Microsoft is constantly announcing news regarding Azure management services. This summary, published monthly, allows you to have an overall overview of the main news of the current month, in order to stay up to date on these news and have the necessary references to conduct further study.
The following diagram shows the different areas related to management, which are covered in this series of articles:
Monitor
Azure Monitor
Azure Monitor for Prometheus has updated the AKS add-on to support Windows nodes
Azure Monitor for Prometheus managed service has updated the AKS metrics add-on to support collection of Prometheus metrics from Windows nodes in AKS clusters. Azure Monitor Metrics add-on integration allows Windows pod DaemonSets to start running on node pools. Are supported both Windows Server 2019 also Windows Server 2022.
Azure Monitor Metrics Dataplane API released
The Azure Metrics Dataplane API is a new approach to Azure Monitor that improves the collection of resource information enabling greater query capacity and efficiency. With this API it is possible to retrieve data on metrics, for a maximum of 50 ID of resources in the same subscription and region, in one batch API call. This improves query throughput, reduces the risk of throttling and provides a smoother experience for customers who want to gather information about Azure resources.
Configure
Update management center
Hotpatch availability for Windows Server VMs in Azure with Desktop Experience
Hotpatch is now available for preview images of Windows Server Azure Edition virtual machines with the Desktop Experience installation mode.
Hotpatch is a feature that allows you to patch and install updates to Windows Server Azure Edition virtual machines in an Azure environment, without requiring a restart. It was previously available for Server Core installation mode, but now also Windows Server Azure Edition virtual machines installed with Desktop Experience installation mode can take advantage of this security update installation mode, by providing:
- less impact on workloads by having to do fewer reboots;
- faster deployment of updates, as the packages are smaller, they install faster and patch orchestration is easier with Azure Update Manager;
- better protection, because hotpatch update packages are dedicated to Windows security updates that install faster without reboots.
Govern
Azure Cost Management
Azure Advisor: advice for the right sizing of VM/VMSS with a custom reference time
Customers using Azure Advisor can improve the relevance of recommendations to make them more actionable, resulting in additional cost savings. In fact,, right sizing recommendations help optimize costs, identifying idle or underutilized virtual machines based on their CPU activity, storage and network over the default seven-day reporting period. Now, thanks to the latest update, customers can set the reporting period to get recommendations based on 14, 21, 30, 60 or even 90 days of use. The configuration can be applied at the subscription level. This feature is especially useful when workloads peak biweekly or monthly.
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
Integration between Azure API Management and Microsoft Defender for API (preview)
It is now possible to obtain a higher level of API security thanks to the integration between Azure API Management and Microsoft Defender for APIs. This integration enables a comprehensive defense strategy for:
- gain visibility into Azure APIs;
- understand their security posture;
- prioritize vulnerability fixes;
- detect and respond to active threats in runtime, using anomalous and suspicious API usage detections based on machine learning.
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.
Protect
Azure Backup
Support for Azure VMs using Premium SSD v2 (preview)
In Azure Backup it is now possible to enable the protection of Azure virtual machines that use Premium SSD v2. Enabling these backups is currently available in select regions, and Microsoft plans to add support in more regions in the coming weeks..
Azure Site Recovery
Large disk support for disaster recovery of Hyper-V virtual machines
In Azure Site Recovery it is now possible to enable disaster recovery of Hyper-V virtual machines with data disks up to 32 TB. This applies to Hyper-V VMs replicating to managed disks in any Azure region.
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 news concern:
- possibility to create a business case by importing the list of servers through a .csv file;
- building a business case using Azure Migrate for:
- servers and workloads running in Microsoft Hyper-V and physical/bare-metal environments, as well as IaaS services from other public clouds;
- SQL Server Always On Failover Cluster instances and Always On availability groups.
Evaluation of Azure
To test for free and evaluate the services provided by Azure you can access this page.
