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Migrate your on-premises or other cloud Azure Arc-enabled server to Azure

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This article is intended to help you plan and successfully migrate your on-premises server or virtual machine managed by Azure Arc-enabled servers to Azure. By following these steps, you are able to transition management from Azure Arc-enabled servers based on the supported VM extensions installed and Azure services based on its Arc server resource identity.

Before performing these steps, review the Azure Migrate Prepare on-premises machines for migration to Azure article to understand requirements how to prepare for using Azure Migrate.

In this article, you:

  • Inventory Azure Arc-enabled servers supported VM extensions installed.
  • Uninstall all VM extensions from the Azure Arc-enabled server.
  • Identify Azure services configured to authenticate with your Azure Arc-enabled server-managed identity and prepare to update those services to use the Azure VM identity after migration.
  • Review Azure role-based access control (Azure RBAC) access rights granted to the Azure Arc-enabled server resource to maintain who has access to the resource after it has been migrated to an Azure VM.
  • Delete the Azure Arc-enabled server resource identity from Azure and remove the Azure Connected Machine agent.
  • Install the Azure guest agent.
  • Migrate the server or VM to Azure.

Step 1: Inventory and remove VM extensions

To inventory the VM extensions installed on your Azure Arc-enabled server, you can list them using the Azure CLI or with Azure PowerShell.

With Azure PowerShell, use the Get-AzConnectedMachineExtension command with the -MachineName and -ResourceGroupName parameters.

With the Azure CLI, use the az connectedmachine extension list command with the --machine-name and --resource-group parameters. By default, the output of Azure CLI commands is in JSON (JavaScript Object Notation). To change the default output to a list or table, for example, use az configure --output. You can also add --output to any command for a one time change in output format.

After identifying which VM extensions are deployed, you can remove them using the Azure portal, using the Azure PowerShell, or using the Azure CLI. If the Log Analytics VM extension or Dependency agent VM extension was deployed using Azure Policy and the VM insights initiative, it is necessary to create an exclusion to prevent re-evaluation and deployment of the extensions on the Azure Arc-enabled server before the migration is complete.

Step 2: Review access rights

List role assignments for the Azure Arc-enabled servers resource, using Azure PowerShell and with other PowerShell code, you can export the results to CSV or another format.

If you're using a managed identity for an application or process running on an Azure Arc-enabled server, you need to make sure the Azure VM has a managed identity assigned. To view the role assignment for a managed identity, you can use the Azure PowerShell Get-AzADServicePrincipal cmdlet. For more information, see List role assignments for a managed identity.

A system-managed identity is also used when Azure Policy is used to audit or configure settings inside a machine or server. With Azure Arc-enabled servers, the guest configuration agent service is included, and performs validation of audit settings. After you migrate, see Deploy requirements for Azure virtual machines for information on how to configure your Azure VM manually or with policy with the guest configuration extension.

Update role assignment with any resources accessed by the managed identity to allow the new Azure VM identity to authenticate to those services. See the following to learn how managed identities for Azure resources work for an Azure Virtual Machine (VM).

Step 3: Uninstall the Azure Connected Machine agent

Follow the guidance to uninstall the agent from the server. Double check that all extensions are removed before disconnecting the agent.

Step 4: Install the Azure Guest Agent

The VM that is migrated to Azure from on-premises doesn't have the Linux or Windows Azure Guest Agent installed. In these scenarios, you have to manually install the VM agent. For more information about how to install the VM Agent, see Azure Virtual Machine Windows Agent Overview or Azure Virtual Machine Linux Agent Overview.

Step 5: Migrate server or machine to Azure

Before proceeding with the migration with Azure Migration, review the Prepare on-premises machines for migration to Azure article to learn about requirements necessary to use Azure Migrate. To complete the migration to Azure, review the Azure Migrate migration options based on your environment.

Step 6: Deploy Azure VM extensions

After migration and completion of all post-migration configuration steps, you can now deploy the Azure VM extensions based on the VM extensions originally installed on your Azure Arc-enabled server. Review Azure virtual machine extensions and features to help plan your extension deployment.

To resume using audit settings inside a machine with guest configuration policy definitions, see Enable guest configuration.

If the Log Analytics VM extension or Dependency agent VM extension was deployed using Azure Policy and the VM insights initiative, remove the exclusion you created earlier. To use Azure Policy to enable Azure virtual machines, see Deploy Azure Monitor at scale using Azure Policy.

Next steps

Troubleshooting information can be found in the Troubleshoot Connected Machine agent guide.