Azure Weekly Newsletter Issue #422

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@HowardvRooijen | @endjin

AI + Machine Learning

Covering: Anomaly detector, Azure Bot Service, Azure Machine Learning, Azure Open Datasets, Bing APIs, Cognitive Services, Computer Vision, Content moderator, Custom vision, Data Science Virtual Machines, Face, Form Recogniser, Immersive Reader, Ink Recogniser, Language Understanding (LUIS), Machine Learning Studio, Microsoft Genomics, ML.NET, Personaliser, Project Cortex, QnA Maker, Speaker Recognition, Speech-to-Text, Speech translation, Text Analytics, Text to Speech , Translator Speech, Translator Text

• Aaryan Arora covers Integrating Power Apps with Azure Machine Learning & Open AI using Power Automate
• Chris Paoli blogs about OpenAI Services Released for Government Users

Analytics

Covering: Apache Spark for HDInsight, Apache Storm for HDInsight, Azure Analysis Services, Azure Data Explorer, Azure Data Share, Azure Databricks, Azure Stream Analytics, Azure Synapse Analytics, Data Catalog, Data Factory, Data Lake Analytics, Event Hubs, HDInsight, .NET for Apache Spark, R Server for HDInsight, Microsoft Purview, Microsoft Fabric

• The Azure Updates Team writes about Generally available: Azure Data Explorer Kusto Emulator on Linux and Vincent-Philippe Lauzon discusses Kusto Emulator on Linux
• On SQL Server Central, Arindam Mondal explains how to Analyze Data with a Serverless SQL pool in Azure Synapse Analytics
• Denise Schlesinger writes Part 2 - Building a Data Lakehouse using Azure Data explorer - The Deployment
• Guy Reginiano discusses Simplifying data streaming from Event Hubs to ADX
• Eduardo Pivaral blogs about Data Transfer from Snowflake to Azure Blob using Synapse Analytics
• Amber Zhao describes How to use Power BI API to generate Power BI workspace content
• Arun Sethia covers HDInsight 5.0 with Spark 3.x – Part 2

Compute

Covering: Azure CycleCloud, Azure Dedicated Host, Azure Functions, Azure VMware Solution by CloudSimple, Batch, Cloud Services, Linux Virtual Machines, SAP HANA on Azure Large Instances, Service Fabric, Virtual Machines, Virtual Machine Scale Sets

• Hilary Wang discusses Breaking Change for VMSS PowerShell/CLI Customers
• Gregor Suttie (@gregor_suttie) talks about Azure VM Extensions: Part 2 CustomScriptExtension

Containers

Covering: Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure Red Hat OpenShift, CNAB, CNCF, Container Instances, Container Registry, Porter, WSL, Web App for Containers

• The Azure Updates Team announces Public preview: Azure Container Instances ACI Spot containers and the new Azure Container Registry libraries
• Steve Buchanan (@buchatech) blogs about Azure Friday: Exploring Automated Deployments for AKS with Steve Buchanan and Scott Hanselman
• Alex Ellis (@alexellisuk) explains How to use multiple Docker registry mirrors
• Paolo Salvatori explains how to Deploy and run a Azure OpenAI/ChatGPT app on AKS with Terraform

Databases

Covering: Azure Cosmos DB, Azure Database for MariaDB, Azure Database for MySQL, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Database Edge, Azure Cache for Redis, SQL Data Warehouse, SQL Server on virtual machines, SQL Server Stretch Database, Table storage

• Kanchan Bharati describes Introducing Intel V5 Compute and 32 TB Storage Support on Azure PostgreSQL Flexible Server and Whats New in Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Flexible Server
• Jose M Jurado (@jmjuradodiaz) describes Lesson Learned 364: Getting all conversion implicit warnings using Query Data Store Repository
• Yochanan Rachamim (@ryochanan) talks about Enabling TDE on Azure SQL DB Server using Python
• Jose M Jurado (@jmjuradodiaz) discusses Lesson Learned 363: Incorrect syntax near the keyword 'NOT' using DataSync
• Jose M Jurado (@jmjuradodiaz) talks about Lesson Learned 366: Cannot open server microsoft.com using authentication ActiveDirectoryPassword
• Charles Wang blogs about Use Rdbtools to Generate Memory Report for Azure Cache for Redis and Convert Dump Files to JSON
• David Engel writes about Early technical preview of JDBC Driver 12.3.1 for SQL Server released
• Bhalchandra Atre writes about Final Deprecation of Classic Exchange Admin Center EAC in Exchange Online
• Koen Verbeeck (@Ko_Ver) walks through Reading Azure Cosmos DB Data with Azure Data Explorer
• Manvendra Singh describes how to Change Primary Region for Azure SQL Database Failover Group
• Varun Dhawan explains how to Expose PostgreSQL tables as REST APIs with Data API Builder

