Azure Stack HCI version 23H2 is generally available

[Cosmos Darwin]

Written by Cosmos Darwin, Principal PM Manager on the Azure Edge & Platform team

Today we’re announcing the general availability of Azure Stack HCI version 23H2, the latest cloud-managed edge infrastructure from Microsoft Azure.

First introduced a few months ago in preview, Azure Stack HCI version 23H2 brings adaptive cloud principles to the full stack. You can deploy and operate everything from hardware to applications using Azure Resource Manager and core Azure management services, unifying siloed teams around a common platform. New container-based apps run alongside existing VMs with Azure Kubernetes Service, and every workload is automatically Azure Arc enabled, making it easy to leverage cloud-based configuration, observability, and advanced security across all your resources.

Ready for production

General availability means that Azure Stack HCI version 23H2 is ready for production use. Based on preview feedback and internal measurement, version 23H2 deploys and updates more reliably than any prior version. Starting today, new deployments can use version 23H2 and receive production-level technical support from Azure Support. Whether you’re experiencing an issue or just have a question, our dedicated team of engineers are standing by and ready to help. Version 23H2 is now the default and is no longer labeled ‘Preview’ in Azure portal.

Screenshot: Use Azure Arc to provision and manage VMs on Azure Stack HCI.

General availability includes all the Azure Arc infrastructure needed to provision and manage workloads: the Arc Resource Bridge, Custom Location, and the new Azure Kubernetes Service powered by Azure Arc are all generally available today. Thank you to everyone who participated in the preview over the last two years. Your feedback has had a huge influence shaping the functionality that’s GA today, like role-based access control (RBAC), extensions support for VMs and Kubernetes, logical networks and storage paths management, and more.

Learn more about what’s new for Azure Kubernetes Service enabled by Azure Arc in their announcement blog post.

Azure Virtual Desktop for Azure Stack HCI

Today we’re also announcing the general availability of Azure Virtual Desktop for Azure Stack HCI. We’re committed to an adaptive cloud approach, empowering customers to leverage cloud technologies and services wherever they're needed. We’ll continue to bring the most popular Azure services to the edge with Azure Stack HCI.

Azure Virtual Desktop delivers remote desktops and applications anywhere and is the only cloud VDI solution fully optimized for Windows 11 and Windows 10 multi-session, which helps you improve productivity while keeping costs in check. Combining the benefits of Azure Virtual Desktop and Azure Stack HCI, this new Azure Virtual Desktop for Azure Stack HCI capability brings together the flexibility of an industry-leading cloud VDI service with the on-premises control you need to fit your unique business requirements. Whether you have regulatory compliance and data residency requirements, latency-sensitive workloads, or need to manage data gravity, Azure Virtual Desktop for Azure Stack HCI extends the capabilities of the Microsoft Cloud to your on-premises environment.

Watch the new how-to video from Microsoft Mechanics to see for yourself:

Learn more about features, pricing, and more in the Azure Virtual Desktop announcement blog post.

Choose turnkey solutions from your preferred vendor

We are pleased to partner with leading global vendors to deliver validated hardware-software solutions for Azure Stack HCI. Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure, the first Premier Solution for Azure Stack HCI, will be available with version 23H2 next month. Integrated Systems including HPE ProLiant, Lenovo ThinkAgile, and those from DataON will also support version 23H2 in the coming months.

Azure Stack HCI version 23H2 supports a wide variety of hardware platforms, from the ultra-dense to the ultra-small. There are over 250 validated nodes from more than 25 solution partners worldwide in the Azure Stack HCI solutions catalog. This broad selection lets you choose the right hardware for your needs, from the partner who offers the best service and support in your region.

Sneak peek at what’s next

We are continuously investing to broaden what’s possible with Azure Stack HCI. Alongside version 23H2, today we’re also introducing several new previews:

Azure Migrate to Azure Stack HCI (preview). Use Azure Migrate to move VMs from an existing Hyper-V environment to Azure Stack HCI version 23H2. This feature uses Azure Migrate as the control plane, but the data transfer stays entirely on-premises. Support for VMware vCenter source environments is coming soon. Learn more

Microsoft Defender for Cloud for Azure Stack HCI (preview). In addition to workload protections for VMs and Kubernetes, Microsoft Defender for Cloud now offers built-in security recommendations covering your Azure Stack HCI version 23H2 infrastructure. Learn more

Azure Arc Overview for Azure Stack HCI (preview). Navigate to the Azure Stack HCI section in Azure Arc to see built-in dashboards summarizing all your Azure Stack HCI clusters. Get an at-a-glance view of alerts, updates, and more.

