Azure key dates

Dated changes (10)

Announced changes with an explicit effective date: pricing, defaults, retirements and policy mandates that existing workloads must plan around. Every date shown has been checked against the original announcement, which each row links to.

1. 8 Sept 2026
   Retirement AKS Retirement: Flatcar Container Linux for AKS (preview) source ↗

   Flatcar Container Linux for AKS (preview) node images and code will be removed; scaling/remediation will fail.

   26 days
2. 30 Sept 2026
   Retirement AKS Retirement: Azure Network Policy Manager (NPM) for Windows nodes on AKS to Be Retired by September 30, 2026 source ↗

   Azure Network Policy Manager (NPM) for Windows nodes on AKS will end support. Migrate to Calico by Sep 30, 2026.

   48 days
3. 31 Oct 2026
   Retirement AKS Retirement: Windows Server 2022 on Azure Kubernetes Service enabled by Azure Arc

   Windows Server 2022 on AKS enabled by Arc will be retired. Plan for migration by October 31, 2026.

   79 days
4. 17 Mar 2027
   EOL AKS Retirement: Ubuntu 20.04 Node Pools in AKS source ↗

   Ubuntu 20.04 node pools in AKS will be retired 2027-03-17. No security updates. Migrate to Ubuntu 22.04+ & K8s 1.34+.

   216 days
5. 15 May 2027
   Retirement AKS Retirement: Windows Server Annual Channel (preview) source ↗

   AKS will remove Windows Server Annual Channel (preview) node images, causing scaling and remediation failures.

   275 days
6. 30 Jun 2027
   EOL AKS Retirement: Azure Kubernetes Service support for Ubuntu 22.04 source ↗

   AKS support for Ubuntu 22.04 will be retired. Transition to Ubuntu 24.04 or later by June 30, 2027.

   321 days
7. 30 Sept 2027
   Retirement AKS Retirement: Open Service Mesh add-on for AKS will be retired on September 30, 2027 source ↗

   Open Service Mesh add-on for AKS will be retired on Sep 30, 2027. Transition to Istio add-on.

   413 days
8. 27 Mar 2028
   EOL AKS Retirement: Announcing the 3-Year Retirement of Current Architecture for AKS on Windows Server 2019 and Windows Server 2022 source ↗

   AKS current architecture on Windows Server 2019/2022 will retire 2028-03-27. No support/updates. Replace clusters.

   592 days
9. 31 Mar 2028
   Retirement AKS Retirement: Kubenet Networking for Azure Kubernetes Service to Be Retired on March 31, 2028 source ↗

   Kubenet networking for AKS will be retired on March 31, 2028. Migrate to avoid service disruptions.

   596 days
10. 30 Sept 2028
    Retirement AKS Retirement: Azure Network Policy Manager (NPM) for Linux nodes on AKS to Be Retired by September 30, 2028 source ↗

    Azure Network Policy Manager (NPM) for Linux nodes on AKS will end support. Migrate AKS clusters by Sep 30, 2028.

    779 days