This post captures some of the key details I’ve noted while looking at migrating Application Gateways from the V1 SKU to V2:

• Migration Path
• Key config differences between V1 and V2, and between the standard and Private deployment models for V2
• Subnets
• Sizing, Pricing and Resilience
• Outline upgrade steps

Background

Application Gateways (AGs) are used to support load balancing, traffic management and certificate management for applications. Since the initial launch of the V1 SKU, an AG V2 SKU has been introduced with improved performance and additional features. Microsoft have announced that the Application Gateway V1 SKU will be retired on 28th April 2026; no new V1 deployments have been allowed since 28th August 2024. If you haven’t already, you should begin planning to upgrade your Application Gateways to the V2 SKU.

Summary of Azure snippets for the week commencing 16th September 2024, grouped by Azure service. Published slightly later than planned!

GA = Generally Available
Public/Private Preview = as stated :-)

Azure services with highlighted updates this week:

• Azure Kubernetes Service
• Azure Storage
• Infrastructure as Code

Azure Kubernetes Service

• Latest AKS release (GA) : The latest release has almost finished its rollout:
  • AKS v1.27 is now deprecated - long-term support only
  • New versions of KEDA addon deployed

Azure Storage

• Live Resize for Azure Premium SSD v2 and Ultra Disks (Public Preview) : Dynamically increase the storage capacity of your Premium SSD v2 and Ultra disks without causing any disruption to your applications. Still has some significant limitations and is only available in select regions at present.

Infrastructure as Code

• Terraform AzureRM provider 4.0 (GA) : This version includes new capabilities to improve the extensibility and flexibility of the provider: provider-defined functions and improved resource provider registration.

Summary of Azure snippets for the week commencing 9th September 2024, grouped by Azure service. Back to regular posting following holidays - though only a couple of updates this time around.

No monthly summary for August as there was only one other post before this one that wasn’t covered by July’s summary.

GA = Generally Available
Public/Private Preview = as stated :-)

Azure services with highlighted updates this week:

• API Management
• Azure Cache for Redis

API Management

• Workspaces in Azure API Management (GA) : Workspaces enable organizations to manage APIs more productively, securely, and reliably using a federated approach. They function like ‘folders’ within an APIM instance, with access controlled via RBAC. A provisioning enhancement to the developer portal, which can maintain overarching policies, logs, etc. Blog post and documentation.

Azure Cache for Redis

• Larger Enterprise tier cache instances for Azure Cache for Redis (GA) : Large amounts of CPU and memory for the most demanding applications. Very powerful and significantly pricy!

Summary of Azure snippets for the week commencing 12th August 2024, grouped by Azure service.

GA = Generally Available
Public/Private Preview = as stated :-)

Azure services with highlighted updates this week:

• Azure DB for PostgreSQL
• Azure Kubernetes Service
• Azure Portal/Entra ID

Azure DB for PostgreSQL

• Terraform support for geo-restore in Azure Database for PostgreSQL - Flexible Server (GA) : You can now use Terraform to perform geo-restore for Azure Database for PostgreSQL - Flexible Server data.

Azure Kubernetes Service

• Azure CNI Powered by Cilium & Azure CNI Overlay support in AKS (Public Preview) : Public preview of Azure CNI Overlay dual-stack with Azure CNI powered by Cilium for Linux clusters in AKS is now available. This enhancement enables AKS clusters to support IPv4 and IPv6 network policies, providing greater flexibility and control over network traffic within your Kubernetes environments.

Azure Portal/Entra ID

• Enable multifactor authentication for your tenant by 15 October 2024 (GA) : This has been on the way for a little while - starting 15 October 2024, MS will require users to use multifactor authentication (MFA) to sign into the Azure portal, Microsoft Entra admin center, and Intune admin center. Applies to break-glass accounts as well - check the documentation for more info.

A summary of July’s (and the start of August’s) weekly Azure snippets, highlighting some of the developments and new features that particularly caught my eye.

