AZURE Cloud Monthly Updates Newsletter – October 2024.

As we near the end of 2024, another month has passed, drawing us closer to the year's conclusion. Welcome to the latest edition of the Azure Cloud newsletter! In this issue, you will find a wealth of new information and updates to keep you informed and engaged with Azure Cloud. Stay tuned for exciting news and valuable resources that can enhance your cloud experience!

Prepared by: Santhosh (Santhoshkumar) Anandakrishnan - Azure Cloud MVP.

1. Azure Compute Services

1.1 Public Preview: VM watch for Azure VMs

VM watch is a standardized, lightweight, and adaptable in-VM service for virtual machines and machine scale sets. It runs health checks within the VM at configurable intervals and sends the results via a uniform data model to Azure. These health results are consumed by Azure's production monitoring AIOps (AI Operations) engines for regression detection and prevention.

What is changing with this update? VM watch is delivered via the?Application Health VM extension?to provide customers with ease of deployment and manageability. It is also offered at no additional cost. VM the watch is equipped with a default test suite, easily configurable to enable scenario-specific tests, and operates seamlessly on both Linux and Windows environments. The VM watch is also suitable for individual VMs and VMSS VMs.

To learn more about this update, visit: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/extensions/health-extension?tabs=rest-api

2. Azure Data and Storage Services

2.1 Generally Available: Live Resize for Azure Premium SSD v2 and Ultra Disk

Live Resize for Premium SSD v2 and Ultra Disks allows you to dynamically increase your disk storage capacity without disrupting your applications. To reduce costs, you can create smaller disks and gradually increase their storage capacity without experiencing any downtime.

What is changing with this update? You can expand data disks without deallocating your VM. Your disk's host cache setting doesn't affect this.

To learn more about this update, visit: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/windows/expand-os-disk#expand-without-downtime

2.2 Generally Available: Azure Elastic SAN for Azure VMware Solution

Azure Elastic SAN provides AVS (Azure VMware Solution) customers with a fully managed, VMware-certified storage area network (SAN) deployed on Azure. It offers massive scalability, easy management, and built-in redundancy, all at a low total cost of ownership (TCO).

What is changing with this update? If you're seeking a native Azure Storage experience or need to scale your storage capacity independently from performance to minimize your TCO while maximizing scale. In that case, Azure Elastic SAN allows you to expand your storage without scaling the clusters. Azure Elastic SAN can be deployed and connected straight from the Azure portal. It is the cheapest per GiB storage option for AVS, offering plenty of performance for various use cases.

To learn more about this update, visit: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/configure-azure-elastic-san

2.3 Generally Available: GRS and CRR support for Azure VMs using Premium SSD v2 and Ultra Disk in Azure Backup

Premium SSD v2 provides the most advanced block storage solution designed for a broad range of IO-intensive enterprise production workloads that require sub-millisecond disk latencies, high IOPS, and throughput—at a low cost.

What is changing with this update? With GRS and cross-region restore support, you can protect your virtual machines from data loss during a disaster and perform periodic audits by restoring data on demand in the secondary region.

Enabling GRS vaults for VMs using Premium SSD v2 and Ultra Disk is available in select regions. In the upcoming months, it will be rolled out to additional public regions.

To learn more about this update, visit: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/backup/backup-support-matrix-iaas#vm-storage-support

2.4 Public Preview: Immutable WORM Storage for Backups in Azure Recovery Services Vaults

Azure Backup users can now utilize immutable Write Once Read Many (WORM) backup storage when immutability is enabled and locked on a Recovery Services Vault. By enabling immutability, a Recovery Point, once created, cannot be deleted or have its retention period shortened before its designated expiry date.

What is changing with this update? Azure Backup will utilize WORM-enabled immutable storage to comply with requirements when immutability is locked. This functionality applies to both existing and new vaults with locked immutability. It is currently available in a preview phase in select regions.

To learn more about this update, visit: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/backup/backup-azure-immutable-vault-concept?tabs=recovery-services-vault

3. Azure Network and Security Services:

3.1 Public Preview: Edit network features for Azure NetApp Files with no downtime

Standard Network Features provide an enhanced, seamless, and consistent virtual networking experience and a security posture for Azure NetApp Files. You can now edit existing Azure NetApp file volumes and upgrade Basic network features to Standard network features with no downtime. This feature is currently in preview in the limited regions and will expand to other regions.

What is changing with this update? The?Network Features?functionality lets you utilize VNet features for an Azure NetApp Files volume. You can select the?Standard?or?Basic?option when creating a new NFS, SMB, or dual-protocol volume. Additionally, you can modify the network features option for existing volumes.

To learn more about this update, visit: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-netapp-files/configure-network-features

3.2 Generally Available: ExpressRoute Metro

ExpressRoute Metro offers a highly resilient circuit that allows diverse connections to two distinct edge sites within a city, ensuring greater redundancy and reliability.

What is changing with this update? The Metro Provider and Metro Direct solutions offer customers enhanced redundancy in both circuit and port infrastructure and an additional layer of resilience at the edge site level. This innovative approach ensures robust connectivity in the face of site-wide disruptions, thereby supporting uninterrupted service and ensuring business continuity.

