Azure Update - 19th April 2024

Summary

This week's Azure infrastructure update, dated April 19th, introduces several key enhancements. Notably, Express Route Metro is a significant new feature offering resiliency for active-active connections within a city by routing them to different physical facilities. Event Grid now includes a last will and testament capability in preview, which is crucial for IoT scenarios, allowing other applications to receive a notification when a client disconnects ungracefully. High-performance computing workloads can now utilize HPv4 and HX VMs in Sweden Central. Azure Virtual Network encryption is generally available, providing transparent encryption for accelerated networking-enabled VMs. Azure Bastion's developer skew offers a cost-effective solution for basic VM connections within the same virtual network. Network groups can now be used in security admin rules for more streamlined traffic management. The storage side sees the addition of the last ownership update time attribute on Data Disks and Azure Data Box Disks now support hardware encryption with AES 256. Updates to Azure Site Recovery and Azure Monitor workspaces, including PromQL query capabilities, round out the improvements.

Takeaways

• 🌐 **Express Route Metro Update**: A new capability for Express Route that enhances resiliency by allowing active-active connections within a city to go to different physical facilities.
• 📬 **Event Grid MQTT Support**: Event Grid now in preview with a 'Last Will and Testament' feature for MQTT, allowing other applications to receive a notification when a client disconnects ungracefully.
• 🚀 **HPv4 and HX VMs in Sweden Central**: High-performance computing workloads with HPv4 and large memory, high-performance computing workloads with HX VMs are now available in Sweden Central.
• 🔒 **Azure Virtual Network Encryption**: Now generally available, this feature transparently encrypts all traffic for accelerated networking-enabled VMs without adding overhead.
• 💻 **Azure Bastion Developer SKU**: A cost-effective SKU aimed at developers for basic VM connectivity within the same virtual network using SSH for Linux and RDP for Windows.
• 🛡️ **Network Groups in Security Admin Rules**: Virtual Network Manager now allows the use of network groups in security admin rules, simplifying traffic management and control.
• 📊 **Last Ownership Update Time on Disks**: A new attribute available on Data Disks in Azure that shows when the disk state was last changed, aiding in decision-making for disk management.
• 🔐 **Azure Data Box Disks with Hardware Encryption**: Azure Data Box Disks now support hardware encryption (AES 256), providing an additional encryption option for data import/export.
• 🔄 **Azure Site Recovery Update 73**: General availability of support for the mobility service on Linux operating systems, including Ubuntu 18.04 Pro, for modernized VMware and physical to Azure scenarios.
• 📊 **PromQL in Azure Monitor Workspace**: Azure Monitor Workspace now allows running PromQL queries directly, enhancing compatibility with Prometheus for storage and information retrieval.
• 🆔 **Managed Identities for Alerting**: Azure Monitor Log search alerting now supports managed identities, simplifying interactions with log sources for alert triggering.

Q & A

What is the significance of the Express Route Metro update?

Express Route Metro provides resiliency for active-active connections within a city by routing them to different physical facilities within the same Metroplex, enhancing reliability against rack-level and facility-level failures.

What is the 'last will and testament' capability in Event Grid?

The 'last will and testament' capability in Event Grid allows other applications to receive a notification when an MQTT client disconnects in an ungraceful state, enabling them to react accordingly.

In what region are HPv4 and HX VMs now available?

HPv4 and HX VMs are now available in Sweden Central, suitable for high-performance computing workloads and large memory requirements.

What does Azure Virtual Network encryption do?

Azure Virtual Network encryption transparently encrypts all traffic for accelerated networking-enabled virtual machines, offloading the encryption to the FPGA in the host.

What is the developer skew in Azure Bastion?

The developer skew in Azure Bastion is a cost-effective offering that allows developers to connect to virtual machines in the same virtual network using SSH for Linux and RDP for Windows, with basic functionality.

How do Network groups enhance security admin rules?

Network groups allow for the creation of centrally managed rules that apply before network security groups, simplifying the rules by enabling the definition of traffic sets that are either allowed or denied, and can bypass NSGs if needed.

What is the new attribute available on Azure Disk Storage (DIS)?

The new attribute available on DIS is the 'last ownership update time', which shows when the disk state was last changed, aiding in decision-making regarding disk management.

How does Azure Data Box Disk support hardware encryption?

Azure Data Box Disk now supports hardware encryption with AES 256, providing an additional encryption option that offers equivalent performance to software-based encryption methods like BitLocker AES 128.

What is the significance of the Azure Site Recovery update 73?

Azure Site Recovery update 73 introduces support for the mobility service on Linux operating systems, including Ubuntu 18.04 and 20.04 Pro, enhancing the capabilities for modernized VMware and physical to Azure migrations.

How does Azure Monitor workspace support PromQL queries?

Azure Monitor workspace now allows users to run PromQL directly within the workspace, enabling easier access to Prometheus-compatible storage and facilitating the retrieval of information.

What does the support for managed identities in Azure Monitor Log search and alerting simplify?

Support for managed identities simplifies interactions with log sources for triggering alerts, as it allows for the use of system-assigned or user-assigned identities, separate from the resource lifecycle.