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

Compute

Retirement: Azure Cloud Services Guest OS Families 2, 3, and 4

In July 2024, Azure announced the upcoming retirement of Guest OS Families 2, 3, and 4 for Cloud Services and Cloud Services Extended Support. The end-of-life dates are as follows: Windows Server 2008 R2 will retire in December 2024, while Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 will retire in February 2025. Customers utilizing these OS families need to take action to ensure their cloud services remain supported. To identify which cloud services are running the soon-to-be-retired OS Families, Azure provides a PowerShell script. The script will help pinpoint services that need migration, with recommendations to move to Guest OS family 7 (Windows Server 2022) for continued functionality and support. 

Networking

Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) integration with Virtual WAN (preview)

Azure has announced the public preview of integrating Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) with Virtual WAN. Customers can now deploy Cisco FTD directly into a Virtual WAN hub, jointly managed by Microsoft Azure and Cisco. This integration allows the Cisco FTD in the hub to perform Next-Generation Firewall capabilities, inspecting all North-South, East-West, and Internet-bound traffic.

Storage

Azure File Sync Agent v18.2 Release

Azure has released version 18.2 of the Azure File Sync agent, now available on Microsoft Update and Microsoft Download Center. This release includes a rollup update for previous v18 and v18.1 releases, along with sync reliability improvements. It supports installations on Windows Server 2016, 2019, and 2022. Notably, a server restart is required for existing agent installations. The agent version for this release is 18.2.0.0, with detailed installation instructions provided in KB5023059.

Azure Elastic SAN Feature Updates

Azure has introduced significant updates to the Elastic SAN feature, now generally available. Customers can delete unused space on their SANs and scale down as necessary. This capability is useful for those who realize they do not need as much capacity as initially allocated. Note that scaling down can only occur at the SAN level, not at the volume level. Additionally, Azure has released diagnostic logging capabilities, allowing configuration of Elastic SAN to send Azure platform logs and metrics to various destinations. Two log configurations are available: “All” for every resource log and “Audit” for logs that record customer interactions with data or service settings.

Azure Stack

Azure Stack HCI

CISPE and Microsoft Agree Settlement in Fair Software Licensing Case

On July 11, 2024, Microsoft and CISPE reached an agreement related to CISPE’s competition complaint filed against Microsoft with the European Commission in November 2022. Microsoft committed to changes addressing European CISPE members’ claims, leading CISPE to withdraw its complaint. Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and AliCloud are excluded from these terms. A significant part of the agreement is the collaboration to release an enhanced version of Azure Stack HCI for European cloud providers. This will include features such as multi-session virtual desktop infrastructure, free Extended Security Updates, and pay-as-you-go SQL Server licensing. An independent European Cloud Observatory will monitor the agreement’s implementation. Microsoft has nine months to fulfill its commitments, or CISPE may refile its complaint.

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.

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

Compute

Upgrade Policies for Virtual Machine Scale Sets with Flexible Orchestration (preview)

Azure has introduced public preview support for upgrade policies in Virtual Machine Scale Sets with Flexible Orchestration. Previously available only for Uniform Orchestration, these policies—Automatic, Manual, and Rolling—now extend to Flexible Orchestration. The Rolling upgrade policy also includes the MaxSurge option to create new instances with the updated scale set model, replacing virtual machines using the old model.

ED25519 SSH Key Support for Linux Virtual Machines (preview)

Azure now supports ED25519 SSH key pairs for Linux virtual machines, enhancing security and performance with a smaller key size compared to RSA encryption. Customers can create ED25519 SSH key pairs directly within the Azure Portal and use them via Azure CLI and PowerShell, simplifying key management while improving security and deployment efficiency.

Networking

Azure Cross-Subscription Load Balancer (preview)

Azure announces the public preview of cross-subscription load balancing. This feature allows load balancer components to be located in different subscriptions, enabling the frontend IP address or backend instances to reside in separate subscriptions from the load balancer. Cross-subscription load balancing is available in all Azure public regions, China cloud regions, and Government cloud regions.

ExpressRoute Resiliency Enhancements (preview)

Azure introduces several enhancements to ExpressRoute for improved resiliency. Customers can now create ExpressRoute circuits with three levels of resiliency: maximum, high (ExpressRoute Metro), and standard. Zonal resiliency is also supported, allowing non-zone redundant gateways to migrate to availability zone-enabled gateways. Upcoming features include resiliency validation, insights, and a revised SLA model effective October 1, 2024, with differentiated levels of network availability.