This post draws from the following weekly snippets - visit the posts for more details:

• Azure Snippets w/c 22/07/2024
• Azure Snippets w/c 29/07/2024
• Azure Snippets w/c 05/08/2024

Azure Container Storage

• Azure Container Storage for Ephemeral (Local NVMe/Temp SSD) and Azure Disk (GA) (Azure Snippets w/c 29/07/2024)

Azure Kubernetes Service

• Latest AKS release (Azure Snippets w/c 05/08/2024)

Azure Storage

• Convert to Azure Premium SSD v2 disks (Public Preview)(Azure Snippets w/c 22/07/2024)
• Customer Managed Planned Failover for Azure Storage (Public Preview) (Azure Snippets w/c 05/08/2024)

Compute

• 6th generation Intel-based VMs – Dv6/Ev6 (Public Preview) (Azure Snippets w/c 22/07/2024)

Sustainability

• Azure Carbon Optimization (Public Preview) (Azure Snippets w/c 29/07/2024)

Summary of Azure snippets for the week commencing 5th August 2024, grouped by Azure service.

GA = Generally Available
Public/Private Preview = as stated :-)

Azure services with highlighted updates this week:

• Azure Extended Zones
• Azure Kubernetes Service
• Azure Storage

Azure Extended Zones

• Azure Extended Zones (Public Preview) : Extending Azure into a small-footprint deployment (for specific services) where latency or data residency for workloads is a primary concern. Looks like the first Extended Zone is in Los Angeles.

Azure Kubernetes Service

• Leveraging Azure Copilot for AKS : More and deeper integration to make cluster management simpler.
• The latest AKS release is now rolling out :
  • AKS patch versions 1.30.3, 1.29.7, 1.28.12, 1.27.16, are now available (so check your cluster versions for any that now fall into ‘N - 3’ or lower).
  • The AKS extension for Visual Studio Code now supports the ability to attach an ACR to your cluster, generate Kubernetes deployment files, generate Dockerfiles, and generate GitHub Actions

Azure Storage

• Customer Managed Planned Failover for Azure Storage (Public Preview) : Finally, the ability to failover storage endpoints while they’re still healthy is coming! Definitely a boon for DR testing, moving regions if there’s a problem with a different service, etc. Very limited set of regions supported at the moment.

Summary of Azure snippets for the week commencing 29th July 2024, grouped by Azure service.

GA = Generally Available
Public/Private Preview = as stated :-)

Azure services with highlighted updates this week:

• Azure Backup
• Azure Container Storage
• Azure Kubernetes Service
• Sustainability

Azure Backup

• VM Backup support for Premium SSD v2 disks (GA) : Several updates around Premium SSD v2 and Ultra disks, but VM Backup now supporting them both with the Enhanced backup policy is probably the biggest update from my point of view. Note that cross-region and file-level restores (from a mounted disk) are still not supported. Also (importantly) note that you can’t use geo-redundant (GRS) Recovery Services Vaults for enabling backup with Premium SSD v2 and Ultra disks.
• Vaulted Backup for Azure Blob Storage (GA) : Blob backups can now be stored in a Vault instead of just as snapshots in a Storage Account. Available in all public regions, but there are some limitations to be aware of.

Azure Container Storage

• Azure Container Storage for Ephemeral (Local NVMe/Temp SSD) and Azure Disk (GA) : ACS now ready for production workloads (ephemeral disks and Azure Disk-based ones, anyway). Lots of publicity for this one - Azure Blog post, AKS Engineering blog post, documentation.

Azure Kubernetes Service

• OS SKU in-place migration for AKS (GA) : The OS SKU in-place migration feature allows you to trigger a node image upgrade between one Linux SKU (i.e. Ubuntu) to another (i.e. Azure Linux) on an existing nodepool. No need to create new nodes, cordon and drain the existing ones, and then delete them - the upgrade can roll through the cluster without having to create new node pools.

Sustainability

• Azure Carbon Optimization (Public Preview) : Sustainability is still very much a hot topic with cloud workloads. Carbon optimization joins the emissions dashboard and emissions insights (another preview service) to allow you to get a full picture of your cloud deployment impact and where it could be improved.

Summary of Azure snippets for the week commencing 22nd July 2024, grouped by Azure service. The Azure Updates site is working again, in its new v2 version, though the RSS feed isn’t yet.

GA = Generally Available
Public/Private Preview = as stated :-)

Azure services with highlighted updates this week:

• Azure DB for PostgreSQL
• Azure Kubernetes Service
• Azure Storage
• Compute
• Governance

Azure DB for PostgreSQL

• Major version upgrade support for PostgreSQL 16 (GA) : Azure Database for PostgreSQL - Flexible Server now supports in-place major version upgrades to PostgreSQL 16. This update offers access to the latest PostgreSQL features with minimal downtime and a simplified upgrade process.

