Since Azure Stack HCI version 21H2 went GA, people might be wondering what the differences are between the previous version (20H2) and what new features they can enjoy?
I’ll list some key features below and please check out this post from Cosmos Darwin for the full details:
Exciting New Key Features
Azure Virtual Desktop (preview)
Azure Virtual Desktop for Azure Stack HCI (preview) uses the same cloud-hosted management plane as regular Azure Virtual Desktop, but you can create session host pools using virtual machines running on Azure Stack HCI. These VMs can run Windows 10 and/or Windows 11 Enterprise multi-session to match the experience your users expect from Azure. By co-locating desktops closer to users, you can enable low-latency direct access, with no round-trip through the cloud, using a technology called RDP Shortpath.
Storage Thin Provisioning
You can thinly provision your Storage Spaces Direct data volumes, which greatly simplifies capacity planning and management.
Kernel Soft Reboot
With kernel soft reboot, you can restart up to 10x faster than a normal reboot by skipping the pre-boot sequence and hardware power-on self-test.
Secured-Core
Secured-Core Server provides a baseline assurance of hardware, firmware, and OS hardening to defend against current and future threats.
Network ATC
Network ATC provides intent-based configuration for your host networking, including drift correction.
High Availability for GPUs
With high availability for GPU workloads, you can deliver acceleration to your most demanding AI/ML workloads without encumbering automatic failover.
Dynamic CPU Compatibility
An all-new dynamic CPU compatibility mode enables you to mix and match processor generations in the same cluster with minimal degradation: the cluster intelligently figures out the greatest common subset of processor features it can expose to VMs
Arc-enabled VM management (preview)
In addition to managing your host cluster, you can now use Azure Arc to provision and manage virtual machines running on Azure Stack HCI directly from the Azure Portal. VMs and their associated resources like VM images, disks, and networks are projected into ARM as separate first-class resources by a new cross-platform technology called the Arc resource bridge.
Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery
Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery now officially support Azure Stack HCI, version 21H2. With MABS v3 UR2 or later, you can back up Azure Stack HCI hosts and VMs, and with Azure Site Recovery, you can continuously replicate VMs from Azure Stack HCI to Azure, failover, and failback.
Azure benefits for Windows Server (coming soon)
- The benefits that Microsoft offers when you deploy Windows Server in Azure are coming to Windows Server on Azure Stack HCI (later this year).
- When deploying VMs with Windows Server 2022, you’ll be able to access the new Azure Edition, a special version of Windows Server optimized for Azure VMs, with unique features like hot-patching that enables you to apply security updates without restarting.
- For older versions of Windows Server, if you’re not ready or able to upgrade, you can lift and shift onto Azure Stack HCI and get extended security updates included for free, just like in Azure. This applies to Windows Server 2008/R2 and will soon apply to Windows Server 2012/R2 when it reaches end of support, plus the corresponding versions of SQL Server.
21H2 comes as a free over-the-air feature update and can be installed non-disruptively using cluster-aware updating.
*Always ensure that your cluster is fully patched and data backed up before installing any updates
**Please always consult with your solution vendor for any hardware-specific advisories