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 Carbon Optimization (preview)
Azure Carbon Optimization, now in preview, equips Azure developers and IT professionals with the data and insight to optimize the carbon footprint of their cloud consumption. By providing insights into carbon emissions and offering recommendations to enhance the efficiencies of cloud resources, organizations can make more informed decisions to meet their business and cloud sustainability goals. Key features include granular emissions data at the resource level, optimization recommendations, role-based access control, carbon equivalents for better visualization, and integration with Microsoft Azure emissions insights (preview) for deeper analytics capabilities.
Storage
Azure Blob Storage Lifecycle Management Now Supports Improved Control on Archiving
Lifecycle management now offers users more control over how objects rehydrated from the archive tier are returned to archive after access. The daysAfterLastTierChangeGreaterThan option has been expanded, allowing users to specify a minimum duration that rehydrated objects stay accessible in an online tier. This prevents immediate re-archiving of recently rehydrated objects by applying the daysAfterLastTierChangeGreaterThan property in lifecycle rules based on Creation Time and Last Accessed Time, in addition to the existing Last Modified Time.
Azure NetApp Files zone volume placement enhancement – Populate existing volume
Azure NetApp Files has introduced an enhancement to its availability zone volume placement feature, allowing users to populate previously deployed, existing volumes with logical availability zone information. This update aligns volumes with other Azure services within the same availability zone, without moving them between zones. The enhancement is particularly beneficial for workloads initially deployed regionally, enabling them to align with virtual machines in the same failure domain, which is essential for high-availability architectures across availability zones. Additionally, this feature supports replication across availability zones, facilitating improved data protection.
Azure NetApp Files cross-zone replication
Azure NetApp Files has launched a new cross-zone replication feature, enabling asynchronous replication of volumes across different availability zones within the same Azure region. Leveraging SnapMirror® technology, this feature ensures that only changed blocks are transferred in a compressed format, optimizing network usage and reducing replication times. Cross-zone replication is designed to protect data against unforeseen zone failures without requiring host-based replication. It minimizes data transfer requirements, thereby lowering replication time and achieving a smaller Restore Point Objective (RPO). Additionally, this feature is highly cost-effective as it does not involve any network transfer costs.
Azure NetApp Files Volume Encryption Key Transition (preview)
This new feature in preview allows customers to transition their existing volumes protected with platform-managed keys (PMK) to volumes encrypted using customer-managed keys (CMK) stored in Azure Key Vault. CMK provides enhanced key manageability and security by enabling direct management of key rotation, access, permissions, and auditing tasks. This feature helps organizations comply with regulatory requirements and manage encryption keys securely without impacting performance, as the CMK protects the account encryption key using Azure Key Vault.
Azure Stack
Azure Stack HCI
Optimize Azure Stack HCI with the Well-Architected Framework
Microsoft is announcing the Azure Well-Architected Framework Service Guide for Azure Stack HCI. This guide contains design checklists and detailed configuration recommendations to assist cloud architects in designing and deploying Azure Stack HCI according to the guiding principles of the Well-Architected Framework: Reliability, Security, Cost Optimization, Operational Excellence, and Performance Efficiency. Whether planning a new deployment or enhancing an existing one, the guide provides tailored advice, rationales for recommendations, and links to product documentation for further details.
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.