Screenshot: Manage Azure Stack HCI security in the Azure portal (preview).

You can try these preview features in the Azure portal with an Azure Stack HCI version 23H2 cluster. You don’t need to join the OS preview channel or install anything. We’re pausing the OS preview channel for the next few months: there won’t be new Azure Stack HCI builds. We encourage everyone to focus on version 23H2 and use the 60-day free trial for evaluation. We’ll share more about how to preview the next feature update, version 24H2, around mid-year. Watch this blog for that.

When to use version 22H2 (temporarily)

Azure Stack HCI version 23H2 is generally available and recommended for most new deployments, but it doesn’t yet cover 100% of the scenarios supported by version 22H2. Until it does, Microsoft will continue to offer and support both versions. If you need a scenario that’s not yet supported in version 23H2, you can deploy version 22H2 and then update to version 23H2 later when your scenario is supported.

Here are the most important limitations to know about:

Regional availability. Azure Stack HCI version 23H2 is available today in two cloud regions: East US and West Europe. More regions will be added quickly over the next few weeks. Eventually it will be available in all the same regions as version 22H2, including Azure China and Azure US Government. We are working hard to make all the features, like Arc-enabled VMs and AKS, available in those regions. [Update Feb 28th: region support for Australia East has been added.]

Stretch clustering. Azure Stack HCI version 23H2 is available today for “single room” deployments where all nodes are in the same room, connected to the same switch(es). It doesn’t yet support stretching the cluster between two rooms. We know that this scenario is critical for many customers, especially in manufacturing, and we are committed to providing multi-room high availability with Azure Stack HCI version 23H2, including key features like cloud-based deployment, updates, and VM provisioning. Development will take some time: we expect to share more details around mid-year. In the meantime, customers who require a stretch cluster should continue to deploy version 22H2.

System Center support. Our ambition with Azure Stack HCI and Azure Arc is to simplify and consolidate your operational experience so that you can manage everything, from infrastructure to VMs to Kubernetes, with a single control plane, the Azure Resource Manager, and a single pane of glass, the Azure portal. We’ve heard your feedback about how important this is, and we are committed to rapidly growing the capabilities of Azure Arc to achieve this vision. We also know that many customers have an existing investment in System Center that they prefer to leverage. In the coming months, System Center will add support for Azure Stack HCI version 23H2. We’re working on another blog post, together with the System Center team, to detail our long-term roadmap.

Please note that Azure Virtual Desktop only supports Azure Stack HCI version 23H2 presently.

Coming soon: update from 22H2 to 23H2

Azure Stack HCI will offer an in-place update from version 22H2 to version 23H2. This is our fourth annual release since launching as a subscription service, and we’re heartened by our customers’ success keeping Azure Stack HCI up to date: over 97% of clusters are running the latest version, 22H2.

This year’s update is the most advanced yet: every cluster will get the Azure Arc infrastructure, the Lifecycle Manager, and more during the update. Our highest priority is to ensure that the update is seamless, so we’re taking some extra time for testing. We expect to start offering the update to a few customers as soon as next month, gradually expanding to everyone over the course of the year. Thank you for your patience as we get this right.

Until the 23H2 update has been offered to everyone, we'll continue supporting version 22H2.

There is no end date for Azure Stack HCI version 22H2 servicing or support at this time.

Thank you!

On behalf of the team in Redmond, thank you for choosing Azure to power your edge infrastructure. And a very special thanks to our preview participants who helped us find and fix so many things these last few months! Looking ahead, Azure Stack HCI has an exciting roadmap of monthly updates. We are committed to continuing to make Azure Stack HCI better for everyone, from the datacenter to the edge.

