Azure Updates for February 2024

Last Updated on April 10, 2024 by Arnav Sharma

February 1, 2024

• Support for log alert rules that use cross-workspace queries with resource names or qualified name identifiers will be retired on 31 May 2024: As of May 31, 2024, log alert rules will no longer support cross-workspace queries that use resource names or qualified name identifiers.
• Azure Virtual Network Manager security admin rule generally available in 30 regions: Azure Virtual Network Manager’s security admin rule configuration is now generally available in 30 regions, empowering users to enforce security rules across their virtual networks globally.
• Azure Virtual Network Manager topology view now generally available: Visualize Azure Virtual Network Manager connectivity configurations with topology view.
• Private Preview: Azure Site Recovery support for Azure Trusted Launch VMs (Windows OS): Azure Site Recovery now supports Azure Trusted Launch VMs.
• Generally Available: Azure Stack HCI latest feature release: Azure Stack HCI, the Microsoft Azure Arc-enabled infrastructure, has a new feature release available for download.
• Generally Available: Continuous model monitoring in Azure Machine Learning: Azure Machine Learning model monitoring is now generally available.

February 5, 2024

• Public Preview: Azure NetApp Files Standard Network Features – Edit Volumes in US Gov Regions: Azure NetApp Files in US Gov region now supports the ability to edit existing ANF volumes and upgrading Basic network features to Standard network features.
• Generally available: Support for up to 100 TB of storage for the FHIR service: The FHIR service in Azure Health Data Services now supports up to 100 TB of storage.
• Azure Ultra Disk Storage is now available in Canada East: Azure Ultra Disk Storage provides high performance along with sub-millisecond latency for your most-demanding workloads, now in Canada East.
• Mount Azure Storage as a local share in App Service Linux Now supports NFS: NFS support is now available for App Service Linux code and container when mounting an Azure File share as a local share for the web app.
• Announcing General Availability to migrate Virtual Network injected Azure Data Explorer Cluster to Private Endpoints: The migration of Azure Virtual Network injected Azure Data Explorer cluster to Private Endpoints is generally available now.

February 6, 2024

• Public Preview: Azure NetApp Files Standard Network Features – Edit Volumes in US Gov Regions: Azure NetApp Files in US Gov region now supports the ability to edit existing ANF volumes and upgrading Basic network features to Standard network features.

February 12, 2024

• Public preview: AKS cluster control plane metrics in managed Prometheus: Monitor the health, load, and performance of the API server and etcd in the control plane of your AKS clusters.
• Generally available: Zone Redundant Storage for Azure Disks is now available in Canada Central: Zone Redundant Storage (ZRS) for Azure Disks is now available on Azure Premium SSD and Standard SSD in the Canada Central region.
• General availability: Improvements in Azure Key Vault: Improvements in Azure Key Vault include FIPS 140-2 Level 3, PCI DSS, and PCI 3DS certification for all customers.

February 13, 2024

• Azure Firewall: Flow Trace Logs and Autoscaling based on number of connections are now generally available: Flow Trace Logs provide more visibility into the TCP handshake, and Azure Firewall can now autoscale based on the number of connections.
• Azure Firewall: Parallel IP Group update support is now in public preview: Parallel IP Group support enables administrators to simultaneously update multiple IP Groups in a firewall.
• Azure Elastic SAN is now generally available: Azure Elastic SAN, the industry’s first fully managed and cloud-native SAN offering, is now generally available.

February 14, 2024

• Generally available: Azure Blob Storage Cold Tier support on Change Feed and Object Replication: Azure Blob Change Feed and Object Replication now support Azure Blob Storage Cold Tier.
• General availability: Azure SQL updates for mid-February 2024: General availability enhancements and updates released for Azure SQL.
• General availability: Customer managed key encryption for Enterprise tier caches: Encrypt Redis persistence files using customer managed keys.
• Public preview: Migration service in Azure Database for PostgreSQL: Easily migrate PostgreSQL to Azure with a managed service supporting full schema and data migrations.
• Public preview: Azure SQL migration assessment enabled by Azure Arc: Begin your migration journey from directly within the Azure Arc environment with recommended Azure SQL deployment options.

