Stay prepared for change: how we improve Azure environments with the Well-Architected Framework

The technological world is constantly changing. Within Azure in particular, updates, innovations, and deprecations follow each other in rapid succession, and this year has seen several Azure deprecations. As a Managed Azure customer at Wortell, you fortunately don't have to keep track of all these changes yourself. We monitor developments, think ahead, and ensure that your environment complies with the latest standards. In this post, I will share how we prepare your Azure environment for important changes. We do this using, among other things, the Microsoft Well-Architected Framework (WAF): a powerful model for structurally evaluating and improving Azure environments.

What is the Well-Architected Framework?

The Microsoft Well-Architected Framework is a Microsoft tool that helps you assess cloud environments in a structured way and continuously improve them. It provides guidelines and best practices for optimally configuring your environment: secure, reliable, efficient, and manageable.

The WAF consists of five pillars:

• Cost Optimization

• Security

• Performance Efficiency

• Reliability

• Operational Excellence

 

During our regular meetings, we use these pillars to assess where an environment stands, what is going well, and where there is room for improvement. We don't just look at today's technology, but also at what will change tomorrow.

What's happening in Azure?

Microsoft is implementing a number of important changes this year. These include the phasing out of the Basic Load Balancer, Basic SKU Public IP addresses, and the discontinuation of support for TLS 1.0 and 1.1. However, the most impactful change is the adjustment to Outbound Network Connectivity.

From September 30, 2025, newly deployed resources in Azure will no longer have standard access to the internet. This means that you will have to explicitly configure how you want to connect to the internet.

Starting on September 30, 2025, newly deployed resources in Azure will no longer have default access to the internet. This means that you will have to explicitly configure how certain resources communicate with the outside world. If you do not do this, applications may unexpectedly stop functioning as you are used to after that date. Existing resources will therefore not be affected.

What are we doing for our Managed Azure customers?

We have already started an inventory per customer to see which parts of your environment may be affected. This allows us to identify potential risks at an early stage and take steps to prepare the environments accordingly. In addition, the Operational Activities will be expanded with new reports that clearly show the status of the Managed Azure service and the Azure environment.

Please feel free to contact me or your service manager if you would like to know more.