JavaScript (JS) Challenge on Azure WAF Integrated with Azure Application Gateway (preview)

Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF) integrated with Azure Application Gateway now supports JavaScript (JS) challenge. The JavaScript challenge is an invisible web challenge used to distinguish between legitimate users and bots, protecting web applications by causing malicious bots to fail the challenge. This feature, part of the Bot Manager rule set and custom rules, reduces friction for legitimate users as it does not require human intervention.

Azure CDN Standard from Microsoft (Classic) Zero-Downtime Migration to Azure Front Door (preview)

Azure announces the public preview of zero-downtime migration from Azure CDN Standard from Microsoft (classic) to Azure Front Door. Azure Front Door is a modern cloud content delivery network (CDN) and global load balancer service that enhances security, performance, and scalability. The migration capability allows for a seamless transition to Azure Front Door Standard or Premium, offering improved security, flexible routing logic, and enhanced logging and metrics.

Storage

Force Detach Zone Redundant Data Disks During Zone Outage (preview)

Azure announces the public preview support for force detaching ZRS data disks from VMs affected by zone outages. This feature allows customers to detach ZRS data disks and attach them to another VM, reducing the Recovery Time Objective (RTO). Zone-redundant storage (ZRS) synchronously replicates Azure managed disks across three availability zones, providing 99.9999999999% (12 9’s) durability annually, and is supported on Premium SSDs and Standard SSDs.

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.

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

Compute

Azure VMware Solution: Microsoft and Broadcom to support license portability for VMware Cloud Foundation

Microsoft and Broadcom are expanding their partnership to support VMware Cloud Foundation subscriptions on Azure VMware Solution. This initiative allows customers who own or purchase VMware Cloud Foundation licenses to use them on Azure VMware Solution and in their own data centers, providing greater flexibility to adapt to changing business needs.

Key Benefits and Features:

• License Portability: customers with eligible VMware Cloud Foundation entitlements can purchase subscriptions and use them interchangeably between on-premises environments and Azure VMware Solution. This flexibility supports seamless mobility and transfer of licenses as business requirements evolve.
• Continued Purchase Options: customers can still buy Azure VMware Solution with VMware licenses included or use their own existing VMware licenses. This provides a range of purchasing options to suit different preferences and needs.

In addition to the new VMware license portability benefit, VMware Rapid Migration Plan provides an additional and comprehensive set of licensing benefits and programs to reduce the cost and time it takes for organizations to migrate to Azure VMware Solution:

• Price Protection: customers can secure pricing for one, three, or five years through reserved instances.
• Savings on Windows Server and SQL Server: organizations with Software Assurance for on-premises Windows Server and SQL Server licenses can benefit from the Azure Hybrid Benefit, allowing them to use these licenses on Azure VMware Solution. Additionally, free Extended Security Updates are available for older versions facing end of support.
• Migration Support: the Azure Migrate and Modernize program offers resources, expert assistance, and funding from Microsoft and its partners to streamline the migration process.
• Azure Credits: customers purchasing a new reserved instance for Azure VMware Solution can receive additional Azure credits, applicable to Azure VMware Solution or other Azure services.

This collaboration enhances the flexibility and cost-effectiveness of deploying VMware environments in the cloud, enabling businesses to optimize their operations and infrastructure with greater ease.

Storage

Azure NetApp Files Launch in Italy North Region

Azure NetApp Files has expanded its availability to the Italy North Azure Region. This expansion allows customers in the region to leverage high-performance file storage solutions, enhancing their ability to manage and scale their data storage needs efficiently.

Azure File Sync Agent v17.3 and v18.1 Security-Only Updates Released

Microsoft has announced the release of the Azure File Sync agent versions v17.3 and v18.1, focusing solely on security updates. The v17.3 update addresses a critical issue that might have allowed unauthorized users to delete files in restricted locations, as outlined in CVE-2024-35253. This update is available for servers running Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, and Windows Server 2022, and is applicable to servers with agent versions v16.x and v17.x installed. The corresponding agent version is 17.3.0.0, with installation instructions detailed in KB5039814.