Azure Kubernetes Service

• The latest AKS release is now rolling out :
  • AKS version 1.30 is now GA.
  • AKS patch versions 1.30.2, 1.30.1, 1.29.6, 1.28.11, 1.27.15, are now available (so check your cluster versions for any that now fall into ‘N - 3’ or lower).

Azure Storage

• Convert to Azure Premium SSD v2 disks (Public Preview) : This feature allows you to migrate your existing Standard SSD, Standard HDD, or Premium SSD v1 disks to Pv2 disks in a few clicks with minimal downtime. This process avoids disk destruction, eliminates the need to use snapshots as a staging resource, and doesn’t require waiting for background data copying. Expands the conversion capability and could be very useful if your workloads can take advantage of Premium SSD v2 capabilities - you had to create a new v2 SSD disk from a snapshot previously.

Compute

• 6th generation Intel-based VMs – Dv6/Ev6 (Public Preview) : General Purpose and Memory-optimised variants, initially available in US West and US East. Claimed performance increase over v5 VMs as well as increased scalability. Also support Azure Boost for increased performance (as will all new VM series going forward).

Governance

• Azure Essentials | Azure Migrate and Modernize | Azure Innovate - Curated collections of resources to kick off and develop Azure projects. Quite a heavy focus on AI (unsurprisingly :-) but covers other areas as well. Useful starting points to go with resources like the Well-Architected and Cloud Adoption Frameworks.

After a couple of weeks off due to holidays and a general lack of updates from MS, we now return to our regularly scheduled programming :-)

Summary of Azure snippets for the week commencing 8th July 2024, grouped by Azure service. No Azure Monthly summary this month as there’s only one other post for June.

GA = Generally Available
Public/Private Preview = as stated :-)

Azure services with highlighted updates this week:

Summary of Azure snippets for the week commencing 17th June 2024, grouped by Azure service. I managed to miss a week as the Azure Updates site is currently undergoing maintenance (so the RSS feed isn’t updating) and I’ve only just found its temporary replacement.

GA = Generally Available
Public/Private Preview = as stated :-)

Azure services with highlighted updates this week:

• Azure DB for PostgreSQL
• Azure Kubernetes Service
• Azure Landing Zones
• Azure Resource Manager
• Azure SQL
• Compute
• Virtual Network Manager

Azure DB for PostgreSQL

• IOPS scaling for Flexible Server (GA) : This feature empowers you to dynamically scale your IOPS based on your workload needs. Ensure optimal performance during high-demand operations like migrations or data loads and scale down to save costs when demand decreases.

Azure Kubernetes Service

• kube-egress-gateway (GA) : kube-egress-gateway is an open-source project that offers a scalable and cost-efficient solution for configuring fixed source IPs for Kubernetes pod egress traffic on Azure.
• OS Security Patch channel for Linux in AKS (GA) : SecurityPatch now added to the channels for node OS image upgrades in AKS.
• az command invoke in AKS (GA) : Invoke a command (e.g. running kubectl) remotely in a private cluster through the AKS API, without connecting directly to the cluster. This can be done from a client that isn’t on the cluster’s private network. Access to the command invoke command is controlled through RBAC permissions.
• Kubernetes patch version 1.27.13 now available in AKS (GA)

Azure Landing Zones

• Zone Redundancy and Multi-Region Capabilities in Azure Landing Zones : Being integrated into Bicep and Terraform accelerators by EoY 2024.

Azure Resource Manager

• Change Actor (GA) : Identifying who made a change to your Azure resources and how the change was made just became easier! With Change Analysis, you can now see who initiated the change and with which client that change was made, for changes across all your tenants and subscriptions. Accessed via the Azure Resource Graph.

Azure SQL

• Advance Notifications for Managed Instance (GA) : Get alerts for planned maintenance events 24 hours ahead of time. Works with SQL Maintenance Windows. Configured via Service Health in the Azure Portal.

Compute

• Windows Server 2025 (Public Preview) : Previewing Windows Server 2025 images for VMs

Virtual Network Manager

• Azure Virtual Network Manager mesh and direct connectivity (GA) : Deploy mesh or hub and spoke network topologies for VNets through VMM without having to set up all the peerings manually.