What is Azure Arc and do I need a license for it?

Azure Arc extends Azure's management plane to servers, Kubernetes clusters and SQL databases running outside Azure — on-prem, in AWS, or at the edge. Once connected, those resources appear in the Azure portal and can be managed with Azure Policy, Update Manager, Defender for Cloud and Monitor.

The Arc connection itself is free. Individual services you turn on (Defender for Servers, Update Manager, SQL Managed Instance enabled by Arc, Azure Monitor) are billed per their normal Azure rates. There is no separate "Arc license".

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