Summary of Azure snippets for the week commencing 30th September 2024, grouped by Azure service. Almost back to normal posting cadence :-)

GA = Generally Available
Public/Private Preview = as stated
RET = Service retirement

Azure services with highlighted updates this week:

• Application Gateway
• Azure Backup
• Azure Cache for Redis
• Azure DB for PostgreSQL
• Azure Kubernetes Service
• Infrastructure as Code
• Network Security Groups
• Virtual Network Manager

Application Gateway

• Azure Application Gateway support for TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 will end by 31 August 2025 (RET) : All connections (frontend and backend) to Application Gateway must use Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.2 or later, as support for TLS 1.0 and 1.1 on Azure Application Gateway will be discontinued starting 31st August 2025.

Azure Backup

• Azure Business Continuity Center (Public Preview) : Centralised management platform for backup and disaster recovery of Azure resources. Will be replacing the Backup Center, which I think we can probably safely regard as deprecated from this point forward. Supports resources in all regions and a variety of sources and scenarios. (No idea why the title of the page on Azure Updates says Generally Available when it’s clearly still in preview :-)

Azure Cache for Redis

• Smaller Enterprise tier cache instance for Azure Cache for Redis (GA) : Following the very pricy Large Enterprise instances, there’s now a more cost-effective smaller one. Runs on burstables and recommended for dev/test only, but very much cheaper than the other Enterprise tiers.

Azure DB for PostgreSQL

• Online migration from Azure Database for PostgreSQL - Single Server to Flexible Server (GA) : Now out of preview, minimal downtime migration for PostgreSQL Single Server instances.

Azure Kubernetes Service

• gRPC and frontend mTLS now available for Application Gateway for Containers (GA) : Application Gateway for Containers now supports gRPC and frontend mutual authentication (mTLS). With both frontend and backend mutual authentication, end-to-end mutual authentication is now possible. This fills what I considered a fairly significant gap in the functionality of App Gateway for Containers, and brings it more in line with other ingress/gateway solutions.
• Long-term support for Kubernetes version 1.27 and 1.30 in AKS (GA) : K8s v1.30 has now joined 1.27 on the AKS LTS list.
• Open Service Mesh add-on for AKS will be retired on September 30, 2027 (RET) : Istio is (currently) the only option for a ’native’ AKS service mesh add-on going forward.
• Virtual machines node pools support in AKS (Public Preview) : With virtual machines node pools, Azure Kubernetes Service directly manages the provisioning and bootstrapping of every single node. (For Virtual Machine Scale Sets node pools, AKS manages the model of the Virtual Machine Scale Sets and uses it to achieve consistency across all nodes in the node pool.) Virtual Machines node pools allow the capability to add multiple VM SKUs of a similar family (e.g. different D-series SKUs) to a single node pool.
• Latest AKS release (GA) : Some ongoing updates from the last release, plus 1.30 in LTS (see above), and AKS patch versions 1.28.13, 1.29.8, 1.30.4 are now available

Infrastructure as Code

• Transition from Helm Repositories to OCI Artifacts for Storing Helm Charts (RET) : Starting March 30th, 2025, Azure Container Registry will no longer support Helm v2. Therefore, the legacy “Helm repositories” functionality will also be retired. After this date, Azure Container Registry will only support storing Helm charts as Open Container Initiative (OCI) Artifacts. Get your migration sorted out where needed - any Helm charts not stored as OCI Artifacts in ACR will be deleted after 30th March 2025!

Network Security Groups

• Network security group flow logs in Azure Network Watcher will be retired (RET) : Flow logs to be retired on 30/9/27, but you won’t be able to create new ones from 30/6/25. Migration path is to virtual network flow logs, and a migration process is available.

Virtual Network Manager

• Azure Virtual Network Monitoring IP address management (Public Preview) : This feature (part of Virtual Network Manager) is designed to streamline and optimise your IP address management, providing you with greater control and efficiency. Tracking IP address use in VNets and subnets to avoid clashes can be tricky in Azure, and if you’re using services such as Private Endpoints which can dynamically assign IP addresses, it gets even harder - something like this could be helpful and maybe remove the need for manual tracking of IPs. Preview available in UK South but not UK West.

And finally, goodbye to Azure Orbital Ground Station, which is being retired on 18th December 2024. Not my usual focus, but I couldn’t let it pass without a note!

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 13th May 2024, grouped by Azure service.

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

Azure services with highlighted updates this week:

• Application Gateway
• Azure Kubernetes Service
• Azure Site Recovery

Application Gateway

• Application Gateway v2 Basic SKU (Public Preview) : AG v2 gets a Basic SKU. Same base functionality and Capacity Units as Standard, with a slightly lower SLA (99.9% vs 99.95%), lower scaling maximums, and none of the advanced stuff (e.g. Private Link, URL rewrites). SKU comparison here. Presumably the fixed cost will be cheaper (once it’s out of preview and being charged for :-)

Azure Kubernetes Service

• New version of AKS extension in Visual Studio Code : The AKS extension in Visual Studio Code has been updated to version 1.4.3. This new release includes general enhancements as well as a new command “Retina capture” (which uses the Retina tool Microsoft recently open-sourced).
• AKS automatic use of Zone-Redundant storage to create managed disks when AKS cluster is deployed across availability zones : With Kubernetes 1.29 and built-in storage classes. As ZRS is more expensive than LRS, this can be overridden with a custom storage class.

Azure Site Recovery

• ASR support for Trusted Launch VMs (Public Preview) : Fills a gap in ASR provision. Few gotchas to check though.