Update AKS A10 GPU Node Image by 24 July to maintain driver compatibility.

Azure is rolling out updated GPU host driver versions (NVIDIA **v18.x** associated with GRID 570.x branch) for NVIDIA A10-based SKUs. To maintain compatibility between host and guest drivers, AKS node images must be updated accordingly. Ensure your A10 node pool is running on AKS node image-version **202606.08.1 or later**.
AKS rollout of the updated node images for **NVadsA10v5** and **NCadsA10v4** is expected to complete by **24th July 2026**.
Customers should monitor the AKS [release tracker](https://aka.ms/aks/releasetracker) and plan upgrades as early as possible to ensure their workloads remain supported.

### Required action
To avoid service disruptions and remain in a supported configuration:
• Monitor the AKS [release tracker](https://aka.ms/aks/releasetracker) for updated node image availability
• Upgrade your AKS node pools to use the latest available node image versions (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/upgrade-node-image)
• Ensure workloads are running on compatible GPU driver versions
If you are using AKS-managed GPU drivers
• [Upgrade node pools](https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/aks/upgrade-node-image) to the latest node image version (**202606.08.1 or later**)
If you are using NVIDIA GPU Operator
• Manually upgrade the GPU driver to a compatible version (v18 or above)
If you want to check what the VM size of your node pool(s) are, you can head into your AKS cluster in the Azure portal. On the “Overview” page, you should see the node sizes.

Alternatively, you can run the following command in an Azure CLI:
az aks nodepool list \
--resource-group \
--cluster-name \
--query "[].{Name:name, VMSize:vmSize}" \
--output table

To check the node image version for a specific node pool, run:
az aks nodepool show \
--resource-group \
--cluster-name \
--name \
--query "nodeImageVersion" \
--output table

### Impact
During the upcoming host driver rollout, nodes running older or incompatible GPU driver version will transition to an unsupported configuration.
If the node image is not updated by **24th July 2026**:
• Nodes may run into guest-driver mismatches and become unsupported
• Virtual machines may be restarted or unavailable during maintenance windows to apply host updates
• GPU workloads may fail to start, degrade in performance, or experience interruptions due to driver incompatibility.

### Help and support
If you have questions, get answers from community experts in [Microsoft Q&A](https://learn.microsoft.com/answers/tags/200/azure-kubernetes-service) or [Github](https://github.com/Azure/AKS/issues/4949). If you have a support plan and you need technical help, create a [support request](https://portal.azure.com/#blade/Microsoft_Azure_Support/HelpAndSupportBlade/newsupportrequest).