Azure network connection overview

An Azure network connection (ANC) is an object in the Microsoft Intune admin center that provides Cloud PC provisioning profiles with required information to connect to network-based resources. ANCs are used:

  • When a Cloud PC is initially provisioned.
  • When Windows 365 periodically checks the connection to the on-premises infrastructure to ensure the best end-user experience.

Network connection types

There are two kinds of ANCs based on their join type. Both let you manage traffic and Cloud PC access to network based resources but they have different connectivity requirements.

  • Microsoft Entra join: Doesn't require connectivity to a Windows Server Active Directory (AD) domain.
  • Hybrid Microsoft Entra Join: Requires connectivity to a Windows Server AD domain. You must provide the AD domain details when you create the ANC.

Provisioning

When a Cloud PC is provisioned, the information in the ANC is used by the provisioning policy to provision the Cloud PC in the Azure subnet. The information required in an ANC includes:

  • Network details: The Azure subscription, resource group, virtual network, and subnet to associate with the Cloud PC. When a provisioning policy runs, it creates a Cloud PC in the Microsoft hosted Azure subscription. To connect to a customer's on-premises network, a virtual network interface card (vNic) is injected into a customer-provided Azure virtual network (vNet). To create this vNic, Windows 365 needs sufficient access to an Azure subscription.
  • Active Directory domain: The Active Directory domain to join, an Organizational Unit (OU) destination for the computer object, and Active Directory user credentials with sufficient permissions to perform the domain join. When a provisioning policy runs, the Cloud PC is joined to this Active Directory domain. The credentials are stored securely in the Windows 365 service.

During provisioning, the Cloud PC is connected to the Azure subnet and joined to a domain (either Windows Server Active Directory or Microsoft Entra ID). This process results in a Cloud PC that is:

  • On your network.
  • Registered to Microsoft Entra ID.
  • Enrolled into Microsoft Intune.
  • Ready to accept user sign-in requests.

The ANC settings are applied to the Cloud PC only at the time of provisioning.

Alternate ANCs

To help make provisioning Cloud PCs more reliable in the rare case of capacity constraints in a region, you can assign alternate ANCs to a provisioning policy. You can define the priority order of the ANCs that the policy uses. If the first ANC is unavailable, the policy automatically uses the second ANC in the priority list. If the second one is unavailable, it moves on to the next, and so on. This process lets administrators prepare multiple ANCs in different Azure regions, making provisioning more reliable. You don't have to use multiple ANCs. For more information about using alternate ANCs when creating your provisioning policies, see Create provisioning policies.

First health check

The information included in the ANC is used to provision a Cloud PC. For provisioning to succeed, the resources referenced in the ANC must be healthy and accessible. After an ANC object is created, Windows 365 verifies that:

  • The objects referenced by the ANC are healthy.
  • Connections can be made to these objects.

These health checks use the ANC information provided to provision a Cloud PC. For a complete list of checks, see Azure network connection health checks.

While this first ANC health check is underway, you can’t assign it to a provisioning policy. After the health check is complete and successful, the ANC can be assigned to one or more provisioning policies.

Periodic health checks

After provisioning, the information in an ANC is also used to monitor:

  • the connection health between your network-based resources
  • the Cloud PC hosted in the Microsoft hosted subscription

Windows 365 reports configuration issues that may cause provisioning failures or poor end-user experiences. This monitoring reduces your management overhead. For more information on these periodic checks, see Azure network connection health checks.

Health check frequency

ANC checks are performed once every one to six hours.

The comprehensive, end-to end health check can take up to 30 minutes. The health checks are run on a temporary Azure virtual machine that is automatically created specifically for this purpose. This virtual machine is created automatically and deleted when the health checks are completed. The virtual machine is connected to your specified vNet and checks are performed to ensure provisioning should be successful.

After a check is complete, the results are posted on the Azure network connection pane of the Microsoft Intune admin center. For information about the check results, see Azure network connections health checks.

Retry health check

To manually trigger a full health check, sign in to the Microsoft Intune admin center, select Devices > Windows 365 (under Provisioning) > Azure network connection > select an Azure network connection > Retry.

Permissions required for Azure network connections

The ANC wizard requires access to Azure and, optionally, on-premises domain resources. The following permissions are required for the ANC:

To create or edit an ANC, you must have at least the Subscription Reader role in the Azure Subscription where the VNET associated with the ANC was located.

For a full list of requirements, see Windows 365 requirements.

Changing an Azure network connection

Changing the settings in an ANC won’t affect Cloud PCs previously provisioned with that ANC. Only Cloud PCs provisioned after the changes to the ANC reflect such later changes.

If you want to change the ANC related settings on a previously provisioned Cloud PC, you must reprovision the Cloud PC. Reprovisioning is a destructive action, so be sure it's an action you really want to take. For more information, see reprovisioning.

Delete an Azure network connection

You can’t delete an ANC that's in use. Before the object can be deleted, you must do one of the following actions for every provisioning policy that uses this ANC:

After completing either of these operations, you can delete the ANC.

Maximum Azure network connections

Each tenant has a limit of 10 Azure network connections. If your organization needs more than 10 Azure network connections, contact support.

Inactive ANCs

ANCs that are unused for a period of time become inactive. Inactive ANCs pause running health checks and can't be assigned to a provisioning policy until the ANC is reactivated and health checks complete successfully.

User sign-in

When users attempt to sign in to their Cloud PC, user authentication occurs.

For Microsoft Entra hybrid join ANCs, the ANC is used to route the authentication request to your domain controllers. If the ANC or the network connection to your domain is unhealthy, user sign-in can't occur. Windows cached credentials can't be used over the remote desktop channel, so domain controller availability is critical. Ensure your network is stable or place a domain controller server on the same subnet as your Cloud PCs.

For Microsoft Entra join ANCs, the ANC is used to route the authentication request to Microsoft Entra ID. Windows cached credentials can’t be used over the remote desktop channel, so connectivity to Microsoft Entra ID is critical.

Next steps

Learn about device images

Create an Azure network connection