Learn more about Azure Stack HCI, a preconfigured, validated offering that enables you to deploy a cloud in your own datacenter.
Microsoft Azure Stack HCI is a cluster solution, based on a hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI). It is designed to host virtualized Windows and Linux workloads and their storage in a hybrid environment. It bridges the gap between on-premises infrastructure and Azure cloud services.
Most apps and server roles must run inside of virtual machines (VMs) because Azure Stack HCI is intended as a virtualization host. There are exceptions: Hyper-V, Network Controller, and other components required for Software Defined Networking (SDN) or for the management and health of hosted VMs. There are many features and IT goals that you can accomplish with this solution, including enterprise virtualization, high availability, Microsoft SQL Server at scale, centralized and automated update management, central security updates, and many more!
Over the past two years (and beyond…), the ‘customer reality’ is transforming. You know that digital transformation we consistently hear about? Yes. 90% of enterprises remain hybrid. 93% of enterprises have a multi-cloud strategy. Organizations have 100’s to 1000’s of apps amongst VMs, databases, containers, .NET applications, and on and on.
A diverse infrastructure consisting of datacenters, branch offices, OEM hardware, even IoT devices muddies the waters of having to maintain and support all this infrastructure. And on top of that, most companies are utilizing Microsoft Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, etc. Your teams are using various development tools.
Microsoft has long understood this reality. What’s ‘top of mind’ amongst Microsoft’s customers?
As your organization continues its ‘digital transformation’, you may find it easier and faster to use public cloud services to build modern architecture and refresh legacy apps. However, you may indeed run into technological and regulatory obstacles; many workloads must, therefore, remain on-premises.
You can use the table below, as an example, to help you determine which Microsoft hybrid cloud strategy provides what you need where you need it.
Table 1 – Azure Stack HCI vs Azure Stack Hub
Azure Stack HCI | Azure Stack Hub |
Same skills, familiar processes | New skills, innovative processes |
Azure services in your datacenter using Azure Arc | Azure services in your datacenter in disconnected scenarios |
Connect your datacenter to Azure services and Azure control plane | Run your own instance of Azure Resource Manager |
Flexible platform using integrated systems or validated nodes from OEMs | Delivered as an integrated system from OEMs |
No, Azure Stack HCI is not free. When purchasing this solution and accurately licensing it, you need to tie the Azure service and bill it to an existing (or new) Azure subscription. See below.
Azure Stack HCI is an Azure service that goes on your Azure subscription bill just like any other Azure service. It’s priced on a per-core basis on your on-premises servers. For current pricing, see Azure Stack HCI pricing. You will get one unified, itemized bill at the end of the month. Many of the features of Azure Stack HCI (Azure Backup, Azure Monitor, Azure Security Center, etc.) are included in the base pricing model.
No traditional on-premises software license is required, although guest virtual machines (VMs) may require individual operating system licensing – see Activate Windows Server VMs. If the Azure Stack HCI is already an operational expenditure, we also invite you to read our Azure Stack HCI Pricing – Is Full OPEX Possible? post on Petri.
The high-level deployment scenarios for Azure Stack HCI are based on if you are going to download and install the Azure Stack HCI operating system on each of the servers you’ve purchased you want to cluster, or if they’ve been pre-installed through your preferred Microsoft hardware partner.
Microsoft recommends purchasing validated hardware and software solutions from their partners. These solutions are designed, assembled, and validated against reference architecture to ensure compatibility and reliability, to assist in your rollout timelines.
Check that the systems, components, devices, and drivers you are using are Windows Server 2019 Certified per the Windows Server Catalog. Visit the Azure Stack HCI solutions website for validated solutions, and you can also check out our separate guide on how to select hardware for Azure Stack HCI.
Before you deploy the Azure Stack HCI operating system:
There may be additional requirements if you are planning to deploy Azure Kubernetes Service on Azure Stack HCI. Check our detailed guide explaining how to install Azure Stack HCI single-node clusters on Petri.
Many organizations continue to require, for various reasons, their on-premises infrastructure. As you move forward with adding more cloud platforms and solutions to the mix, your on-premises datacenters often continue to play an important role.
The term hybrid cloud refers to a combination of public cloud and on-premises datacenters, to create an integrated IT environment that spans both. Some organizations use hybrid cloud as a path to migrate their entire datacenter to the cloud over time. Others use cloud services to extend their existing on-premises infrastructure.
Here’s where Azure Stack HCI comes in: for a complete hybrid cloud solution. Azure Stack HCI is a hybrid cloud platform that lets you provide Azure services from your datacenter. This helps maintain consistency between on-premises and Azure, by using identical tools and requiring no code changes.
The following are some use cases for Azure and Azure Stack HCI:
The beauty, efficiency, and downright seamlessness Microsoft has created for allowing your IT admins to manage both on-premises Windows Servers AND Azure Stack HCI is in Windows Admin Center. It is a locally deployed, browser-based app for managing both ‘clouds’ together, and as one. The simplest way to install Windows Admin Center is on a local management PC (desktop mode), although you can also install it on a server (service mode).
If you install Windows Admin Center on a server, tasks that require CredSSP, such as cluster creation and installing updates and extensions, require using an account that’s a member of the Gateway Administrators group on the Windows Admin Center server.
There are many ways the Azure Stack HCI portfolio solution can assist your organization to accomplish your IT goals at scale. Here are a few:
Azure Stack HCI is a world-class, integrated virtualization stack built on proven technologies that have already been deployed at scale, including Hyper-V, Storage Spaces Direct, and Azure-inspired SDN. It’s part of the Azure Stack family, using the same software-defined compute, storage, and networking software as Azure Stack Hub.
Each Azure Stack HCI cluster consists of between 2 and 16 physical, validated servers. The clustered servers share common configuration and resources by leveraging the Windows Server Failover Clustering feature.
Azure Stack HCI combines the following:
A standard Azure Stack HCI cluster requires a minimum of two servers and a maximum of 16 servers; however, clusters can be combined using cluster sets to create an HCI platform of hundreds of nodes.
Keep the following in mind for various types of deployments:
Visit this Microsoft Documentation site for all the logical and system requirements.
The Azure Stack HCI release preview channel is an opt-in program that lets customers install the next version of the operating system before it’s officially released. It’s intended for customers who want to evaluate new features, system architects who want to build a solution before conducting a broader deployment, or anyone who wants to see what’s coming next.
There are no program requirements or commitments. Preview builds are available via Windows Update using Windows Admin Center or PowerShell.
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