Azure Stack HCI with SDN

Question

Hi there

Azure Stack HCI seems to have improved a lot in terms of installation easiness and stability as a HCI solution compared to the Windows 2016 / 2019.
But for the SDN part, it's still not out of the box. We still need to run SDNExpress scripts, have separate VMs handling NC, GW, SLB instead of "encapuslating" this in the HyperV layer.
What is the roadmap of SDN on Azure Stack HCI?

THanks,
Marta

Answer 1

Hi Marta
Thanks for providing feedback.

We have been working on improving the SDN deployment experience through Windows Admin Center (WAC). Today, as part of the cluster creation wizard in WAC, you can deploy Network Controller. Support to deploy SDN infrastructure post the cluster creation wizard is not available today (customer has to use SDN Express scripts) but is coming soon as below:

• NC deployment through WAC (post cluster creation wizard) will be available late September/early October
• SLB deployment will be available in the next few months
• SDN Gateway deployment will be available in the next few months

Regarding use of VMs for SDN infrastructure, we have plans to remove the dependency, at least for some of the infra components. But we are not yet ready to provide timelines.

Please feel free to reach out at sdn_feedback@microsoft.com if you have additional questions.