Azure Paas Server Version Update

Question

Is there a schedule for when Azure PaaS upgrades their servers? I have a .NET 4.7 web app on PaaS. I want to know when the PaaS servers will be upgraded and no longer support the .NET 4.7 version. I want to upgrade my web app prior to Microsoft upgrading the PaaS servers.

Answer 1

@Dennis Vossen , Thanks for posting a great question.

Short Answer:

• There is no ETA for .NET 4.7 deprecation.
• From App Service standpoint, the runtime updates and deprecations are announced here:
  • https://azure.microsoft.com/updates/?product=app-service
  • https://github.com/Azure/app-service-announcements/issues

Azure manages OS patching on two levels, the physical servers and the guest virtual machines (VMs) that run the App Service resources. Both are updated monthly, which aligns to the monthly Patch Tuesday schedule. These updates are applied automatically, in a way that guarantees the high-availability SLA of Azure services.

.NET Framework 4.8 can be used to run applications built for the .NET Framework 4.0 through 4.7.2. .NET Framework 4.x versions are in-place updates to earlier versions. The .NET Framework 4.8 update is a non-breaking in-place upgrade on App Service. No updates are required to existing applications.

Long Answer:
(Apologies for the long answer, trying to add as much details on patching on App Service for clarity)

App Service is a PaaS (Platform as a Service), the patching is managed by Azure. That’s the main rhythm of PaaS offering that it allows users to focus on their code, rather than having to worry about managing the underlying Virtual Machines and other resources with the latest security updates, OS patches and so on.

If the question is on when .NET 4.7 would be deprecated, You need check the support lifecycle of .NET Framework versions, see Microsoft Support Lifecycle (and it’s more from .NET framework and not specific to Azure App Service).

The platform upgrade is essentially the same thing as when the Windows OS upgraded the version of .NET Framework on physical machines.
.NET Framework 4.8 is already availability on App Service - Deployment is complete in all available regions for both Public and Sovereign clouds – See this announcement

There can be only one copy of a major .NET Framework version installed on a Windows machine – hence the reason 4.8 is an in-place update. Pre-existing apps will continue to run against which .NET Framework (in your case 4.7) they were targeted to run against.

Can I opt out of the upgrade?
No, you cannot. As a PaaS service we continue to upgrade and refresh the service for performance, security, and compliance reasons, and we do it to all our VMs each time.

How the patching is applied?
Before beginning worldwide updates, we deploy first to a private region which is not commonly accessible. Only after testing is validated there, we begin to roll out to datacenters across the globe. Our typical time for completing updates worldwide is about 10 business days, which allows us to deploy during each region’s off hours and also avoid deploying to Paired Regions at the same time (for example, East US and West US).