Customers accustomed to System Center for data center management will have to adopt several services to duplicate functionality in Azure, with many capabilities lacking direct analogues.

Screenshot shows the overview dashboard of Azure Update management, which helps administrators manage Windows and Linux server OS updates.

A new Azure Update management center in preview can manage updates for Windows Server and Linux server OSs on Azure VMs and Azure Arc enabled servers.

SQL Server remains Microsoft’s preferred structured data technology; however, several open-source Azure services now compete with SQL Server, and one is available on-premises.

Sidebar provides a technical discussion of how Azure Arc enabled data services work.

Azure Arc enabled data services offers a method to deploy select Azure PaaS database services on-premises, in third-party clouds, and in Azure Kubernetes Services.

Azure Arc enabled data services Directly Connected mode simplifies deployment, security, and monitoring but requires a continuous connection to Azure and other Azure services.

Microsoft is increasingly emphasizing a hybrid strategy for its data-center management tools, with on-premises tools offering more integration with Azure services, and Azure-hosted services adding capabilities to manage on-premises resources.

Azure Arc enabled SQL Managed Instance reaches general availability in July 2021, providing the option to deploy the scalable Azure service on-premises and in non-Azure clouds.

Although System Center is still being updated and supported, Microsoft is prioritizing investments in Azure-hosted management services.