Azure Red Hat OpenShift: April 2025 Update

Melanie_Kraintz

Microsoft

Apr 14, 2025

Azure Red Hat OpenShift's April update boosts security with Managed Identity, expands global reach, and enhances the platform for enterprise Kubernetes.

Enterprise Kubernetes shouldn't be complicated or insecure. That's why our April 2025 update brings powerful new features to make your Azure Red Hat OpenShift experience even better. Here's what's new, with links to get you started right away!

🔐 Security Enhancements

Managed Identity & Workload Identity → Replace long-lived credentials with short-term tokens for enhanced security. Now in public preview! Only available for new cluster creation on ARO 4.13 and newer. Get implementation details and read the Red Hat blog.

Managed identity workload identity on Azure Red Hat OpenShift value proposition

Cluster-Wide Proxy → Enable connectivity from ARO cluster components to external endpoints via corporate proxies. This feature is only for cluster components, not for customer workloads. Perfect for organizations with restricted internet access and strict network policies Learn how to configure it.

🌎 Expanded Availability

Spain Central → Deploy your OpenShift clusters in our newest European region, available since January 2025.

Coming in Q2 2025 → UAE Central, US Government Arizona, and US Government Texas regions. Check all available regions.

🚀 Platform Updates

OpenShift 4.16 on Day 0 → Now available for new ARO cluster installs with the latest features and improvements. See what's new. Note that a cluster version upgrade support (Day 2 operation) kicks in for existing clusters as soon as an upgrade path is available. This happens shortly after OCP GA availability for a version.

SDN to OVN Migration → Critical update: Clusters using the SDN plugin must migrate to OVN-Kubernetes before upgrading to version 4.17. Follow our migration guide.

💻 Infrastructure Improvements

Ddsv5 Instance Support → Get high-performance local NVMe storage with the same compute power as Dsv5 VMs. Explore supported VM sizes.

Final Thoughts

Start testing these features today and prepare your environments for the upcoming platform changes. Your feedback helps us continue improving Azure Red Hat OpenShift.

💡 Pro Tip: Test the new Managed Identity feature with non-production workloads first and plan your SDN migration well before OpenShift 4.17 is released.

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