Microsoft has announced the preview of a brand-new Azure service called Azure Dedicated Host, that will allow Windows and Linux virtual machines (VMs) to run on single-tenant physical servers.
The new service will provide users the full control and visibility over everything that goes on the server without sharing its resources.
“With an Azure Dedicated Host, you can control all host-level platform maintenance initiated by Azure (e.g., host OS updates). An Azure Dedicated Host gives you the option to defer host maintenance operations and apply them within a defined maintenance window, 35 days,” explained Ziv Rafalovich, Principal Program Manager, Azure Compute, Microsoft, in a blog post.
“During this self-maintenance window, you can apply maintenance to your hosts at your convenience, thus gaining full control over the sequence and velocity of the maintenance process.”
Azure Dedicated Host enables enterprises to place Azure VMs on a specific and dedicated physical server. This will help them to meet compliance requirements in terms of physical security, data integrity, and monitoring. Host-level isolation is yet another benefit of this capability.
The Azure Dedicated Host can be created easily using the Azure portal. The tech giant has also extended the Azure Hybrid Benefit to Azure Dedicated Hosts which will allow organizations to use the existing Windows Server and SQL Server on-premise licenses.
Previously, Microsoft’s Azure offered similar services, but the latest version seems to offer more flexibility to its users. The preview version of this service is already been launched in most Azure regions.
In a recent study by Gartner, Microsoft has secured the second position in worldwide infrastructure as a service (IaaS) market segment with 15.5 percent share in 2018.
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