Do not treat a gallery image's end-of-life date as a deployment block

Source facts

Azure Compute Gallery end-of-life dates are informational: users can still create VMs from image versions after those dates. A definition groups versions and carries their shared metadata, but deployment uses an image version rather than the definition itself. An informational lifecycle date is therefore separate from the decision to allow a particular version in deployment. Microsoft Learn.

Applicability

Review both the image definition and the individual version referenced by a deployment workflow. Identify whether consumers pin a specific version or request latest. Clarify whether the business requirement is a notice, a preferred version, or an actual prohibition on new deployments.

DSE recommendation

Document the enforcement mechanism separately from the image’s informational end-of-life metadata. Ask the image owner to map each consumer’s selection method before announcing that an old version is retired. Maintain an approved-version record and have the deployment owner demonstrate how its workflow applies that decision. Do not claim a date field alone satisfies a prohibition.

Verification

In a nonproduction check, inspect which version a representative workflow actually selects and compare it with the approved-version record. Include a pinned reference and a latest request if both are used. Test the proposed lifecycle restriction directly under authorized conditions rather than merely checking that the date was saved. Preserve the selected version ID and outcome, and investigate any consumer that can still choose a disallowed version.

Official references

Microsoft Learn: Azure Compute Gallery images and versions. Source reviewed September 9, 2026.