There is a pressing demand for all the benefits the cloud has in store. How do you bring them to your own IT environment? Microsoft’s answer is Azure Local, a compact solution to meet specific requirements. Below, we explain what it can mean for your organization, based on the insights provided by PQR experts.
Werner Broekhuizen, Senior Presales Consultant Datacenter & Cloud Solutions at PQR, describes Azure Local as follows: “Microsoft has brought the cloud to your data center. So you have the same functionality as in the cloud, but at your own pace.” In other words, one may have cloud ambitions, but one shouldn’t rush to hand over their data and workloads to someone else’s computer, which is what the public cloud simply is.
Azure Local’s use cases vary. However, we can say that they roughly correspond to what organizations hope to achieve with VMware or Nutanix, among others. Within the Microsoft portfolio, there is the added advantage that organizations can easily make the transition to the Azure Cloud when you are ready and willing to do so.
What Azure Local is
Jeroen Breden, Solution Architect at PQR, discussed with Broekhuizen exactly what Azure Local entails during the recent Dell Technologies Forum Netherlands in Nieuwegein. The PQR experts spoke of the fairly straightforward basis of Azure Local, formerly known as Stack HCI. Hyper-V and clustering around it form the building blocks for the solution, from 1 node to 16. The revenue model is based on cores, allowing you to use validated server hardware such as Dell, as you may have done before. The difference is that Azure Local can be managed from the Azure Portal, just like public cloud workloads. Please note: you have to consciously enable this, says Breden. After all, end users often want the on-premises and public cloud worlds to remain separate.
Breden’s explanation continues with Azure Arc, the interfacing between one’s own Azure Local environment and the public Azure Cloud. “When you deploy a new VM in the Azure Portal, the Azure Arc Resource Bridge is put to work.” Those who hope to manage everything within their own walls can also use the Windows Admin Center. Monitoring is also easy, according to Breden. Azure Monitor can display local VMs and containers, but again, you have to enable this yourself.
What Azure Local is not
Vendors sometimes talk about the “cloud-like experience” when it comes to private solutions. The reality is that the public cloud has certain advantages that are lacking elsewhere. Think of the extensive marketplace and immediate availability of additional resources when needed (and if you pay enough). Azure Local is therefore not a ‘real cloud’, but its interconnectivity with the public cloud does make it possible to easily take that leap where desired.
There is also an intermediate form from Microsoft, namely Azure Stack Hub. This is essentially an Azure cloud region in a data center that is not managed by Microsoft. This is done through partners and is considered a more sovereign form of Azure. On top of this, there is Microsoft Sovereign Cloud, which is essentially the public cloud but with additional refinements in terms of data management and external key management.
However, these two alternatives do not offer the same level of control as Azure Local. It is and remains a workload on your own environment. The advantage is that you can run VMs and containers in a modern way without being forced to do so outside your own environment.
Validated solution
As a Titanium Black Partner of Dell Technologies, PQR helps customers roll out Azure Local on Dell hardware, among other things. Dell validates these servers for Azure Local use and, in addition to Microsoft, checks that updates are completely secure. When using Azure Local, customers are only supported if they remain within six months of the most recent updates, according to the PQR experts.
However, PQR takes away the pressure of managing this, which is where the company positions itself emphatically. As “Rustmakers in IT,” they take care of IT management and, for example, also provide temporary IT consultants to help organizations quickly access specialist knowledge. Based on an inventory, PQR also helps to set a long-term goal, such as the adoption of the cloud. Initially, workloads may be best suited to proprietary hardware, but via Azure Local, they can eventually be prepared for a cloud-native, composable future in the public cloud. The opposite is also possible: a “cloud exit,” for example, because sensitive data is no longer allowed in the public cloud due to regulations.
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