Want to try Azure Stack HCI right away? Check out the refreshed HCIBox from Azure Arc Jumpstart. It’s the quickest way to get a dedicated Azure Stack HCI virtual sandbox inside an Azure subscription for evaluation and testing, with step-by-step instructions and no hardware needed.

Ready to deploy on hardware? Contact your preferred vendor or browse the solutions catalog.

❤️

- Cosmos

[Deleted]

Epic drumroll!

[SteveDiStefano]

Would love to hear more about the Backup capabilities and the Patching capabilities of an HCI running 23H2 Should we assume that with Arc enablement, we can enjoy AUM (Azure Update Manager) and Azure Backup?

Are there any differences between 23H2 and 22H2 in this regard.

Will there be cross DC DR capabilities possible (like ASR)?

Appreciate you calling our Defender for cloud capabilities. That helps alot.

One final question, does the Azure Monitor integration require the LAW to sit in a normal the Azure Cloud region (not collocated with the stack)?

[LCKho3693]

Wonderful, looking forward. 

[cblackuk1]

Massive milestone 🙂 Congratulations everyone!!! And thanks for sharing the good news 🙂

Happy Azure Stacking!!!

[JamesvandenBerg]

Thank you @Cosmos Darwin for Sharing this Awesome Blogpost with the Community 

Congrats Team Well done !
Cheers, James

[Thomas-S]

Congratulatuons to your new Alpha release!

23h2 is alpha

22h2 is beta. 
every year a new buggy release?

unstable stretched clusters?

we have 180 clusternodes. 
reverted completly back to Windows Server 2022. stable an running. 
vGPU Support with full live migration done with XenServer. 

which mid sized company can manage to test an upgrade 180 clusternodes every year?

we do not. 

at first announcement we had to connect

to azure for license reasons every thirty days. 
today you can not install without access to azure. 
Azure that has been fully compromised many times in the lst months!?!? has

access to my on prem servers. 

definitly not. 

i would say

Complete failure Microsoft. 
operation successful. 
patient dead!

[Cosmos Darwin]

@Thomas-S Thank you for your interest in Azure Stack HCI, Thomas. I understand from your comment that you don't see the Microsoft Cloud as a good fit for your needs. That is fine. I'm heartened that you have been able to meet your requirements with Windows Server 2022 and XenServer. Respectfully, I disagree with your characterization of Azure and Azure Stack HCI as insecure / unstable / dead. We are committed to continuing to serve our large and growing installed base of customers. I respect your preferences and I wish you all the best with your chosen approach. - Cosmos

[LCKho3693]

Hi Microsoft Team, 

Need some help on correct the downloading ISO path for Southeast Asia region. 

It's still downloading preview edition 

Regards,

Kho

[Karl-WE]

@Cosmos Darwin I am thankful that you explictly state the one room / multi room deployments in this exciting announcement. 

In the past asked whether they may deploy an Azure Stack HCI across different rooms, in a special scenario, without the given complexity of a Streched Cluster.
 
I have just downloaded the recent documentation for Azure Stack HCI (en-us). There are only 3 times you can find the word "room" or "same rack"

Citing Azure Stack HCI on learn.microsoft.com:

Streched Cluster requirements: 
"The sites can be in different countries/regions, different cities, different floors, or different rooms." 

 
Networking requirements:
"We highly recommend that all cluster nodes in a site are physically located in the
same rack and connected to the same top-of-rack (ToR) switches." 

I would like to know your opinion on whether it is helpful adding details in the documentation about a certain frequently asked scenario:

An Azure Stack HCI cluster consisting of two nodes of version 22H2 or 23H2. using Network ATC. 

The storage network is directly connected to each of the nodes via fiber (L1), using RoCe v2 (RDMA)

The compute / management network is switched and does not use RDMA. They do not use ToR switches because they do not need them, but they have two backup core layer switches in each room.

Each node! of the two nodes is located in a different room to protect them from fire or other disasters.

The documentation states it's "highly recommended" not putting them apart.

sBut at the same time doesn't seem to consider an unswitched direct connection.

So the question of customers is centric about the downsides and risks, and whether this scenario is supported, given the citations. 

Thank you very much on for your help on this matter! 

In addition, are there plans that the deployment of streched clusters will be automagically done as we see it for two nodes scenarios starting with this release?

