Azure Updates: January 2026 GA Features
A solid start to 2026, with notable updates across Azure Kubernetes Service and Networking infrastructure.
Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) & Cloud Native
Ubuntu 24.04 as Default Node OS
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS is now GA for AKS and becomes the default node image starting with Kubernetes v1.35+. All new clusters and node pools will use Ubuntu 24.04 by default, ensuring a modern, secure foundation for containerized workloads. Existing clusters on v1.32+ can upgrade by specifying the OS version explicitly.
Deployment safeguards – pod security standard support in AKS
AKS now supports Pod Security Standards within Deployment Safeguards, enabling centralized management of Baseline, Restricted, and Privileged standards at scale. This helps ensure deployment manifests comply with selected security standards, reducing configuration drift and simplifying the rollout of cluster-wide security controls.
Networking
StandardV2 NAT Gateway with zone-redundancy and StandardV2 public IPs
The StandardV2 SKU for NAT Gateway is now generally available, delivering enhanced resiliency, greater performance, and dual-stack connectivity. StandardV2 Public IP addresses and prefixes are also GA. Note that StandardV2 NAT Gateway requires StandardV2 public IPs; the original Standard SKU is not supported.
Deprecation and Retirement Notes
Support for Python 3.10 ends on October 1, 2026
Azure Functions apps running Python 3.10 will need to upgrade to Python 3.13 before the October 1, 2026 retirement date.