Similarly, the v18.1 update is targeted at servers with the v18 agent version installed and is compatible with Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, and Windows Server 2022. The agent version for this release is 18.1.0.0, with installation instructions available in KB5023058. Notably, these updates are distributed through Microsoft Update and not the Microsoft Download Center. The next release, version 18.2, expected in the coming weeks, will be available across all prior versions of Azure File Sync agents and through multiple distribution channels, including the Microsoft Download Center, Microsoft Update, and Microsoft Update Catalog.

Azure Stack

Azure Stack HCI

Azure Stack HCI – 2405 Update

The Azure Stack HCI, version 23H2, introduces multiple release trains including 2306 (limited release), 2311, 2402, and now 2405. Each release train encompasses a baseline build and subsequent updates. The baseline build is the initial software version in a release train, and upgrading to the next version within the same train necessitates deploying the baseline build first.

The baseline update 2405 addresses several issues and improvements. Key fixes include:

• During cluster deployments with a large Active Directory, a timeout issue when adding users to the local administrator group has been resolved.
• New ARM templates for cluster creation are released, simplifying the creation of dependency resources and addressing missing mandatory fields.
• The secret rotation PowerShell command Set-AzureStackLCMUserPassword now supports a parameter to skip the confirmation message.
• Secret rotation reliability is improved, especially when services do not restart promptly.
• Deployment is now enabled when a disjoint namespace is used.
• Fixed an issue in deployment related to setting the diagnostic level in Azure and on the device.
• A new PowerShell command is released to update the SBE partner property values provided at deployment.
• An issue preventing the update service from responding after an SBE-only update run is fixed.
• An issue preventing a node from joining Active Directory during an add server operation is resolved.
• Improved reliability of Network ATC when configuring host networking with certain network adapter types.
• Enhanced reliability in detecting firmware versions for disk drives.
• Update notifications for health check results sent from the device to AUM (Azure Update Manager) are improved. Previously, large message sizes caused no results to be shown in AUM.
• Fixed a file lock issue causing update failures for the trusted launch VM agent (IGVM).
• Resolved an issue preventing the orchestrator agent from restarting during an update run.
• Addressed a rare condition causing delays in the update service discovering or starting an update.
• Fixed an issue with Cluster-Aware Updating (CAU) interaction with the orchestrator when an update is in progress.
• The naming schema for updates is adjusted to differentiate between feature and cumulative updates.
• Enhanced reliability in reporting cluster update progress to the orchestrator.
• Resolved an issue where the Azure Arc connection was lost when the Hybrid Instance Metadata service (HIMDS) restarted, ensuring the device now automatically reinitiates the Azure Arc connection.

Known issues in this release involve:

• When viewing readiness check results for an Azure Stack HCI cluster via the Azure Update Manager, there may be multiple readiness checks with the same name.
• During the registration of Azure Stack HCI servers, an error may appear in the debug logs: “Encountered internal server error. One of the mandatory extensions for device deployment may not be installed.”
• There is an intermittent issue where the Azure portal incorrectly reports the update status as “Failed to update” even though the update is complete.

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.

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

RISE with SAP is Available on ItalyNorth Azure Region

RISE with SAP, a comprehensive Platform-as-a-Service offering, is now accessible in the ItalyNorth Azure Region. This service bundles SAP software licensing, cloud infrastructure, and managed services under a single SAP contract, applicable to R3, SAP Business Suite, and S/4HANA. This availability in the Italy North region aims to provide localized support and optimized performance for enterprises utilizing SAP solutions.

Update on Inter-Availability Zone Data Transfer Pricing

Azure has announced that it will no longer charge for data transfers across availability zones, regardless of whether private or public IPs are used on Azure resources. Availability zones enable Azure services to enhance greater resiliency for customers’ cloud infrastructure. This change aims to further encourage and support customers’ efforts in building more resilient and efficient applications and solutions on Azure.

Activity Log Alerts Can Now Run in EU Data Boundary

Activity log alert rules can now be saved in one of the following EU Data Boundary regions: North Europe and West Europe. This capability is available when creating a new activity log alert rule. Saving the rule in a European region ensures that the alert rule metadata and its processing remain within the EU Data Boundary. In all other cases, users can select the default Global region. Additionally, action groups can also be saved in EU regions, allowing for an end-to-end experience within Europe, encompassing alert evaluation and actions.