February 19, 2024

• Generally available: Support for Azure VMs using Ultra disks in Azure Backup: General availability for the support for Azure VMs using Ultra disks in Azure Backup.
• Generally available: Support for Azure VMs using Premium SSD v2 in Azure Backup: General availability for the support for Azure VMs using Premium SSD v2 in Azure Backup.
• Execute Azure Monitor Logs connector on exact time range provided dynamically (preview): Azure Monitor Logs connector lets you query data in your Log Analytics workspace or Application Insights components per Logic App trigger or schedule.

February 20, 2024

• Update records in a Kusto Database (public preview): The new .update command allows you to update records in a Kusto Database.
• Public Preview: Regional Disaster Recovery by Azure Backup for AKS: Utilize Azure Backup for AKS to recover containerized applications and data during a regional disaster scenario.
• General Availability: Azure NetApp Files Standard Network Features – Edit Volumes: Azure NetApp Files Standard Network Features – Edit Volumes GA.
• Public preview: Configuration-as-code customizations in Microsoft Dev Box: Customize workstations to exact project requirements within guardrails set by admins.
• Public Preview: Azure Storage Actions — Serverless storage data management: Automate data management tasks for Azure Blob Storage and Azure Data Lake Storage.

February 21, 2024

• Sending a log search alert with cross tenant target resource will no longer be supported: Starting March 15, 2024, sending a log search alert with a cross-tenant target resource (except for the lighthouse case) will no longer be supported, ensuring that only authorized users can receive and investigate log search alerts.

February 26, 2024

• Public preview: Azure Application Gateway introduces support for TLS and TCP protocols: Azure Application Gateway now supports TLS and TCP protocols, enhancing security and management capabilities.
• Announcing NBCROW Compression in Kusto’s TDS Implementation: A new feature that reduces data transfer for MSSQL queries on Kusto, improving efficiency and performance.

February 27, 2024

• General availability: Application Gateway for Containers: This evolution of Application Gateway’s Ingress Controller brings performance, scale, deployment, and feature enhancements.
• Enable replication for added VMware VM data disks: Azure Site Recovery now supports enabling replication for data disks added to a VMware VM that’s already enabled for disaster recovery.

February 28, 2024

• Public preview: Internet inbound for Network Virtual Appliances in Virtual WAN Hubs: Introduces Destination NAT capabilities for Next-Generation Firewall Network Virtual Appliances in the Virtual WAN hub.
• Public preview: Azure Functions Support for HTTP Streams in Node.js: Enables real-time exchange and interaction between client and server over HTTP connections.
• Public preview: Kubernetes 1.29 support in AKS: Try out Kubernetes 1.29 preview version with AKS and prepare for its GA in your production environment.
• Public preview: OS SKU in-place migration for Linux nodes: Migrate nodes from one Linux OS to another without creating new nodes.
• Generally Available: Node Soak Duration for Upgrades: Set a low soak time value during a node upgrade to wait between draining a node and proceeding to reimage it.
• Generally Available: Capacity Reservations support in AKS: Manage changing workload demands using capacity reservation groups.
• GA: Istio-based service mesh add-on for Azure Kubernetes Service: Deploy an officially supported Istio addon for AKS.
• Public preview: Disable network policy in AKS for migration: Temporarily disable your network policy engines to perform a migration.
• Public preview: AKS support for node soak duration for upgrades: Stagger AKS node upgrades and minimize application downtime.
• Public Preview: Azure SQL updates for late-February 2024: Public preview enhancements and updates released for Azure SQL.
• General availability: Latest PostgreSQL minor versions supported by Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Flexible Server: Supports minor versions 16.1, 15.5, 14.10, 13.13, 12.17, 11.22.
• General availability: Azure SDKs support for Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL: Use Azure SDKs to manage the lifecycle of Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL clusters.
• General availability: Azure CLI support for Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL: Manage the whole lifecycle of Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL clusters using Azure CLI.