This blog post series highlights the key announcements and major updates related to Azure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Azure Stack, as officially released by Microsoft in the past two weeks.
Azure
General
Microsoft Fabric is available on Italy North Azure Region
Microsoft has expanded the availability of Microsoft Fabric by launching it in the ItalyNorth Azure Region. This strategic move allows organizations in Italy to leverage the advanced capabilities of Microsoft Fabric, enhancing their data integration, transformation, and analysis efforts. By being hosted locally, businesses can also benefit from reduced latency and improved compliance with regional data residency requirements. This expansion underscores Microsoft’s commitment to providing localized services that meet the needs of diverse global markets.
Compute
VMSS Automatic Instance Repairs – Reimage, Restart Repair Actions
Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS) now offer more flexible automatic instance repair options, allowing users to choose between Replace, Reimage, or Restart as default actions when an “Unhealthy” signal is detected. The introduction of Reimage and Restart provides less disruptive repair processes, which maintain VM properties and metadata, making it ideal for customers with sensitive workloads. This new functionality is designed to enhance application availability while minimizing the impact on VM instances during repairs.
Networking
Azure Public IPs are Zone Redundant by Default
Azure Public IPs are now zone redundant by default, improving the resiliency of applications using these public IPs. Unless a single zone is specifically chosen when creating Standard Public IPs, they will be automatically created across all three zones of a region. This ensures that the IP can survive any single zone failure, providing greater stability for hosted applications. Notably, this enhancement comes at no additional cost. Currently, the functionality is available in limited regions, with plans to expand further.
Azure Bastion: Entra ID Support for SSH Connections in Portal
Azure Bastion has introduced support for Microsoft Entra ID authentication for SSH connections within the Azure portal. This new integration offers two major benefits to users. First, it eliminates the reliance on local authentication mechanisms, reducing the risk of security breaches. Second, the Entra ID authentication simplifies the user experience by enabling a seamless one-click sign-on to virtual machines, enhancing both security and convenience for administrators managing their environments.
Storage
Azure File Sync v19 Agent Now Available
The Azure File Sync v19 agent is now available and can be downloaded via the Microsoft Update Catalog. This version brings several key improvements, including faster server provisioning and enhanced disaster recovery options for Azure File Sync server endpoints. Previously, provisioning a new server endpoint could take hours or even days, but with the latest update, the process is significantly faster. Additionally, there are sync performance improvements, specifically for file share migrations and scenarios where only metadata, such as ACLs, is updated. The new release also adds support for Windows Server 2025 and includes various reliability and telemetry enhancements for cloud tiering and sync. A restart is required for servers running versions earlier than 18.2, and the latest agent version is 19.1.0.0.
Managed Identity Support for Azure File Sync (preview)
Azure File Sync now supports managed identities, which enhances the security and ease of use for this service. By leveraging Microsoft Entra ID’s system-assigned managed identity, users no longer need to rely on shared keys for authentication. This feature, currently in preview, offers a more streamlined and secure method of managing Azure File Sync service and server authentication. Managed identities simplify the process and improve the overall security posture by automating identity management for Azure resources.
New Azure Data Box Capabilities to Accelerate Your Offline Data Migration
Azure Data Box, the offline data transfer solution, has introduced several new capabilities to enhance the efficiency and security of data migration to Azure Storage. This service allows users to transfer petabytes of data quickly, cost-effectively, and reliably using secure hardware devices. The new features include the general availability of self-encrypted drives in the Azure Data Box Disk SKU, which facilitates fast data transfers on Linux systems. Additionally, users can now ingest data into multiple blob access tiers within a single order. A preview of cross-region data transfers has been introduced, allowing seamless data ingestion from a source country or region to select Azure destinations in different countries or regions. Furthermore, Azure Storage Mover now supports online catch-up data copying, enabling the synchronization of changes made by active workloads post offline migrations. Azure Data Box has also achieved HIPAA/BAA, PCI 3DS, and PCI DSS certifications, ensuring compliance with industry standards. These enhancements make Azure Data Box an even more robust solution for secure and efficient offline data migrations.
Azure Storage Mover with Bandwidth Management
Azure Storage Mover now supports bandwidth management scheduling, providing users with the ability to set bandwidth limits for Storage Mover agents. This feature optimizes file migration processes by preventing agents from consuming excessive WAN link upload bandwidth during peak times. By allowing users to schedule bandwidth usage, Azure Storage Mover helps maintain smooth network performance, especially in on-premises data center environments.
Azure Stack
Azure Stack HCI
Azure Stack HCI Supportability Forum
Microsoft has introduced the Azure Stack HCI Supportability Forum, a public repository designed to centralize troubleshooting guides (TSGs), known issues, and user feedback for Azure Stack HCI. This repository provides a hub for community-driven support content and is referenced by both Customer Support Services and the Azure Stack HCI engineering team when addressing support incidents. Users can also access this repository to discover solutions to active system issues on their own. This initiative is part of Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to enhancing the support experience for Azure Stack HCI users by making critical information easily accessible and user-driven.
Conclusion
Over the past two weeks, Microsoft has introduced a slew of updates and announcements pertaining to Azure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Azure Stack. These developments underscore the tech giant’s unwavering commitment to enhancing its cloud offerings and adapting to the ever-evolving needs of businesses and developers. Users of Azure can anticipate improved functionalities, streamlined services, and enriched features as a result of these changes. Stay tuned for more insights as I continue to monitor and report on Azure’s progression in the cloud sphere.
