Azure Arc-enabled data services on PowerFlex deliver the Azure data service capability on flexible software-defined storage with linearly-scaling performance and network throughput. 

The SQL Managed Instance and PostgreSQL Hyperscale services for Microsoft Azure Arc are available with or without a direct Azure connection. Both the modes allow you to get the latest from Azure and receive regular updates on patches and new features. Also, the services are flexible because Microsoft Container Registry updates are provided, and deployment cadences are set as per organizational policies. 

Another major feature of deploying Azure Arc-enabled data services is elastic scale, self-service provisioning, and unified management.

Note: For more information, see Azure Arc-enabled data services supported regions, connectivity modes, and connectivity requirements. For more information about Azure Arc-enabled data services General Availability and Preview mode, see Azure Arc-enabled data services.

The PowerFlex platform that is used for the validation is configured using Upstream Kubernetes with one master and two worker nodes. Each of these nodes is configured on VMs hosted on PowerFlex platform with ESXi hypervisor. PowerFlex CSI driver plug-in is installed on this cluster to provide persistent storage to Kubernetes.

Note: The Azure Arc-enabled data services can be deployed in multiple ways and on multiple types of Kubernetes distributions. PowerFlex platform is validated for all Azure Arc supported Kubernetes distributions. For more information, see multiple option of creating Azure Arc data controller. This paper illustrates the installation of Azure Arc data services in direct connectivity mode. For more information about the deployment of Arc data services in direct connectivity mode, see Azure Arc-enabled data services.