Disconnected operations for Azure Local

Disconnected operations enable you to deploy and manage Azure Local instances to build sovereign private clouds. This article explains how this feature supports compliance, security, and remote deployments.

Overview

Disconnected operations for Azure Local enable you to deploy and manage Azure Local instances without a connection to the Azure public cloud. This feature allows you to build, deploy, and manage virtual machines (VMs) and containerized applications by using select Azure Arc-enabled services from a local control plane. You get a familiar Azure portal and Azure Command-Line Interface (CLI) experience.

To run Azure Local with disconnected operations, it's essential to plan for extra capacity for the virtual appliance. The minimum hardware requirements to deploy and operate Azure Local in a disconnected environment are higher because you need to host a local control plane. Proper planning helps ensure smooth operations.

For more information, see technical prerequisites and hardware in the Eligibility criteria section.

Why use disconnected operations?

Here are some scenarios for running Azure Local with disconnected operations:

• Sovereign requirements and compliance: In sectors like government, healthcare, and finance, you have data residency and sovereign requirements that are hard to meet using public sovereign cloud controls. When you run disconnected, data, operations, and control remain within your organization's boundaries.

• Remote or isolated locations: In areas with limited network infrastructure, like remote or protected regions, disconnected operations lets you use Azure Arc services and run workloads without relying on internet connectivity. For example, oil rigs and manufacturing sites.

• Security: For industries with strict security requirements, disconnected operations help reduce the attack surface by not exposing systems to external networks.

Supported services

Disconnected operations for Azure Local support the following services:

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible to procure disconnected operations, you must meet the following criteria:

• Microsoft Customer Agreement for Enterprises (MCA-E): A Microsoft Customer agreement for enterprises or other eligible agremeent types. You should discuss your agreement options with your account team before you qualify.

• Business needs to operate disconnected: Disconnected operations are for organizations that can't connect to Azure because of connectivity issues or regulatory restrictions. To be able to procure disconnected operations, you need a valid business need for running and operating in a disconnected environment. For more information, see Why use disconnected operations?

• Operational and technical prerequisites: Your organization must have staff that can deploy and operate disconnected operations or work with a preferred partner to deploy and operate disconnected operations on your behalf. You must identify workloads and application requirements for what you deploy and operate disconnected.

• Hardware: Disconnected operations support premier Azure Local hardware. You must bring your own Azure Local hardware. For a list of supported configurations, see the Azure Local solutions catalog.

  • Plan enough capacity for the management cluster to host the disconnected operations appliance VM and run core Azure Local infrastructure components. A dedicated management cluster is currently required. Review the minimum specifications for setting up a management cluster with the disconnected operations appliance:

    Specification	Minimum configuration
    Number of nodes	3 nodes
    Memory per node	96 GB *
    Cores per node	24 physical cores
    Storage per node	2 TB SSD/NVME
    Boot disk drive storage	960 GB SSD/NVME **

    * _{The disconnected operations appliance running on the management cluster needs at least 64 GB of memory. We recommend that management cluster nodes have at least 96 GB of memory to provide enough capacity to run the appliance and other infrastructure components.}

    ** _{For systems with boot disks smaller than 960 GB, you must use extra data disks from the nodes (capacity) to install the appliance. A 960 GB boot drive is recommended as the minimum to reduce deployment complexity if your OEM configuration allows for a larger boot drive.}

Get started

To get access, work with your account team to understand the terms and agreements of the product. The account team or you can complete this form and wait for approval. You receive a notification of your status (approved, rejected, queued, or need more information) within 10 business days. If you're approved, you receive instructions for how you get access.

Deployment and management flow

Here's the flow to deploy and manage Azure Local with disconnected operations:

Review

Plan

Deploy

Manage

Troubleshoot

Related content

• Learn more about Azure Local with Disconnected operations

This feature is available only in Azure Local 2602 or later.