Microsoft announces stretched clusters and more for Azure VMware Solution

A couple years back, Microsoft launched the Azure VMware Solution, offering cost- and time-efficient migration and extension of on-premise workloads to the cloud. Since then, the Redmond firm has introduced various updates to the cloud service, aiming to target the needs of a more remote work-oriented tech space.

Today, Microsoft has announced a flurry of enhancements that have recently been made to the Azure VMware Solution. These primarily try to address the ability to efficiently handle more resource intensive and mission-critical workloads, in a more secure way.

For starters, stretched clusters is a newly previewed capability that provides 99.99 percent uptime for applications that need maximum availability. VMs utilizing this feature automatically switch to unaffected zones in case of availability zone failures. Two new node sizes have been introduced in general availability, namely AV36P and AV52. These are considered to be especially useful for memory and storage optimized workloads.

Moving on, Azure NetApp Files has been integrated into the service to create and attach datastores via the resource provider in Azure VMware Solution. Customer-managed keys are now being previewed as well, promising higher security for customer's workloads alongside control over encrypted vSAN data, central management for the lifecycle of these keys, and access control for vSAN Key Encryption Keys - all within the same service.

Finally, Microsoft has remarked upon Azure native services that can be integrated into the solution. The list currently comprises Azure Arc, Azure Monitor, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Azure Update Management, and Log Analytics Workspace. To keep up to date with all upcoming changes the Azure VMware solution, those interested can keep an eye on the Azure updates forum.