Azure Region Location Switzerland North really in Switzerland?

Adel Fattah 45 Reputation points
2024-05-02T08:13:26+00:00

Hello Everyone

I have a question about AADDS, or should I say Entra Domain Services. When creating a managed domain, I can choose the region, such as Switzerland North, under the basics. Recently, a mentor of mine mentioned that when the region is Switzerland North, it could also be outside of Switzerland North or even outside of Switzerland itself. Is that true? I need this information for my diploma thesis.

Thank you.

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Azure Virtual Machines
Azure Virtual Machines
An Azure service that is used to provision Windows and Linux virtual machines.
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  1. Andreas Baumgarten 123.7K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2024-05-02T08:36:50.6+00:00

    Hi @Adel Fattah ,

    I am not sure where your mentor got this information from.

    On the Microsoft Website is a clear statement regarding the region the Entra ADDS is installed in:

    Two Windows Server domain controllers (DCs) are then deployed into your selected Azure region.

    Source: How does Domain Services work?

    This means the 2 VMs (DCs) of the Entra ADDS instance is installed in the selected region and if you select Switzerland North the VMs will be deployed in this Azure region.


    (If the reply was helpful please don't forget to upvote and/or accept as answer, thank you)

    Regards

    Andreas Baumgarten

    2 people found this answer helpful.

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  1. Prrudram-MSFT 28,286 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator
    2024-05-02T10:46:22.1133333+00:00

    Hi @Adel Fattah,

    What Andreas Baumgarten suggested is correct. Whatever the available region that you select, your VM will be stored in that region only.
    You need to look at this section of the document for confirmation on data residency https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/fundamentals/data-residency

    Microsoft Entra components and data storage location:
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    More details: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/fundamentals/data-storage-eu

    If you are confused with the recent AVD query in this thread https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1657138/creating-avd-host-pool-location-switzerland-not-av, my peer vipullag-MSFT suggested the same.
    There could be some services like AVD whose Metadata(Service generated data) is stored in a nearest data location based on the geographies. However, that doesn't mean your VM is stored outside the region. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-desktop/data-locations#data-locations

    If I have answered your query, please click "Accept as answer" as a token of appreciation

    2 people found this answer helpful.

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