Azure Updates for August 2023

Last Updated on May 27, 2024 by Arnav Sharma

August 1, 2023

1. Azure Monitor Container Insights: Azure Monitor container insights now allow customers to configure custom collection settings for the Perf, Inventory, InsightsMetrics, and KubeEvents tables to reduce their Log Analytics ingestion.
2. Enhanced Security and Compliance for Azure Databricks: The Enhanced Security and Compliance (ESC) add-on simplifies the complexity of meeting security and regulatory requirements for Azure Databricks customers.

August 2, 2023

1. Azure Red Hat OpenShift Updates: Azure Red Hat OpenShift is now DoD IL4 certified, allows deployment of infrastructure nodes without an OpenShift subscription fee, and provides increased security by allowing private clusters without public IP.
2. Zone Redundant Storage for Azure Disks: Zone Redundant Storage (ZRS) for Azure Disks is now available on Azure Premium SSD and Standard SSD in East Asia.
3. Azure Database for MySQL – Flexible Server Updates:
   • Autoscale IOPS: Effortlessly scale your storage IOPS to match workload demands with the autoscale IOPS feature.
   • PostgreSQL 15 support: Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Flexible Server now provides support for PostgreSQL 15 across all Azure regions.

August 3, 2023

1. Azure NetApp Files: SMB Continuous Availability (CA) shares in Azure NetApp Files is now generally available.
2. Azure Load Testing Updates:
   • Run tests for up to 24 hours: Azure Load Testing now enables running tests for durations up to 24 hours.
   • Run tests with 100,000 virtual users: Azure Load Testing now supports running tests with 100,000 virtual users, using up to 400 engine instances.
3. JBoss EAP on App Service Clustering: JBoss EAP on App Service clustering is now generally available on Azure, enabling automatic, efficient clustering and auto-scaling for high-availability applications.

August 7, 2023

1. Illumio for Microsoft Azure Firewall: Illumio for Azure Firewall enables organizations to understand application traffic and dependencies, apply consistent protection across environments, limit exposure, contain breaches, and improve efficiency.

August 10, 2023

1. Azure Premium SSD v2 Disk Storage: This storage solution is now available in more regions, offering advanced general-purpose block storage with the best price performance.
2. Azure Blob Storage Cold Tier: This online tier is designed for efficiently storing data that is infrequently accessed or modified, ensuring immediate availability.

August 14, 2023

1. Azure Functions Updates:
   • SDK type bindings in Azure Functions are now available. Azure Functions now supports binding to types from the Azure SDK, providing a richer development experience.
   • Application Insights integration for the Azure Functions .NET worker is now available. .NET function apps using the isolated worker model can now better control how telemetry is emitted to Application Insights.
   • Durable Functions for Python v2 Programming Model is now available. You can now develop durable functions in Azure Functions using the Python v2 programming model.
2. Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Updates:
   • Kubernetes 1.27 support in AKS is now available. You can now take advantage of Kubernetes release 1.27 enhancements in production.
   • Private Link service integration is now available. You can now directly create a Private Link Service (PLS) for Kubernetes services via annotations in the service manifest file.
3. Azure Container Apps Updates:
   • Azure Key Vault references for secrets in Azure Container Apps are now available. You can now use Azure Key Vault references to access your secrets in Azure Container Apps.
   • Secrets volume mounts for Azure Container Apps are now available. You can now mount secrets as volumes in Azure Container Apps.
   • Session affinity for Azure Container Apps is now available. Azure Container Apps now supports sticky sessions.
   • Init containers in Azure Container Apps are now available. You can now use init containers with Azure Container Apps in production.
   • Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) in Azure Container Apps is now available. You can now set up CORS from the portal or through the CLI.

August 15, 2023

1. Azure Load Testing in Japan East and Brazil South: Azure Load Testing is now generally available in these regions.

August 16, 2023

1. Azure Sphere (Integrated) Public Preview: A new management interface for Azure Sphere services that is natively integrated with Azure via the Azure Resource Manager is now available in public preview.
2. WordPress on App Service: Integration with Azure Communication Services Email is now available, facilitating communication and driving engagement without requiring 3rd party plugins.
3. Azure Site Recovery update rollup 68 – August 2023: This article describes the improvements for the latest version of Azure Site Recovery components.

August 18, 2023

1. Cross Subscription Restore for Azure Virtual Machines: Cross Subscription Restore support for Azure VM is now generally available.

August 22, 2023

1. Azure Managed Lustre Updates:
   • Azure Managed Lustre now offers two new performance tiers, 40MB/s/TiB and 500MB/s/TiB, providing tailored solutions and added cost and performance flexibility for various workload sizes.
   • Azure Front Door Standard/Premium is now available in Azure Government. This is a new Azure native, modern cloud content delivery network (CDN) catering to both dynamic and static content delivery acceleration with enhanced security and a simple and predictable pricing model.

August 24, 2023

1. Azure Front Door Updates:
   • Quick create Azure Front Door endpoints for Azure Storage accounts is now available. Azure Storage announced native integration with Azure Front Door for content delivery with blob storage as the origin.
   • AzAcSnap 9 — Azure Application Consistent Snapshot tool updates are now available with the release of AzAcSnap Version 9.

August 29, 2023

1. Azure Site Recovery Higher Churn Support: Azure Site Recovery now offers High Churn Support.

August 30, 2023

1. Azure Container Apps Updates:
   • Jobs are now generally available. You can run production workloads that perform a task for a finite duration and exit, and schedule these workloads or run them in response to events.
   • Support for UDR, NAT Gateway, and smaller subnets is now available. You can define UDRs to manage how outbound traffic is routed for your container app environment’s subnet.
   • Dedicated plan is now available, allowing you to run your apps on dedicated workload profiles that offer more CPU and memory if needed.
   • ASP.NET Core integration in Azure Functions is now available. Azure Functions now supports using ASP.NET types such as HttpRequest, HttpResponse, and IActionResult from .NET isolated function projects.
   • Auto-upgrade scheduled maintenance for AKS is now available. You can have dedicated maintenance for weekly AKS releases, auto upgrades, and Node OS patching.
   • Azure SQL updates for late-August 2023 are now available. General availability enhancements and updates were released for Azure SQL.
   • Latest PostgreSQL minor versions supported by Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Flexible Server are now available. Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Flexible Server now supports minor versions 15.3, 14.8, 13.11, 12.15, 11.20.

August 31, 2023

1. Azure Monitor VM Insights using Azure Monitor Agent: This update enhances the foundational security of VMs, offering benefits like cost savings, simplified management experience, and improved security & performance.
2. Azure Firewall Updates:
   • Single-Click Upgrade and Downgrade is now available, allowing firewall upgrades without service downtime.
   • Azure Firewall is now generally available in the Poland Central region.