Azure updates
Get the latest updates on Azure products and features to meet your cloud investment needs. Subscribe to notifications to stay informed.
RSS feedMay 2024
Public Preview: SQL Server on Azure VM storage configuration deployment experience with support for Premium SSD v2
Target availability: Q2 2024
Customers can now choose Premium SSD v2 for the Ebdsv5 and Ebsv5 virtual machine series with the additional ability to opt-in for NVMe support.
Azure Ultra Disk Storage is now available in Italy North
Now available in Italy North region, Azure Ultra Disk Storage provides high-performance along with sub-millisecond latency for your most-demanding workloads.
Public Preview: Azure Storage Actions is now available in 14 more regions
Azure Storage Actions is a fully managed platform that helps you automate data management operations for object storage and data lakes. The preview is now available in 14 more regions.
General Availability: Microsoft Azure now available from new cloud region in Mexico
Microsoft has announced the opening of its first hyper-scale cloud region in Mexico.
April 2024
General availability: Virtual network flow logs
Gain visibility of IP traffic flowing through your virtual networks
Public Preview: Azure Monitor Agent Upload to Storage and Event Hubs
Azure Monitor Agent can now upload to Azure Storage and Event Hubs.
Azure Machine Learning data collector is now generally available
Target availability: Q2 2024
Azure Machine Learning data collector provides real-time logging of input and output data from models that are deployed to managed online endpoints or Kubernetes online endpoints. This data can be seamlessly used for model monitoring, debugging, or auditing, thereby providing observability into the performance of your deployed models.
Azure Machine Learning - General Availability for April 2024
Three features now available in GA enable you to seamlessly log inference data to a central location, set up event-driven applications, processes, or workflows based on Azure Machine Learning events, and utilize lifecycle management of features from creation through archival.
General availability: Extensible key management using Azure Key Vault for SQL Server on Linux
Target availability: Q2 2024
Extensible key management (EKM) using Azure Key Vault in SQL Server on Linux is now generally available from SQL Server 2022 CU12 onwards.
Public Preview: Azure Backup enables vaulted backups for Azure Files for comprehensive data protection.
Target availability: Q1 2024
Azure Backup now supports transferring Azure Files backups to the vault for comprehensive protection against severe data loss scenarios like ransomware attack.
March 2024
Retirement notice: The legacy Azure Storage C++ client libraries will be retired on 29 March 2025
Target retirement date: March 29, 2024
Legacy Azure Storage C++ client libraries will be retired on 29 March 2025. Before that date, you’ll need to transition to the latest version of the Azure Storage C++ client libraries.
Support for Basic and Standard A-series VM families support will be retired on 31 August 2024 for Batch pools
Target retirement date: September 01, 2024
End of life for Basic and Standard A-series VM families support in Batch pools on 31 August 2024
General Availability: Azure Files geo-redundancy for standard large file shares
Target availability: Q1 2024
Azure Files geo-redundancy for 100TiB standard SMB file shares is now generally available.
Preview: New Features in Azure Container Storage
Azure Container Storage is a fully managed volume orchestration service built natively for containers. New capabilities include support for Temp SSD, simplified installation via AKS CLI, and scalable storage for cost-efficient workload management.
Basic and Standard A-series VMs on HDInsight will retire on 31 August 2024
Target retirement date: August 31, 2024
On 31 August 2024, Azure will retire Basic and Standard A-series VMs as announced earlier on 24 August 2021. Before 31 August 2024, you need to migrate your HDInsight A series VMs to Av2-series VMs, which provide more memory per vCPU and faster storage on solid-state drives (SSDs). To avoid service disruptions, migrate your workloads from Basic and Standard A-series VMs to Av2-series VMs before 31 August 2024.
Private Preview: Force detach zone redundant disks during zone outage
Force detach zone redundant disks during zone outage and take advantage of ZRS ability to achieve an RPO of 0.
Public Preview: Next generation of general purpose service tier for Azure SQL Managed Instance
Target availability: Q1 2024
The next generation of general purpose service tier brings improved performance, 32 TB storage and higher database density.
Generally available: Azure Health Data Services DICOM service with Azure Data Lake Storage
With the integration of Azure Data Lake Storage and the DICOM service, organizations can now enjoy full control over their imaging data and increased flexibility for accessing and working with that data through the Azure storage ecosystem and APIs.
Public preview: Azure Modeling and Simulation Workbench
Azure Modeling and Simulation Workbench is a new service that provides a fully managed work environment for engineering development, accelerating project startup, and enabling secure collaboration between development teams.
Generally available: Azure Blob Storage Cold Tier in Poland Central, Qatar Central and Azure China
Azure Blob Storage Cold Tier in generally available in Poland Central, Qatar Central and Azure China.
Azure at Microsoft Build
Get answers to your questions from Microsoft and Community experts.
Community supportRead commonly asked questions on Azure updates.
FAQFind the latest news, updates, and resources for Azure partners.
Azure Partner ZoneTell us what you think of Azure and what you want to see in the future.
Provide feedbackAzure is available in more regions than any other cloud provider.
Check product availability in your region