Difference between Azure Arc Server with SQL Server extension and Azure Arc SQL Server

Saimon Najashi 1 Reputation point
2022-05-08T18:08:34.897+00:00

I want to onboard(normal) Servers and SQL Servers to Azure Arc.
I see two Possibilities to do that:

Onboard all servers as Azure Arc Servers (Powershell Script) and install the SQL Server extension on those Servers that are SQL Servers.
Onboard the normal Servers as Azure Arc Servers (Powershell script) and onboard the SQL Servers as SQL Servers (with a different Powershell script). Both Powershell scripts come from the Azure Portal and are generated whenever you click the Add button on either Servers, or SQL Servers.

My questions are:

What is the difference between those two methods?
Why are all servers, no matter which methods I've used only showing up as Servers, but not as SQL Servers in the Azure Portal?

Azure SQL Database
Azure Arc
Azure Arc
A Microsoft cloud service that enables deployment of Azure services across hybrid and multicloud environments.
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  1. GeethaThatipatri-MSFT 27,722 Reputation points Microsoft Employee
    2022-05-09T22:30:31.44+00:00

    Hi, @Saimon Najashi Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A forum, and thanks for reaching out.

    Azure Arc-enabled servers let you manage Windows and Linux physical servers and virtual machines hosted outside of Azure, on your corporate network, or another cloud provider. With SQL Server extension on top of Azure -Arc server, let you manage SQL Server instances from Azure. In order for SQL Server arc enabled, the server must be arc enabled at first.

    1. If the server is not hosting SQL Server, you will just arc enable your server. Plan and deploy Azure Arc-enabled servers - Azure Arc | Microsoft Learn
    2. If the server also hosting SQL Server, there are multiple ways you can arc enable your SQL Server.
      a. If the Server is already Arc enabled by using step#1, then you can simply register the SQL Server extension. Go to Server -Arc resource \Settings \Extensions \Add “SQL Server Extension -Azure Arc”. This will install SQL Server Arc extension and start managing SQL Server from Azure.
      b. If you need to register several SQL Servers on Arc connected servers, you can also register SQL Server at scale using Azure Policy Connect SQL Servers on Azure Arc-enabled servers at scale | Microsoft Learn
    3. If the server hosting SQL Server, but not arc enabled yet, then you can use the method directly:Connect your SQL Server to Azure Arc | Microsoft Learn This method first enable Arc -server under the hood and register SQL Server.

    Please let me know if the information is helpful.

    Regards
    Geetha