Updated: July 15, 2020 (February 16, 2015)

Windows Server Roles in Azure Virtual Machines

Before joining Directions on Microsoft, Rob worked at Microsoft for 14 years where he designed technologies for Microsoft products and... more

Most Windows Server roles are supported for use in Azure Virtual Machines. In particular, the DHCP Server and Windows Deployment Services roles are redundant to, and would not interoperate well with, existing functionality offered within Azure Virtual Machines.

Azure Virtual Machines itself is based on a hypervisor hosted in Azure, so it does not support layering an additional hypervisor such as Hyper-V. DirectAccess is intended to provide connectivity to on-premises servers without requiring a virtual private network, but it is not necessary since Azure Virtual Machines instances are Internet-facing.

Microsoft offers Rights Management Services (RMS) through a Software as a Service model hosted with Office 365 and likely prefers that customers use that service instead of hosting RMS in Azure Virtual Machines.

While the use of the Windows Server Remote Desktop Services (RDS) role in Azure Virtual Machines is supported, doing so requires proper client licensing; in particular, RDS user Client Access Licenses covered by active Software Assurance.

Atlas Members have full access

Get access to this and thousands of other unbiased analyses, roadmaps, decision kits, infographics, reference guides, and more, all included with membership. Comprehensive access to the most in-depth and unbiased expertise for Microsoft enterprise decision-making is waiting.

Membership Options

Already have an account? Login Now