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Azure Connected Machine agent deployment options

You can connect machines in your hybrid environment directly with Azure by using different methods, depending on your requirements and the tools you prefer to use.

Onboarding methods

The following table highlights each method so that you can determine which one works best for your deployment. For detailed information, follow the links to view the steps for each method.

Method Description
Interactively Manually install the agent on a single or small number of machines to connect machines by using a deployment script.
From the Azure portal, you can generate a script and run it on the machine to automate the installation and configuration steps of the agent.
Interactively Connect machines from Windows Admin Center.
Interactively Connect Windows Server machines to Azure through Azure Arc setup.
Interactively or at scale Connect machines by using PowerShell.
At scale Connect machines at scale by using Ansible playbooks to create a service principal for onboarding Ansible-managed nodes to Azure Arc-enabled servers at scale by using Ansible playbooks.
At scale Connect machines by using a service principal to install the agent at scale noninteractively.
At scale Connect machines by running PowerShell scripts with Configuration Manager.
At scale Connect machines with a Configuration Manager custom task sequence.
At scale Connect Windows machines by using Group Policy.
At scale Connect machines from Azure Automation Update Management to create a service principal that installs and configures the agent for multiple machines managed with Azure Automation Update Management to connect machines noninteractively.
At scale Install the Azure Arc agent on VMware virtual machines (VMs) at scale by using Azure Arc-enabled VMware vSphere. With Azure Arc-enabled VMware vSphere, you can connect your VMware vCenter server to Azure, automatically discover your VMware VMs, and install the Azure Arc agent on them. Requires VMware tools on VMs.
At scale Install the Azure Arc agent on System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) VMs at scale by using Azure Arc-enabled SCVMM. With Azure Arc-enabled SCVMM, you can connect your SCVMM management server to Azure, automatically discover your SCVMM VMs, and install the Azure Arc agent on them.
At scale Connect your AWS cloud through the multicloud connector enabled by Azure Arc and enable the Arc onboarding solution to autodiscover and onboard EC2 VMs.

Important

You can't install the Connected Machine agent on an Azure VM. The installation script warns you and rolls back if it detects that the server is running in Azure.

Be sure to review the basic prerequisites and network configuration requirements before you deploy the agent and any specific requirements listed in the steps for the onboarding method that you choose. To learn more about what changes the agent makes to your system, see Overview of the Azure Connected Machine agent.

Automatic connection for SQL Server

When you connect a Windows or Linux server to Azure Arc that also has Microsoft SQL Server installed, the SQL Server instances are automatically connected to Azure Arc as well. SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc provides a detailed inventory and additional management capabilities for your SQL Server instances and databases. As part of the connection process, an extension is deployed to your Azure Arc-enabled server, and new roles are applied to your SQL Server and databases. If you don't want to automatically connect your SQL Servers to Azure Arc, you can opt out by adding a tag to the Windows or Linux server with the name ArcSQLServerExtensionDeployment and value Disabled when connecting it to Azure Arc.

For more information, see Manage automatic connection for SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc.

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