SplitBrain

Azure Local Workshop June 2026

A 3-day hands-on workshop

📅 22-24 June 2026 | 📍 Amsterdam

The cloud is coming back to your data center, on your terms. With data sovereignty rules tightening, edge scenarios multiplying, and AI workloads demanding local compute, Azure Local (formerly Azure Stack HCI) has become Microsoft’s strategic platform for running Azure services exactly where your data lives.

In three intensive days, you’ll go from fundamentals to a fully deployed cluster running production-style workloads: VMs, Kubernetes (AKS), and Azure Virtual Desktop, on infrastructure you control end-to-end.

This isn’t a slideware course. Every participant gets their own dedicated lab environment, and roughly half of each day is spent with hands on the keyboard.

Who should attend

  • Infrastructure and cloud engineers
  • System administrators running or evaluating hybrid environments
  • Solution architects designing sovereign, edge, or regulated deployments
  • IT professionals planning a migration from VMware or traditional Hyper-V

What you’ll learn

  • A working understanding of Azure Local architecture, networking, and storage
  • Hands-on experience deploying a cluster end-to-end
  • The ability to provision and manage VMs, AKS, and AVD on Azure Local
  • Reusable Bicep (Infrastructure as Code) templates
  • The confidence to scope, plan, and lead an Azure Local project at your organisation

Agenda

Day 1, Monday 22 June: Foundations and Architecture

Understand the platform before you build on it.

  • What Azure Local is, and where it fits in Microsoft’s hybrid strategy
  • Connected vs. disconnected architectures and multi-rack deployments
  • Azure Local vs. Azure public cloud: the key differences
  • Software-Defined Networking, Network ATC, and virtual switches
  • Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) and storage architecture
  • Hardware certification: Validated, Integrated, Premier
  • Licensing, subscription models, and use cases for sovereignty, edge, and regulated industries
  • Lab: environment walkthrough and deployment preparation

Day 2, Tuesday 23 June: Deployment and Configuration

Build a working cluster from scratch.

  • Planning, prerequisites, and sizing
  • Networking and storage design decisions
  • Lab: install and configure Azure Local nodes
  • Lab: run cluster validation
  • Lab: deploy your cluster end-to-end
  • Lab: Management through Windows Admin Center, Failover Cluster Manager, and the Azure Portal
  • Workload management vs. infrastructure management
  • Lab: Monitoring and update configuration

Day 3, Wednesday 24 June: Workloads, Operations and Lifecycle

Run real workloads and operate the platform.

  • Lab: deploy VMs via the Azure Portal
  • Lab: deploy VMs with Bicep (Infrastructure as Code)
  • Lab: deploy AKS on Azure Local
  • Lab: deploy Azure Virtual Desktop
  • Lab: Cloud integration with Azure Arc, Azure Policy, and Azure Monitor
  • High availability, backup, and disaster recovery
  • Migration paths from VMware and Hyper-V
  • Security: Secure Boot, BitLocker, Credential Guard
  • Lab: Day-2 operations, capacity expansion, upgrades, and roadmap

Format

  • 3 days, on-site in Amsterdam
  • 22-24 June 2026, 9:00 to 17:00 daily
  • Maximum number of participants, so everyone gets real guidance
  • Each participant works in their own dedicated, virtualized Azure Local lab
  • Roughly 50/50 split between theory/demos and hands-on labs
  • Lunch and refreshments included

Prerequisites

  • Some knowledge of Windows Server and Hyper-V
  • Familiarity with networking fundamentals (VLANs, IP, DNS)
  • Basic Azure experience is helpful but not required

Seats are limited. Reserve your spot.