Join us at Microsoft Azure Infra Summit 2026 for deep technical Azure infrastructure content
Microsoft Azure Infra Summit 2026 is a free, engineering-led virtual event created for IT professionals, platform engineers, SREs, and infrastructure teams who want to go deeper on how Azure really works in production. It will take place May 19-21, 2026. This event is built for the people responsible for keeping systems running, making sound architecture decisions, and dealing with the operational realities that show up long after deployment day. Over the past year, one message has come through clearly from the community: infrastructure and operations audiences want more in-depth technical content. They want fewer surface-level overviews and more practical guidance from the engineers and experts who build, run, and support these systems every day. That is exactly what Azure Infra Summit aims to deliver. All content is created AND delivered by engineering, targeting folks working with Azure infrastructure and operating production environments. Who is this for: IT professionals, platform engineers, SREs, and infrastructure teams When: May 19-21, 2026 - 8:00 AM–1:00 PM Pacific Time, all 3 days Where: Online Virtual Cost: Free Level: Most sessions are advanced (L300-400). Register here: https://aka.ms/MAIS-Reg Built for the people who run workloads on Azure Azure Infra Summit is for the people who do more than deploy to Azure. It is for the people who run it. If your day involves uptime, patching, governance, monitoring, reliability, networking, identity, storage, or hybrid infrastructure, this event is for you. Whether you are an IT professional managing enterprise environments, a platform engineer designing landing zones, an Azure administrator, an architect, or an SRE responsible for resilience and operational excellence, you will find content built with your needs in mind. We are intentionally shaping this event around peer-to-peer technical learning. That means engineering-led sessions, practical examples, and candid discussion about architecture, failure modes, operational tradeoffs, and what breaks in production. The promise here is straightforward: less fluff, more infrastructure. What to expect Azure Infra Summit will feature deep technical content in the 300 to 400 level range, with sessions designed by engineering to help you build, operate, and optimize Azure infrastructure more effectively. The event will include a mix of live and pre-recorded sessions and live Q&A. Throughout the three days, we will dig into topics such as: Hybrid operations and management Networking at scale Storage, backup, and disaster recovery Observability, SLOs, and day-2 operations Confidential compute Architecture, automation, governance, and optimization in Azure Core environments And more… The goal is simple: to give you practical guidance you can take back to your environment and apply right away. We want attendees to leave with stronger mental models, a better understanding of how Azure behaves in the real world, and clearer patterns for designing and operating infrastructure with confidence. Why this event matters Infrastructure decisions have a long tail. The choices we make around architecture, operations, governance, and resilience show up later in the form of performance issues, outages, cost, complexity, and recovery challenges. That is why deep technical learning matters, and why events like this matter. Join us I hope you will join us for Microsoft Azure Infra Summit 2026, happening May 19-21, 2026. If you care about how Azure infrastructure behaves in the real world, and you want practical, engineering-led guidance on how to build, operate, and optimize it, this event was built for you. Register here: https://aka.ms/MAIS-Reg Cheers! Pierre RomanAnatomy of an Outage: How Microsoft focuses on Transparency during and post incident
Outages happen—no matter the hyperscale provider, no matter the architecture. What separates resilient organizations from the rest is how quickly they detect issues, how effectively they communicate, and how well they learn from the inevitable. Rick Claus had the opportunity to co-present a session on the topic of how Microsoft communicates during outages and what YOU can do to be more proactive on how your Azure based infra is weathering the storm. He and Tajinder Pal Singh Ahluwalia pull back the curtain on how Microsoft handles major incidents—from the first customer impact signal to the deep‑dive retrospectives that follow.Az Update - Week 2 of the return editions
Hello Folks! This week's updates all focus on something we hear from IT pros and platform engineers all the time: How do we make our environments more secure, more manageable, and easier to modernize without adding more complexity? Whether you're running PostgreSQL workloads in Azure, securing Kubernetes storage, or planning your next wave of SQL Server migrations, this week's announcements bring practical improvements that can help reduce operational overhead while strengthening your overall platform strategy. We'll look at three newly available capabilities: Update #1 - Generally Available: Microsoft Defender security assessments for Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server Update #2 - Generally Available: Encryption in Transit for Azure Files NFS Shares in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Update #3 - Generally Available: Expanding Azure Arc SQL Migration with SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines As always, I'm approaching these updates from an infrastructure and operations perspective. I'll cover why each capability matters, what to watch out for before production deployment, and some practical steps you can take