New Azure features and functionality for March 2021
It’s been a busy month as far as new Azure features and functionality go! Just in case you’ve missed something, we’ve collected all of the announcements from March 2021 in one place. Be sure to give this list a read through, as there’s a wealth of exciting new functions and updates to check out!
General Availability
- Changes coming to Azure Pipelines free grants
- Azure Data Explorer external tables
- Encryption scopes in Azure Storage
- Backup for Azure Managed Disk
- Azure Communication Services
- Stream Analytics runs on Azure Stack Hub
- New VM series supported by Azure Batch
- IoT Hub Azure portal extension update
- Azure Automation is now available in UK West
- Publishing VM Images from Shared Image Gallery to Azure Marketplace
- Enhanced Azure Dashboards experience for pinned Log Analytics parts
- HBv3-Series VMs now generally available in West Europe
- Directory scoped shared access signatures (SAS)
- Azure Data Explorer performance update (EngineV3)
- Machine Learning Services on Azure SQL Managed Instance
- Azure Data Explorer (ADX) Performance Updates
- Dynamic data masking granular permissions for Azure SQL and Azure Synapse Analytics
- Monitor your spending through forecasted cost alerts with Azure Cost Management and Billing
- Azure API Management support for request and response validation policies
- Media Services adds new “StandBy” mode for Live Events to speed up start times from warm state
- Azure Media Services – HEVC encoding support in Standard Encoder
- Azure Storage — Routing Preferences
- Python Durable Functions support in Azure Functions
- Azure Functions supports .NET 5 in production
- Node.js 14 in Azure Functions
- HDInsight Apache Kafka REST Proxy
- Azure Routing Preference
- Azure monitor for containers now supports Pods & Replica set live logs in AKS resource view
- New Simplified NSX networking experience for Azure VMware Solution
- Azure API Management extension for Visual Studio Code
- Azure API Management now has named values integration with Azure Key Vault
- Plan your migration to Azure VMware Solution using Azure Migrate
- Confidential computing nodes (DCSv2) on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
- Azure Remote Rendering
- Application insights no-code enablement on Node.js Linux App Service Environments
- Persistent Volume monitoring & Reports tab in Container Insights
- Azure Stream Analytics Dedicated
- Azure SQL auditing to Log Analytics and Event Hub
- Azure Synapse Link for Azure Cosmos DB: Azure Synapse serverless SQL pool support
- Assessments for migration to Azure VMware Solution
- Azure Machine Learning – Generally available announcements at Ignite, March 2021
- Azure SQL auditing of Microsoft operations
- Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes
- Just-In-Time Access support in AKS
- App Gateway ingress controller add-on for AKS
- Encrypted customer managed keys policy for AKS
- Conditional Access feature integration with AKS
- Public IP per node capability in AKS
- Backup Center for Azure Backup
- New Enterprise and Enterprise Flash tiers for Azure Cache for Redis
- Azure Spring Cloud: Managed Virtual Network and Autoscale
- Deploy WebLogic on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) using custom Docker images
- Azure Load Balancer support for IP-based backend pool management
- Backup Reports is now generally available
- Announcing private Azure Marketplace
- Azure Backup for SAP HANA: Incremental backup
- Event Hubs on Azure Stack Hub for disconnected scenarios
Updates
- Azure Sphere OS version 21.03 is now available for evaluation
- Azure Storage Explorer v1.18.0
- Azure IoT Central new and updated features—February 2021
- Azure Cosmos DB API for MongoDB supports version 4.0
- Azure Security Center: Updates for February 2021
Misc.
Useful Links
- Get stuck into more Azure on Microsoft Learn
- New Azure features and functionality for February 2021
- View live and on-demand sessions on Azure and more on Microsoft Learn TV
- A look at the announcements from Microsoft Build 2020
- Catch up with Build 2020’s on-demand sessions
- How to skill up while stuck at home
- I want to skill up – but what do I learn?
