environment-types.md

Understanding environment types

There are two special archetypes defined in the Azure Virtual Datacenter Automation Toolkit. These are:

• simulated on-premises environment
• shared services environment

The toolkit performs special actions for these archetypes and you will need to identify them when using the toolkit. All other deployment types are identified as workload.

This identifier is used when invoking the vdc.py script.

Simulated on-premises environment

Identifier: on-premises

This archetype defines a simulated on-premises environment that is hosted in Azure. It is intended for testing VDC automation without needing to connect to your actual on-premise resources.

Shared services environment

Identifier: shared-services

This archetype provisions a set of services that are expected to be shared by multiple workloads. These include Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), Azure Key Vault, Log Analytics, and a connection to the on-premises network.

See Extend Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) to Azure for proven practices.

Other environment types

Identifier: workload

Deploys a workload virtual network where resources are deployed and securely connects this network to shared services network.

NOTE: The current version of the toolkit assumes that workloads are connected to a shared services environment and that network traffic is routed through the shared services' VNet. In future versions of the toolkit, workloads will not necessarily adhere to this pattern.

Next steps

Learn about the default roles provided by in the toolkit.