This would be pretty awesome.

[Karl-WE]

Dear Lien @LCKho3693 I am happy that you again join the band of experts that want to demonstrate and blog about the capabilities of Azure Stack HCI 23H2.

Maybe the GA ISOs aren't available in your region, as Cosmos stated that other regions will be added over time, so likely you won't be able to deploy in your region and need to wait or choosing West Europe if possible.

[Oazb]

Hello,

Are Azure AD domain Services supported in Azure Stack HCI 23h2?

[adavissacc]

Hello,

How many weeks are a "few". I have a new system to deploy in the next few days in AUS East and you be great to go straight onto 23H2 in the correct region

Thanks!

[Will Russell]

What about 3 node switchless deployments running 22H2? The documentation suggests Microsoft have forgotten anyone is running this setup. Will we ever be able to upgrade to 23H2?

[Cosmos Darwin]

Hi @adavissacc, sorry for the wait! Version 23H2 is now available to deploy in Australia East.

[Cosmos Darwin]

Hi @Will Russell, short answer, yes. We will add support for that topology with version 23H2 so you can update.

[Deleted]

@Cosmos Darwin  great to hear about the upcoming support of 3 node switchless. I am curious and looking forward to see how NetworkATC does approach the storage intents, as previously auto-config wasn't easily possible. This is awesome news, thanks Cosmos!

[LCKho3693]

Any of you tried the AVD cloud deployment on AzSHCI 23H2 ?
I'm having "time out" issue during the extension installation triggered by the cloud deployment script.

[Aman511]

What is the max scalability for Azure Stack nodes? Can we still go with max 16 Nodes/Cluster? in both 22H2 and 22H3.

[Karl-WE]

This has not changed @Aman511.

I do not want to educate you as I do not know where are coming from the technical level.
To answer your question: the limit is still set and unchanged at 16 nodes per cluster.

Your question inspired me to write a down some thoughts and FAQs in this regard.

[LCKho3693]

@Aman511 here is the link that you can find the information above. 

System requirements for Azure Stack HCI - Azure Stack HCI | Microsoft Learn

[AndrewFrance]

When should we expect to see an upgrade path from 22H2 to 23H2? We would like to make use of the Azure Stack HCI health alerts, which are currently in Public Preview, but this requires that you're running on the latest version of Azure Stack HCI.

[Deleted]

@Aman511 based on your question as announced, I have written an article on the 16 nodes limitation. Glad you were asking the question that @LCKho3693 fed with more facts.

"Only 16 nodes per cluster?! - but VMware... " - limitations and rightsizing of failover clusters - ...

Hope you enjoy reading it!

[Deleted]

@AndrewFrance good question. Same as Cluster Aware updates via Azure Update Manager, Lifecycle, VM management in Azure Portal and many other goodies. I also cannot wait to have this solution not only GA but also being supported by OEMs later this year, to upgrade existing customers and adopt all the good enhancements.

[Cosmos Darwin]

@AndrewFrance We are making steady progress toward enabling the 22H2 to 23H2 in-place update. We are continuing to resolve differences like supported regions and network topologies between the versions. Pretty soon we should announce all the remaining regions, for example. Getting closer. But the in-place update is still several months away from being broadly available. As above, we continue to support and service version 22H2 in the meantime. Thanks for your patience!

[Karl-WE]

Thanks for the outlook Cosmos! Take your time (also with the OEMs). Generally speaking I hope that the public GA for upgrades will come along with WAC NG and OEM extensions ready - at best working in Azure WAC. 
This would be the ultimate one for UX.

[LCKho3693]

Great and thanks for the updates, @Cosmos Darwin 

I believe all of us here and lots of IT Pro out there are looking forward about this capability. 

[AndrewFrance]

@Cosmos Darwin Many thanks for the deeper clarification on the progress being made currently on the the upgrade route to 23H2 - as others have said we're very much looking forward to getting this in place, but it's great to hear about the level of work going in to making sure that the pathway to 23H2 is as smooth as possible.

[Ganesh_Durai]

Hi,

Appreciate if someone can assist in clarifying the below mentioned queries.

