Public Preview: Azure Functions zero-downtime deployments with rolling updates in Flex Consumption

Public Preview: Azure Functions zero-downtime deployments with rolling updates in Flex Consumption

Azure Functions now supports rolling updates in the Flex Consumption plan, delivering zero-downtime deployments with a simple configuration change.

Instead of forcefully restarting all instances during code or configuration updates, the platform gracefully replaces live instances by draining batches every few seconds while dynamically scaling out the latest version to meet demand. This approach ensures uninterrupted execution and resilient throughput across HTTP, non-HTTP, and Durable workloads—even during intensive scale-out scenarios.

How to enable:

• Update your ARM/Bicep template with `”properties.functionAppConfig.siteUpdateStrategy.type”` set to `“RollingUpdate”`
• For Durable Functions, configure an orchestration match strategy (see guidance).

Known limitations:

• Scale-out issues may occur with low HTTP concurrency; recommended value is 16.
• Real-time rollout monitoring is not supported; allow up to two minutes for completion.
• No automatic rollback; intervene by redeploying the last healthy version.
• Internal details such as batch size and drain intervals are not configurable and are subject to change.

Generally Available: High Scale Private Endpoints
You can now increase Azure Private Endpoint’s virtual network (VNet) limits by upgrading to High Scale Private Endpoints (HSPE). Today local VNet limits are restricted to 1,000 private endpoints per Virtual Network. Any attempts to create additional endpoints will result in an PrivateEndpointsPerVnetLimitReached error that can only be resolved by either deleting existing private endpoints or raising a support request to increase present limits. However, by activating HSPE you will automatically be able to deploy 5,000 PEs in a singular VNet.
It is also recommended that you only deploy up to 4,000 Private Endpoints in total across your peered virtual networks. Surpassing this recommendation may result in connectivity issues with your private endpoint traffic. If you would like higher limits without the risk of connectivity issues, it is recommended to upgrade to HSPE. This will raise private endpoint cross peering limit to 20,000 endpoints.

Additionally, Azure Virtual Network Manager’s High Scale Private Endpoints support for mesh (connected groups) is now generally available, offering greater scalability for complex Azure network topologies. HSPE for mesh enables you to scale private connectivity across large, interconnected environments with ease.

Regions of Availability:
This feature is available in all public regions.

Public Preview: Instant Access Snapshots for Azure Premium SSD v2 and Ultra Disks Storage
Announcing the Public Preview of Instant Access Snapshots for Premium SSD v2 (Pv2) and Ultra Disks. This new capability enables you to restore new disks immediately after creating snapshots of Pv2 and Ultra disks. Restore disks deliver high performance instantly, while data hydration continues rapidly in the background.

Common Scenarios
Instant Access Snapshots accelerate backup and recovery workflows, enabling faster environment refreshes and rapid scaling. Common use cases include:

• Create instant backups before software updates and revert quickly if needed.
• Quickly scale stateful applications by creating multiple copies of primary data for new instances, such as adding read-only SQL Server replicas.
• Rapid nightly refresh of training or testing environments from the production.

Pricing

• Public Preview: No additional charges apply when using Instant Access snapshots. Standard billing for disks and snapshots remains unchanged.
• Post General Availability (GA): Two charges will apply:

1. Storage Charge: Billed only for the additional storage space consumed by Instant Access Snapshots, based on data changes on the source disk after the snapshot is created.
2. Restore Charge: A one-time fee applies for each disk restored from an Instant Access Snapshot, calculated based on the disk’s provisioned size at the time of restore.