Acquire disconnected operations for Azure Local

This article explains how to acquire disconnected operations for Azure Local. Learn how to create a virtual appliance resource in the Azure portal, download installation files, and get support from Microsoft for your deployment.

Prerequisites

• An active Azure subscription.
• An approval for disconnected operations for Azure Local.
• An Azure account with Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) rights to create a disconnected operations instance.

When you finish these steps, you get:

• A disconnected operations instance in Azure that represents your on-premises virtual appliance.
• The files you need to deploy Azure Local disconnected operations.

Create virtual appliance and download installation files

To create a virtual appliance and download the required files for your on-premises installation, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to the portal and navigate to Azure Local.

2. From the same browser session, select this link.

   Note

   If your subscription isn't approved for Disconnected operations, any action (such as create) fails.

3. From the Disconnected operations tab, select Create.

   

4. On the Basics tab, complete these required fields:

   Field	Description
   Subscription	The subscription where you want to place the resource.
   Resource group	The resource group where you want to place the resource.
   Virtual appliance name	The name to identify your disconnected operations appliance. For example, no-site-1.
   Region	The Azure region where you want to place the metadata. There's no metadata from the on-premises installation itself. This region is used for billing and support purposes.
   Outbound connectivity	Select how you intend to deploy your disconnected operations appliance: Option 1: Limited connectivity Use this option if you want the appliance to be connected to Azure. This option: - Simplifies management and supportability, should you require it. - You optionally connect the control plane appliance for ease of management (to for example, get support, simplify update of appliance). - All Azure Local (node) traffic and Arc agentry stays local on your network Option 2: Air-gapped Use this option if you have no way or desire of connecting the appliance to Azure. - You always need to import and export data in both directions (such as logs for support and updates) in and out of your datacenter when required.
   Pricing model	2 month free trial - Limited 2-month free trial. You can't create additional trials after you create an instance of disconnected operations. Capacity - Annual term - Capacity based pricing is based on total Azure Local physical cores that you manage with disconnected operations. You pay monthly during the annual term after you create this resource.
   Cores	Number of Azure Local physical cores you plan on deploying and managing disconnected operations.

   Note

   Both modes allow you to operate the control plane and surrounding Azure Local nodes fully disconnected.

   

5. Select Review + create and check that the validation succeeds.

6. Review the privacy statement for Azure Local-disconnected operations and check the box to agree.

7. Then, select Create.

   

8. After the deployment finishes, go to your new resource. You see the resource details on the appliance page.

   Note

   For the next two steps, see the supplemental documentation for getting the appliance.

9. Look for the download manifest and get virtual appliance actions. You need these files for your on-premises installation.

   Action	Description	Estimated download size
   Manifest file	Identified as AzureLocal.DisconnectedOperations.Appliance.manifest. You need this file for deployment and to activate the appliance. It contains the required licensing information and more.	< 1 KB
   Appliance	Shows a set of files you can download, identified as AzureLocal.disconnectedoperations.zip, ArcA_LocalData_A.vhdx, ArcA_SharedData_A.vhdx, and OSAndDocker_A.vhdx. These files contain the virtual hard disks and virtual machine together with the operations module required to deploy and configure the virtual appliance as a whole. You can download each file individually or run the script provided on the page to automate the download.	250 GB+

10. Select download manifest.

    

11. Select get virtual appliance and download each file in the list. This process can take several hours. When completed, move these files to a single folder. Unzip the AzureLocal.disconnectedoperations.zip file in that folder. After you extract the zip file, delete it. You should have the following files required for installation in the folder after this step:

    • manifest.xml
    • OperationsModule
    • IRVM.zip
    • ArcA_LocalData_A.vhdx
    • ArcA_SharedData_A.vhdx
    • ArcA_SharedData_ACSBlob_A.vhdx
    • ArcA_SharedData_ACSTable_A.vhdx
    • OSAndDocker_A.vhdx
    • Storage.json

    Note

    To download files faster, select and run the script from the portal instead of downloading each file individually.

12. When the steps are complete, put all the files in a share or on portable media. You need these files during deployment.

Download Azure Local ISO

1. Sign in to the portal and navigate to Azure Local.
2. Select Download software.
3. Download Azure Local OS.
4. Select a subscription where you registered the Microsoft.AzureStackHCI resource provider.
5. Select the software version that's compatible with the version you're using.
6. Read the privacy notice and select Download.

Make sure you have the ISO available to install on your Azure Local nodes.

Review disconnected operations for Azure Local compatible versions

Related content

• Deploy disconnected operations for Azure Local.

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