Microsoft is constantly announcing news regarding Azure management services and as usual this monthly summary is released. The aim is to provide an overview of the main news of the month, in order to stay up to date on these topics and have the necessary references to conduct further exploration.
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
Azure Monitor for SAP Solutions (preview)
Azure Monitor has launched a new version, called Azure Monitor for SAP solutions (AMS), for the SAP solutions monitor (preview). This new version allows, for SAP workloads in Azure, to collect SAP information and telemetry. This solution is useful for both SAP BASIS teams and infrastructure teams who can consult the information collected in a single location.
Migration tools for the Azure Monitor Agent (preview)
The Azure Monitor Agent (AMA) offers a secure way, economically convenient, simplified and performing for the collection of telemetry data from Azure virtual machines, from Virtual Machine Scale Set, from Arc-enabled servers and Windows clients. Migration from the Log Analytics agent (MMA or OMS agents) it must take place by August 2024. To make this process easier for you, Microsoft is providing dedicated agent migration tools, that allow you to automate the migration process. For further details you can consult the Microsoft's official documentation.
Azure Monitor Agent: support for User-assigned Managed Identity (preview)
The new Azure Monitor Agent (AMA) now supports User-assigned Managed Identities in preview. Thanks to this support, it is possible to use the policies to distribute the extension of the AMA on virtual machines and on virtual machine scale sets. User-assigned Managed Identities allow for greater scalability and resilience than System Assigned Identities, thus becoming the recommended method for large-scale installations using extensions.
Configure
Update management center (preview)
Update management center is the new solution that helps centrally manage and govern updates of all machines. It works without the need for onboarding, as it is a solution that is natively based on the Azure Compute platform and Azure Arc-enabled servers. This solution will soon take the place of Update Management of Azure Automation, removing any dependency on Azure Automation and Log Analytics. Update management center is, today, able to manage and govern updates on:
- Windows and Linux operating systems
- Machines residing in Azure, locally and on other cloud platforms, thanks to Azure Arc
Among the main strengths of the new solution we find:
- Centralized visibility of updates
- Native integration and zero onboarding
- Integration with Azure roles and identities
- High flexibility in managing updates
Govern
Azure Cost Management
Updates related toMicrosoft Cost Management
Microsoft is constantly looking for new methodologies to improve Microsoft Cost Management, 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.
Secure
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
New features, bug fixes and deprecated features of Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Microsoft Defender for Cloud 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:
- Cloud-native security agent for Kubernetes runtime protection
- Support for language package detection introduced in the VA of Defender for Container (preview)
- Vulnerability protection CVE-2022-29149 of Operations Management Suite
Protect
Azure Backup
Smart tiering: automatic move to the vault-archive tier (preview)
Azure Backup has introduced the ability to configure policies to automate the use of the vault-archive tier for Azure virtual machines and for SQL Server / SAP HANA on board virtual machines. This ensures that the restore points are suitable and recommended (in the case of Azure virtual machines) are automatically moved to the vault-archive tier. This is done periodically and according to the backup policy settings. Furthermore, you can specify the number of days after which you want the recovery points to be moved to the vault-archive tier.
Azure Site Recovery
Mitigated Azure Site Recovery vulnerabilities
Microsoft has corrected a number of Azure Site Recovery vulnerabilities (ASR) releasing updates on 12 July, during Microsoft's regular update cycle. These vulnerabilities affect all customers using ASR in a VMware / Physical to Azure replication scenario. These vulnerabilities have been corrected in the latest version of ASR 9.49. For more information you can consult this bulletin.
New Update Rollup
For Azure Site Recovery was released theUpdate Rollup 62 which solves various problems and introduces some new features, among which:
- Support for Linux OS / Azure to Azure: RHEL 8.6 and Cent OS 8.6
- Support for VMware / Physical to Azure: RHEL 8.6 and Cent OS 8.6
- Support for configuring “proxy bypass” for VMware and Hyper-V replicas, using private endpoints.
The related details and the procedure to follow for installation can be found in specific KB.
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.
Evaluation of Azure
To test for free and evaluate the services provided by Azure you can access this page.
