Public Preview: Azure Bastion Developer SKU & Front Door Firewall Upgrades

As enterprises scale their cloud workloads, balancing developer productivity and network security becomes more critical than ever. In May 2024, Microsoft made two strategic moves that reflect this need:

  • The public preview of Azure Bastion Developer SKU, offering secure but lightweight VM access for development scenarios.

  • Enhancements to Azure Front Door Web Application Firewall (WAF), focused on better attack detection, customization, and data privacy.

Let’s break down what each of these updates brings to the table.

🔐 1. Azure Bastion Developer SKU (Public Preview)

Azure Bastion provides secure RDP/SSH access to Azure VMs—without exposing them to the public internet. Until now, the Bastion tiers were either too feature-rich or too costly for simple dev/test workloads.

🎯 What’s New?

With the Developer SKU, Microsoft introduces a low-cost, lightweight alternative:

Feature Details
SKU Type Developer (Public Preview)
Ideal Use Case Dev/Test environments
Pricing ~50% cheaper than Standard SKU
Inbound Ports Fully managed (no NSG rule needed)
Session Limits Supports basic concurrent sessions

 

This is perfect for developers needing quick, secure access to VMs—without the overhead of full enterprise controls.

🔧 Key Benefits:

  • No need to manage jump boxes or IP whitelisting.

  • Access VMs using browser-based RDP/SSH.

  • Simplified billing and configuration for short-lived environments.

🌐 Use it via: Azure Portal > Bastion > Create > Choose "Developer SKU"

🛡️ 2. Azure Front Door WAF Enhancements

Azure Front Door has been a critical edge service for global content delivery and security. In May 2024, the Web Application Firewall (WAF) got several notable updates that increase flexibility, accuracy, and compliance.

🔍 a. Server Variables for Custom Rules

WAF rules can now inspect and match against server variables, such as:

  • Request_URI

  • Request_Method

  • Remote_Addr

  • Custom headers and cookies

This allows for fine-grained rule customization, ideal for filtering:

  • Geo-restricted access

  • Bot traffic patterns

  • Specific user-agent behaviors

🧪 b. Enhanced Sensitive Data Detection

WAF now includes built-in logic to:

  • Mask or redact sensitive fields in logs (e.g., passwords, PII).

  • Block or alert on payloads carrying unsafe data.

This is aligned with GDPR and HIPAA guidelines, enabling safer and more auditable operations.

⚙️ c. Ruleset Tuning for False Positives

Improved controls let you:

  • Disable specific OWASP rule groups.

  • Set match thresholds for anomaly scoring.

  • Build “allow overrides” for known benign patterns.

This means fewer false positives and faster tuning cycles—ideal for high-traffic production environments.

📊 Summary Table

Feature Bastion Developer SKU Azure WAF Enhancements
Use Case Dev/Test VM access Production app security
Availability Public Preview Rolling out globally
Cost Focus Optimized for budget Scales with traffic
Key Benefit Secure RDP/SSH without open ports Accurate, privacy-aware threat filtering

 

✅ Getting Started

For Bastion Developer SKU:

  1. Navigate to your Azure Virtual Network.

  2. Select Bastion > Create > Select Developer SKU.

  3. Connect to any VM with no public IP.

For Front Door WAF:

  1. Go to Azure Front Door > WAF Policies.

  2. Add custom rules using server variables.

  3. Enable sensitive data masking under Logging.

🏁 Final Thoughts

These two updates—though distinct—showcase Microsoft’s commitment to delivering developer-centric tools that don’t compromise on security.

Whether you’re spinning up VMs for debugging or defending APIs at global scale, Azure gives you the precision tools to do it right—with flexibility, compliance, and cost-efficiency.