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title Azure Local Anywhere
description Comprehensive documentation for the Azure Local Anywhere automation toolkit and deployment standard.
product product-azure-local-anywhere
version 0.2.0
sidebar_class_name hidden-sidebar-item
owners
team@azurelocal.cloud
automation-team@azurelocal.cloud
status active

Azure Local Anywhere

Status Category

DOCUMENT CATEGORY: Product Documentation SCOPE: Complete Azure Local Anywhere solution documentation PURPOSE: Standardized deployment of Azure Local infrastructure MASTER REFERENCE: Microsoft Learn - Azure Local

Status: Active Version: 0.2.0 Last Updated: 2026-01-30

Quick Start

New to Azure Local Anywhere? Follow this path:

Step Action Link
1 Review planning requirements Planning & Discovery
2 Set up CI/CD infrastructure CI/CD Infrastructure
3 Deploy Azure foundation Azure Foundation
4 Prepare on-premises environment On-Prem Readiness
5 Deploy the cluster Cluster Deployment
6 Complete handover Validation & Handover

Overview

Azure Local Anywhere is a standardized, automation-first solution for deploying Azure Local (formerly Azure Stack HCI) infrastructure. It is designed around a "Two-Repo Architecture" that separates the automation logic from the documentation, ensuring portable and repeatable deployments across different customer environments.

This documentation serves as the "Master Reference" for the solution, while the accompanying Toolkit Repository (azurelocal-toolkit) contains the actual scripts, templates, and configuration files used during deployment.

Prerequisites Checklist

Before starting an Azure Local deployment, ensure you have:

Requirement Description
Azure Subscription Active Azure subscription with Owner or Contributor rights
Entra ID Access Global Administrator or Privileged Role Administrator
Network Connectivity VPN or ExpressRoute to on-premises environment
Hardware Dell AX-series nodes (or compatible) racked and powered
Credentials Access to Dell iDRAC, network switches, and firewalls
GitLab Access source control account with project access

See Prerequisites & Assumptions for complete details.

System Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ TWO-REPO ARCHITECTURE │
├─────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┤
│ DOCUMENTATION REPO │ TOOLKIT REPO │
│ (This Site) │ (azurelocal-toolkit) │
├─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│ • High-Level Design (HLD) │ • PowerShell Scripts │
│ • Low-Level Design (LLD) │ • Ansible Playbooks │
│ • Standard Operating Procs │ • Bicep/Terraform Templates │
│ • Runbooks & Procedures │ • CI/CD Pipeline Definitions │
│ • Reference Documentation │ • Customer Configuration Files │
└─────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────┘

The Toolkit Repo is cloned and instanced for each customer deployment, while this documentation remains the single source of truth for procedures.

Documentation Sections

Section Description Status Files
Design High-level and low-level design documents Draft 3
Planning & Discovery Site assessment, requirements, discovery sessions Active 8
Implementation Complete deployment runbook (Parts 1-8) Active 149
Automation IaC templates, CI/CD pipelines Draft 7
Operations Day-2 operations, monitoring, support Draft 8
Lab Environment Lab access and configuration Draft 3
Assets Diagrams, scripts, configurations Active 6
Reference External links and resources Draft 1

Deployment Stages at a Glance

The implementation is divided into 8 parts with phased tasks:

Part 1: CI/CD Infrastructure

Phase Name Est. Time Link
1 B2B Cross-Tenant Configuration 30 min Phase 1
2 CI/CD Setup 45 min Phase 2
3 Infrastructure Deployment 30 min Phase 3

Part 2: Azure Foundation

Phase Name Est. Time Link
1 Landing Zones 1 hour Phase 1
2 Resource Providers 15 min Phase 2
3 RBAC Permissions 30 min Phase 3
4 Azure Management Infrastructure 2 hours Phase 4
5 Identity & Security 1 hour Phase 5

Part 3: On-Premises Readiness

Phase Name Est. Time Link
1 Active Directory 1 hour Phase 1
2 Enterprise Network Validation 2 hours Phase 2
3 Network Infrastructure 2 hours Phase 3

Part 4: Cluster Deployment

Phase Name Est. Time Link
1 Hardware Provisioning 1 hour Phase 1
2 OS Installation 2 hours Phase 2
3 OS Configuration 1 hour Phase 3
4 Arc Registration 30 min Phase 4
5 Cluster Deployment 2 hours Phase 5
6 Post-Deployment 1 hour Phase 6

Part 5: Operational Foundations

Phase Name Est. Time Link
1 SDN Deployment 2 hours Phase 1
2 Monitoring & Observability 1 hour Phase 2
3 Backup & DR 1 hour Phase 3
4 Security & Governance 1 hour Phase 4
5 Licensing & Telemetry 30 min Phase 5

Part 6: Cluster Testing & Validation

Activity Est. Time Link
Infrastructure Validation 2 hours Testing

Part 7: Validation & Handover

Activity Est. Time Link
Cluster Validation 1 hour Validation
Client Handover 2 hours Handover

Part 8: Lifecycle Operations

Activity Est. Time Link
Ongoing Operations Continuous Lifecycle

Total Estimated Time: 20-24 hours (spread across multiple days)

Key Capabilities

Capability Description
Part-Based Deployment Infrastructure delivery broken into 8 parts with phased tasks
Validation First Pre-flight checks and post-deployment validation scripts
Infrastructure as Code Bicep and Terraform for Azure resource management
Vendor Integration Standardized workflows for Dell, OpenGear, and Fortinet hardware
CI/CD Automation CI/CD pipelines for automated deployments
Drift Detection Continuous monitoring for configuration drift

Version History

Version Date Changes
0.2.0 2026-01-30 Standards compliance update, documentation restructure
0.1.0 2025-12-01 Initial documentation structure

Support & Resources

Repositories

Repository Description Link
Documentation This site GitHub
Toolkit Scripts, templates, pipelines GitHub
Terraform Modules Azure Local module GitHub

Team Contacts

Contact Purpose
Teams Channel General questions, support
team@azurelocal.cloud Documentation issues
automation-team@azurelocal.cloud Automation & scripting

External Resources

Resource Link
Microsoft Learn - Azure Local Documentation
Dell AX Nodes Support
Azure Arc Documentation

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