Next-Gen Dashboards Experience in Azure Portal (preview

A new Dashboards experience within the Azure Portal has been introduced. This experience includes a richer editing experience, dashboard as a view, mobile support, and works in parallel with the current experience. Currently, dashboards provide a focused and organized view of cloud resources in the Azure portal, allowing users to monitor resources and quickly launch tasks for day-to-day operations. The new experience is accessible through the Dashboard Hub, the Browse experience, and the Azure Mobile app. Users can create new dashboards or transform existing ones into the new experience. Both the new and current experiences will run in parallel to ensure parity and safely roll out new features.

Compute

VM Hibernation for General Purpose VMs

VM hibernation for general-purpose VMs is now generally available in all public regions. Hibernation is supported on both Linux and Windows operating systems. This feature enables users to hibernate their VMs to save compute costs. When a VM is hibernated, Azure persists the VM’s in-memory state in the OS disk and deallocates the VM, so users do not have to pay for the VM during hibernation, only for associated storage and networking resources. When the VM is restarted, applications and processes resume from their previous state, allowing users to quickly pick up from where they left off. This feature can be used on both existing and new VMs.

Azure Cobalt 100 Arm-based Virtual Machines (preview)

Microsoft is announcing the preview of the new Cobalt 100 Arm-based virtual machines (VMs). These are the first generation of VMs that feature the new Cobalt 100 chipset, custom-built using an Arm-based architecture, and optimized for efficiency and performance when running general-purpose and cloud-native workloads. Users can expect up to 40% improved performance compared to the previous generation of Arm-based Azure VMs. These VMs offer performance consistency and linear performance scaling with workloads like web applications, microservices, and open-source databases.

Azure Compute Fleet (preview)

Azure is pleased to announce the public preview of Azure Compute Fleet, a new service that streamlines the provisioning and management of Azure compute capacity across different virtual machine (VM) types, availability zones, and pricing models to achieve desired scale, performance, and cost. Azure Compute Fleet provides features to deploy and manage diverse groups of VMs at scale, including integration of multiple pricing models within a single fleet request, automated configuration of a fleet of VMs, and adjustable settings to prioritize deployment speed, operational cost, or a balance of both. It can manage and deploy up to 10,000 VMs in a region within a single fleet, providing flexibility and reliability through automated spot VMs, VM mix, and cross-zonal deployment features.

Networking

Azure Firewall: New Regions Availability

To meet new workload demands, Azure Firewall Basic, Standard, Premium, and Azure Firewall Manager are now generally available in four new regions: Israel Central, Italy North, Mexico Central, and Spain Central. With these new regions, Azure Firewall is now available in 64 regions worldwide, utilizing the Microsoft global network backbone.

Azure Firewall Integration in Microsoft Copilot for Security (preview)

The public preview of Azure Firewall integration in Microsoft Copilot for Security is now available. This feature allows users to retrieve the top IDPS signature hits for an Azure Firewall, enriching the threat profile of IDPS signatures with additional details. Users can perform fleet-wide searches for threats across all their Firewalls and generate recommendations to secure their environment using Azure Firewall’s IDPS feature.

Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF) Integration in Microsoft Copilot for Security (preview)

Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF) integrated into the Microsoft Copilot for Security standalone experience is now available in public preview. This integration is available with both Azure Front Door WAF and Azure Application Gateway WAF. It provides top WAF rules triggered analysis, generating summaries of WAF requests blocked due to web application and API attacks. Additionally, it includes an analysis of the top offending IPs, highlighting malicious IPs in customer environments along with related WAF rules triggered. The SQL injection and cross-site scripting WAF detection summaries provide contextual details about WAF blocks, including WAF rules, pattern matches, and related IPs.

Azure Application Gateway v2 Basic SKU (preview)

The Application Gateway Basic SKU is a new offering within the Application Gateway family, designed for small and medium-sized customers. It is ideal for applications with lower traffic and SLA requirements that do not need advanced traffic management features. The Basic SKU includes built-in high availability and supports HTTP2/HTTPS and WebSocket protocols. It offers core application-level load balancing features such as URL-based, host-based, and multi-site routing, along with cookie-based affinity. It supports flexible backends, including AKS, VMSS, App Services, and on-premises deployments. Customers can select the Basic SKU either directly from the Azure Portal or through their preferred scripting languages.

