IT administrators and DBAs can choose the control plane that best suits their requirements when managing elements of the DBaaS platform. For organizations with Dell Integrated Systems for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI spanning multiple data center and edge locations, management can be performed:

1. At an in-depth, cluster-by-cluster basis using Windows Admin Center
2. At-scale using Azure management and governance services and Azure Arc-enabled infrastructure solutions 

In both scenarios, Dell Technologies has developed OpenManage Integrations that simplify life cycle management and governance with a single Dell HCI Configuration Profile (Dell HCP) policy definition and consistent hybrid management experience.  

Microsoft Windows Admin Center is a browser-based management console that includes intuitive workflows for managing multiple layers of this solution architecture. Dell OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin Center provides:

• automated cluster creation
• cluster and storage expansion preparation
• hardware monitoring
• dynamic CPU core management
• intrinsic infrastructure security management
• full stack life cycle management with Cluster-Aware Updating

Azure Arc-enabled infrastructure allows organizations to manage and operate all their IT resources at scale using Azure Resource Manager. Once on-premises servers and Kubernetes clusters are onboarded to Azure Arc, administrators can manage and govern them with services like Azure Monitor, Azure Defender, and Azure Policy. Dell OpenManage Integration with Windows Admin Center can integrate Dell HCP policy definitions into Azure Policy. Then, Azure Stack HCI configuration compliance checks rapidly detect and remediate deviations from best practices, which can include unauthorized changes to cluster-level, BIOS, iDRAC, and component settings across fleets of integrated systems.

Domain-specific CLIs and UIs enable monitoring and managing elements of Kubernetes and the data services layers. For example, Microsoft SQL DBAs may prefer to use locally installed tools like SQL Server Management Studio or Azure Data Studio for daily operations. However, certain aspects of the data services layer can also be managed through Azure Resource Manager using the Azure portal or Azure CLI. AKS hybrid can be monitored using a locally installed instance of Grafana or using Azure Monitor Container Insights in the Azure portal. All these approaches are discussed throughout this white paper.