Windows Server Management enabled by Azure Arc

Windows Server Management enabled by Azure Arc offers customers with Windows Server licenses that have active Software Assurances or Windows Server licenses that are active subscription licenses the following key benefits:

Together, these capabilities provide robust governance, configuration, and remote management capabilities for Azure Arc-enabled server customers.

Billing

Upon attestation, customers get access to the following services at no extra cost beyond networking, storage, and log ingestion costs:

• Azure Update Manager
• Azure Change Tracking and Inventory
• Azure Machine Configuration
• Windows Admin Center in Azure for Arc
• Remote Support
• Network HUD
• Best Practices Assessment
• Azure Site Recovery Configuration
• Azure File Sync

Azure Change Tracking and Inventory and Best Practices Assessment require a Log Analytics workspace that might incur data ingestion costs. While the configuration of Azure Site Recovery is included as a benefit, customers incur costs for the Azure Site Recovery service itself, including any storage, compute, and networking costs associated with the service.

To be exempt from billing for these services, customers need to explicitly attest for their Azure Arc-enabled servers or enroll in Windows Server pay-as-you-go. Eligibility isn't inferred directly from the enablement to Azure Arc or from the licensing status for Azure Arc-enabled SQL Server instances connected to an Arc-enabled server.

Customer invoices reflect both the complementary benefits included and the enrollment in these benefits through attestation or through Windows Server pay-as-you-go.

Customers that aren't attesting or enrolled through Windows Server pay-as-you-go can purchase Azure Update Manager, Azure Change Tracking and Inventory, and Azure Machine Configuration for their Azure Arc-enabled servers. The other services aren't available through Azure Arc for non-SA and non-pay-as-you-go customers.

Requirements

• Agent version: Connected Machine Agent version 1.47 or higher.

• Operating systems: The Azure Arc-enabled server's operating system must be Windows Server 2012 or higher, with support for both Standard and Datacenter editions.

• Networking: Supported connectivity methods include public endpoint, proxy, Azure Arc Gateway, and private endpoint. You don't need to allow any additional endpoints.

• Licensing: The Azure Arc-enabled server must be officially licensed through a valid licensing channel. Unlicensed servers aren't eligible for these benefits. Azure Arc-enabled servers enrolled in Windows Server pay-as-you-go are automatically activated for these benefits.

• Connectivity: The Azure Arc-enabled server must be Connected for enrollment. Disconnected and expired servers aren't eligible. Usage of the included benefits requires connectivity.

• Regions: Activation is available in all regions where Azure Arc-enabled servers has regional availability except for US Gov Virginia, US Gov Arizona, China North 2, China North 3, and China East 2.

• Environments: Supported environments include Hyper-V, VMware, SCVMM, Stack HCI, AVS, and bare-metal where servers are connected to Azure Arc.

• Modes: Customers can use Monitor mode and extension allow lists or block lists with their attestation to Azure Arc-enabled servers.

Enrollment

You can enroll in Windows Server Management enabled by Azure Arc through the Azure portal or by using PowerShell.

$subscriptionId    = '' #Your subscription id 
$resourceGroupName = '' # your Resource Group 
$machineName       = '' # Arc resource name 
$location = "" # The region where the test machine is arc enabled. 

$account       = Connect-AzAccount 
$context       = Set-azContext -Subscription $subscriptionId 
$profile       = [Microsoft.Azure.Commands.Common.Authentication.Abstractions.AzureRmProfileProvider]::Instance.Profile 
$profileClient = [Microsoft.Azure.Commands.ResourceManager.Common.rmProfileClient]::new( $profile ) 
$token         = $profileClient.AcquireAccessToken($context.Subscription.TenantId) 
$header = @{ 
   'Content-Type'='application/json' 
   'Authorization'='Bearer ' + $token.AccessToken 
} 

$uri = [System.Uri]::new( "https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/$subscriptionId/resourceGroups/$resourceGroupName/providers/Microsoft.HybridCompute/machines/$machineName/licenseProfiles/default?api-version=2023-10-03-preview" ) 
$contentType = "application/json"  
$data = @{         
    location = $location; 
    properties = @{ 
        softwareAssurance = @{ 
            softwareAssuranceCustomer= $true; 
        }; 
    }; 
}; 
$json = $data | ConvertTo-Json; 
$response = Invoke-RestMethod -Method PUT -Uri $uri.AbsoluteUri -ContentType $contentType -Headers $header -Body $json; 
$response.properties