Azure Arc-enabled server benefits

Overview

In November 2024 Microsoft made a set of Azure’s server management capabilities free for eligible customers running Windows Server on Azure Arc-enabled machines. If you’re running a Pay-As-You-Go server or it’s covered with licenses with Software Assurance or Software Subscriptions, then these services are included:

• Azure Update Manager
• Azure Change Tracking and Inventory
• Azure Machine Configuration
• Windows Admin Center
• Remote Support
• Network HUD
• Best Practices Assessment
• Azure Site Recovery Configuration

Activating the benefits

If you’ve got a Pay-As-You-Go server then the benefits are available automatically, but for other eligible servers the benefits need to be activated manually. In the picture from Microsoft below, you can see the Licenses section in the Azure Arc blade of the Azure Management Portal. There’s a list of servers which are Azure Arc-enabled but we can see that the benefits are not activated. Selecting the activation option shows the screen at the right-hand side where you can attest that you have the required licenses and activation takes place.

In December 2025 Microsoft made an Azure Policy available to make an administrator’s life easier. When implemented, this policy continuously monitors the Azure Arc environment, automatically identifying newly added machines and highlighting those missing the required benefits. It’s then an easy job for an administrator to initiate a remediation task to enable some or all of these servers for the benefits.