Azure service for managing servers that live outside Azure without moving them, by installing the Azure Connected Machine agent; it does not migrate anything.
Read more: Microsoft Learn
In the Ultra Transcenders books
AZ-305AZ-104SC-500AZ-900SC-900SC-200
Each book explains Azure Arc in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
- Azure Connected Machine agent
Agent from Azure Arc installed on servers outside Azure. Once a server is Arc-enabled this way, services such as Defender for Cloud can push extensions to it, though the agent doesn't gather VM logs itself.
- Migrate
Part of Adopt in the Cloud Adoption Framework: the guidance for lifting workloads you already run, on-premises or in another cloud, across to Azure. It assumes you have prepared a migration adoption plan and built a landing zone. Not to be mixed up with the Azure Migrate service.
Related terms
- Amazon EC2
Amazon's virtual machine offering. Defender for Cloud can onboard EC2 instances automatically, installing Azure Arc and Defender components, when its AWS connector has Defender for Servers turned on.
- AWS connector (Defender for Cloud)
Connector linking Defender for Cloud to Amazon Web Services, finished by running a generated CloudFormation template on the AWS side. If Defender for Servers is enabled, it provisions Azure Arc onto EC2 instances automatically.
- azcmagent
CLI that ships with the Azure Connected Machine agent. Running
azcmagent connectregisters a server with Azure Arc, and supplying a service principal ID plus a secret or certificate makes that onboarding unattended. - Azure Arc Private Link Scope
Lets Arc-enabled machines talk to Azure Arc privately, through private endpoints, avoiding public ones.
- Azure Connected Machine Onboarding
Narrowly scoped built-in role, typically given to a service principal, whose only purpose is onboarding machines into Azure Arc in bulk.
- Direct onboarding
A way to bring servers outside Azure into Defender for Cloud via Defender for Endpoint, with no Azure Arc needed. Such servers get the Plan 1 feature set of Defender for Servers; on Plan 2 the only extra is premium vulnerability management.
- Hotpatch
Lets security fixes go on with no reboot, apart from in the quarterly baseline months. Windows Server 2025 Standard and Datacenter can get it via Azure Arc.
- SCVMM
Microsoft's System Center product for running Hyper-V estates on-premises. Connected through Azure Arc, its VMs become manageable from Azure, although Arc-enabled SCVMM retires in September 2029, with Arc-enabled servers taking over.