Azure Updates: April 2026 GA Features
April felt a bit quieter than March but that was probably due to the lack of a large event like KubeCon for specific product releases, but there was still a spread of GA releases across Azure resources.
Containers and Kubernetes
Configure AKS backup using a single Azure CLI command
Azure Backup now provides a simplified experience to configure backup for AKS clusters using a single CLI command. Previously this required multiple manual steps: installing the Backup extension, provisioning storage resources, creating backup vaults and policies, enabling Trusted Access between the cluster and vault, and initialising the backup instance. The new single-command approach handles all of that automatically, reusing existing vaults, policies, or storage accounts if you supply a backup configuration file. For teams managing AKS backup at scale this is a meaningful reduction in setup friction.
WireGuard In-Transit Encryption for Azure Kubernetes Service
WireGuard in-transit encryption is now generally available for AKS clusters using Azure CNI powered by Cilium and Advanced Container Networking Services. This brings transparent node-level encryption for inter-node pod traffic with managed key generation and rotation, and it does it without sidecars or application changes. For teams that want stronger east-west protection without adding more mesh components, this is a sensible step forward.
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. You can monitor cluster and workload health, troubleshoot pending or failed pods, analyse resource utilisation across nodes, namespaces, workloads, and pods, and assess pod performance with event and utilisation summaries without leaving the portal view. For teams that are already using Managed Prometheus this brings the data closer to where you are doing operational work.
Azure Monitor for Azure Arc-enabled Kubernetes with OpenShift and Azure Red Hat OpenShift
Azure Monitor support for Azure Arc-enabled Kubernetes with OpenShift and Azure Red Hat OpenShift is now GA with Container Insights and Managed Prometheus. This closes a monitoring gap for teams running mixed Kubernetes estates and wanting one Azure-native route for infrastructure and workload visibility. If you are standardising on Azure Monitor across AKS and non-AKS clusters, this makes the story more coherent.
Storage
Smart Tier for Azure Blob and Data Lake Storage
Smart Tier is now generally available for Azure Blob and Data Lake Storage across nearly all zonal public cloud regions. It is a fully managed tiering service that automatically moves data between hot, cool, and cold tiers based on access patterns, with new data landing in hot, shifting to cool after 30 days of inactivity, and then to cold after 90 days.
Databases
Cascading Read Replicas in Azure Database for PostgreSQL
Cascading read replicas are now generally available in Azure Database for PostgreSQL, allowing replicas to be created from existing replicas. Microsoft says you can now build up to 30 replicas across two levels of replication, with each source supporting up to five direct replicas. For globally distributed read-heavy applications, this gives much more flexibility in placing read capacity closer to users.
Premium SSD v2 for Azure Database for PostgreSQL
Premium SSD v2 is now generally available for PostgreSQL flexible server. The headline is up to four times higher IOPS with lower latency and independent scaling of storage and performance, which should help with cost and performance management for busy systems.
Monitoring and Governance
Azure Monitor Pipeline
Azure Monitor pipeline is now generally available. It acts as a central control point for telemetry ingestion and transformation, with buffering, filtering, aggregation, schema mapping into Azure-native tables, and centralised TLS or mTLS handling built on OpenTelemetry components.