Azure Update - 5th December 2025 - 10% more fancy edition

Key Concepts

Azure Load Balancer Metrics: Enhanced breakdown of existing metrics with protocol dimension (TCP/UDP).
Blob SFTP: Introduction of resumable uploads for interrupted file transfers.
Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server: Availability in Belgium Central, PG_Squeeze 1.9.1 extension for online table compaction, and new extensions IP4R and Cred Check.
Azure Databricks: Serverless workspaces in preview, leveraging Apache Spark and Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2.
Azure Extended Zones: New availability in Perth for low-latency and localized data requirements.
Azure Machine Learning v1 SDK Retirement: Mandates migration to v2 by June 2026.
Azure MCP Server: Now supports Confidential Ledger for immutable and integrity-assured data logging via natural language.
Mistral Large 3: Availability in Foundry and Previews, a frontier model excelling in instruction following, long conversations, and multimodal capabilities.

Azure Weekly Update - December 5th

This update covers new features and enhancements across various Azure services, including networking, storage, databases, data analytics, and AI.

Networking

Azure Load Balancer Metrics Enhancement: The Azure Load Balancer now offers a new dimension to break down existing metrics, such as bytes and packets. This new protocol dimension allows users to distinguish between TCP and UDP traffic, providing a clearer understanding of the traffic patterns observed.

Storage

Blob SFTP Resumable Uploads: Blob SFTP now supports resumable uploads in GA (General Availability). This feature allows users to resume an interrupted file upload to Blob storage without having to start over. The system can pick up from the partially uploaded data, offering different modes for adding data to existing uploads.

Databases

Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server Expansion:
- New Region: PostgreSQL flexible server is now available in Belgium Central.
- PG_Squeeze 1.9.1 Extension: The PG_Squeeze 1.9.1 extension is now available for PostgreSQL flexible server. This extension is crucial for performing online table compaction, which helps reduce bloat accumulated from updates and deletes, especially in high-churn tables. Users need to manually upgrade the extension using ALTER EXTENSION UPDATE to version 1.9.1. This is distinct from automatic minor engine version updates.
- New Extensions: Two new extensions are now available:
  - IP4R: This extension provides an efficient way to store and index IPv4 and IPv6 addresses and ranges (CIDR ranges). It introduces specific operators for working with these IP addresses and ranges, making solutions like IP address management (IPAM), firewall range storage, and other IP-related applications more efficient.
  - Cred Check: This extension is designed to check password complexities against a defined policy. It verifies password strength based on requirements like minimum character count and the use of mixed character types. This can be used, for example, to enforce password complexity for SQL roles.

Data Analytics

Azure Databricks Serverless Workspaces (Preview): Azure Databricks now offers serverless workspaces in preview. Azure Databricks is a managed platform built on Apache Spark for large-scale data analytics. The Azure implementation runs on Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 (using an open format). With serverless workspaces, the compute is entirely serverless and provided automatically. Upon creation, a serverless workspace includes default storage and exclusively utilizes this efficient serverless compute.

Miscellaneous

Azure Extended Zone in Perth: Perth now has an Azure Extended Zone. Extended zones are described as a "small print version of an Azure region," located within a specific metro area and offering a subset of services (e.g., VMs, containers, storage, networking). They are designed for scenarios requiring super low latency within a metro or strict regulatory compliance regarding data location. The Perth extended zone provides closer proximity to the metro, resulting in lower latency and more localized data governance.
Azure Machine Learning v1 SDK Retirement: The Azure Machine Learning v1 SDK is retiring at the end of June 2026. Users are advised to migrate to the v2 SDK.
Azure MCP Server with Confidential Ledger Support: The Azure MCP (Microsoft Cognitive Services Platform) server now supports Confidential Ledger. The MCP server facilitates AI applications interacting with Azure resources and capabilities in a standardized way, providing AI with additional knowledge, tools, or prompts without requiring the AI app writer to understand the underlying complexity. The integration with Confidential Ledger allows AI applications, via the MCP server, to append entries (ranging from simple data to complex hashes) to an immutable and integrity-assured ledger and to fetch entries from it. Crucially, this interaction is performed via natural language, eliminating the need for complex syntax.
Mistral Large 3 Availability: The Mistral Large 3 model is now available in Foundry and Previews. This is described as a "frontier model" that excels at instruction following, handles very long multi-turn conversations, processes long documents, and works across multimodal inputs (text, images, diagrams).

New Videos This Week

AB900 Fundamentals Exam: A study guide video for the AB900 fundamentals exam, covering Microsoft Learn materials and key points for passing.
Entra ID Synced Passkey Capabilities: A video discussing the trade-offs between security and convenience when syncing passkeys via Entra ID, exploring how to achieve this.

Conclusion

This week's Azure update highlights significant advancements in networking metrics, storage upload reliability, database capabilities with new regions and extensions, serverless data analytics, localized cloud deployments, and enhanced AI integration with immutable ledgers. The retirement of the Azure ML v1 SDK necessitates proactive migration. The availability of advanced AI models like Mistral Large 3 further expands the possibilities for complex AI applications.