Anders AhlImagine your Windows and Linux servers are like rebellious teenagers – scattered across clouds, continents, and coffee-stained data centers, refusing to follow rules, ignoring curfews (aka patch schedules), and constantly asking, “Why can’t I just be unmanaged?” Enter Azure Arc: the cloud-native parent with a clipboard, a policy engine, and zero tolerance for noncompliance.
Now pair that with Microsoft Intune – the endpoint whisperer that’s (hopefully) already keeping your laptops, phones, and tablets in line. Together, they’re the Batman and Robin of IT management, bringing order to the multi-cloud mayhem. Azure Arc wrangles your rogue servers into Azure’s loving arms, while Intune ensures your endpoints don’t start a revolution.
So if your infrastructure is feeling more “Frankenstack” than “cloud-native”, this article dives into how these two tools complement each other like peanut butter and jelly (but with more encryption), helping IT pros unify management, enforce Zero Trust, and finally sleep at night knowing their infrastructure isn’t plotting a coup.
Modern IT environments span a mix of client endpoints and server infrastructure, demanding unified cloud-native management solutions. Microsoft offers two key cloud management tools for these needs: Azure Arc for servers and Microsoft Intune for client endpoints. This article explores cloud-native server management with Azure Arc, contrasts it with Microsoft Intune, and explains how Azure Arc complements Intune to cover both server and client management needs in a cohesive way.
The Shift to Cloud-Native Management
Organizations are rapidly shifting from traditional on-premises management tools to cloud-native solutions for both servers and client devices. This shift is driven by the need for centralized control, scalability, and reduced on-premises infrastructure. Historically, server administrators relied on tools like Active Directory Group Policy and System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) to manage servers, while endpoint managers used solutions like Microsoft Intune (or SCCM) for user devices. In fact, as of recent years approximately 75% of IT organizations still use Configuration Manager to manage devices and the server/client ratio is getting heavier on the server side. However, cloud-based management is sharply on the rise: Microsoft Azure’s management services (such as Azure Arc and Azure Stack) now target servers, while Intune focuses on providing cloud management for client endpoints. This division highlights a modern strategy – use cloud services to manage wherever possible, for both servers and clients. By embracing cloud-native management, enterprises can eliminate many on-premises management servers, automate at scale, and manage hybrid resources through a “single pane of glass.”
Azure Arc-Enabled Servers: Cloud Management for Hybrid Servers
Azure Arc allows you to project on-premises or multi-cloud servers into Azure, managing them (almost) like native Azure virtual machines. When you install the lightweight Azure Connected Machine agent on a Windows or Linux server (whether it’s in your datacenter or another cloud), that machine becomes an Azure Arc-enabled server with a unique Azure resource ID. It will appear as a resource in your Azure subscription, inside a resource group you choose, alongside your VMs and other resources. In effect, Azure Arc extends Azure’s control plane to anywhere your servers live.
Key capabilities Azure Arc brings for server management include:
- Centralized Inventory & Organization: Once onboarded, Arc-enabled servers can be tagged, organized into resource groups, and viewed in the Azure Portal or via Azure CLI/PowerShell just like any Azure VM. This provides a single, up-to-date inventory of all servers across on-premises, Azure, and other clouds. Administrators can quickly search and filter servers by tags or resource group, enabling easy grouping (for example, tagging servers by environment, location, or role).
- Configuration Governance with Policy: Azure Arc allows you to apply Azure Policy and Azure Guest Configuration (DSC) to Arc-enabled servers for consistent configuration and compliance. This is analogous to using Group Policy or Desired State Configuration on-premises, but now delivered via Azure. Azure Policy can audit or enforce settings on Arc-connected machines (for example, ensuring certain security settings or OS configurations) and even remediate non-compliance automatically. This cloud-managed policy approach brings consistency across hybrid servers just as if they were Azure VMs.
- Patching and Update Management: Azure Update Manager (part of Azure Automation) enables centralized patch management for Arc-enabled Windows and Linux servers. Instead of running WSUS or SCCM on-prem, an admin can schedule patch deployments through Azure for all servers, whether in Azure or on-prem. Azure Update Manager provides visibility into update compliance and even supports advanced capabilities like hotpatching for Windows Server (installing certain security updates without requiring a reboot). This ensures servers stay up-to-date with minimal downtime, using the same service Azure VMs use.
