Dapr v1.11.0 now available in the Dapr extension for AKS and Arc-enabled Kubernetes

The Dapr extension for AKS and Arc-enabled Kubernetes now supports Dapr v1.11.0. 

Dapr is a developer framework for building cloud-native applications, making it easier to run multiple microservices on Kubernetes and interact with external state stores/databases, secret stores, pub/sub brokers, and other cloud services and self-hosted solutions. 

The Dapr v1.11 release offers several new features, including the Cryptography building block, the capability to invoke non-Dapr endpoints, updates to Dapr Workflow, the ability to choose Dapr sidecar build variations, many fixes in the core runtime and components, and more. 

• Learn how to get started with the Dapr extension
• Learn more about Dapr 
• Read the release notes for Dapr 1.11.0  

Highlights

Configuration API is now v1 stable

The configuration building block is now a v1 stable API including the APIs in all SDKs. Stable APIs are non-breaking in future versions and changes go through versioning. 

Service Invocation can now call non-Dapr endpoints (preview)

In this release, you can now call non-Dapr endpoints with service invocation, improving scenarios where:

• You choose to only use Dapr in part of your overall application, including brownfield development.
• You may not have access to the code to migrate an existing application to use Dapr.
• You want Dapr features like resiliency policies and observability applied to non-Dapr service calls.
• You need to call an external HTTP service.

For more information, read How-To: Invoke Non-Dapr Endpoints using HTTP

Dapr Workflow updates (preview feature)

Workflow had several significant updates. Aside from the addition of Python SDK support, you can now:

• Pause, restart, and purge workflows in the management API
• Have a workflow wait on an external event. 

Note: This release includes breaking changes to the Workflow APIs. Read more on the workflow APIs.

Cryptography building block (preview feature)

The v1.11 release introduces a new alpha Cryptography building block, enabling the encryption and decryption of data using key information in a safe and consistent way.

Try out the cryptography quickstart to see this in action.

Choice of Dapr sidecar build variations

In this release, two built versions of Dapr available:

• The default image that contains all components.
• A new variation containing only stable components, using the stablecomponents tag.

Dapr dashboard is no longer installed with control plane

The Dapr dashboard is no longer installed by default with the Dapr control plane when installing via Helm. To install the dashboard, use the new dapr-dashboard chart. Learn more about how to install the dashboard.

Windows Server 2022 container images

Dapr 1.11 offers container images for Windows Server 2022, using the windows-ltsc2022 tag. This is in addition to the images based on Windows Server 1809.

App channel supports HTTP/2 and HTTP/2 Cleartext

In Dapr 1.11, the CLI flag --app-protocol can now assume 3 more values in addition to http and grpc:

• https and grpcs use HTTP and gRPC, respectively, but enable TLS.

• h2c is a new value that configures Dapr to connect to your app using HTTP/2 Cleartext.

Multi-app run improved output

You can now write app logs to the console as well as to a local log file with multi-app run command dapr run -f .

Actor State TTL (preview)

A new preview feature enables a TTL on actor state which enables you to have the state automatically removed after a certain time

Metrics

• Metrics for actor reminders and timers are now reported
• Metrics for resiliency policies are now reported

Features & component updates

Many feature and component statuses have been updated in this release. See the full list in the release notes.