What Data Does Azure Arc Share with Microsoft?

• Azure Arc is an increasingly necessary management framework for organizations, particularly those seeking to use Extended Security Updates outside of Azure.
• Although Microsoft seemingly gives customers insight into the data Arc shares with the company, customers may be surprised by the kinds of data that must be shared.
• Customers should audit their resources prior to enrolling them in Azure Arc to ensure Microsoft doesn’t have more insight into systems than it requires.

Azure Arc is a critical component connecting Azure to resources that are on-premises or in AWS or Google Cloud (GCP). More than just handling the management of VMs, Arc is used to run several Azure services on-premises, integrate AWS and GCP resources into Azure, and allow Azure infrastructure and security services to connect to systems and services external to Azure. For many customers, Arc is the trigger to begin deployment and use of SQL Server Extended Security Updates (ESUs), although doing so doesn’t require the VMs themselves to be connected to and managed using Azure. This report doesn’t focus on Arc use cases but the data that customers must or may need to share with Microsoft. Although Microsoft has tried to be reasonably transparent about the data shared with the company, it may not give all customers the clarity they would prefer.