The latest Azure Local update which was released earlier this week is a doozy. There are some big features being added to Azure Local this month and these are absolutely game changing. I will be blogging about a few of these soon.
OS changes:
In 2604 release, all the new and existing deployments of Azure Local run the new OS version 26100.32690 (download from the Azure portal).
You also need a driver that’s compatible with OS version 26100.32690 or Windows Server 2025.
For Integrated System or Premier solution hardware from the Azure Local Catalog, the OS is preinstalled. Work with your Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to get a compatible OS image and a compatible driver.
.NET updates:
This build uses .NET version 8.0.26 for both .NET Runtime and ASP.NET Core. For more information, see Download .NET 8.0.
This build uses .NET version 10.0.6 for both .NET Runtime and ASP.NET Core. For more information, see Download .NET 10.0.
AKS enabled by Azure Arc changes:
- This release supports the following Kubernetes versions: 1.31.12, 1.31.13, 1.32.8, 1.32.9, 1.33.4, 1.33.5. Kubernetes version 1.30 is no longer supported.
- KMS v1 will be deprecated soon. KMS v2 is included in this Azure Local release. Plan on redeploying your clusters by using KMS v2.
Ensure your AKS clusters are on a supported Kubernetes version before upgrading Azure Local. For more information, see What’s new in AKS enabled by Azure Arc on Azure Local.
Disaggregated deployments for Azure Local: Starting with this release, you can deploy Azure Local using Storage Area Network (SAN) storage only. This architecture enables independent scaling of storage and compute, allowing clusters to scale beyond 16 nodes. For more information, see Disaggregated deployment.
SAN support for Azure Local: SAN storage is now generally available for Azure Local. You can attach SAN storage and use it alongside Storage Spaces Direct. For more information, see attaching SAN storage.
Local identity with Key Vault: Starting with this release, local identity with Key Vault is generally available. For more information, see Deploy Azure Local using local identity with Azure Key Vault.
Manage update settings for Azure Local: Starting with this release, you can control how updates are applied to Azure Local. For more information, see update setting.
Domain join prior to deployment: Starting with this release, domain join prior to deployment is supported. For more information, see domain join prior to deployment.
Validation improvements: Validation time during deployment and update is reduced by up to 50%. Validation now resumes from the point of failure (within a three‑hour window) instead of starting over.
Deployment performance improvements: Deployment duration is now consistent for clusters of up to 8 nodes, with an overall time reduction of up to 40%.
Rack aware clustering: Rack‑aware clustering now supports deployments using local identity with Azure Key Vault. For more information, see Generally available or supported services.
GPU acceleration for Azure Local VMs general availability: GPU acceleration for Azure Local VMs is now generally available. Azure Local supports attaching or detaching full GPUs (DDA) or GPU partitions (GPU‑P) to Azure Local VMs during creation or as a Day‑2 operation using the Azure CLI or Azure portal. For more information, see Manage GPUs via Discrete Device Assignment.
Enhanced data disk management experience in the Azure portal: You can now create new data disks at the cluster level with a richer disk overview experience, along with overall visual and usability improvements across disk management workflows. Additionally, from the Azure Local VM view, you can now attach existing disks to your VM.
Enhanced Azure Marketplace image navigation in the Azure portal: When creating a new VM image, the list of Azure Marketplace images available for download now opens in a full page view to make it easier to view and select images.
Graceful restart by default for Azure Local VMs: Azure Local VM restart operation now performs a graceful shutdown by default. To use this feature via the Azure CLI, ensure the
stack-hci-vmextension is updated (az extension update --name "stack-hci-vm").To bypass the shutdown, use the--skip-shutdownflag when restarting the VM.Enable or disable SDN management per network interface: Azure Local now supports enabling or disabling SDN management for individual network interfaces. Use the
--bypass-sdn-policiesflag to configure this behavior. To use this feature via the Azure CLI, ensure thestack-hci-vmextension is updated (az extension update --name "stack-hci-vm").
