Azure Cloud Utility

The Azure Cloud Utility is a DSG appliance component that is used for supporting features specific to Azure Cloud Platform, which are, Azure Accelerated Networking and Azure Linux VM agent. When you install the DSG from an Azure v3.3.0.0 BLOB, the Azure Cloud Utility is installed automatically on the DSG.

CAUTION: While you are using the Azure Accelerated Networking or Azure Linux VM agent, ensure that the Azure Cloud Utility is not uninstalled.

Working with Accelerated Networking

The Accelerated Networking is a feature provided by Microsoft Azure, which allows the DSG appliance to handle increasing loads. The advantages offered with Accelerated Networking include reduced latency, reduced jitter, and improved CPU utilization. The following observations are applicable to the Accelerated Networking feature when it is enabled or not enabled in the VM:

  • When this feature is enabled in the VM, the network traffic is routed to the VM Network Interface (NIC), and it is then forwarded to the VM. This helps to improve the networking performance as the traffic bypasses the virtual switch.
  • When this feature is not enabled in the VM, the networking traffic coming in and out of the VM traverses through the host and the virtual switch.

The DSG is configured with two network interfaces, Management Interface and Service Interface, where the the Management Interface is used for communication between the ESA and the DSG, and accessing the DSG Web UI. The Service Interface is used for handling the network traffic traversing through the DSG.

For more information about an overview and how to configure Azure Accelerated Networking, refer to the Azure documentation at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure.

It is recommended to configure the Accelerated Networking feature after the DSG is installed on Azure VM instance as it improves the networking performance. As the network traffic traverses through the Service Interface on the DSG, it is recommended to enable the Accelerated Networking feature on the Service Interface.

Working with Linux VM Agent

The Microsoft Azure Linux Agent (waagent) is a VM extension provided by Microsoft Azure that manages image provisioning, networking, kernel, integrating third-party softwares on VMs, and so on.

For more information about the Linux VM agent, refer to the Azure documentation at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure.

For the DSG, the Linux VM agent is used for enabling backup and restore using either of the following two methods:

  • Recovery Services Vaults
  • Creating Images of an Instance

The waagent extension is registered in the .vhd file that is provided by Protegrity. To use the Linux VM agent feature, you must create an image from the .vhd file provided by Protegrity.

Last modified : March 05, 2025