Azure 2022: A Year in Review – Major Service Launches and Features

Introduction

2022 has been an incredible year for Microsoft Azure as the company released several game-changing services and feature upgrades. Let’s take a walk through some major launches that transformed capabilities for cloud computing.

1. Azure Container Apps

A fully managed serverless container service introducing:

Key Features:

• Scale based on HTTP traffic, events, or KEDA scalers
• Built-in Dapr integration
• Microservices architectures support
• Automatic scaling to zero
• Native DevOps tooling integration

Implementation Example:

resources:
  container-app:
    type: Microsoft.App/containerApps
    properties:
      configuration:
        ingress:
          external: true
          targetPort: 80
        dapr:
          enabled: true
      template:
        containers:
          - image: myapp:latest
            name: mycontainer

2. Azure Chaos Studio

New service for resilience testing:

Capabilities:

• Controlled fault injection
• Managed disaster scenarios
• Application resilience testing
• Service-specific faults
• Custom experiment design

3. Azure Managed Grafana

Enterprise-grade observability platform:

Features:

• Fully managed Grafana service
• Azure Monitor integration
• Built-in high availability
• Enterprise security features
• Automated updates

4. Azure Cognitive Services Updates

Enhanced AI capabilities including:

New Features:

• Custom neural voice
• Document intelligence
• Improved language understanding
• Enhanced speech recognition
• Multilingual capabilities

5. Azure Cosmos DB Improvements

Significant database enhancements:

Updates:

• Integrated cache
• Role-based access control
• Serverless container improvements
• Enhanced backup features
• Cost optimization tools

6. Azure Arc Enabled SQL Managed Instance

Hybrid database management advancement:

Key Features:

• On-premises SQL management
• Consistent cloud experience
• Automated updates
• Built-in high availability
• Elastic scaling

7. Microsoft Purview (formerly Azure Purview)

Enhanced data governance platform:

Capabilities:

• Unified data governance
• Automated data discovery
• Sensitive data classification
• Data lineage tracking
• Compliance management

8. Azure Spring Cloud Enterprise

Enterprise Java development platform:

Features:

• VMware Tanzu integration
• Advanced monitoring
• Auto-scaling
• Blue-green deployments
• Enhanced security

Security Enhancements

Azure Defender Updates:

1. Enhanced threat protection
2. Container security improvements
3. IoT security features
4. Extended detection capabilities
5. Automated response options

Example Security Configuration:

{
    "properties": {
        "securitySettings": {
            "enabledForStorage": true,
            "enabledForContainers": true,
            "enabledForKeyVaults": true
        }
    }
}

Cost Management Features

New Capabilities:

• Enhanced cost analysis
• Budget alerts improvements
• Resource optimization recommendations
• Reservation management tools
• Cost allocation features

Performance Improvements

Azure Virtual Machines:

1. New instance types
2. Enhanced networking
3. Improved storage performance
4. Better CPU optimization
5. GPU instances updates

Industry Solutions

Healthcare:

• HIPAA/HITRUST compliance
• Medical imaging support
• Healthcare APIs
• Patient data analytics
• Telehealth capabilities

Financial Services:

• Enhanced security
• Blockchain integration
• Payment processing
• Fraud detection
• Regulatory compliance

Developer Tools

Azure DevOps Updates:

• Pipeline improvements
• Enhanced testing tools
• Better artifact management
• Improved security scanning
• Collaboration features

Code Example – DevOps Pipeline:

trigger:
- main

pool:
  vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'

steps:
- task: AzureWebApp@1
  inputs:
    azureSubscription: 'Azure subscription'
    appName: 'myWebApp'
    package: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)/**/*.zip'

Networking Advancements

Azure Virtual Network Updates:

• Enhanced DDoS protection
• Improved load balancing
• Network security features
• Private link enhancements
• Virtual WAN improvements

Storage Innovations

Azure Storage Updates:

• Enhanced performance tiers
• Improved redundancy options
• Better lifecycle management
• Cost optimization features
• Enhanced security controls

Best Practices for Implementation

1. Planning:
   • Assessment of requirements
   • Resource planning
   • Cost estimation
   • Security evaluation
   • Performance benchmarking
2. Migration Strategy:
   • Phased approach
   • Testing procedures
   • Rollback plans
   • Monitoring setup
   • User training
3. Optimization:
   • Performance tuning
   • Cost management
   • Security hardening
   • Automation implementation
   • Regular reviews

Future Outlook

Anticipated developments:

1. Enhanced AI/ML capabilities
2. Improved hybrid solutions
3. Advanced security features
4. Better cost optimization
5. Enhanced developer experience

Conclusion

2022 was a transformative year for Azure, with significant advancements across compute, storage, networking, and security. These new features and services demonstrate Microsoft’s commitment to innovation while maintaining enterprise-grade reliability and security.
Organisations should carefully analyze these new services and features in order to get a good leverage from their cloud strategy. Always keep yourself updated with the best practices and latest documentation of Azure as these services are constantly being evolved.
Always keep in mind that cloud services change really fast. One has to periodically check his implementations for updates regarding Azure features and improvements in functionality that could be useful and leverage new things available on it.

Hope you enjoyed the post.

Cheers

Ramasankar Molleti

LinkedIn