Remote server management is a critical tool for server administrators,
and millions of customers rely on Windows Admin Center for server and cluster management
However, many of our customers' environments continue to grow in complexity
and they struggle with how to manage their legacy systems while modernizing with the cloud
It's why we continue to make it easier for you to innovate anywhere
and with the tooling you need.
We are excited to announce that Windows Admin Center can now manage your Azure Arc-enabled servers
and Azure Stack HCI clusters from the Azure Portal.
This new capability enabled seamless and granular management of your Windows Server
Arc-enabled servers and Azure Stack HCI clusters from within the Azure Portal.
Using this functionality, you can securely manage your operating system from anywhere -
without needing a VPN, public IP address or other inbound connectivity to your machine.
Let's take a look at how this works, and just how easy it is to set up.
I'll first navigate to my Arc-enabled server in the Azure Portal.
In this case, it is a server running Windows Server 2019.
Windows Admin Center in the Azure Portal supports servers running Windows Server 2016 or
higher, and Azure Stack HCI cluster running 21H2 or higher.
On the left hand side, you'll see a new blade titled Windows Admin Center.
In order to set up Windows Admin Center and connect to it from the Azure Portal,
you'll need to register a new Resource Provider a part of your subscription - the Hybrid Connectivity RP.
This new RP is what enables access to your servers from anywhere.
I'll navigate to my Subscription, click on Resource Providers and
ensure that the resource provider is registered.
In case it's not registered, I'll need Contributor or Owner access at the subscription level in order to perform this task.
Note that this is a once per subscription task, so you'll never have to return here again.
I'll now navigate back to my Arc-enabled server and navigate to the Windows Admin Center blade.
It's a simple one click Set-up and Install process to get Windows Admin Center deployed on my Arc-enabled server.
During installation, I'll have to specify the port on which I wish Windows Admin Center to be installed on.
Note that no inbound connectivity is required on this port in order to use and connect to this experience.
Windows Admin Center in the Azure Portal is tailored to provide you with a cloud first experience.
This means that unlike our on-premises version of Admin Center,
you don't have to worry about provisioning certificates or DNS records for your instance of Windows Admin Center.
We take care of all of that for you.
It takes about 5 minutes to deploy Windows Admin Center.
In the background, Azure is deploying a light weight agent onto your Arc-enabled server,
and deploying a logical "Endpoint" resource to establish connectivity to your machine.
Note that this is not a visible resource in Azure, and is one you will start to see used
universally to connect to your Arc-enabled servers, whether it is through Windows Admin Center or other experiences, such as SSH.
Note that for Windows Admin Center in the Azure Portal, we do not currently support the "gateway" model of Admin Center.
You must deploy Windows Admin Center onto each Arc-enabled resource that you wish to manage.
While Windows Admin Center installs in the background, let's prepare for usage.
Connection to Windows Admin Center is controlled by a new Role Based Access
Control group called "Windows Admin Center Administrator Login".
Note that being an Owner or Contributor at the Arc-resource level does not
give you permissions to use Windows Admin Center,
you must be a part of the "Windows Admin Center Administrator Login" RBAC group in order actually connect..
I'll go ahead and add myself to this group.
Once installation is complete, you will be met with a simple "Connect" screen.
Windows Admin Center in Azure enhances security for your servers and clusters.
It allows you to manage your infrastructure without requiring any Public IP address,
VPN or inbound connectivity to your machines.
Traffic is sent over the existing connection between the Azure Arc agent and Azure-no extra configuration is required.
The communication between you and your machines are end-to-end encrypted,
with SSL termination occurring directly on your infrastructure.
Hitting connect will establish communication with your on-premises Arc-enabled server,
and it will ask you to enter the local administrator credentials of your server.
Once these are entered, Windows Admin Center will begin to load.
Windows Admin Center provides a large set of management tools that have been built over many years,
You can monitor your expired certificates
manage your files
view your performance
view critical events
use PowerShell
use an in-browser RDP session
and so much more all from within the Azure Portal.
Now, every time you wish to reconnect to Windows Admin Center,
you can simply navigate back to the Admin Center blade, and hit "Connect".
To learn more, go to aka.ms/WACinAzure/Arc.
Or visit the Azure Portal today to try out the Public Preview.