Azure Load Balancer Health Event Logs (preview)

Azure Load Balancer health event logs are now available in public preview. These logs enable users to collect, store, and analyze information to understand the health of their Azure Load Balancer resources. They help troubleshoot specific scenarios and identify availability issues affecting the load balancer. Examples include traffic distribution issues, port exhaustion, and the absence of healthy backends. Health event logs allow monitoring of load balancer health without the need for complex metric-based alerts or custom data ingestion pipelines. The preview is currently rolling out to all public regions.

Azure Front Door Server Variable Enhancement Generally Available

Azure Front Door’s rule set and server variable feature, allowing dynamic modification of request and response at the edge, is now generally available. This feature enables the redirection of clients based on request information, URL rewriting, and HTTP header modifications. It supports security headers to prevent browser-based vulnerabilities, routing requests based on geographic or device data, and applying different caching policies. The new enhancement includes support for URL path segment capture and rewrite, adding more flexibility for users needing to manipulate URL paths dynamically.

Azure Virtual Network Manager’s virtual network verifier (preview)

Virtual network verifier enables users to check if their network policies allow or disallow traffic between their Azure network resources, helping them answer simple diagnostic questions, triage why reachability isn’t working as expected, and prove conformance of their Azure setup to their organization’s security compliance requirements. Within their network manager resource, users can access Virtual Network Verifier’s capabilities by creating a verifier workspace, then defining reachability analysis intents that capture the traffic they want to evaluate. Once they run an analysis on their intent, they can visualize the reachability outcome and parse the reachability analysis results’ JSON. Virtual network verifier’s reachability analysis evaluates several Azure policies and resources within the network manager’s scope. Users can even delegate Virtual Network Verifier resources to non-network manager users for troubleshooting reachability.

Azure Bastion Premium (preview)

Azure Bastion Premium is a new SKU targeting customers handling highly sensitive virtual machine workloads. Its mission is to offer enhanced security features that ensure customer virtual machines are connected securely and to monitor VMs for any anomalies that may arise. The first set of features focuses on ensuring private connectivity and graphical recordings of virtual machines connected through Bastion. With the new Azure Bastion Premium SKU, users can now record all virtual machine sessions that are connected via a session-recording Bastion and view the configured session recording. Additionally, users can connect to Bastion via a private endpoint.

Azure Load Balancer now supports Admin State (preview)

Azure has announced the public preview of Azure Load Balancer Administrative State (Admin State) to simplify and enhance the management of VMs in the backend pool of Azure Load Balancer. With Admin State, users can override the Load Balancer’s health probe behavior for each individual backend pool instance (usually VMs or VMSS instances) without making changes to network security rules or closing ports on their VM. Users can set the Admin State of the backend instance to be up or down, overriding the Load Balancer health probe. This setting changes how the Load Balancer directs new or existing connections to the backend instance. Admin State allows for easy removal of virtual machines from the backend pool for maintenance, patching, or applying fixes without additional overhead of closing ports or updating security rules. Admin State is available in all Azure public regions, Azure China cloud regions, and Azure Government cloud regions.

Storage

Azure NetApp Files Backup

Azure NetApp Files has enhanced its online snapshots with the addition of backup capabilities. This new feature allows users to offload their Azure NetApp Files snapshots to a Backup Vault efficiently and cost-effectively, protecting data from accidental deletion. The backup mechanism extends Azure NetApp Files’ snapshot technology by only copying and storing changed data blocks relative to previously vaulted snapshots. These vaulted snapshots are represented in full and can be restored individually and directly, which eliminates the need for an iterative full-incremental recovery process.

Azure NetApp Files Support for Large Volumes up to 500TiB in Size

Azure NetApp Files now supports the creation of large volumes ranging from 50TiB to 500TiB, significantly expanding beyond the previous 100TiB limit. This enhancement supports various high-performance computing (HPC), AI/ML, and large file content repositories that require a single namespace. Additionally, these large volumes feature cross-zone and cross-region replication, ensuring data resilience and business continuity. HPC workloads, crucial for simulating processes and electronic design automation, benefit from enhanced data protection and availability. AI/ML workloads, involving extensive datasets, gain improved security and recovery options, while large file repositories enjoy optimized cost and scale with robust data protection.

Azure NetApp Files Application Volume Group for Oracle (preview)

The application volume group (AVG) for Oracle is now in public preview, enabling the deployment of all necessary Azure NetApp Files volumes for Oracle databases in a single, optimized workflow. This feature ensures that all volumes are placed in the same availability zone as the VMs, optimizing latency and performance. With technical improvements that streamline the deployment process, this feature supports various Oracle database layouts from small to multi-hundred TiB sizes. It promises reduced deployment times and enhanced application performance and stability across all Azure NetApp Files enabled regions.

