Azure AI & App Innovation Updates - February 2026

#

By Lionel Gurret.

Introduction

#

This article lists Azure updates for February 2026.

Updates

#

AI + machine learning

#

• [Launched]: Generally Available: Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.6 is now available on Azure Databricks
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Azure Databricks Supervisor Agent
• [Launched]: ​Generally Available: Claude Opus 4.6 now available on Azure Databricks
• [In preview]: Public Preview: Claude Opus 4.6, Available on Microsoft Foundry
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Serverless workspaces in Azure Databricks

Containers

#

• [Launched]: Retirement: Managed NGINX Ingress with Application Routing Add-on Retiring November 2026
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Azure Red Hat OpenShift is now available in Malaysia West, New Zealand North, and Mexico Central
• [In preview]: Retirement: Windows Server Annual Channel (preview)
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Azure Container Storage v2.1.0 now with Elastic SAN integration and on demand installation
• [In preview]: Public Preview: Azure Kubernetes Fleet Manager namespace-scoped resource placement

DevOps

#

• [In preview]: Public Preview: Secure ingestion and pod placement for Azure Monitor pipeline
• [In preview]: Public Preview: Azure Monitor pipeline transformations

Compute

#

• [Launched]: Generally Available: DCesv6, DCedsv6, ECesv6, and ECedsv6 confidential VMs
• [In preview]: Public Preview: Unified tooling in the AKS MCP server
• [In preview]: Public Preview: Cluster mode for the agentic CLI for AKS
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Quota and deployment troubleshooting tools for Azure Functions Flex Consumption
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Azure Functions .NET 10 support
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Node auto-provisioning support in Sovereign Cloud
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Node auto-provisioning enabled clusters in AKS now support LocalDNS
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Encryption at host & disk encryption sets support in node auto-provisioning
• [Launched]: Generally Available: AKS support for Kubernetes version 1.34
• [Launched]: Generally Available: AMD v6 confidential VMs in new regions for January 2026

Networking

#

• [In preview]: Public Preview: WAF Insights for Application Gateway
• [In preview]: Public Preview: Azure Front Door Premium now supports Azure Private Link origins in UAE North
• [In preview]: Public Preview: Application Gateway for Containers - AKS managed add-on
• [In preview]: Public Preview: Azure virtual network routing appliance
• [Launched]: Public Preview: X-Forwarded-For (XFF) grouping for rate limiting on Application Gateway WAF v2
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Default Ruleset 2.2 in WAF for Azure Application Gateway

Security

#

• [Launched]: Retirement: Azure Front Door and Azure CDN profiles will end support for DHE cipher suites on April 1, 2026

Storage

#

• [Launched]: Generally available: Azure Premium SSD v2 Disk Storage is now available in a third Availability Zone in New Zealan North
• [In preview]: Public Preview: Restrict usage of user delegation SAS to an Entra ID identity
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Azure Premium SSD v2 Disk is now available in Brazil Southeast, and in a third Availability Zone in Malaysia West and Indonesia Central
• [In preview]: Public Preview: Azure NetApp Files Elastic zone-redundant service level

Databases

#

• [Launched]: Generally Available: Azure SQL updates for late-February 2026
• [In preview]: Public Preview: Azure SQL updates for late-February 2026
• [In preview]: Public Preview: Geo‑redundant backups for Premium SSD v2 in Azure Database for PostgreSQL
• [In preview]: Public Preview: Azure SQL updates for mid-February 2026

Features

#

• [Launched]: Generally Available: Instant access support for incremental snapshots of Azure Premium SSD v2 and Ultra Disk

Management and governance

#

• [Launched]: Private Preview: Vaulted Backups for Azure Disk

Regions & Datacenters

#

• [Private Preview]: Private Preview: New planned datacenter region in Thailand (Thailand South)

Sources

#

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