Azure AI & App Innovation Updates - August 2026

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By Lionel Gurret.

Introduction

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This article lists Azure updates for August 2026.

Updates

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AI + machine learning

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• [Launched]: Generally Available: Azure Databricks Lakebase in four additional regions
• [Launched]: Generally Available: SharePoint Connector for Azure Databricks
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Unity AI Gateway on Azure Databricks

Compute

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• [Launched]: Generally Available: Azure VM Image Builder in sovereign and air-gapped clouds
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Azure 248 and 372 vCPU sizes for D/E v7 series VMs
• [Launched]: Generally Available: eBPF host routing in Advanced Container Networking Services for AKS
• [Launched]: Generally Available: vCore Customization: Disable Multithreading and Configurable Constrained Cores
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Managed Instance on Azure App Service
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Control plane metrics collection for AKS with Managed Prometheus
• [In preview]: Public Preview: Markdown for Agents in Azure App Service
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Trusted Launch as Default

Networking

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• [Launched]: Generally Available: Azure Bastion shareable link expiration
• [In preview]: Public Preview: IPv6 dual-stack support for Azure Bastion
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Connect to AKS clusters using Azure Bastion
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Custom block response code and body for Application Gateway WAF
• [In preview]: Public Preview: Ipv6 support in Azure Firewall
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Batch rule updates for Azure Front Door
• [In preview]: Public Preview: Azure Front Door mutual TLS
• [Launched]: Generally Available: 2.2X IDPS performance optimization in Azure Firewall
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Explicit proxy in Azure Firewall
• [In preview]: Public Preview: Perimeter link feature in network security perimeter
• [In preview]: Public Preview: Azure Private Link support over IPv6
• [In preview]: Public Preview: Azure DNS enables DNS-based load balancing through Traffic Manager integration
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Azure Virtual Network routing appliance

Security

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• [Launched]: Retirement: Containerized data connector agent for the Microsoft Sentinel solution for SAP applications

Storage

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• [In preview]: Public Preview: Per-disk resiliency for Azure VMs
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Workload identity support for Azure Files CSI driver (SMB) in Azure
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Live Resize for Shared Premium SSD v2 and Ultra Data Disks

Hybrid + multicloud

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• [In preview]: Public Preview: Azure Multicloud Interconnect
• [Update]: Announcing: Extended Support for Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Summarized advertised gateway prefixes for route advertisement
• [In preview]: Public Preview: Azure ExpressRoute resiliency guard

Features

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• [In preview]: Public Preview: Introducing Live Reports for Azure SRE Agent
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Azure SRE Agent VNet Integration
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Dragon Copilot Physician Apps and Agents on Microsoft Marketplace

Pricing & Offerings

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• [Launched]: Generally Available: Azure SRE Agent 30-Day Trial

Announcement

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• [Update]: Announcing: Aspire 13.5 has shipped

Mobile

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• Retirement: Retirement: Support for Node 22 LTS ends on April 30, 2027

Azure Copilot

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• [Launched]: Announcing: Azure Copilot introduces direct access to agents

Databases

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• [Launched]: Generally Available: Azure SQL updates for mid-August 2026
• [In preview]: Public Preview: SQL Formatter in MSSQL extension
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Azure SQL Database provisioning in MSSQL extension
• [In preview]: Public Preview: Zone redundancy for Azure SQL Managed Instance Next-gen General Purpose
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Pre-upgrade validation checks for Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server
• [Launched]: Generally Available: Immutability to the most recent seven days of backups on Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance

Management and governance

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• [Launched]: Generally Available: BYON (Bring Your Own NIC) in Azure Site Recovery

Azure VMware Solution

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• Retirement: Retirement: Azure VMware Solution License-included service will be retired August 30, 2027

Azure Linux

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• [In preview]: Public Preview: Azure Linux on WSL

Analytics

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• Retirement: Announcing: Azure Databricks Runtime 10.4 LTS will reach end of life on November 1, 2026
• [Update]: Announcing: Azure Databricks Genie One and Genie Agents Free Usage extended through January 31, 2027

Microsoft Fabric

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• [Update]: Announcing: Microsoft Fabric Item Recovery will be enabled by default for tenants without an explicit setting

Migration

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• [In preview]: Public Preview: Migrate from AWS FSx for Windows File Server to Azure Files with Azure Storage Mover

Virtual Machines

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• Retirement: Retirement: Nested confidential (cc_v5) VMs will be retired on September 1, 2026

Sources

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