you can see if you have a Malicious connection!

Microsoft Azure Arc Log Analytics is very Powerful
Here you find more information about Log Analytics

Here I do a Query on the Arc Enabled Server mvpstore01
Update Summary.

There are a lot of Log Analytics queries to play with and mark them as your favorite for your Arc enabled Windows Server 😉

In the following blogpost we will have a closer look at Microsoft Azure Auto Manage and Update Management Center for
Microsoft Azure Arc enabled Windows Servers. We will not forget Security with Azure Defender for Cloud coming in the next blogposts.

Conclusion

With Microsoft Azure Arc enabled Servers you get a Microsoft Azure Hybrid environment with Great features and solutions.
Some features are still in preview and not supported for production workloads, but you can test them now like I do with my mvplab.local
This new innovative technology is going fast forward for Azure Hybrid Services to Manage your Windows Servers, Azure Stack HCI Clusters or your Linux virtual Machines. Azure Arc rocks and you can connect Microsoft Azure Anywhere 🙂

#MVPLABSerie Azure Hybrid with Arc Enabled Windows Servers on-premises #AzureHybrid #Winserv

Microsoft Azure Hybrid with Arc enabled Servers

the last MVPLABSerie blogposts was about Windows Servers Insider with mvplab.local domain and SQL Clustering on-premises :

• MVPLAB Serie Windows Server Insider Cluster with ISCSI Target Server

• MVPLAB Serie Cluster Aware Updating – CAU for Windows Server Insider

• MVPLAB Serie Installing SQL Server 2022 CTP on Windows Server Insider Cluster

• MVPLAB Serie Installing SCOM 2022 monitoring with SQL Cluster

• MVPLAB Serie Installing SCOM 2022 Web Console for Monitoring

Today every company wants to benefit from Cloud to achieve more for the business. Microsoft made Azure Arc to simplify governance and management by delivering a consistent multi-cloud and on-premises management platform.

Microsoft Azure Hybrid

In the following steps we are going to onboard the Windows Insider Servers and Windows 11 Insider Beta Virtual Machine which are running in mvplab.local domain into the Microsoft Azure Cloud. We will install the Azure Connected Machine Agent via a PowerShell Script in the next steps :

Login in the Azure Portal

1. Search for azure arc
2. Click on Azure Arc.

Getting Started with Azure Arc

Click on Servers and then Click on Add.

Here you can Choose for the right script.
I choose for Add Multiple Servers with a Service Principle.
Click on Generate Script.

Read the prerequisites access to port 443.
view Outbound URLs link.
Click Next

Select the right Azure Subscription and Resource Group.
Select your Azure Region.
Select Operating System
Select the Connectivity method.
Click on Next

If you don’t have a Azure Service principal, you can create one here.

Click on Create Service principal.

Create your Service Principal

Copy your Client ID and Client Secret !
You need this later.

Select the just created Service Principal.

Here you can Tag the Arc Servers.
Here you can read more about Tagging
Click on Next

Choose the Deployment method :
Basic Script or Configuration Manager ( I choose for Basic)
Download the Script

I have copied the script to my Domain Controller On-premises here.

Open with PowerShell ISE the OnboardingScript.ps1
and Copy / Paste your
Service Principal Client ID and Secret here in the Script.
Click on save and run the script.

Start PowerShell in Admin modus

Run Script .\OnboardingScript.ps1

Server is connected with Azure 🙂

Here is the Azure Arc Enabled Server, my Domain Controller.

Here I have all the Azure Arc Capabilities available for my Domain Controller.
Azure Hybrid

With the Same Script I added the mvplab.local Windows Insider Servers to Azure
They are all Azure Arc Enabled Servers.

On all Azure Arc enabled Servers is the Azure Connected Machine Agent installed.

Conclusion

In a simple way you can deploy Azure Arc agent on your on-premises Servers to make them Azure Arc Enabled so you can enjoy the Azure Hybrid features from the Cloud. IT management and Security from Azure becomes available for your on-premises Servers.
It’s not only Infrastructure but also Data Services and Application Services what you can use for your Azure Hybrid Solution.
In the next Blogpost we will have a look at the Microsoft Azure Arc Features in my mvplab.local domain.

Apply #security principles to your #architecture to protect against attacks on your data and systems

Hope you started year 2022 in Good Health in a difficult pandemic time.

Starting 2022 by asking yourself, how is your Security by Design doing in 2022
Your Security is one of the most important aspects of any architecture for your Business.
It provides confidentiality, integrity, and availability assurances against attacks and abuse of your valuable data and systems. Losing these assurances can negatively impact your business operations and revenue, and your organization’s reputation.

Here you find Awesome information about Applying security principles to your architecture to protect against attacks on your data and systems:

Microsoft Architecture and Security Docs

Here you find more information about NIST Cybersecurity Framework

The Microsoft Cybersecurity Reference Architectures (MCRA) describe Microsoft’s cybersecurity capabilities. These References and diagrams can support you with implementing Security by design.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Microsoft Defender for Cloud (formerly known as Azure Security Center) community repository. This repository contains:

• Security recommendations that are in private preview
• Programmatic remediation tools for security recommendations
• PowerShell scripts for programmatic management
• Azure Policy custom definitions for at-scale management of Microsoft Defender for Cloud
• Logic App templates that work with Defender for Cloud’s Logic App connectors (to automate response to Security alerts and recommendations)
• Logic App templates that help you run regular tasks or reports within the scope of Microsoft Defender for Cloud
• Custom workbooks to visualize Defender for Cloud data

Become a Microsoft Defender for Cloud Ninja

Security and Learning is a ongoing process, I always say Learning on the Job 😉 is important to keep Up-to-Date every day of the week. Microsoft Tech Community platform and Microsoft Learning can support you to get the knowledge.

Become a Microsoft Defender for Cloud Ninja here

Conclusion

Microsoft and the community has a lot of good security information to start with for your Data and Systems to keep your business solution as save as possible. Here they write New blogposts for the community about Defender for Cloud

Keep in Mind “Security is only as strong as the weakest component in the Chain”

So keep your Security up-to-date and do assessments on vulnerabilities to keep your data and systems secure. Monitoring => Alerting => Remediation is 24/7/365 Process with Security people in the business.

#Microsoft Defender for Cloud videos with @yuridiogenes #Security

Here you will find all the Microsoft Defender for Cloud videos with Yuri

Here you find all the Azure Security Center in the Field Videos with Yuri

You can follow Yuri Diogenes also on Twitter

 

JOIN Microsoft Ignite 2021 Event November 2-4 #MSIgnite #Azure #Winserv #Windows11 #Hybrid

Microsoft Ignite 2021

Join Microsoft and the Community November 2–4, 2021 to explore the latest tools, training sessions, technical expertise, networking opportunities, and more. You can register here

Here you find some great MSIgnite guidance on Microsoft Tech Community :

Check out what’s new in Security at Microsoft Ignite

Surface at Microsoft Ignite: November 2021

Your Guide to Microsoft Teams at Microsoft Ignite Fall 2021

Windows at Microsoft Ignite: November 2021

A developer’s guide to Ignite 2021

Bring Azure Kubernetes Services to a Hybrid Environment (The Blueprint Files)

Follow @MS_Ignite on Twitter

Of course you can make your own schedule from the session catalog here

Don’t forget your Registration and have a Great innovative Microsoft Ignite 2021 Event 😉