Neil_Bird explains how to use the Azure Local Well-Architected Review Assessment to evaluate and strengthen the architecture of hybrid Azure deployments, ensuring high standards for reliability, security, and operational excellence.

Optimize Azure Local Deployments with the Well-Architected Review Assessment

Author: Neil Bird

Why Azure Local?

Azure Local brings Azure services to customer-owned infrastructure. It enables consistent cloud management and allows you to run both modern (containerized) and traditional (VM-based) applications in distributed on-premises or edge environments. With Azure Local, you can deploy Windows/Linux VMs, Azure Virtual Desktop, and containerized workloads with AKS Arc, while supporting additional services like Azure Container Apps and Azure Machine Learning AKS compute targets.

This approach helps organizations meet data sovereignty, compliance, and low latency needs by keeping data and workloads on-premises while providing modern cloud management and deployment capabilities.

What is the Well-Architected Framework?

The Azure Well-Architected Framework (WAF) offers a structured set of best practices for designing, deploying, and operating cloud solutions. It’s organized into five pillars:

Reliability
Security
Cost Optimization
Operational Excellence
Performance Efficiency

Following these principles helps architects and teams build robust, efficient, and scalable systems in Azure and hybrid environments.

Azure Local Well-Architected Review Assessment

Microsoft has launched the [Azure Local

Well-Architected Review Assessment](https://learn.microsoft.com/assessments/d8f04a92-c8b9-4ae7-8e51-61b8a1035942/)—a tool designed to help teams using Azure Local evaluate their deployment and operational maturity against the five pillars of the Well-Architected Framework. The assessment consists of Yes/No (or True/False) questions and delivers a risk or maturity score with actionable guidance and links to relevant resources.

Who Should Use the Assessment?

Completing the assessment may require input from a range of team members:

Azure Local platform administrators
Application developers/owners
IT security teams

Each question checks whether specific features or practices are implemented. Unchecked items indicate areas for improvement. Post-assessment, you receive tailored guidance and links to help address gaps.

For more information on using the platform, consult the Microsoft Assessment Platform FAQ.

When to Complete the Assessment

You can perform the Well-Architected Review Assessment at any stage—but it’s beneficial to do so early (e.g., design or pre-deployment) to incorporate recommendations before significant investment in architecture or code. Early assessment helps prevent costly rework and promotes alignment with proven best practices.

Assessment User Experience Demo

A demo (animated GIF in the original content) illustrates the workflow for a fictional company (Contoso Manufacturing) completing the assessment for their Azure Local deployment. This shows the interface for answering questions, receiving scores, and accessing improvement recommendations.

Additional Architecture Resources

Explore these detailed resources to extend your understanding and strengthen Azure Local architecture:

Direct feedback or comments on the Assessment can be sent to AzS-WAF-Feedback@microsoft.com.

About the Author

Neil Bird is a Principal Program Manager in the Azure Edge & Platform Engineering team at Microsoft. He specializes in Azure and hybrid cloud infrastructure, operational excellence, and automation, and is committed to helping customers succeed with cloud and edge solutions.

This post appeared first on “Microsoft Tech Community”. Read the entire article here