Administering VMware VMs in Azure through Azure Arc, A Hybrid Cloud Breakthrough

Introduction/ Issue:

With the growing adoption of hybrid cloud strategies, organizations often run critical workloads on-premises while embracing cloud-native management. One of the most innovative tools enabling this transformation is Azure Arc. By connecting VMware vSphere VMs to Azure through Azure Arc, you can extend Azure’s management and governance capabilities to your on-prem virtual infrastructure without migrating a single workload. 

 

What is Azure Arc? 

Supported resources include: 

  • Windows/Linux physical/virtual machines 
  • Kubernetes clusters 
  • SQL Server instances 
  • VMware vSphere virtual machines 
  • System Center VMs (SCVMM) 

Once connected, these resources become Arc-enabled and can be managed via Azure Resource Manager, Azure Policy, Azure Monitor, Defender for Cloud, and more.

 

Why Connect VMware VMs to Azure Arc? 

Here’s what you unlock: 

  • Centralized management via Azure Portal 
  • Tagging, RBAC, and policy enforcement 
  • Inventory and compliance reporting 
  • Update management and guest configuration 
  • Integration with Azure Monitor Logs and Security Center 

Real-World Scenario: Centralized Governance for On-Prem VMware VMs

Context:

An enterprise has 8 regional data centers running hundreds of VMware vSphere VMs for SAP, Oracle, and internal apps. Each data center is managed independently, leading to challenges in: 

  • Auditing resource configurations 
  • Enforcing security and compliance 
  • Managing update schedules 

The enterprise wants to centralize governance without migrating these VMs to Azure. 

Solution: Onboarding VMware VMs to Azure Arc 

Step 1: Prerequisites 

  • Azure Subscription with Contributor or higher role 
  • Access to vSphere/vCenter to install agents on guest VMs 
  • Outbound internet access for the VMs or a proxy for agent communication 

Step 2: Prepare and Register Azure Arc 

az login 
az account set –subscription “<your-subscription-id>” 
az provider register –namespace Microsoft.HybridCompute 
az provider register –namespace Microsoft.GuestConfiguration 

 

Step 3: Install the Azure Connected Machine Agent on VMware VMs 

On a Linux VM: 

wget https://aka.ms/InstallAzureArcAgent 

chmod +x InstallAzureArcAgent./InstallAzureArcAgent.sh 

On a Windows VM, use PowerShell: 

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://aka.ms/AzureConnectedMachineAgent -OutFile AzureConnectedMachineAgent.msi
msiexec /i AzureConnectedMachineAgent.msi /quiet 

 Then connect to Azure: 

 azcmagent connect –resource-group “<your-rg>” \
–name “<vm-name>” \
–location “<region>” \
–subscription-id “<subscription-id>” \
–tags “env=onprem” “os=linux” 

 Step 4: Verify VM in Azure 

Go to Azure Portal → Azure Arc → Servers → You’ll see your VMware VM listed here as Arc-enabled server. 

Value Delivered 

Once the VMware VMs are Arc-enabled: 

Azure Policy Enforcement 

  • Enforce OS hardening baselines 
  • Check for missing patches or misconfigurations 

Monitor & Log Collection 

  • Send logs to Log Analytics Workspace 
  • Set up alerts and dashboards in Azure Monitor 

 Update Management 

  • Schedule OS updates via Azure Automation 
  • Track compliance status per VM or group 

 Defender for Servers 

  • Enable threat detection, vulnerability scanning 
  • See all your hybrid threats in one place 

 

Conclusion 

With Azure Arc, your VMware VMs no longer live in a management silo. You gain the power to unify governance, standardize compliance, and automate hybrid operations using the same tools trusted in Azure. Rather than forklift migrations or disjointed tooling, Azure Arc gives you consistency without compromise. 

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