Azure NetApp Files support for Active Directory connection per NetApp account (preview)

The Azure NetApp Files support for Active Directory connection per NetApp account feature now allows each NetApp account to connect to its own Active Directory Forest and Domain, providing the ability to manage more than one Active Directory connection within a single region under a subscription. This enhancement enables distinct Active Directory connections for each NetApp account, facilitating operational isolation and specialized hosting scenarios. Active Directory connections can be configured multiple times for multiple NetApp accounts to make use of it. With the creation of SMB volumes in Azure NetApp Files now tied to these Active Directory connections in the NetApp account, the management of Active Directory environments becomes more scalable, streamlined, and efficient. Additionally, the public preview for the “Shared AD support for multiple accounts to one Active Directory per region per subscription” feature is concluding, and new registrations will no longer be accepted. Customers are recommended to transition to this new capability instead.

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.

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

The Availability of Azure Compute Reservations Will Continue Until Further Notice

Initially planned to end on January 1, 2024, the availability of Azure compute reservation exchanges for Azure Virtual Machine, Azure Dedicated Host, and Azure App Service has been extended indefinitely. Customers can continue exchanging their compute reservations for different instance series and regions until further notice, with a minimum of six months’ notice prior to any changes. Additionally, any compute reservations purchased during this extended period will retain the right to one more exchange after the grace period ends. This extension allows for better cost savings assessments and planning. For more information, see the updated Azure reservation exchange policy.

Microsoft Azure Now Available from New Cloud Region in Mexico

The first cloud region in Mexico is now available, providing organizations across the globe with access to scalable, highly available, and resilient Microsoft Cloud services. With Azure Availability Zones, the Mexico Central region strengthens Microsoft’s commitment to promoting digital transformation and sustainable innovation in the country. This new region connects Mexico to the world’s largest and most trusted global cloud infrastructure, delivering the highest standards of security, privacy, and regulatory-compliant data storage.

Cloud Services (Classic) Deployment Model Retirement (31 August 2024)

The Cloud Services (classic) deployment model will also be retired on 31 August 2024. Users must migrate their services to the Cloud Services (extended support) in Azure Resource Manager to benefit from new features like deployment templates, role-based access control, and regional resiliency. After the retirement date, Cloud Services deployments will be stopped, and data will be permanently lost unless migrated.

Compute

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS for Azure Virtual Machines

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, also known as “Noble Numbat,” is now available for Azure Virtual Machines. This new release includes Linux kernel version 6.8 and systemd version v255.4, bringing new features, enhanced performance, enterprise security, and expanded support for .NET 8. Ubuntu 24.04 LTS images can be found in the Azure Marketplace, providing users with the latest advancements and improvements for their virtual machines.

Standby Pools for Virtual Machine Scale Sets with Flexible Orchestration (preview)

Azure introduces the public preview of Standby Pools for Virtual Machine Scale Sets with flexible orchestration, a feature designed to enhance scaling performance by establishing a pool of pre-provisioned virtual machines. These standby pools expedite the scale-out process by undergoing initialization tasks such as software installation and data loading in advance. The number of virtual machines in a standby pool is dynamically adjusted based on the maximum ready capacity minus the virtual machines already deployed in the scale set. When scaling down, virtual machines are deleted as per the configured scale-in policy, and the standby pool refills accordingly. Virtual machines within the standby pool can either be kept running—recommended for scenarios with strict latency and reliability requirements—or be deallocated to save costs while still maintaining quick scale-out capabilities.

Networking

ExpressRoute Seamless Gateway Migration

ExpressRoute customers can now benefit from a seamless migration to a new Gateway SKU that supports Availability Zones. This update facilitates the migration of Public IP configurations from Basic to Standard without the need to delete and recreate existing virtual network gateways. The new feature provides a guided experience, allowing for seamless migration of circuit connections by deploying a second gateway to the Gateway Subnet, thus improving the overall migration process and reducing downtime.

