Releasesby GlyphThe network-optimized C4N machine series is available with GKE clusters running 1.36.0-gke.3009002 or later
The network-optimized C4N machine series is available with GKE clusters running 1.36.0-gke.3009002 or later. You can use C4N machine types in Standard or Autopilot mode.
Also shipped Jul 8, 2026Google Cloud in July 2026 →
Object metadata column is now in Public Preview
The _object_metadata column is now in Public Preview. The _object_metadata column is a hidden metadata column that exposes object-level properties for objects in cloud storage, including MIME type, ETag, user-defined key-value metadata, system-defined metadata, and object tags. It is available starting from Databricks Runtime 18.1.
Genie products now use pay-as-you-go pricing
Starting July 8, 2026 at 00:00 UTC, Genie products, including Genie Agents , Genie Code , and Genie One , are billed following a pay-as-you-go pricing model that includes 150 Databricks units (DBUs) of free large language model (LLM) usage every month, equivalent to about $10.50 in the US East region.
Google Gemini 2.5 Flash and Pro are scheduled for retirement
Google Gemini 2.5 Flash and Gemini 2.5 Pro will be retired on October 2, 2026. The recommended replacement models are Gemini 3.1 Pro or Gemini 3.5 Flash. See Deprecated and retired models for migration guidance.
Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4 is scheduled for retirement
Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4 will be retired on October 9, 2026. Claude Sonnet 4.6 is the recommended replacement. See Deprecated and retired models for migration guidance.
Restrict access to AI Functions with Unity Catalog permissions (Public Preview)
You can now use Unity Catalog permissions to restrict which task-specific AI Functions your organization can access, independent of foundation model access. Contact your account team to enable this feature. See AI Functions Unity Catalog permissions .
Genie Agents now uses pay-as-you-go pricing
Starting July 8, 2026 at 00:00 UTC, Genie Agents is billed following a pay-as-you-go pricing model that includes 150 DBUs of free large language model (LLM) usage every month, equivalent to about $10.50 in the US East region. Usage beyond the free amount is billed in DBUs, reflecting the underlying LLM models and agents that power each Genie Agents session.
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(2026-R27) Version updates
There are no version updates for 2026-R27.
(2026-R28) Version updates
GKE cluster versions have been updated. New versions available for upgrades and new clusters. The following versions are now available for new GKE clusters, and for manual control plane upgrades and node upgrades for existing clusters. For more information about versioning and upgrades, see GKE versioning and support and About GKE cluster upgrades .
Note : Your clusters might not have these versions available
Note : Your clusters might not have these versions available. Rollouts are already in progress when we publish the release notes, and can take multiple days to complete across all Google Cloud zones. Version 1.36.0-gke.3712000 is now the default version for cluster creation in the Rapid channel.
In GKE version 1.34 and later, you can configure Google Cloud Managed Service for Prometheus to collect...
In GKE version 1.34 and later, you can configure Google Cloud Managed Service for Prometheus to collect Pressure Stall Information (PSI) metrics from cAdvisor. You can use PSI metrics to monitor CPU, memory, and I/O congestion and stall times for your containers, Pods, and nodes. For more information, see Collect specific Prometheus metrics from Kubernetes .
In GKE version 1.35.3-gke.1389000 and later, you can run GPU workloads on Confidential GKE Nodes with certain...
In GKE version 1.35.3-gke.1389000 and later, you can run GPU workloads on Confidential GKE Nodes with certain G4 machine types and NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 GPUs. This feature is available in Preview. For more information, see Encrypt GPU workload data in use with Confidential GKE Nodes .
In GKE version 1.36.0-gke.1601000 and later, you can enable the logging of VerticalPodAutoscaler decisions in...
In GKE version 1.36.0-gke.1601000 and later, you can enable the logging of VerticalPodAutoscaler decisions in Cloud Logging. You can use these logs to understand why specific vertical Pod autoscaling decisions were made. This feature is available in Preview. For more information, see Collect vertical Pod autoscaler event logs .
GKE Gateway now supports backend mutual TLS (mTLS)
GKE Gateway now supports backend mutual TLS (mTLS). In addition to backend authenticated TLS, backend mTLS allows the GKE Gateway load balancer to authenticate its identity to backend Pods by presenting a client certificate. GKE Gateway configures backend mTLS using the standard Gateway API spec.tls.backend.clientCertificateRef field.
For GKE Standard clusters, the maximum number of nodes that you can upgrade simultaneously by using surge...
For GKE Standard clusters, the maximum number of nodes that you can upgrade simultaneously by using surge upgrades ( maxSurge + maxUnavailable ) is now 100. Each of these settings can be set as high as 100, but their sum can be no higher than 100. For more information, see Surge upgrades .