Cloud Platform Release Announcements for June 15, 2018
Azure Kubernetes Service—GA in new regions
Azure Kubernetes Service is now generally available to the public. Developers can drastically simplify how they build and run container-based solutions without deep Kubernetes expertise on Azure. Azure Kubernetes Service integrates with dev tools and workspaces, CI/CD, networking, monitoring tools and more so developers can focus on writing and shipping code, not stitching services together.
Learn more at the Azure blog.
Azure security and operations management | Security Center's New Overview dashboard
Security Center has made several enhancements to its Overview dashboard to make it even easier for you to gain visibility into the security state of your hybrid cloud workloads and meet compliance requirements, reduce your exposure to threats, and quickly respond to detected threats. The new overview dashboard will give you visibility into your security state from an organizational level instead of a subscription level. To help organizations identify and address the challenges of managing an organization-wide security posture, you can now set security policies for management groups in your organization. You can also monitor it with an organization-wide compliance score as well as a breakdown score per subscription. You can also gain visibility into the security state of your resources running in Azure, other clouds, and on-premises along with actionable insights through the new Security Hygiene tile. Security Center’s Threat Protection tile alerts you of detected attacks and helps you quickly prioritize your response to threats.
Azure Standard SSD | Preview
We recently announced the preview of a new low-cost Azure SSD offering for entry-level production workloads requiring consistent latency.
Azure Standard SSDs provide a low-cost managed disk solution optimized for test and entry-level production workloads requiring consistent latency.
Standard SSDs can:
- Deliver lower latency compared to Standard HDDs.
- Be used for big-data workloads that require high throughput.
- Improve reliability and scalability for your applications.
- Offer the same industry-leading durability and availability you expect from Azure Disk Storage.
- Be upgraded to Premium SSDs for more demanding and latency-sensitive workloads.
Standard SSDs are available with all Azure Virtual Machines series.
Try Standard SSDs now. Learn more.
Azure security and operations management | Three new additions to Azure Monitor alerts
Three new features related to alerts in Azure Monitor are now in preview.
- Alert state management: This feature provides users a way to change the state of the alert to reflect the current situation of the issue in their environment. Currently three alert states—New, Acknowledged and Closed—are supported.
- Smart Groups: For customers who have hundreds of alerts, we take advantage of machine learning to bucket similar alerts into smart groups. This significantly reduces the number of alerts to analyze and speeds up mitigation and root cause analysis.
- Alert enumeration experience and API: You can now query alerts across multiple subscriptions and pivot on severity, signal type, resource type, and more.
To learn more, read our blog post.
Azure Database for MySQL and Azure Database for PostgreSQL (open source database services) | MySQL data-in replication now in preview
Data-in replication for Azure Database for MySQL now generally available
Azure Database for MySQL now supports data-in replication. Use data-in replication to synchronize data from a MySQL server running on-premises, in virtual machines, or database services outside Azure into the Azure Database for MySQL service.
Learn more about data-in replication and how to configure data-in replication
Azure Database for MySQL and Azure Database for PostgreSQL (open source database services) | Virtual Network Service Endpoints in preview
Virtual network service endpoints for Azure Database Services for MySQL and PostgreSQL server
The preview of virtual network service endpoints for Azure database services for MySQL and PostgreSQL are accessible in all regions where the services are available. Virtual network service endpoints allow you to isolate connectivity to your logical server from only a given subnet or set of subnets within your virtual network. Traffic to Azure database services for MySQL or PostgreSQL from the virtual network service endpoints stays within the Azure backbone network. This direct route will be preferred over any specific routes that take internet traffic through virtual appliances or on-premises.
Learn more about services for MySQL. Learn more about services for PostgreSQL.
Azure Database for MySQL and Azure Database for PostgreSQL (open source database services) | PostgreSQL major version 10—GA
Azure Database for PostgreSQL—Updated version released
PostgreSQL major version 10 .3is now generally available on Azure Database for PostgreSQL. Features in this version include improved query parallelism and declarative table partitioning. To start using this version, create a new Azure Database for PostgreSQL server and select version 10.
Azure Database for MySQL and Azure Database for PostgreSQL (open source database services) | Scaling across tiers—GA
Scaling across tiers in Azure database services for MySQL and PostgreSQL
Scaling among hardware generations within services tiers and scaling between general purpose and the memory optimized service tiers for Azure database services for MySQL and PostgreSQL is now supported in all available regions. The ability to scale across service tiers gives you more flexibility in adjusting the resources available to your database server for dynamically changing workloads. Scaling between hardware generations allows you to take advantage of the newer hardware generation for servers previously created in the older hardware generation.
Learn more about Azure Database for PostgreSQL pricing tiers.
Learn more about Azure Database for MySQL pricing tiers.
Delegate access to application management with new Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) administrator roles
Three new limited administrator roles are now available in Azure Active Directory for application management—Application Administrator, Cloud Application Administrator, and Application Developer. These dedicated roles can help your company set the appropriate access controls to the directory for application development, configuration, management, and delegation, and reduce the dependency on the Global Admin role. With the use of Azure AD Privileged Identity Management, you can further control and monitor admin roles, including just-in-time access and role change alerts. These three new admin roles are now in preview.
Azure AD conditional access support to block legacy auth Public Preview
On Thursday, June 7, we announced the Public Preview of Azure Active Directory conditional access support to block legacy authentication, which enables you to block users from using older Office clients and other clients that use mail protocols such as IMAP/POP/SMTP. Attackers strongly prefer these older protocols as nearly 100% of all password spray attacks target legacy auth and you now have the ability to define a policy from within conditional access and can ensure you have the ability to ensure your end users stop using such clients. This would be one of the easiest ways to ensure a better security posture and you can get started today by following the steps outlined here.
To learn more, read the full blog post.
Updated Azure Enterprise Agreement Support Plan Offer available until June 30, 2019
Beginning July 1, 2018, all new Azure customers who purchase an Enterprise Agreement will receive Azure Standard support.
This offer is designed for customers who buy Microsoft Azure services on an Enterprise Agreement. It provides an additional level of access to expert technical support from Microsoft to help with your cloud journey and comes at no charge.
Current eligible customers qualify for 12-month renewal as long as they meet the eligibility qualifications. New customers are enrolled automatically within 45 days of meeting eligibility qualifications.
To get more information visit the offer details page, or contact your account manager, Enterprise Agreement Azure support, or use the help/support link in the Enterprise Portal.
Existing Professional Direct support customers who have used any of the following ProDirect services will be contacted by their ProDirect Delivery Manager upon renewal for additional details.