Azure Front Door Log Scrubbing of Sensitive Data is Generally Available

Azure Front Door’s log scrubbing tool has reached General Availability, providing a secure way to remove sensitive data such as personally identifiable information (PII) from Azure Front Door access logs. By enabling log scrubbing at the Azure Front Door profile level, users can choose specific log fields to scrub. The tool then replaces sensitive information in the logs with “****,” ensuring sensitive data like customer passwords, client IPs, and socket IPs are protected.

Azure Front Door Server Variable Enhancement Generally Available

Azure Front Door now offers enhanced server variable functionality, allowing dynamic modification of requests and responses at the edge. With this feature, users can redirect clients based on request information, rewrite URLs, paths, and query strings, and insert, modify, or delete HTTP headers. Security headers can be implemented to prevent browser-based vulnerabilities, and requests from different countries or devices can be routed to different origins. Additionally, different caching policies can be applied based on content type. New capabilities include support for URL path segment capture and rewrite, enabling more flexible handling of dynamic URLs. For example, if an incoming URL path includes variable-length GUIDs, these can be extracted and inserted elsewhere in the URL path using URL Rewrite rules. For more details, refer to the Azure Front Door documentation.

Retirement of Five Azure Classic Networking Services (31 August 2024)

As announced in August 2021, Azure will retire its classic networking services—including Azure Cloud Services (classic), Classic Virtual Network, reserved IP addresses, Azure ExpressRoute Gateway, Azure Application Gateway, and Azure VPN Gateway—on 31 August 2024. Users are advised to migrate their resources to the Azure Resource Manager deployment model before this date to avoid any service disruptions. The Azure Resource Manager model offers simplified resource deployment, enhanced resource grouping, and the ability to apply access control policies at a group level.

Azure Application Gateway v2 Basic SKU (preview)

The Application Gateway Basic SKU is a new addition to the Application Gateway family, designed for small and medium-sized customers. This SKU is ideal for applications with lower traffic and SLA requirements that do not require advanced traffic management features. It includes built-in high availability and supports HTTP2/HTTPS and WebSocket protocols. Core application-level load balancing features such as URL-based, host-based, and multi-site routing, along with cookie-based affinity, are also included. The Basic SKU supports flexible backends, including Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS), App Services, and on-premises deployments. Customers can select the Basic SKU directly from the Azure Portal or through their preferred scripting languages.

Storage

Azure File Sync Agent v18 Release

The Azure File Sync agent v18 is now available through Microsoft Update Catalog, offering enhanced capabilities for server provisioning and disaster recovery for Azure File Sync server endpoints. Key improvements include faster server provisioning times—significantly reducing the duration from hours or days to much quicker readiness. This is especially beneficial when creating the first server endpoint of a new sync topology after data is transferred to the Azure File Share, or adding a new empty server endpoint to an existing sync topology. Additional upgrades include enhanced sync performance for initial uploads and high-volume file changes, such as ACL adjustments, alongside miscellaneous reliability and telemetry enhancements for cloud tiering and sync. This release supports Windows Server 2016, 2019, and 2022.

Premium SSDv2 Now Available in Italy North Azure Region with Two Availability Zones (3rd AZ Coming Soon)

Microsoft has announced that Premium SSDv2 is now available in the Italy North Azure region, featuring support for two Availability Zones. This offering ensures high performance and availability for users in the region. A third Availability Zone is on the horizon, enhancing redundancy and fault tolerance.

Azure Ultra Disk Storage Now Available in Italy North

Azure Ultra Disk Storage, known for its high throughput, high IOPS, and consistently low latency, is now available in the Italy North region. This storage solution is ideally suited for data-heavy applications such as SAP HANA, top-tier databases, and transaction-intensive workloads, providing robust and reliable disk storage for Azure virtual machines.

Azure Storage Actions (preview)

Azure Storage Actions has expanded its preview to 14 additional Azure public regions. This fully managed platform simplifies data management operations for Azure Blob Storage and Azure Data Lake Storage by merging serverless infrastructure with a no-code user experience. Azure Storage Actions is designed to be high-performing, cost-efficient, and scalable, automatically adjusting to the size and needs of your data management tasks. Now in public preview in regions including Australia East, Brazil South, Canada Central, and several others across the globe, Azure Storage Actions offers a versatile solution for automating data management in Azure environments.

NFS Azure Files Volume Mount Support in Azure Container Apps (preview)

Azure Container Apps now supports mounting Network File System (NFS) Azure Files volumes, currently in public preview. This feature enhances the scalability and performance of file systems used by containerized applications. NFS Azure Files volumes are ideal for sharing data between multiple containers or maintaining data persistence across container restarts, providing a robust solution for application data management and storage needs.

