Introduction
Organizations are increasingly looking to run modern applications closer to where their data is generated, such as in branch offices, factories, or remote sites. Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Edge Essentials, now enabled by Azure Arc, offers a powerful solution for deploying and managing Kubernetes clusters outside the traditional cloud. With new deployment options, including streamlined single-node and scalable multi-node clusters, AKS Edge Essentials brings Azure-native Kubernetes capabilities to on-premises and edge environments. The goal is to help organizations modernize their operations wherever their workloads reside.
About This Demo
This demo provides a simple example of how to deploy a single AKS Edge cluster, enable Azure Arc integration, and make the cluster visible in the Azure portal. It walks through the essential steps, from preparing your environment and downloading the necessary scripts, to running the deployment and confirming that your cluster is connected and manageable through Azure Arc.
This demo is outlined on this link: Quickstart for AKS Edge Essentials – AKS enabled by Azure Arc | Microsoft Learn
- You will need your subscription ID and tenant ID for use within the script.
- See the system requirements. For this quick start, ensure that you have a minimum of 4.5 GB RAM free, 4 vCPUs, and 20 GB free disk space.
The Learn doc calls out these automation steps.
This script automates the following steps:
- In the working folder, the script downloads the GitHub archive of Azure/AKS-Edge and unzips to a folder AKS-Edge-main (or AKS-Edge-<tag>). By default, this step downloads the current main branch.
- Uses the AksEdgeAzureSetup script to prompt the user to sign in to the Azure portal with their Azure credentials and performs the following tasks:
- Installs Azure CLI
- Creates a resource group aksedge-rp.
- Creates a service principal aksedge-sp with Contributor role restricted to the aksedge-rp resource group scope. If the service principal already exists, it resets its password. This service principal is used to connect to Azure Arc.
- Registers the resource providers Microsoft.HybridCompute, Microsoft.GuestConfiguration, Microsoft.HybridConnectivity, Microsoft.Kubernetes, Microsoft.KubernetesConfiguration, and Microsoft.ExtendedLocation.
- Invokes the Start-AideWorkflow function that performs the following tasks:
- Downloads and installs the AKS Edge Essentials MSI.
- Installs required host OS features (Install-AksEdgeHostFeatures). The machine might reboot when Hyper-V is enabled, and you must restart the script again.
- Deploys a single machine cluster with internal switch (Linux node only).
- Invokes the Connect-AideArc function if the Azure parameters are provided. This function performs the following tasks:
- Installs the Azure Connected Machine Agent and connects the host machine to Arc for Servers.
- Connects the deployed cluster to Arc for connected Kubernetes.
#Download the AKS quickstart installer.
$url = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Azure/AKS-Edge/main/tools/scripts/AksEdgeQuickStart/AksEdgeQuickStart.ps1"
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $url -OutFile .\AksEdgeQuickStart.ps1
Unblock-File .\AksEdgeQuickStart.ps1
Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force#Run in an elevated PowerShell session on the Hyper‑V host
Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force
#Download the QuickStart script
$url = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Azure/AKS-Edge/main/tools/scripts/AksEdgeQuickStart/AksEdgeQuickStart.ps1" $dest = "$PWD\AksEdgeQuickStart.ps1" Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $url -OutFile $dest Unblock-File $dest
#Execute the QuickStart (installs AKS Edge Essentials MSI and host features)
.\AksEdgeQuickStart.ps1 🡨 This will prompt for subscription ID and Tenant IDNote: if you see a pause, minimize your windows as the Entra ID authentication window may be hiding waiting for you to log in properly.
Confirm the deployment:
kubectl get nodes -o wide
kubectl get pods -A -o wideIn the Azure Portal you can see the newly deployed clusters.
Setting RBAC Roles for the cluster: For the user or group that is accessing the cluster add the Azure Arc Kubernetes Viewer role
Here is my past article on setting up the Kubernetes RBAC: Azure Arc Kubernetes – Access by RBAC roles for a user or groups – Geek XING
Install a test web application:
On the host machine run the kubectl commands to check the application deployment of the linux app.
kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Azure/AKS-Edge/main/samples/others/linux-sample.yamlkubectl get pods -o wide
kubectl get svcTo find the ip address of the cluster running the web application:
kubectl get services 
The default uses http://192.168.0.4 which will bring up the voting application.
JSON file allows for configuring the setup vs. taking the default configuration ip schemes.
After the installation, you can find the complete JSON schema file at C:\Program Files\AksEdge\aksedge-dcschema.json.
More information on testing the applications: Deploy an application – AKS enabled by Azure Arc | Microsoft Learn
PowerShell Modules to install (not required but helpful)
$env:PSModulePath = "C:\Program Files\AksEdge\PowerShell;$env:PSModulePath"
Import-Module AksEdge -Force
Get-Command -Module AksEdgeTroubleshooting or removal
Disconnect from Arc first (if you connected the cluster)
Disconnect-AksEdgeArc -JsonConfigFilePath .\aksedge-config.json Remove the entire single-machine deployment
Remove-Aks Conclusion
AKS Edge Essentials, powered by Azure Arc, is changing the way organizations approach edge and hybrid cloud deployments. Flexible deployment options, seamless integration with Azure services, and unified management across cloud and edge environments make it easier for IT teams to deliver secure and scalable Kubernetes clusters wherever they are needed. Whether you are deploying a single-node cluster for a remote site or scaling out to support complex workloads, these new capabilities help you take advantage of cloud-native technologies at the edge. As business needs evolve, AKS Edge Essentials with Azure Arc provides a future-ready platform that connects cloud innovation with on-premises requirements and supports the next phase of digital transformation.
Additional Resources
