New Month… New Azure Local updates!
Azure local is always changing and it seems new features are coming out, it’s like your favorite holiday with presents come every month. There is one gaming changing feature I am going to go deep into soon, let’s first look at what’s going on!
You can see the entire article here.
Features and improvements in 2506
This release has the following features and improvements:
OS changes:
In 2504 release, a new operating system was introduced for Azure Local deployments. For 2506, all the new deployments of Azure Local run the new OS version 26100.4349. You can download the 2506 OS image from the Azure portal.
You also need to get the driver compatible with OS version 26100.4349 or Windows Server 2025. If a compatible driver isn’t available, you can use the 2503 image.
Existing deployments of Azure Local continue to use OS version 25398.1665. For more information, see Release information summary.
If you purchased Integrated System or Premier solution hardware from the Azure Local Catalog through your preferred Microsoft hardware partner, the OS should be preinstalled. Work with your Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to get the OS image compatible with 12.2506 and driver compatible with OS version 26100.4349 or Windows Server 2025.
.NET updates: This build uses .NET version 8.0.17 for both .NET Runtime and ASP.NET Core. For more information, see Download .NET 8.0.
Software-Defined Networking (SDN) enabled by Azure Arc (Preview): Azure Local now supports creating Networking Security Groups (NSGs), configuring Network Security Rules, and assigning them to logical networks and network interfaces. This provides a consistent networking experience across your cloud and edge environment. For more information, see Software-Defined Networking (SDN) enabled by Azure Arc.
Deployment changes: To ensure consistent validation before you deploy Azure Local, deployment validators for Microsoft On-premises Cloud and Azure resource bridge are now a part of environment checker.
Overprovisioning alert: A warning is shown prior to starting an update if an Azure Local instance is overprovisioned. This alert indicates there is insufficient compute capacity (memory) to live migrate workloads during an update. You must acknowledge this alert before proceeding with an update, as VM workloads will be paused due to the lack of available compute or memory capacity.
Security improvements:
New security baseline: The 2506 release introduces a security baseline with 407 evaluated rules, a 25% increase from the previous 324. Key improvements include:
Over 90% alignment with CIS Azure Compute Windows Baseline and Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) benchmark.
Enhanced Microsoft Defender Antivirus settings, including Potentially Unwanted Apps (PUA), network inspection, and attack surface reduction rules.
Additional adjustments tailored for Azure Local.
This release has also improved conflict resolution with existing security policies. Instead of disabling drift control system-wide, you can now fine-tune individual settings while maintaining drift control. For more information, see View and download security settings in Azure Local.
To comply with National Institute of Standards and Technology(NIST) 2 guidelines, the minimum required password length when deploying Azure Local is changed to 14 characters.
Archival of Azure Local, version 22H2 documentation: Azure Local, version 22H2 documentation is now archived and available in the Azure previous versions documentation for reference. The archived documentation isn’t updated and isn’t supported.
Azure Government cloud: The solution update isn’t supported for Azure Local instances deployment in Azure Government cloud.
HOOOOOLLLLLD UP….. Did that say Software Defined Networking?
You read that right, it absolutely did. This is absolutely a game changer. This will solidify your networking experience. We will get more into this in future posts, but this geek is really excited.
