Welcome back to Lisa at the Edge. After a break I am easing back in slowly to the world of social media and kicking off the podcast again. I’m definitely a little rusty and I think it shows in this episode but hopefully I’ll be back to myself after a few more episodes.

In this episode I am joined by some of my team mates to discuss the Azure Stack HCI and Azure Arc announcements from Microsoft Ignite November 2021. I was in Paris during Ignite so missed the live content but I have been catching up via the blogs and video content and my team mates were on hand to bring me up to speed.

The best place to get a high level view of all of the announcements made at Ignite is the Ignite Book of News. If you’re looking for all things Azure Hybrid then navigate to section 1.4 Azure Hybrid in the Table of Contents.

There were some really exciting announcements around Azure Stack HCI and Azure Arc which emphasised the focus Microsoft have on Hybrid. Azure has switched up the game, now focused on bringing Azure Services and Management capabilities to wherever workloads are running. Azure no longer equates to an Azure DC or Region, Azure is going to be everywhere and anywhere customers need it. Microsoft understand the on-prem world and the cloud native world, making them best placed to bring the two together delivering a truly hybrid experience with a consistent management plane, the Azure Portal and consistent set of tools.

Since the release of Azure Stack HCI operating system (delivered as an Azure Service) back in December 2020 I have been asking the question: Why Azure Stack HCI over Azure Arc + another infrastructure. The announcements made at Ignite began to answer this for me, they showed the deep and native integration with Azure that Azure Stack HCI now has and will develop further over time. Azure Arc also continues to develop and I am excited by the fact that Dell Technologies is the only Microsoft partner to have validated their products for Azure Arc. You can read more about that in this blog by my colleague Robert Sonders.

So what did we cover?

• What is Azure Stack HCI – the team shared their thoughts on how best to describe this new operating system delivered as an Azure Service
• GPU Enablement – Use GPUs with clustered VMs – Azure Stack HCI | Microsoft Docs
• Kernel Soft Reboot – Enable quick restarts with Kernel Soft Reboot in Azure Stack HCI – Azure Stack HCI | Microsoft Docs
• Kernel Soft Reboot Video – Kernel Soft Reboot | Azure Stack HCI technical roadmap – Bing video
• Dynamic CPU Capability – Dynamic processor compatibility mode in Azure Stack HCI – Azure Stack HCI | Microsoft Docs
• Create and Manage VMs from Azure Portal
• Secured Core
• Deep and native integration with Azure Arc and Azure Stack HCI
• Azure Virtual Desktop for Azure Stack HCI – Hybrid Cloud meets Hybrid Work with Azure Virtual Desktop for Azure Stack HCI

Episode Links

• github MSLabs
• Summary of Azure Stack HCI Announcements
• Try out Azure Virtual Desktop for Azure Stack HCI (Preview)

Connect

• Jayanth @YkJayanth
• Kenny @KennyLowe
• Jaromir @jaromirkaspar

Watch on Youtube

Check out the YouTube Description for timestamps to jump to sections which interest you

Lisa at the Edge Links

• Website: https://lisaattheedge.com
• YouTube: Lisaattheedge
• Buy me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lisaattheedge

Video graphics by the amazing Krist McKenna from Ratworks: http://www.ratworks.net/