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.

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

Azure Governance Update – Management Groups

Beginning May 3, 2024, Azure will commence enabling the root management group for tenants that have not yet enabled it. This proactive step aligns with best practices for applying Azure Policy and reduces the initial setup work for following governance best practices. Upon creation of the root management group, all subscriptions will become children of this group, facilitating efficient management and compliance enforcement. This update does not alter access permissions or change subscriptions’ configurations; rather, it streamlines governance processes and enhances organizational compliance with Azure Policy standards.

Extensibility Model in Azure Deployment Environments (preview)

Azure Deployment Environments introduces a new extensibility model, now available in public preview, aimed at empowering customers to customize their deployment workflows using various infrastructure-as-code (IaC) frameworks. This model enables users to harness their preferred IaC framework, such as Bicep, Terraform, or Pulumi, to tailor deployment workflows to meet specific organizational needs. With support for Terraform and Bicep, users can seamlessly integrate their chosen IaC framework into Azure Deployment Environments, enhancing flexibility and efficiency in app infrastructure provisioning.

Compute

Azure Dedicated Host – Redeploy (preview)

In a move towards enhancing service resilience and user control, Azure Dedicated Host introduces the “Redeploy” feature, now available in public preview. This feature simplifies the process of moving an Azure Dedicated Host and its associated Virtual Machines (VMs) from one node to another within the same hardware generation. Termed as user-initiated service healing, the redeploy process ensures minimal disruption to services while addressing issues caused by user configurations or underlying host infrastructure. With support available across all regions of the Azure public cloud, users can utilize the Azure Portal or CLI to initiate host redeployment, maintaining host properties while ensuring data integrity on VMs’ temporary disks.

Networking

Application Gateway Web Application Firewall (WAF) Inspection Limit & Size Enforcement

Azure’s Application Gateway v2, integrated with the regional Web Application Firewall (WAF), now provides enhanced control over inspection limits and size enforcement for WAF policies running Core Rule Set (CRS) 3.2 or later. This update enables users to finely tune request body inspection, maximum request body limit, and maximum file upload limit independently. Moreover, users can disable enforcement of these limits without compromising request body inspection. These enhancements empower users to manage WAF policies more effectively, allowing larger requests to pass through without impediment.

Virtual Network Flow Logs

Azure Network Watcher introduces Virtual Network Flow Logs, a new capability enabling users to capture detailed information about IP traffic within their virtual networks. Whether for usage monitoring, optimization, troubleshooting, compliance, or security analysis, flow logs offer valuable insights into network activity. Users can record network traffic at the scope of the virtual network, subnet, or Network Interface Card (NIC), facilitating audit and compliance requirements, identifying traffic patterns, troubleshooting connectivity issues, and detecting malicious activity. Flow data is stored in Azure Storage accounts and can be exported to various analysis tools and security solutions for further examination.

Azure Virtual Network Manager Security Admin Rule Generally Available

The Azure Virtual Network Manager Security Admin Rule is now generally available across all public regions. This rule empowers users to enforce security policies consistently across virtual networks, regardless of subscriptions or regions. By evaluating rules before network security groups (NSGs), organizations can standardize security enforcement, mitigate misconfigurations, and ensure compliance with company policies. With streamlined security management and default settings to prevent errors, users can enhance network security while simplifying operational complexities.

Azure Virtual Network Manager User-Defined Route (UDR) Management (preview)

Azure Virtual Network Manager introduces user-defined route (UDR) management in public preview, offering users the ability to define and apply routing rules across multiple subnets and virtual networks. With this feature, users can easily describe their desired routing behavior within Azure Virtual Network Manager, streamlining the application of routing rules at scale without manual configuration of route tables for each subnet. This capability allows for various scenarios, including routing traffic between spokes across different hubs and directing traffic to specific destinations based on predefined rules, enhancing network management and flexibility within Azure environments.

Storage

Ultra Disks now available on Italy North Azure Region

Azure users in the Italy North region can now leverage the power of Ultra Disks for their virtual machines. Ultra Disks offer high throughput, low latency, and consistent performance, making them ideal for I/O-intensive workloads. With Ultra Disks, users can experience enhanced storage capabilities to meet the demands of their applications while maintaining scalability and reliability.

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.