In October, Microsoft announced a considerable number of news regarding Azure management services. Through these articles released on a monthly basis I want to provide an overall overview of the main news of the month, so that you can always stay up to date on these topics and have the necessary references to carry out further studies.
The following diagram shows the different areas related to management, which are covered in this series of articles, in order to stay up to date on these topics and to better deploy and maintain applications and resources.
Monitor
Azure Monitor
Availability and support of availability zones in new regions
Azure Monitor Log Analytics is available in the following new regions:
- West US 3
- Korea South
- Canada East
To check the availability of the service in all the Azure regions you can consult this document.
Furthermore, support for Availability Zones was introduced in the region of West US 2 for Azure Monitor Log Analytics and Application Insights, which allows to ensure greater availability for the logs present in the Workspace.
Azure Monitor container insights: updating the user experience from the portal
The user experience from the portal for Azure Monitor container insights has been updated and allows you to:
- Get detailed information about containers more easily
- View resource usage as allocable capacity
- Take advantage of new metrics and new recommended alerts
Azure Monitor Query SDK
Microsoft has released the Azure Monitor Query SDK for .NET, Java, JavaScript/TypeScript e Python. This new SDK allows developers to build applications that perform read-only queries on Azure Monitor logs and metrics, so that they can analyze and visualize the data in customized ways. The SDK has been modernized to follow the Azure SDK guidelines and be idiomatic for each programming language. Furthermore, introduces a number of updates and new features.
Azure Monitor application insights in Azure Spring Cloud
Thanks to this new integration in Azure Monitor Application Insights it is possible to enable the monitoring of Java Spring Boot applications running in Azure Spring Cloud with a few simple steps and without making any changes to the code.
Govern
Azure Cost Management
Updates related toAzure Cost Management and Billing
Microsoft is constantly looking for new methodologies to improve Azure Cost Management and Billing, the solution to provide greater visibility into where costs are accumulating in the cloud, identify and prevent incorrect spending patterns and optimize costs . Inthis article some of the latest improvements and updates regarding this solution are reported, including:
- Cost Management now supports Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Windows 365, and Power Platform.
- Azure Hybrid Benefit Management for SQL Server from the Azure portal.
- Invoice management for MCA accounts.
Secure
Azure Security Center
New features, bug fixes and deprecated features of Azure Security Center
Azure Security Center development is constantly evolving and improvements are being made on an ongoing basis. To stay up to date on the latest developments, Microsoft updates this page, this provides information about new features, bug fixes and deprecated features. In particular, this month the main news concern:
- Microsoft Threat and Vulnerability Management added as a vulnerability assessment solution (preview)
- Vulnerability assessment solutions can be enabled automatically (preview)
- Added software inventory filters to the asset inventory (preview)
- Changed the prefix of some types of alerts from “ARM_” to “VM_”
- The logic of a security recommendation for Kubernetes clusters has been changed
- New alerts for Azure Defender for Kubernetes (preview)
Protect
Azure Backup
Multiple backups during the day for Azure Files
Keeping RPO low is often a key requirement for Azure Files that contain frequently updated business-critical data. To ensure minimal data loss, in the event of an emergency or unwanted content changes, organizations may need to back up more frequently than once a day. Azure Backup now allows you to create backup policies to take multiple snapshots per day. With this feature it is also possible to define the duration of the backup processes.
Support for Archive storage for the backup of VMs and SQL on board VMs using the Azure portal
Azure Backup announced in August the ability to move recovery points to the Azure Storage Vault-Archive tier to save costs and retain backup data for a longer duration. This feature is available for Azure VMs and SQL Servers installed on board Azure VMs. Initially this possibility was only given using Azure PowerShell, while now it is possible to move these backups from the standard tier to the new archive tier also from the Azure portal.
When moving backup data from vault-standard to vault-archive, Azure Backup converts incremental data into full backup. This procedure involves an increase in the total GB used, but costs are reduced due to the huge difference in cost per GB between the two storage tiers. To simplify this process, Azure Backup provides advice on Recovery Points (RPs) for which migration to the vault-archive is recommended. Restores can always be done in an integrated way from the Azure portal, with a simple and intuitive process.
Migrate
Azure Migrate
New Azure Migrate releases and features
Azure Migrate is the service in Azure that includes a large portfolio of tools that you can use, through a guided experience, to address effectively the most common migration scenarios. To stay up-to-date on the latest developments in the solution, please consult this page, that provides information about new releases and features. In particular, This month, the main changes concern support for new geographical areas.
Evaluation of Azure
To test for free and evaluate the services provided by Azure you can access this page.