1. Is AzureStackHCI - 22H2 version available in all regions? 
2. List of Azure Resources that can be used with AzureStackHCI

Thankyou

[Karl-WE]

@Ganesh_Durai the supported regions for 22H2, mind this is the "old" but OEM supported version, should be in the docs.

You can use everything that's consumable via Azure Arc. 22H2 is not fully functional in terms of Azure Integration.
The management, lifecycle and deployment is mostly on-premises via WAC or PowerShell.

Opposing to the current release, which is not yet widely supported by OEMs, Azure Stack HCI 22H2 does not offer AKS, AVD, access to Azure catalog and VM creation via Azure Portal.

[Ganesh_Durai]

@Karl-WE Noted and appreciate for your prompt response. 

[Aric Bernard]

@Karl-WE stop with the “which is not yet supported by OEMs”. It is supported by OEMs - but maybe not your OEM! Since when did 22H2 not support AKS?

[LCKho3693]

@Aric Bernard, I believe what @Karl-WE means "not supported" is the cloud deployment concept which is currently available for 23H2.  

@Karl-WE please correct me if i was wrong. 

[Karl-WE]

@LCKho3693 @Aric Bernard do we have a list of

23H2 being supported by which OEMs, first for fresh cloud based deployments

Secondly for upgrade from 22H2 to 23H2? This would be extremely helpful. 

@Aric Bernard didn't intend to generalise. Cosmos already pointed out in his OP which solution is supported by which OEM. Corrected my posting. Appreciate your feedback.

Yes, Lien, I am specifically talking about OEM support of the new cloud deployment which marks the core of 23H2.

As of time of posting, the only OEM that supports 23H2 cloud deployments is Dell with APEX ACP (MC Nodes), which also mark the current one and only solution in the premier node category for the Azure Stack HCI 23H2 solution. 

22H2 did support AKS, same as AVD preview, for a while but now it doesn't work anymore as the Azure Ressource Bridge preview ended for 22H2.

You can setup a new 22H2 cluster and try to deploy AKS via Windows Admin Center 2311. This will no longer succeed.

If all of this is still possible via manual Interaction, please pardon my ignorance and misinformation.

[Aric Bernard]

@Karl-WE while I cannot speak for all OEMs, as I have not worked with all, I can speak to HPE which has been support 23H2 [cloud] deployments since Feb-1 (the date of GA). Upgrading from 22H2 to 23H2 is not yet supported by Microsoft and therefore cannot be supported by any OEM.  Also, I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure the following AKS deployment approach continues to work for 22H2: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/hybrid/kubernetes-walkthrough-powershell

[Karl-WE]

Thank you for your clarification Aric. Much appreciated! Also good to know if AKS still might work with a PowerShell Deployment on 22H2. 

[LCKho3693]

Hi @Karl-WE, yes, AKS deployment on 22H2 using PowerShell still work perfectly.

I've recently tested running with MySQL-Operator cluster. Worked perfectly. 

At the same time, setting up AKS using WAC having some issue during management plane deployment (may be due to my internet bandwidth not fast enough, i'm using 100Mbps line in DC), error is something about "time out" during deployment. 

[shoatx]

Has anyone heard when 23H2 will be available for Azure Government customers?

[Amita1275]

My customer is asking will HCI Stack will become available as an upgrade rather than only available through new build as they need that version to be able to deploy Microsoft Ark?

[Frank Merino]

Hey Every, I’m trying to get confirmation if HCI support Entra Domain Services? I don’t see any steps that would prevent it but I’ve learn never to assume with these things. 

thank you!

[LCKho3693]

This is the area that interested to know more, for some Edge environment where local AD is not available, can we use the Entra Domain Services like what @frankfrank mentioned. 

[sheldondickinson]

So abiut that 22H2 to 23H2 upgrade path.... It's been well over a month and we still don't have one? 

[richardhallstrom]

Is there any news regarding streched cluster support for 23H2? Would the recommendation still be if you were to install a dual site setup of Azure Stack HCI today to go with 22H2 and then wait until stretched cluster is supported with 23H2 and then do an in-place upgrade? 

[Karl-WE]

@richardhallstrom asking for a bit of patience. I am confident that there will be proper solutions.

[ozesati1190]

August 2024 and still no in place upgrade. 😞