- Run Command & Scripting: For any Arc-managed server, Azure provides Run Command capability to execute scripts remotely from the portal or CLI. This is done securely over the Arc agent channel, so you no longer need to RDP or SSH into each server for routine tasks. For instance, you could run a PowerShell script on dozens of on-prem servers simultaneously through Azure Arc. Additionally, Azure Arc now allows direct SSH access via the Azure portal to Linux Arc-enabled servers without exposing public SSH ports, simplifying remote administration.
- Monitoring and Inventory Tracking: Azure Arc integrates with Azure Monitor and services like Change Tracking and Inventory. By enabling the Azure Monitor agent (Log Analytics) on Arc servers, admins get centralized logging, performance metrics, and the ability to query across all servers for events or changes. Change Tracking can record configuration changes or software installation on Arc servers across environments. You can thus query “what changed on my servers last night” or maintain a global inventory of installed applications using Azure Resource Graph across your entire hybrid server fleet.
- Security and Access Control: Arc-enabled servers integrate with Entra ID for identity and access. Although an Arc server isn’t domain-joined to Entra ID like a client device would be, it is onboarded to your Azure tenant and managed via Azure Role-Based Access Control (RBAC). Admins can delegate management tasks (like who can run scripts or view properties) by assigning Azure roles to users or groups for these servers, following least-privilege principles. This means your existing Entra ID accounts and role assignments control access to management operations on Arc-connected machines, unifying access control with the rest of Azure.
In summary, Azure Arc brings cloud practices – centralized management, at-scale automation, and uniform governance – to your entire server estate, even those outside Azure. Tasks traditionally done with on-prem tools (group policies, SCCM, manual scripting) can be done through Azure services instead. As Microsoft’s documentation puts it, Azure Arc is effectively the “next-generation” of server management akin to how Azure and Intune modernized client management. Arc transforms server management into a cloud-centric model: the control plane (inventory, configuration, automation, and even some licensing tasks) shifts into Azure, while your physical servers can remain wherever they are.
Microsoft Intune: Cloud-Native Management for Client Endpoints
Microsoft Intune is a cloud-based endpoint management service focused on managing user devices (clients), such as PCs, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones. Intune’s role in the Microsoft ecosystem is to provide “modern management” for client operating systems – things like Windows 10/11 desktops, macOS devices, iOS/iPadOS and Android devices – through the cloud. With Intune, IT administrators can enforce device configuration policies, deploy applications, ensure compliance (for example, requiring encryption or passcodes on mobile devices), and wipe or secure lost devices, all remotely via a web portal. It integrates tightly with Microsoft 365 and Entra ID so that devices and user identities are linked for conditional access to resources.
It’s important to note that Intune’s scope does not generally include managing server operating systems. In Microsoft’s own guidance, “Microsoft Intune provides cloud management of clients,” whereas other solutions (Azure Arc, Azure Stack, or Configuration Manager) target server management. Intune is often described as an MDM (Mobile Device Management) and MAM (Mobile Application Management) solution – its design assumes a user (or multiple users) per device and focuses on end-user productivity and security scenarios. Typical Intune capabilities include pushing Wi-Fi or VPN configurations to laptops, enforcing mobile application policies, deploying Office apps or line-of-business apps to PCs, and checking that devices meet compliance (for example, not jailbroken, having antivirus enabled) before allowing access to corporate email.
Because Intune is tailored to client endpoints, Windows Server is not a primary target for Intune management. For instance, you would not use Intune to configure roles/features on a Windows Server or to manage a fleet of Linux servers – those tasks fall outside Intune’s purview. What if you enroll a Windows Server machine into Intune anyway? In limited cases, servers can be onboarded to Intune’s umbrella via Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, allowing Intune to deliver certain security policies (like antivirus, firewall, or attack surface reduction rules) to that server. However, this is a niche integration aimed at security settings. Intune cannot perform full configuration or patch management for servers – for example, Intune has no built-in way to schedule Windows Server updates or ensure a SQL Server service is running.
To summarize Intune’s role: it’s the cloud management solution for user-facing/client devices, providing mobility and security management without on-prem infrastructure. Intune shines in scenarios like managing a fleet of employee laptops (whether in-office or remote), handling BYOD mobile phone policies, or pushing software updates to Windows 11 PCs using Windows Update for Business. It is complementary, not overlapping, with Azure Arc – each targets a distinct category of IT assets.
