Azure Automanage Archives - Francesco Molfese // Blog

The adoption of cloud solutions has helped to reduce operating expenses (Opex) and the management costs in numerous areas of IT. In fact,, many systems that previously ran on-premises and were complex to maintain are now simple managed services in the cloud.. At the same time though, the execution of systems located in different environments; and the wide range of new Azure services, can make operational management articulated. Microsoft, to better manage the various services and their configuration, provides the solution Azure Automanage, which appropriately integrated with Azure Arc, allows you to automate various operations during the entire life cycle of the machines, regardless of where they reside. This article lists the characteristics of the solution, showing how Azure Automanage, together with Azure Arc, can facilitate the day-to-day tasks of system administrators and ensure optimal adherence to Microsoft best practices.

Simplify the configuration and management of systems wherever they reside

Azure Automanage Automatically implement best practices in machine management while ensuring security compliance, corporate compliance and business continuity. Furthermore, Azure Arc for servers extends the possibilities offered by Azure in the field of governance and management also to physical machines and virtual systems that reside in environments other than Azure. To learn more about the implementation guidelines, Microsoft's proven best practices and tools designed to accelerate your cloud adoption journey should be referenced Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework.

Quickly configure Windows and Linux server

By adopting this solution, you can detect, integrate and configure different Azure services during the entire life cycle of the machines, making a distinction between Production environments and DevTest environments. Azure services automatically managed by Azure Automanage and related specifications are available in this Microsoft documentation:

Figure 1 – Overview of services managed by Azure Automanage

The inclusion of machines in the service can take place on a large scale or individually, with the certainty that if the systems do not comply with the best practices imposed, Azure Automanage will be able to detect and correct them automatically.

The service can be activated directly from the Azure portal and requires a few simple steps.

The choice of configuration profiles

Azure Automanage uses configuration profiles to determine which Azure services should be enabled on the selected systems. Two configuration profiles are currently available by default, one for the DevTest environment and one for the Production environment. The two profiles are distinguished by the types of services to be enabled on the different workloads. Furthermore, in addition to the standard profiles it is allowed to configure some custom profiles with a certain subset of preferences regarding the various services.

After you enable the service Azure Automanage The process that leads the machines back to the best practices specified in the chosen configuration profile is started.

The status of the VMs after activation of the service can be of different types, here described.

Azure Automanage also recently introduced new profile customization options and more supported operating systems, including Windows 10/11, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Canonical Ubuntu and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

Configure Windows and Linux servers in Azure environments, hybrid or multi-cloud through Azure Arc

Azure Automanage can be enabled on both Azure VMs and Azure Arc-enabled servers. Furthermore, Azure Automanage for Windows Server offers new features specific to Windows Server Azure Edition, that improve the uptime of Windows Server VMs in Azure and Azure Stack HCI environment. These features include:

Hotpatch
SMB over QUIC
Azure Extended Networking

Advantages of the solution

The adoption of Azure Automanage involves several advantages for the customer that can be summarized in the following points:

Cost reduction, automating machine management
Optimize workload uptime by performing tasks in an optimized way
Control over the implementation of security best practices

Conclusions

Machine life cycle management, especially in heterogeneous and large environments, can be very expensive in terms of time and costs. Furthermore, activities that are repeated frequently can be prone to errors, leading systems to a non-optimal configuration. Thanks to this integration between Azure Automanage and Azure Arc it is possible to simplify and automate all the operations necessary to ensure that the systems adhere to the desired requirements.

The adoption of cloud solutions has simplified and reduced operational expenses (Opex) and the management costs in numerous areas of IT. In fact,, many systems that previously ran on-premises and were complex to maintain are now simple managed services in the cloud.. At the same time though, running virtual machines in Microsoft Azure opens the door to a wide range of new services that make operational management articulated. Microsoft to better manage all services and related configuration has released Azure Automanage, a new solution that automates different operations throughout the lifecycle of virtual machines located in Azure. This article lists the characteristics of the solution, showing how Azure Automanage can facilitate the day-to-day tasks of system administrators and ensure optimal compliance with Microsoft best practices.

Azure Automanage allows you to automatically implement best practices in virtual machine management ensuring compliance with regards to security aspects, corporate compliance and business continuity. To learn more about implementation guidelines, Microsoft's proven best practices and tools designed to accelerate the cloud solution adoption journey you can consult the documentation Cloud Adoption Framework.

By adopting this solution, you can detect, integrate and configure different Azure services during the entire life cycle of virtual machines, making a distinction between Production environments and DevTest environments. The Azure services currently covered by Azure Automanage are the following:

Figure 1 – Services managed by Azure Automanage

For more information about services that are automatically managed by Azure Automanage and related specifications can be consulted this Microsoft documentation.

The inclusion of virtual machines in the service can take place on a large scale or individually, with the certainty that if VMs do not meet the best practices imposed, Azure Automanage will be able to detect and correct them automatically.

The service can be activated directly from the Azure portal and requires the following steps:

Figure 2 – Activating the service from the Azure portal

Figure 3 – Selecting the virtual machines to include in the service

At the moment Azure Automanage is only available for Windows Server virtual machines, but in the future there will be the possibility of also contemplating Linux systems.

Figure 4 – Selecting the profile to activate

The two profiles are distinguished by the types of services that are intended to be enabled on the different workloads and can be customized for certain services. In fact,, in addition to standard services, a certain subset of preferences can be configured within a range of configuration options that do not violate Microsoft best practices. For example,, in the case of Azure Backup it is possible to define the frequency of the backup and on which day of the week it must be performed, but it is not allowed to completely disable Azure Backup in production environments, because it would not respect the best practices imposed by Microsoft.

Figure 5 – Configuring preferences for profile services

The configuration process also requires the presence of an Automanage account. This is an Azure System Managed Service Identity (MSI) which is used to carry out automated management operations on virtual machines. This identity can be created during the activation process, or you can select an existing identity.

Figure 6 – Selecting the Automanage Account to use

After you enable the service Azure Automanage the process of bringing the machines back to the best practices specified in the configuration profile starts.

The status of the VMs after service activation can be:

In-progress: the VM is being configured
Configured: the VM has been configured and adheres to best practices
Failed: the VM does not adhere to best practices and remediation actions could not be completed

Figure 7 – Applying the configuration profile on the selected VMs

Figure 8 – Result of applying the configuration profile on the selected VMs

The adoption of Azure Automanage entails several advantages for the customer which can be summarized with the following points:

Reduce costs by automating virtual machine management
Optimize workload uptime by performing tasks in an optimized way
Implementing security best practices

Conclusions

Virtual machine lifecycle management, especially in large environments, can be very expensive in terms of time and cost. Furthermore, activities that are repeated frequently can be prone to errors, leading systems to a non-optimal configuration. With this new service, you can simplify and automate all the necessary steps to ensure that your virtual machines meet the desired requirements. The service is currently in preview, therefore not usable in production. There are several aspects on which the service is destined to expand, in particular to provide greater flexibility in the configuration, but it is a very useful solution whose adoption will certainly be recommended in Azure environments.