SQL Server on Azure Local now runs without a cloud connection
SQL Server, no internet required SQL Server on Azure Local is now generally available in disconnected environments, per Microsoft’s September 29 update. The capability extends SQL Server support to Azure Local disconnected operations, where instances run with no connection to the Azure public cloud. Until now, running SQL Server on Azure Local assumed you could […]
Azure SQL Dev Hub opens one front door for building against Azure SQL
Building an app against Azure SQL has always involved a small scavenger hunt: which service tier fits your workload, which connection library your language wants, which quickstart actually applies. Microsoft’s new Azure SQL Dev Hub, announced in public preview, tries to collapse that hunt into a single starting point in the Azure portal. Per the […]
Azure opens public preview of Mdsv4 and Msv4 VMs for SAP and memory-heavy workloads
Microsoft has opened a public preview of two new memory-optimized Mdsv4 and Msv4 virtual machine series, built for SAP workloads and other jobs that need a lot of RAM per vCPU. The new series run on 6th generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors, ship with the latest Azure Boost networking and storage offload, and add a […]
.NET 8, .NET 9, and PowerShell 7.4 hit end of support on the same day
Clear your November calendar. .NET 8 and .NET 9 both reach end of support on November 10, and PowerShell 7.4 dies the same day. After that date there are no more security fixes, no servicing updates, and no support tickets honored for any of the three. Microsoft published the Azure Functions side of the notice […]
Azure Container Apps Sandboxes reach general availability
Running code you do not trust is one of those problems that sounds solved until you actually have to do it. If you build agentic applications, multi-tenant platforms, or CI/CD systems, the options have traditionally been roll your own microVM fleet, bolt together gVisor or Firecracker yourself, or accept the blast radius. This week Microsoft […]
Azure Sphere OS 26.09 ships everywhere after the longest evaluation window yet
The update that took six months of testing to do almost nothing Azure Sphere OS 26.09 has reached general availability, wrapping up an evaluation run that started in late July and stretched all the way to September. Microsoft’s own description of the release is almost comically modest: no customer-facing changes. What the release actually contains […]
Playwright Workspaces goes GA in three more Azure regions
Microsoft has taken Playwright Workspaces to general availability in Australia East, Japan East, and Switzerland North, bringing the managed browser-testing service to seven regions in total. For teams in those three areas it removes the awkward compromise of running end-to-end browser suites against cloud browsers an ocean away. What the service actually does Playwright Workspaces […]
Confidential VMs for Azure Linux reach GA in AKS
Microsoft has taken Confidential VMs for Azure Linux to general availability in Azure Kubernetes Service. Teams running sensitive container workloads can now build AKS node pools on hardware-encrypted VMs, and the announcement stresses the part that matters most: no application code changes are required. What a confidential VM actually gives you A confidential virtual machine […]
Azure Multicloud Interconnect enters public preview: managed private links between Azure and AWS
Microsoft and AWS announced the public preview of Azure Multicloud Interconnect on August 31, 2026. The idea is simple: a managed, private connection between an Azure virtual network and an AWS VPC, with no public internet in the path. If you have ever stitched together ExpressRoute, Direct Connect, and a Megaport cross-connect just to move […]
PostgreSQL 18 lands on Azure Database for PostgreSQL elastic clusters
Microsoft has made PostgreSQL 18 generally available on Azure Database for PostgreSQL elastic clusters, its managed distributed PostgreSQL offering. The rollout is powered by Citus 14.0, the sharding extension that underpins elastic clusters, and it closes a gap that existed since Azure Database for PostgreSQL flexible server picked up PostgreSQL 18 in late 2025. What […]
Azure Payments HSM v2 enters public preview as a managed single-tenant service
Microsoft opened a public preview of Azure Payments HSM v2 this week, a managed, single-tenant hardware security module service built specifically for payment workloads: PIN processing, credential issuance, key management, and authentication data protection. The announcement is easy to skim past if you do not work in payments, but the architecture change from v1 is […]
Azure Red Hat OpenShift moves the control plane out of your subscription
Azure Red Hat OpenShift (ARO) is now available with hosted control planes in public preview. Red Hat announced the change on September 15, and it restructures where the most expensive and least visible part of your cluster actually runs: instead of three control plane virtual machines sitting in your Azure subscription, the control plane runs […]