News | Azure Local 2603

Microsoft has released Azure Local 2603, continuing the journey toward a more cloud‑consistent, secure, and operationally mature hybrid platform, fully managed through Azure Arc.

Highlights in this release:

✅ New OS baseline
All new and existing Azure Local deployments now run OS version 26100.32522, aligned with Windows Server 2025 drivers and lifecycle standards. [github.com]

✅ Platform & runtime updates
Azure Local now runs on .NET 8.0.25 (Runtime + ASP.NET Core), improving security posture and long‑term maintainability. [github.com]

✅ AKS enabled by Azure Arc updates
Support for Kubernetes 1.31–1.33, with Kubernetes 1.30 deprecated and KMS v2 positioned as the future standard. [github.com]

✅ Reliability & lifecycle improvements
Multiple fixes across deployment, VM management, and update workflows improve overall platform stability. [github.com]

⚠️ Known issue in Azure Local 2603 (important for operations teams):

• During solution updates, health checks may show the warning:
SBE manifest endpoint not reported by Get-SolutionDiscoveryDiagnosticInfo
This is a warning‑level message only and can safely be ignored during the update process. [github.com]

Microsoft continues to update the known‑issues list as needed, so reviewing it should be part of every upgrade plan.

🔗 What’s new (2603):
https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/azure-local/whats-new?view=azloc-2603

🔗 Known issues (2603):
https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/azure-local/known-issues?view=azloc-2603

Azure Local 2603 clearly reinforces Microsoft’s focus on enterprise readiness, regulated environments, and sovereign hybrid cloud scenarios, with transparency around current platform limitations.