Contrasting Azure Arc and Intune: Different Targets, Similar Philosophy
While Azure Arc and Microsoft Intune both enable cloud-first management, they operate in different domains and address different needs. It’s helpful to compare their scope and capabilities side by side:
Complementary Roles: Covering Both Servers and Clients for Unified Management
Azure Arc and Intune are not competing products – they are complementary, together enabling a holistic management strategy for all enterprise devices and servers. Organizations often adopt both: Intune to manage the front-end devices that employees use daily, and Azure Arc to manage the back-end servers and workloads that power the business. This combination covers the full spectrum of endpoints in a typical enterprise.
Unified Strategy Benefits: By leveraging both solutions, IT can enforce consistent standards across their environment. For example, consider security compliance: Intune can ensure every laptop or mobile that accesses corporate data has disk encryption and is up-to-date on patches, while Azure Arc can ensure every server (on-prem or in cloud) has the latest security updates, proper configuration, and is monitored for threats. The result is end-to-end compliance and visibility, from the user’s device all the way to the servers, through cloud-based dashboards. Microsoft’s vision is that the control plane for managing infrastructure is moving to Azure for everything – Intune moved client management to the cloud, and now Arc is moving server management to the same paradigm.
Eliminating Gaps: Intune alone leaves a gap in managing servers; Azure Arc fills that gap. Conversely, Azure Arc isn’t meant to control user smartphones or PCs; Intune covers that. When used together, an IT department can potentially retire a patchwork of old tools (WSUS for server updates, group policies for configuring PCs, VPN-based remote PC management, etc.). For instance, Group Policy Objects (GPOs) were the traditional way to configure Windows settings for both users and computers in domain-joined scenarios. Now, Intune’s device configuration policies can replace GPOs for user devices, and Azure Policy (via Arc) can act in lieu of GPO for servers – both delivering policy from Azure in a unified manner. Similarly, where once you might use SCCM for patching servers and Windows Update for Business for PCs, you can now use Azure Update Manager for servers and Intune’s update rings for clients, each purpose-built but under a unified cloud strategy.
Integrated Cloud Ecosystem: Both Azure Arc and Intune plug into broader Microsoft cloud ecosystems. Azure Arc, for example, can register servers with Azure Security Center/Defender for Cloud to continuously assess server security configurations across on-prem and cloud (something Intune does for devices via Defender and Conditional Access). Intune-managed devices can be monitored in Endpoint Analytics and their compliance can gate access to applications via Entra ID. While admins will use separate portals (Azure Portal for Arc, Endpoint Manager portal for Intune), those portals are all part of Azure and Entra ID tenancy – a user in Entra can be granted rights in both to perform their respective tasks. There is also a concept of “co-management” where traditional SCCM-managed Windows PCs can be concurrently managed by Intune; similarly, on the server side, one could manage servers with existing tools and incrementally adopt Arc for new capabilities. Over time, as cloud management matures, organizations can gradually let cloud services like Intune and Arc take over all management duties.
Conclusion
In summary, Azure Arc-enabled servers bring the power of Azure’s cloud management to your hybrid and on-premises servers, filling a crucial gap that Microsoft Intune (with its client-focused design) does not address. Microsoft Intune remains the go-to for managing user devices and delivering a modern workspace experience for employees, but it stops short of server administration. Azure Arc picks up where Intune leaves off, allowing IT admins to manage servers with the same cloud-first philosophy – using tags, policies, and automation at scale – instead of relying solely on legacy on-prem tools.
By deploying both Azure Arc and Intune, organizations can achieve unified endpoint management in the broadest sense: everything from a smartphone to a Linux server can be governed under Azure’s umbrella. This comprehensive approach reduces management silos and improves security and compliance through consistent, centralized controls. It represents a holistic shift of the IT management “control plane” into the cloud, aligning with digital transformation goals. Cloud-native server management with Azure Arc, complemented by Intune’s client management, empowers IT teams to manage “any device, anywhere” – whether it’s a user’s phone or a backend server – all with modern cloud tooling and from a single pane of glass in Azure.
The future of enterprise IT management is undoubtedly cloud-driven. With solutions like Azure Arc and Microsoft Intune working in tandem, organizations can be confident that both their servers and their client endpoints are covered by robust, scalable, and forward-looking management practices. This combination ensures that no device is left behind in the cloud management journey, and that both administrators and end-users benefit from the efficiency and agility of cloud-native management.
Simon Skotheimsvik
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