Azure Stack HCI Catalog Solutions and Integration Partners

The Azure Stack HCI catalog offers a wide range of solutions and integration partners to help you build a robust and scalable infrastructure.

Microsoft has partnered with leading IT companies to provide a comprehensive set of solutions that integrate with Azure Stack HCI, including Dell, HP, and Lenovo.

These partnerships enable you to choose from a variety of hardware and software solutions that meet your specific needs and budget.

With the Azure Stack HCI catalog, you can integrate with popular solutions such as VMware vSphere, Citrix Hypervisor, and Nutanix Acropolis to create a hybrid cloud environment.

Azure Stack HCI offers excellent value for businesses, providing a robust and high-performance hybrid cloud solution. With the Microsoft Azure Stack HCI operating system, you get advanced software-defined storage, including Storage Spaces Direct, which offers multiple high-performance resiliency options, deduplication, and compression.

You can also benefit from Windows Admin Center (WAC), a web-based management portal that makes deployment and update features extremely simple and easy to perform. Additionally, Lenovo's XClarity plugin allows you to deploy their hardware and software from the same interface, enabling single-pane management.

Here are some key benefits of Azure Stack HCI:

Azure Stack HCI is designed to be hybrid by nature, allowing for seamless integration with Azure ARC and Azure Monitor, and enabling you to connect to Azure for a variety of Azure hybrid services. This means you can easily monitor and manage clusters at scale, and benefit from native integration with Azure services.

Being recognized as a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Distributed Hybrid Infrastructure is a significant achievement.

We were placed in this position by Gartner, a well-respected research and advisory company.

Here are some key facts about our recognition:

The Gartner Magic Quadrant is a valuable resource for businesses looking to evaluate vendors in the Distributed Hybrid Infrastructure market.

Azure Stack HCI offers an excellent value proposition for businesses looking to modernize their infrastructure. With the Microsoft Azure Stack HCI operating system on host nodes, you get access to state-of-the-art software-defined storage from Microsoft.

The Azure Stack HCI OS license provides several benefits, including Storage Spaces Direct, which offers multiple high-performance resiliency options, deduplication, and compression. This means you can expect improved storage efficiency and performance.

Windows Admin Center (WAC) is a web-based management portal software that makes deployment and update features extremely simple and easy to perform. Lenovo's XClarity plugin also allows you to deploy their hardware and software from the same interface, enabling single-pane-of-glass management.

Hyper-V is included in the license, providing a hypervisor for virtualization. Software-Defined Networking features, such as virtual network encryption, firewall auditing, and virtual network peering, also enable a more secure software-defined network.

Azure Stack HCI is hybrid by design, allowing for native integration with Azure ARC and Azure Monitor. This seamless integration enables you to connect to Azure for various Azure hybrid services, including fleet management for hosts and VMs.

Here are some of the key benefits of Azure Stack HCI:

Azure Stack HCI is built on proven technologies, including Hyper-V, Storage Spaces Direct, and core Azure Management service. Each instance consists of 1 to 16 physical machines that share common configurations and resources using Windows Server Failover Clustering.

Azure Stack HCI offers a range of validated hardware options from certified hardware partners. The Azure Stack HCI OS is a key component, providing a solid foundation for compute resources and virtualized storage. Storage Spaces Direct-based virtualized storage is a notable feature, allowing for efficient storage management.

Some key features of Azure Stack HCI include support for Windows and Linux virtual machines as Arc-enabled servers, Azure Virtual Desktop, and Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) enabled by Azure Arc. Additionally, Azure services such as monitoring, backup, site recovery, and more are also available.

Here are some of the key features of Azure Stack HCI:

Azure Local is built on proven technologies, including Hyper-V, Storage Spaces Direct, and core Azure Management service.

Each Azure Local instance consists of 1 to 16 physical machines, all sharing common configurations and resources by leveraging the Windows Server Failover Clustering feature.

You can deploy validated hardware from a hardware partner, paired with the Azure Stack HCI OS.

