Azure Kubernetes Service - 1

2026 (10)

September (4)

azure: Retirement: Azure Linux with OS Guard in Azure Kubernetes Service

Azure Updates

2026-09-11

Support for Azure Linux with OS Guard in Azure Kubernetes Service ends on December 10, 2026. After that date, new Azure Linux with OS Guard clusters cannot be created, and Azure Container Linux is the replacement.

aks: Release 2026-09-04

Release notes from AKS

2026-09-09

AKS release v20260904 rolls out Kubernetes 1.37 preview, adds GA autoscaling for VM node pools, and includes updates across gateway, service mesh, CSI, and cloud-provider components. It also introduces several behavioral changes, bug fixes, and retirement notices for VMAS clusters and Azure Linux with OS Guard.

azure: [Launched] Generally Available: Windows Server 2025 on AKS

Azure Updates

2026-09-01

AKS now supports Windows Server 2025 in general availability, giving customers a newer Windows node option for Windows-based Kubernetes workloads on Azure. This is intended to help with modernization as older Windows Server versions near retirement.

azure: [Launched] Generally Available: Artifact Streaming on AKS

Azure Updates

2026-09-01

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) now supports Artifact streaming with Azure Container Registry (ACR) in generally available form. It is intended to reduce wait time when starting containerized workloads by allowing images to be used before they are fully pulled.

August (3)

aks: AppNet 2026-08-19

Release notes from AKS

2026-08-31

AppNet 2026-08-19 adds public preview availability in more Azure regions, retires AppNet 1.0–1.2, and updates supported versions to Istio 1.28.10, 1.29.6, and new AppNet 1.5 on Istio 1.30.3. The release also includes fixes for cluster validation, gateway CRD conflicts, certificate rotation, multicluster traffic, identity-based updates, cleanup on delete/leave, diagnostics, and clearer error reporting.

azure: [Launched] Generally Available: eBPF host routing in Advanced Container Networking Services for AKS

Azure Updates

2026-08-24

eBPF Host Routing for Advanced Container Networking Services in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) is now generally available. It moves packet forwarding and routing decisions into the Linux kernel to improve Kubernetes networking performance.

azure: [Launched] Generally Available: Control plane metrics collection for AKS with Managed Prometheus

Azure Updates

2026-08-13

Control plane metrics collection for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) with Azure Monitor Managed Service for Prometheus is now generally available. It provides native observability into key managed control plane components.

July (3)

azure: [Launched] Generally Available: Application Routing with Gateway API

Azure Updates

2026-07-28

Application Routing with Gateway API is now generally available on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). It lets teams use the Kubernetes Gateway API for ingress routing while supporting existing deployments.

aks: Release 2026-07-17

Release notes from AKS

2026-07-24

AKS v20260717 adds Artifact Streaming GA, new preview networking and scheduling features, and multiple behavior changes and bug fixes. It also updates Kubernetes patch versions, core add-ons, node images, and includes several retirement notices and upcoming defaults.

azure: [Launched] Generally Available: Encryption in Transit for Azure Files NFS Shares in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

Azure Updates

2026-07-17

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) now generally supports Encryption in Transit for Azure Files NFS v4.1 volumes through the Azure File CSI driver. When enabled, data transferred between AKS workloads and Azure Files NFS shares is encrypted in transit.