To learn more about this update, visit: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/expressroute/metro

3.3 Generally Available: ExpressRoute guided configuration experience

The guided experience makes resiliency central to configuring ExpressRoute circuits and virtual network gateway connections. Three resiliency options—maximum, high, and standard—are offered. Maximum resiliency offers redundancy both across peering locations and within a peering location.

What is changing with this update? The new experience offers information about the distance between peering locations. It provides traffic engineering recommendations to assist customers in making informed configuration decisions. It is accessible through the Azure portal, PowerShell scripts, and ARM templates.

To learn more about this update, visit: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/expressroute/expressroute-howto-circuit-portal-resource-manager?pivots=expressroute-preview

3.4 Public Preview: Azure Virtual Network IP address management

Azure Virtual Network IP address management improves the network management suite. This feature aims to streamline and optimize IP address management, offering greater control and efficiency. With it, you can easily oversee your IP addresses and their usage, ensuring smooth network operations.

What is changing with this update? Efficiently managing IP addresses is essential in environments with complex network configurations. The new IP Address Management feature simplifies this task by offering a centralized IP address planning and allocation solution. With this feature, users can automatically assign non-overlapping addresses, reserve IPs for specific needs, and avoid overlap between Azure address space and on-premises or multi-cloud environments. Additionally, it provides users with a clear overview of their network resources, allowing them to view the usage and allocation of IP addresses effectively.

To learn more about this update, visit: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network-manager/concept-ip-address-management

3.5 Generally Available: Private endpoint support without NVA source network address translation.

Source network address translation (SNAT) is no longer necessary for traffic destined for private endpoints that pass through a network virtual appliance (NVA). You can now configure a tag on your NVA virtual machines (VMs) to inform the Microsoft platform that you wish to enable this feature. As a result, SNAT will no longer be required for all connection requests from the source to the destination for private endpoint traffic traversing through your NVA.

What is changing with this update? Activating this feature will enhance the user experience by ensuring symmetric routing while preserving traffic to non-private endpoints. Additionally, it will help you comply with internal standards requiring the traffic source to be logged for transparency.

To learn more about this update, visit: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/generally-available-Private-endpoint-support-without-NVA-source-network-address-translation

3.6 Generally Available: Custom IPv4 Prefixes (BYOIP) can be used in a Global/Regional configuration

You can now bring public IPv4 ranges using a global or regional configuration in all public and US government regions. We are excited to announce that you can now bring a "global" IPv4 range as small as /24 to Azure. This range will be advertised from Microsoft WAN, allowing you to divide it into multiple "regional" ranges, each as small as /26, associated with specific regions. This feature enables you to onboard a single range that can be used across multiple regions for added redundancy.

What is changing with this update? Customers can retain their IP ranges (Bring Your Own IP—BYOIP) to preserve their established reputation and continue passing through externally managed allowlists. Custom IP address prefixes can be sourced for public IP address prefixes and standard SKU public IPs. These IPs can be utilized in the same manner as Azure-owned public IPs.

To learn more about this update, visit: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-au/azure/virtual-network/ip-services/custom-ip-address-prefix

4. Azure PaaS Services:

4.1 Generally Available: App Service multi-plan subnet join

Virtual network integration in App Service requires one subnet per App Service plan integration today. Managing the subnets can be an unnecessary administrative task if you are working with many App Service plans. Therefore, multi-plan subnet join (MPSJ) is generally available in all public regions.

What is changing with this update? MPSJ (Multi-Plan subnet Join) reduces subnet sprawl when managing multiple applications across various plans and simplifies the management of networking controls, such as Network Security Groups and Route Tables, across App Service plans. A subnet designated for MPSJ must have an address space of at least /26, which provides 64 addresses. With MPSJ, you can connect to a virtual network or subnet in a different subscription; however, all App Service plans that join a specific subnet must remain within the same subscription.

To learn more about this update, visit: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/apps-on-azure-blog/announcing-app-service-multi-plan-subnet-join/ba-p/3971493

4.2 Public Preview: API Management & API Center Synchronization

Managing API inventory in Azure API Center became much easier with the latest feature, “Links”. This seamless integration with Azure API Management service ensures that your API inventory in Azure API Center stays automatically synced and updated, saving you time and effort.

What is changing with this update? The automatic synchronization keeps API inventory up-to-date effortlessly. Changes made in Azure API Management are automatically reflected in Azure API Center, ensuring consistency and accuracy. This helps you experience real-time synchronization, providing immediate visibility into your API landscape.

To learn more about this update, visit: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-au/azure/api-center/synchronize-api-management-apis?tabs=portal

4.3 Public Preview: Switch to Azure Business Continuity Center for at-scale BCDR management

The?Azure Business Continuity (ABC) Center is a streamlined, centralized management center that simplifies backup and disaster recovery across various environments (Azure, Hybrid) and solutions (Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery).?

What is changing with this update? The Azure Business Continuity Center (ABCC) has been designed to enhance and eventually replace the Backup Center. There are no prerequisites or costs associated with using ABCC. Suppose you have been using the Backup Center. In that case, you don’t need to take any additional actions to start viewing your protection estate in ABCC. Simply navigate to the Azure portal and search for the Azure Business Continuity Center to get started.

Azure has removed the Backup Center from the global search in the Azure portal to facilitate this transition. However, an option within ABCC still allows you to access the Backup Center if needed.

To learn more about this update, visit: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/azure-storage-blog/revolutionize-business-continuity-and-disaster-recovery-with/ba-p/3980387

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