to start evaluating them in your own environment. Let's dig in. Update #1 - Generally Available: Microsoft Defender security assessments for Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server Why ITPros should care This release brings automated security posture assessment directly into managed PostgreSQL environments. For ITPros, this matters because database security is often treated separately from infrastructure security tooling, creating blind spots and silos. What changed is that Defender now runs native vulnerability scanning and compliance checks against PostgreSQL configurations, patches, and the ways a database could be exposed to security risks or attack opportunities. Instead of relying on external scanners or manual audits, you get platform-native assessments integrated with your existing Defender workflows. The operational impact is significant: you can now enforce security baselines at the database layer with the same consistency you apply to VMs and network resources, reducing the gap between infrastructure and data security accountability. Operational value Operationally, this improves your security baseline enforcement and reduces the need for separate database security assessment tools. It also strengthens how well you can demonstrate and prove that security controls are in place and working for compliance reviews where regulators expect consistent, documented security controls. Before production rollout, validate that Defender cost models fit your budget, that assessment frequency aligns with your change windows, and that remediation guidance maps to your patch and maintenance processes. Prerequisites include enabling Microsoft Defender for Cloud, registering the PostgreSQL Flexible Server provider, and ensuring network connectivity so assessments can reach the database endpoint. Real-world example with step-by-step guidance Enable Microsoft Defender for Cloud if not already active, and ensure PostgreSQL Flexible Server subscription coverage. Register the target PostgreSQL Flexible Server instances and confirm Defender has network visibility to the database endpoints. Run a baseline assessment and review initial findings to understand current security posture and common remediation patterns. Prioritise findings by severity and business impact, then schedule patches and configuration changes in maintenance windows. Monitor ongoing assessments and track remediation progress through Defender dashboards, validating that fixes reduce exposure scores. Technical details including code examples This example validates that Defender is actively assessing your PostgreSQL estate. The sequence checks Defender status, confirms PostgreSQL registration, and retrieves current assessment scores. Run these queries in a pilot subscription first to understand data structure and expected output before scaling to production databases. az account set --subscription <subscriptionId> az security sql-vulnerability-assessment baseline show --resource-group <rg> --server-name <postgresServer> --database-name <databaseName> az security pricing show --subscription <subscriptionId> --query "[?name=='VirtualMachines' || name=='SqlServers' || name=='StorageAccounts'].[name,pricingTier]" -o table az provider show --namespace Microsoft.DBforPostgreSQL --query "registrationState" -o tsv Expected behaviour: Defender status shows active, PostgreSQL instances are registered with the provider, and pricing tier reflects your coverage level. If assessments do not run, check network rules, managed identity permissions, and Defender plan activation. If baseline data is missing, trigger a manual scan and wait for completion. Comprehensive Resources Azure update: Microsoft Defender security assessments for Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server Microsoft Defender for Cloud overview Azure Database for PostgreSQL security SQL vulnerability assessments in Defender for Cloud Enable Defender for Cloud Update #2 - Generally Available: Encryption in Transit for Azure Files NFS Shares in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Why ITPros should care This release closes a significant gap in data protection for Kubernetes workloads consuming NFS shares from Azure Files. Previously, NFS traffic between AKS nodes and Azure Files was unencrypted, creating compliance and security risks for sensitive workloads. What changed is that you can now enforce encryption for NFS communication at the Azure Files layer, not just at the application layer. This is important because traditional NFS lacks built-in encryption, and relying on network isolation alone is increasingly insufficient. For ITPros managing regulated workloads (healthcare, finance, PII-sensitive data), this removes a control gap. Encryption in transit now becomes a platform-native feature instead of a workaround, reducing architecture complexity and improving auditability. Operational value The operational value is stronger compliance posture and reduced attack surface for data in motion between containers and storage. It also simplifies the security story when auditors ask about data protection controls. Before enabling in production, validate that NFS-over-TLS introduces acceptable latency overhead for your workload patterns, test failover and reconnection behaviour under encryption, and confirm that monitoring and logging still work correctly. Prerequisites include running AKS with Azure CNI or Kubenet networking, having Azure Files with NFS 4.1 enabled, and ensuring the NFS client libraries on container images support TLS. Real-world example with step-by-step guidance Create an Azure Files NFS share with encryption in transit enabled and confirm TLS version alignment with your security