Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Onboard servers through Microsoft Defender for Endpoint's onboarding experience

4 September 2026Doc update+19 / −2 lines

In brief

The documentation recommends onboarding servers through Defender for Servers Plan 2, notes automatic Defender for Endpoint extension onboarding for supported Azure and Azure Arc machines, and identifies standalone server licenses as alternatives.

What Defender admins need to know

Administrators can use this guidance when choosing a server onboarding and licensing approach; no action is required.

Summaries are generated from the documentation change itself.

Documentation change

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Onboard servers through Microsoft Defender for Endpoint's onboarding experience

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint for servers
Microsoft Defender for Business servers (for small and medium-sized businesses only)

Tip

For most organizations, Microsoft recommends onboarding servers through Microsoft Defender for Servers Plan 2 as part of Microsoft Defender for Cloud. Plan 2 includes Defender for Endpoint server protection and capabilities specific to server workloads:

Agentless machine scanning for vulnerabilities, malware, and secrets
File integrity monitoring
Just-in-time virtual machine access
Regulatory compliance assessment
Premium Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management capabilities
Operating system configuration assessment based on the Microsoft Cloud Security Benchmark
A 500-MB daily data ingestion benefit for each protected machine

Defender for Cloud automatically onboards the Defender for Endpoint extension to supported Azure virtual machines and Azure Arc-enabled machines, so you don't need per-machine onboarding scripts. For a feature comparison, see Defender for Servers plan features.

If your organization doesn't use Defender for Cloud, the standalone Microsoft Defender for Endpoint for servers and Microsoft Defender for Business servers licenses are alternatives.

Integration with Microsoft Defender for Servers

Defender for Endpoint integrates seamlessly with Defender for Servers (in Defender for Cloud). If your subscription includes Defender for Servers Plan 1 or Plan 2, you can:

@@ -11,11 +11,13 @@ ms.collection: - tier2 ms.topic: install-set-up-deploy ms.subservice: onboard-ms.date: 11/17/2025+ms.date: 09/03/2026+ms.custom: msecd-doc-authoring-1015+ai-usage: ai-assisted appliesto:   - Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plan 1   - Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plan 2-+#customer intent: As a security administrator, I want to onboard Windows and Linux servers to Defender for Endpoint so that I can protect and monitor them. ---  # Onboard servers through Microsoft Defender for Endpoint's onboarding experience@@ -39,6 +41,21 @@ To onboard servers to Defender for Endpoint, [server licenses](/office365/servic - Microsoft Defender for Endpoint for servers - [Microsoft Defender for Business servers](/defender-business/get-defender-business#how-to-get-microsoft-defender-for-business-servers) (for small and medium-sized businesses only) +> [!TIP]+> For most organizations, Microsoft recommends onboarding servers through **Microsoft Defender for Servers Plan 2** as part of [Microsoft Defender for Cloud](/azure/defender-for-cloud/defender-for-servers-overview). Plan 2 includes Defender for Endpoint server protection and capabilities specific to server workloads:+>+> - Agentless machine scanning for vulnerabilities, malware, and secrets+> - File integrity monitoring+> - Just-in-time virtual machine access+> - Regulatory compliance assessment+> - Premium Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management capabilities+> - Operating system configuration assessment based on the Microsoft Cloud Security Benchmark+> - A 500-MB daily data ingestion benefit for each protected machine+>+> Defender for Cloud automatically onboards the Defender for Endpoint extension to supported Azure virtual machines and Azure Arc-enabled machines, so you don't need per-machine onboarding scripts. For a feature comparison, see [Defender for Servers plan features](/azure/defender-for-cloud/defender-for-servers-overview#plan-protection-features).+>+> If your organization doesn't use Defender for Cloud, the standalone Microsoft Defender for Endpoint for servers and Microsoft Defender for Business servers licenses are alternatives.+ ## Integration with Microsoft Defender for Servers  Defender for Endpoint integrates seamlessly with [Defender for Servers](/azure/defender-for-cloud/defender-for-servers-overview) (in Defender for Cloud). If your subscription includes Defender for Servers Plan 1 or Plan 2, you can: