Audience
This course is suitable for:
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Infrastructure and systems administrators
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Azure and hybrid-cloud engineers
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Cloud and solution architects
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Virtualisation, networking and storage professionals
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IT professionals responsible for securing or supporting hybrid infrastructure
Prerequisites
Attendees should have a working knowledge of Windows Server, Hyper-V or another virtualisation platform, and basic networking and storage concepts.
Duration
3 days.
Course Objectives
This three-day course provides IT professionals with the practical knowledge required to plan, deploy and manage Azure Local, formerly known as Azure Stack HCI.
Participants will explore the Azure Local architecture, deployment requirements and core compute, storage and networking technologies. The course explains how Azure Local extends Azure services into on-premises and edge environments while supporting virtual machines, containerised applications and other business-critical workloads.
Through demonstrations and practical exercises, attendees will work with the Azure portal, Azure Arc, Windows Admin Centre and PowerShell to deploy resources, manage virtual machines, configure networking and storage, monitor performance and troubleshoot common issues.
The course also examines high availability, disaster recovery, security, compliance and the ongoing maintenance and expansion of an Azure Local environment.
Course Content
Module 1: Introduction to Azure Local
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Azure Local concepts, capabilities and use cases
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Azure Local compared with Azure cloud services
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Hybrid and edge computing scenarios
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Licensing, subscriptions and Azure integration
Module 2: Architecture and planning
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Azure Local components and architecture
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Validated hardware and sizing considerations
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Cluster, node and deployment models
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Networking, storage and identity requirements
Module 3: Deploying Azure Local
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Deployment prerequisites and preparation
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Preparing Active Directory, networking and Azure resources
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Registering and validating the environment
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Deploying and configuring an Azure Local instance
Module 4: Managing Azure Local
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Managing Azure Local through the Azure portal
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Azure Arc integration and resource management
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Using Windows Admin Center and PowerShell
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Managing configuration, permissions and updates
Azure Local uses Azure as a unified management control plane while continuing to support established tools such as Windows Admin Center and PowerShell.
Module 5: Virtual machines and workloads
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Creating and managing Windows and Linux virtual machines
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VM images, logical networks and storage paths
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Azure role-based access control and delegated management
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Introduction to AKS and Azure Virtual Desktop on Azure Local
Azure Local supports Azure Arc-enabled VM management, AKS-based container workloads and Azure Virtual Desktop architectures.
Module 6: Networking and storage
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Physical and virtual network design
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Logical networks, virtual switches and network interfaces
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Software-defined networking and network security
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Storage Spaces Direct, storage pools and volumes
Module 7: Availability and disaster recovery
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Failover clustering and workload availability
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Live migration and cluster maintenance
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Backup and recovery options
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Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery considerations
Module 8: Security and governance
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Azure Local security architecture
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Secure Boot, BitLocker and Credential Guard
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Azure role-based access control and Azure Policy
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Security monitoring, auditing and compliance
Module 9: Monitoring, troubleshooting and lifecycle management
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Azure Monitor, alerts and diagnostic information
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Health, performance and capacity monitoring
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Troubleshooting deployment and operational issues
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Updating, expanding and maintaining Azure Local
Practical exercises
Practical activities reinforce the course content and may include:
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Preparing and validating an Azure Local deployment
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Registering Azure Local with Azure
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Configuring Azure Arc integration
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Creating logical networks and virtual machines
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Managing resources through the Azure portal
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Monitoring health, performance and alerts
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Diagnosing common deployment and configuration problems
By the end of the course, attendees will understand how to deploy, operate, secure and support Azure Local as part of a modern hybrid-cloud infrastructure.