AKS Updates
Latest Azure Kubernetes Service updates, sourced from the official Azure Updates feed. Use this page to track new AKS release features at a glance.
- Launched
Generally Available: Azure Monitor for Azure Arc-enabled Kubernetes with OpenShift and Azure Red Hat OpenShift
Azure Monitor provides a complete set of services for monitoring the health and performance of different layers of your Kubernetes infrastructure and the applications that depend on it.Azure Monitor support for Azure Arc-enabled Kubernetes with OpenShift
- Launched
Generally Available: Configure AKS backup using a single Azure CLI command
Azure Backup now provides a simplified experience to configure backup for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) clusters using a single Azure CLI command.Enabling backup for AKS clusters through CLI requires multiple manual steps, including installation of the B
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Retirement: Azure Kubernetes Service support for Ubuntu 22.04
On June 30, 2027, we'll retire Ubuntu 22.04 on Azure Kubernetes Service. To avoid disruptions, transition to Ubuntu 24.04 or later by that date. Newer supported versions include kernel updates and security improvements. Until June 30, 2027, you can cont
- In preview
Public Preview: Monitor AKS applications with OpenTelemetry and Azure Monitor
Azure Monitor now supports monitoring applications that run on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) by using OpenTelemetry for instrumentation and data collection.Leverage autoinstrumentation to deploy the Azure Monitor OpenTelemetry distro to workloads or use
- Launched
Public Preview: StandardV2 NAT Gateway as an outbound type for AKS
AKS now supports managed and user-assigned StandardV2 NAT Gateway as an outbound type for your AKS managed or BYO VNets. This unlocks zone-redundant outbound connectivity, up to 100 Gbps outbound throughput, and IPv6 outbound support for AKS clusters.Lear
- Launched
Generally Available: Observability in AKS Namespace and Workload Views
AKS now surfaces observability data powered by Azure Monitor managed service for Prometheus directly within Namespace and Workload views, making it easier to:Monitor cluster and workload healthTroubleshoot pending or failed podsAnalyze resource utilizatio
- Launched
Generally Available: Disable HTTP proxy in AKS
Organizations that use HTTP proxies to control outbound traffic often need to change or remove those settings as network requirements evolve, which can be disruptive in running clusters. Azure Kubernetes Service allows administrators to disable HTTP proxy
- Launched
Generally Available: Pod CIDR expansion in AKS
When clusters exhaust available pod IP addresses, teams have historically been forced to rebuild environments to restore capacity, creating operational disruption. Pod CIDR expansion allows overlay‑based AKS clusters to increase their pod IP range in plac
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Retirement: Deprecation of sidecar for remote-write for Azure Monitor managed service for Prometheus
On March 31, 2027 Azure Monitor will be deprecating the sidecar for remote-write of Prometheus metrics to Azure Monitor Workspace. This is as part of our ongoing efforts to improve reliability and reduce complexity.We recommend configuring your self-hoste
- In preview
Public Preview: Blue-green agent pool upgrade in AKS
In‑place node pool upgrades can introduce risk by applying changes directly to running environments. Blue‑green agent pool upgrades create a parallel node pool with the new configuration, allowing validation before workloads are shifted and providing a cl
- Launched
Generally Available: Container network metrics filtering for AKS
Network observability can generate large volumes of metrics, making it difficult for teams to focus on data that is operationally relevant. Container network metrics filtering in Azure Container Networking Services (ACNS) allows operators to control which
- In preview
Public Preview: AI Agent for container networking troubleshooting
Troubleshooting Kubernetes networking issues is often slowed by logs and metrics scattered across multiple tools, forcing engineers to manually correlate signals during incidents. The container networking agent provides a lightweight, web‑based interface
- In preview
Public Preview: AKS managed GPU metrics in Azure Monitor
Teams running GPU‑backed workloads often lack integrated visibility into GPU utilization alongside Kubernetes metrics. AKS managed GPU metrics automatically expose performance and utilization data from NVIDIA GPU‑enabled node pools into managed Prometheus
- In preview
Public Preview: Cross-cluster networking in Azure Kubernetes Fleet Manager
Organizations running applications across multiple Kubernetes clusters often face challenges with performance, global service discovery, and observability due to the complexity of distributed microservice environments. Azure Kubernetes Fleet Manager now p
- Launched
Generally Available: Azure Container Storage v2.1.0 now with Elastic SAN integration and on demand installation
Containerized workloads often require higher and more consistent storage performance without managing large numbers of individual disks. Azure Container Storage integration with Elastic SAN allows Kubernetes clusters to consume storage from a shared pool
- Launched
Generally Available: Container network logs in AKS
Networking issues in Kubernetes environments can be difficult to diagnose due to limited visibility into traffic flows and insufficient context around failures. Container network logs in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), now generally available, provide con
- In preview
Public Preview: Application routing with meshless Istio in AKS
Following the deprecation of ingress‑nginx, Kubernetes operators need a supported, standards‑aligned migration path for ingress without the complexity of a full service mesh. Application Routing with Meshless Istio enables adoption of the Kubernetes Gatew