standards. Deploy a test AKS workload that mounts the NFS share and validate that pods mount successfully with encrypted traffic. Run performance baselines (throughput, latency, CPU overhead) before and after enabling encryption to document operational expectations. Monitor pod logs and Azure Files metrics during the test to confirm no silent failures or unexpected throttling occurs. Roll out to production workloads in stages, with clear rollback criteria tied to application latency and error rates. Technical details including code examples This example validates that your AKS cluster can successfully mount NFS shares with encryption enabled. The sequence checks cluster networking, confirms NFS connectivity, and tests mount success. Run these commands in a non-production cluster first to validate environment readiness before touching production storage. az aks show --resource-group <rg> --name <clusterName> --query "networkProfile.{networkPlugin:networkPlugin,networkPolicy:networkPolicy,podCidr:podCidr}" -o jsonc az storage account show --resource-group <rg> --name <storageAccount> --query "{name:name,kind:kind,accessTier:accessTier}" -o jsonc kubectl get pvc -A --all-namespaces -o wide kubectl describe pv <pvName> | grep -i nfs Expected behaviour: cluster networking is properly configured, storage account kind supports NFS, and PVC/PV resources show NFS mount points. If mounts fail, check network security group rules, storage account firewall allowances, and subnet delegation. If latency increases, monitor resource utilisation and adjust workload placement if needed. Comprehensive Resources Azure update: Encryption in Transit for Azure Files NFS Shares in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Azure Files NFS support Mount Azure Files with NFS in AKS Azure storage security AKS networking concepts Update #3 - Generally Available: Expanding Azure Arc SQL Migration with SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines Why ITPros should care This capability brings SQL Server migration into the Azure Arc operational footprint, creating a unified migration and inventory experience. For ITPros, this matters because SQL Server modernisation is often fragmented across multiple tools and teams. What changed is that you can now discover, assess, and execute SQL migrations through Arc-native workflows, using the same permissions and governance model you already have for infrastructure and hybrid resources. The operational gain is consistency: discovery data feeds migration planning, assessments surface blockers early, and rollout can be controlled through the same change and approvals processes you use for other infrastructure migrations. Operational value Operationally, this reduces tooling sprawl and improves coordination between infrastructure and database teams. Arc becomes your single control plane for tracking migration progress, managing runbooks, and collecting audit evidence. Before production use, validate that your SQL Server inventory is complete, that migration blockers are understood and addressed, and that your maintenance windows can accommodate expected cutover timings. Prerequisites include Azure Arc agent deployment on source VMs, Azure Database Migration Service readiness, and network connectivity to target Azure SQL resources. Real-world example with step-by-step guidance Deploy Azure Arc agents to SQL Server VMs and confirm all instances report healthy status with complete inventory data. Run Arc-integrated SQL Server assessments to identify compatibility issues, dependencies, and recommended migration targets. Pilot migration for a non-critical workload to establish runbook patterns, measure cutover time, and validate post-migration validation procedures. Execute validation tests: connectivity, login success, database consistency checks, job execution, and application integration tests. Scale migration in waves using documented runbooks, with gates for monitoring data health and application performance after each cutover. Technical details including code examples This example validates Arc agent health and SQL Server discovery completeness. The sequence ensures your Arc infrastructure is ready for migration workflows. Run these commands as part of your pre-migration checklist to catch configuration gaps before committing to migration timelines. az account show --output table az connectedmachine list --resource-group <rg> --query "[].{name:name,status:status,osName:osName}" -o table az resource list --resource-type Microsoft.AzureArcData/sqlServerInstances --query "[].{name:name,resourceGroup:resourceGroup,location:location}" -o table az connectedmachine machine extension list --resource-group <rg> --machine-name <vmName> --query "[].{name:name,provisioningState:provisioningState}" -o table Expected behaviour: Arc agents report healthy status, SQL Server instances are fully discovered with accurate inventory, and required extensions are provisioned successfully. If discovery is incomplete, check Arc agent connectivity, extension deployment, and SQL service running status on source VMs. If migration pre-checks fail, verify SQL Server version compatibility and review Defender logs for blocking issues. Comprehensive Resources Azure update: Expanding Azure Arc SQL Migration with SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines Azure Arc SQL Server Overview Azure Arc-enabled servers SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines Azure Database Migration Service For any new capability this week, if they map to your operational roadmap, run a controlled pilot, measure the impact, and then scale with confidence. That is how you move the needle on modernisation while managing risk. Cheers! Pierre Roman
