Azure DevOps & Cloud-Native Updates – December 2024

By Lionel Gurret.

Introduction

Welcome to our Monthly Azure DevOps and Cloud Tech Updates Series!

Welcome to my monthly blog series where we bring you a concise roundup of significant Azure updates pertinent to DevOps, keeping you in the loop with the latest advancements.

Let’s check what’s new!

Updates

AI + machine learning

• [In preview] Public Preview: Risk and safety evaluations for image and multimodal content in Azure AI Foundry

Analytics

• [Launched] Generally Available: New Zealand North region added to Azure HDInsight
• [Launched] Generally Available: New built-in roles for Azure Chaos Studio

Compute

• [Launched] Generally Available: Enhanced AKS logs with Kubernetes metadata and logs filtering
• [In preview] Public Preview: GitHub Copilot for Azure – AKS plugins
• [Launched] Generally Available: AKS automated deployments UI
• [In preview] Public Preview: AKS support for private ingress on cluster create or through API
• [Launched] Generally Available: Vaulted backup for AKS
• [Launched] Generally Available: Force attach/detach API support in AKS
• [In preview] Public Preview: KAITO managed add-on now available in the AKS Visual Studio Code extension
• [Launched] Generally Available: Open-source feature update: vLLM model serving in KAITO
• [In preview] Public Preview: Windows GPU – Driver type selection
• [In preview] Public Preview: AKS Communication Manager
• [In preview] Public Preview: IMDS restriction support in AKS
• [Launched] Generally Available: Parallel Image Pulls by Default in AKS
• [Launched] Generally Available: Microsoft Azure now available from new cloud region in New Zealand

Databases

• [In preview] Public Preview: Azure Database for MySQL bindings for Azure Functions
• [Launched] Generally Available: Azure SQL updates for early-December
• [Launched] Generally Available: Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Flexible Server in Spain Central and Mexico Central regions
• [Launched] Generally Available: Performance management server parameters now modifiable in Azure Database for PostgreSQL
• [In preview] Public Preview: Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Flexible Server network monitoring metrics
• [Launched] Generally Available: High-availability health status monitoring for Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Flexible Server

Features

• [In preview] Public Preview: Neon Serverless Postgres – an Azure Native Integration

Integration

• [Launched] Generally Available: Azure Health Data Services de-identification service

Management and governance

• [In development] Private Preview: Azure Automation is revising Service and Subscription limits

Storage

• [Launched] Generally Available: Storage account default maximum request rate limit increase to 40,000 requests per second
• [Launched] Generally Available: Enhancements on Elastic SAN on resiliency, scalability, and integration with Azure VMWare Solution

Sources

https://azure.microsoft.com/
Microsoft Dev Blog
Azure Website