- In preview
Public Preview: Microsoft Azure Kubernetes Application Network
As Kubernetes environments scale across regions and clusters, IP‑based networking becomes difficult to manage and provides limited application‑level visibility and security controls. Azure Kubernetes Application Network introduces application‑layer abstra
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Retirement: Flatcar Container Linux for AKS (preview)
Azure Kubernetes Service support for Flatcar Container Linux for AKS (preview) will be retired on June 8, 2026, transition to a supported alternative by that date. From now to June 7, 2026, you can continue to use Flatcar Container Linux for AKS (preview)
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Retirement: Managed NGINX Ingress with Application Routing Add-on Retiring November 2026
The upstream Ingress-NGINX project is being deprecated and will stop receiving updates after March 2026. Microsoft will continue providing critical security patches through 30 November 2026, after which the NGINX ingress controller will no longer be suppo
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Retirement: Windows Server Annual Channel (preview)
Windows Server Annual Channel (Preview) on AKS will be retired on May 15, 2026, please transition to Long Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) by that date. We encourage you to transition to Long Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) prior to the retirement date to exp
- In preview
Public Preview: Unified tooling in the AKS MCP server
Managing AKS MCP servers can be affected by the number of tools and the amount of context required, which can increase latency and cost. The unified tooling for the AKS MCP Server introduces two new tools in public preview, call_az and call_kubectl, that
- In preview
Public Preview: Cluster mode for the agentic CLI for AKS
Users often face security and manageability challenges when diagnostic agents inherit broad user permissions, such as cluster-admin rights, and when each user must deploy their own instance. Cluster mode for the agentic CLI for AKS, now in public preview,
- Launched
Generally Available: Node auto-provisioning support in Sovereign Cloud
Node auto‑provisioning removes the need for teams to manually size and manage compute resources for Kubernetes workloads. Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) now provides general availability support for node auto‑provisioning in Sovereign Cloud. This capabili
- Launched
Generally Available: Node auto-provisioning enabled clusters in AKS now support LocalDNS
Customers previously could not enable LocalDNS on clusters that used Node auto‑provisioning in AKS, limiting their ability to use this feature in those environments. LocalDNS is now generally available for AKS clusters with Node auto‑provisioning, providi
- Launched
Generally Available: Encryption at host & disk encryption sets support in node auto-provisioning
Node auto-provisioning enabled clusters previously did not have support for Encryption at Host and disk encryption sets. This limited users with certain security requirements for their cluster to not be able to use node auto-provisioning. Node auto-pro
- Launched
Generally Available: AKS support for Kubernetes version 1.34
Kubernetes version 1.34 is now generally available for AKS. This release introduces 58 upstream enhancements, including 23 Stable features, 22 Beta features, and 13 Alpha features.These enhancements help technical practitioners improve cluster operations,
- In preview
Public Preview: Application Gateway for Containers - AKS managed add-on
We're announcing public preview of an AKS managed add-on that simplifies the deployment and lifecycle management of Application Gateway for Containers and its ALB Controller. With the managed AKS add-on, you can enable Application Gateway for Containers w
- Launched
Generally Available: Azure Container Storage v2.1.0 now with Elastic SAN integration and on demand installation
Azure Container Storage v2.1.0 is now generally available. This release adds native Elastic SAN support and introduces a lightweight, on-demand installation model to simplify deployment and operations for Kubernetes workloads on Azure. Elastic SAN Storage
- In preview
Public Preview: Azure Command Launcher for Java
At Microsoft Ignite 2025, we announced the Public Preview of the Azure Command Launcher for Java, a new JVM launcher optimized specifically for Azure. This tool provides better default ergonomics for Java applications running in containers and virtual mac
- Launched
Generally Available: Deployment safeguards – pod security standard support in AKS
Organizations deploying workloads on Kubernetes often need a consistent way to enforce pod security configurations across clusters. Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) now supports Pod Security Standards within Deployment Safeguards, enabling centralized manag
- Launched
Generally Available: Ubuntu 24.04 support in AKS
Customers upgrading AKS clusters often need a clear and flexible path to adopt new OS versions without disrupting workloads. Ubuntu 24.04 is now generally available on AKS starting with Kubernetes version 1.32, with containerd 2.0 enabled by default. It
- Launched
Generally Available: Ubuntu 24.04 support in AKS
Ubuntu 24.04 is now generally available on AKS in Kubernetes version 1.32 and above. Containerd 2.0 is enabled by default. Ubuntu 24.04 is default with `Ubuntu` OS Sku in kubernetes version 1.35 and above. There are two ways that Ubuntu 24.04 can be enabl
- Launched
Generally Available: Cloud-native apps on Kubernetes pricing calculator scenario
The new cloud-native apps on Kubernetes pricing calculator scenario allows teams to estimate the total cost of ownership for a production-ready AKS cluster with other key Azure services, including Azure Container Registry, Azure Monitoring, Microsoft Defe