Azure Local instances feature Hyper-V-based compute resources, which enable the deployment of Windows and Linux virtual machines as Arc-enabled servers.

Storage Spaces Direct-based virtualized storage is also a key component of Azure Local, providing a scalable and efficient storage solution.

Azure Local supports the deployment of various Azure services, including monitoring, backup, site recovery, and more.

Some of the key Azure services available on Azure Local include:

These services can be managed and monitored through the Azure portal, Azure Resource Manager, and Bicep templates, as well as the Azure CLI and other tools.

Azure Stack HCI gets new features continuously, unlike the LTSC version of Windows Server which only updates every three years. This means you'll have access to the latest and greatest features without waiting for a major update.

The semiannual channel (SAC) of Windows Server offers short update cycles, but Microsoft doesn't recommend it for infrastructure services like running virtual machines.

Setting up a stretched cluster across two sites for disaster recovery is one of the exclusive features reserved for Azure Stack HCI. This allows you to have a backup site in case something goes wrong at your main site.

Built-in driver and firmware updates are also exclusive to Azure Stack HCI, making it easier to keep your system up to date. This reduces the risk of compatibility issues and ensures your system runs smoothly.

S2D resync is significantly faster on Azure Stack HCI, especially when disks need to be replaced. This means less downtime and less hassle for you.

Azure Stack OS is designed for hosts only, and it includes an operating system based on Windows Server, sold under the name Azure Stack HCI.

This OS is limited to being installed on bare metal, not in virtual machines.

Azure Stack HCI is built on a customized Windows Server Core, which means it only includes the necessary roles for its task.

One of those roles is Hyper-V, a virtualization platform that allows you to create and manage virtual machines.

It also includes the cluster service and S2D (Storage Spaces Direct), which enables you to manage storage and networking.

Azure Stack HCI doesn't offer a desktop experience, making it a middle ground between the free Hyper-V server and Server Core.

You can take advantage of Azure integration benefits by using Azure Local, which allows you to combine cloud and on-premises resources, natively monitoring, securing, and backing up to the cloud.

Azure Local offers a unified view of all your systems, making it easier to manage and monitor your resources. You can also use the Azure portal for tasks such as billing and paying for Azure Local through your Azure subscription.

To get the best experience for Azure Local, Microsoft recommends purchasing Premier Solutions offered in collaboration with hardware partners. You can also run Azure Local on Validated Nodes, which provide a basic building block for HCI systems.

Some notable Microsoft partners include ASUS, Blue Chip, DataON, Dell EMC, Fujitsu, HPE, Hitachi, Lenovo, NEC, primeLine Solutions, QCT, and Supermicro. These partners offer a range of Azure Local solutions and can provide a single point of contact for implementation and support services.

Here are some of the Microsoft partners that offer Azure Local solutions:

Azure integration benefits are numerous, and one of the most significant advantages is the ability to monitor all your systems in a single, global view.

This global view allows you to group your Azure Local systems by resource group and tag them, making it easier to manage and keep track of your resources.

You can pay for Azure Local through your Azure subscription, making billing and payment a seamless process.

By subscribing to additional Azure hybrid services, you can further enhance your Azure integration and take advantage of more features and capabilities.

Here are some of the key benefits of Azure integration, summarized in a table:

By integrating Azure with your on-premises resources, you can create a seamless and efficient cloud and on-premises environment that's easy to manage and secure.

Microsoft partners offer a range of solutions for Azure Local, providing customers with more hardware choices. These partners include ASUS, Blue Chip, DataON, Dell EMC, Fujitsu, HPE, Hitachi, Lenovo, NEC, primeLine Solutions, QCT, and Supermicro.

Azure Local can be run on Validated Nodes, which serve as a basic building block for HCI systems. This allows customers to choose from a variety of hardware options.

Microsoft recommends purchasing Premier Solutions from these partners for the best experience with Azure Local. These solutions provide a single point of contact for implementation and support services.

Some partners are developing software that extends the capabilities of Azure Local, making it easier for IT admins to use familiar tools.