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Azure Arc: purpose in hybrid and multicloud management

az-900•mixed•

Management and governance

Azure Arc: purpose in hybrid and multicloud management

Short Summary

Azure Arc helps you manage and govern resources that run outside Azure (on-premises, edge, or in other clouds) using familiar Azure tools. It does this by connecting those resources to Azure and representing them in Azure Resource Manager (ARM). The key idea: Arc is about management and governance, not “a new place to run your workloads.”

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

  • Describe the purpose of Azure Arc in one sentence
  • Explain what it means to represent non-Azure resources in Azure Resource Manager (ARM)
  • Identify the main high-level resource types Azure Arc can manage
  • Distinguish Azure Arc from Azure Stack in common hybrid scenarios
  • Summarize what Arc enables beyond visibility (governance, security, and configuration)

Core Concepts

What Azure Arc is

Azure Arc extends Azure’s management capabilities to resources that are not running in Azure. This matters in:

  • Hybrid environments (on-premises + cloud)
  • Multicloud environments (more than one cloud provider)

Arc is not a separate cloud and not an Azure region. Your workloads stay where they already run. Arc helps you manage them more consistently.

How Azure Arc works at a high level

Azure Arc connects your external resources to Azure and creates Azure resource representations for them. Those representations show up in Azure Resource Manager (ARM), which is Azure’s management layer (the control plane behind the Azure portal, Azure CLI, PowerShell, and deployments).

Once a resource is represented in ARM, you can apply Azure-style management approaches more consistently (for example: inventory, policy, tagging, and certain security/governance capabilities), even when the real resource is outside Azure.

What Azure Arc can manage (AZ-900 level)

At a high level, Azure Arc can be used to manage common “outside Azure” resource types such as:

  • Servers (Windows and Linux)
  • Kubernetes (K8s) clusters
  • Some database-related resources/services in supported Arc scenarios

You don’t need to memorize specific products here. The exam-level takeaway is: Arc helps you bring management consistency to resources you don’t (or can’t) move into Azure.

Azure Arc vs Azure Stack

These solve different problems:

  • Azure Arc: manage and govern resources that already run outside Azure, using Azure’s management layer.
  • Azure Stack (family of products): run Azure services on-premises for scenarios where you need Azure-like services locally (for example, latency, connectivity, or regulatory constraints).

A good shortcut:

  • If the goal is “manage what I already have”, think Arc.
  • If the goal is “run Azure services on my hardware”, think Azure Stack.

Practical Understanding

Practical Situation 1: “We want one management view across on-prem and other clouds.”

You have servers and Kubernetes clusters in an on-premises datacenter and in another cloud provider. You want them visible and governed in the same place you already manage Azure.

How to think about it: Azure Arc is designed for this. It connects external resources and represents them in Azure Resource Manager (ARM) so you can manage them in a more consistent way.

Common misunderstanding: “The Azure portal alone is enough.” The portal is just the interface—Arc is what connects and registers non-Azure resources into Azure’s management layer.

Practical Situation 2: “Someone describes Arc like it’s a new region.”

A teammate talks about Azure Arc as if it’s “another Azure location” where workloads run.

How to think about it: Arc is not a new region and not a separate cloud. It’s a way to extend Azure management and governance to resources that run outside Azure.

Common misunderstanding: “Arc is a place to run workloads.” Your workloads keep running where they are; Arc is about managing them.

Practical Situation 3: “We need Azure services running in our datacenter.”

A company wants Azure-like services to run locally in their own datacenter.

How to think about it: That’s typically an Azure Stack scenario (running Azure services on-premises). Azure Arc focuses on managing resources across environments, not turning your datacenter into an Azure region.

Common misunderstanding: “Arc brings Azure into my datacenter.” Arc brings your datacenter resources into Azure management, not the other way around.

Practical Situation 4: “Is Arc only for monitoring?”

You hear “connect external resources to Azure” and assume it’s mainly about visibility.

How to think about it: Arc is broader than monitoring. The main value is consistent management and governance—things like policy, organization, and security/governance integrations that apply through Azure’s management layer.

Common misunderstanding: “Arc is just a monitoring add-on.” Arc is a hybrid/multicloud management approach that can enable multiple management capabilities.

Common Pitfalls

  • Mistake: Treating Azure Arc as a separate cloud platform or region. Correction: Azure Arc extends Azure management to resources outside Azure; it doesn’t create a new region.

  • Mistake: Assuming Azure Arc is “monitoring-only.” Correction: Arc is about consistent management and governance; monitoring can be part of the story, but it’s not the whole purpose.

  • Mistake: Confusing Azure Arc with Azure Stack. Correction: Arc helps you manage resources where they already run; Azure Stack is about running Azure services on-premises.

  • Mistake: Believing Azure Arc is required for native Azure resources. Correction: Native Azure resources are already managed through Azure Resource Manager (ARM); Arc is mainly for extending management to non-Azure resources.

Check Your Understanding

  • Explain, in your own words, what problem Azure Arc solves in a hybrid environment.
  • Describe what it means for a non-Azure resource to be represented in Azure Resource Manager (ARM).
  • List two types of non-Azure resources Azure Arc can manage, and explain why that matters.
  • Describe a scenario where Azure Stack is a better fit than Azure Arc (high level, no deep dive).
  • Name one misunderstanding about Azure Arc that could lead to the wrong design decision, and correct it.

Further Reading