Developer Tools

Covering: App Configuration, Azure Lab Services, CLIs, Developer tool integrations, SDKs, Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio Online

• Tim Heuer announces C# Dev Kit for Visual Studio Code
• David Ramel (@dramel) writes about Even SQL Server Developer Tools Gets an AI Copilot
• Erin Stellato (@erinstellato) talks about SQL Server Management Studio SSMS 19.1 and Recent Changes, Part 1
• Aaron Yim writes Visual Studios IntelliSense list can now steer GitHub Copilot code completions.
• On the Visual Studio blog, Subhojit Basak describes Whats New in SSDT 17.6: Ledger, Performance, Copilot
• Mark Heath (@mark_heath) describes how to Use secrets in unit tests
• On episode 189 of the Ctrl+Alt+Azure podcast, Tobias Zimmergren and Jussi Roine discuss AI-based coding with GitHub Copilot Chat
• Micah Ebohon covers Using WinSCP and PowerShell Script to Copy or Move Files from a One Virtual Machine/Remote Server Path to a Path in a Local Server

DevOps

Covering: Azure Artifacts, Azure Boards, Azure DevOps, Azure Pipelines, Azure Repos, Azure Test Plans, Azure DevTest Labs, DevOps tool integrations

• The Azure Updates Team announces Public Preview: Azure Chaos Studio is now available in West US 2 region
• Anna Soracco describes Cloud testing at Microsoft Build 2023, Videos available on-demand
• Vinicius Apolinario (@vrapolinario) writes about Continuous deployment of Windows containers with CircleCI and AKS
• On episode 464 of the Azure podcast, Cale Teeter and Russell Young from Azure Podcast (@AzurePodcast) are joined by Sagar Chandra Reddy Lankala to talk about Azure Deployment Environments
• On episode 248 of the Azure DevOps podcast, Jeffrey Palermo (@jeffreypalermo) is joined by Sagar Lad to talk about Data DevOps and Security
• John Reilly (@johnny_reilly) delves into Private Bicep registry authentication with AzureResourceManagerTemplateDeployment3
• On the Microsoft DevOps blog, Ravi Kumar discusses The evolution of quality assurance and how Azure Test Plans is driving the future of manual testing
• On the Octopus Deploy Blog, Matthew Casperson discusses The ten pillars of pragmatic deployments
• On the Octopus Deploy Blog, Isaac Calligeros walks through Using the Deploy a Bicep template step
• On the Octopus Deploy Blog, Robert Erez announces Deprecating Mono

Hybrid + Multicloud

Covering: Azure Arc, Azure Stack

• Anna Hoffman, Muzama Zahid, Drew Skwiers-Koballa, Davide Mauri writes about New benefits of Azure Arc Enabled SQL Server Data Exposed and writes about New benefits of Azure Arc Enabled SQL Server Data Exposed
• Rie Merritt delves into Hybrid Flexibility in Azure SQL Managed Instance
• Erica Toelle explains how to Don't get caught unprepared: three steps to manage the risks of multicloud

Identity

Covering: Azure Active Directory (AD), Azure Active Directory B2C, Azure Active Directory Domain Services

• The Azure Updates Team announces Public Preview: Azure AD Support for Azure Files SMB shares REST API
• Joseph Dadzie announces Microsoft Entra ID Governance is generally available
• Amelie Darchicourt writes about Digital Event: Microsoft Entra Innovations
• Nadim Abdo walks through Increasing Transparency into Azure Active Directory's Resilience Model
• Rick Munck blogs about Security baseline for Microsoft Edge version 114
• Gerasimos Alexiou talks about Azure Keyvault Managed Identity C#
• Damien Bowden (@damien_bod) walks through ASP.NET Core authorization using Entra External ID CIAM and Azure AD security groups

Integration

Covering: Azure API for FHIR, Event Grid, Logic Apps, Service Bus

• Alexander Lahuerta walks through Auditing capabilities coming to Microsoft Project, Microsoft Planner, and Microsoft To Do
• Pascal Burume walks through Transforming Recruitment Processes with AI and Power Platform using Cognitive Search
• Bert Hoorne talks about Creating an Intelligent Dashboard powered by Text Analytics for Health
• Sidd Harth walks through Connecting to Snowflake from Logic App Standard
• Tony Checkal talks about Windows 365 Enterprise meets FedRAMP requirements
• Sandro Pereira (@sandro_asp) explains how to Throw custom exceptions in Logic Apps: Using an API Management Part V

Internet of Things

Covering: Azure Digital Twins, Azure IoT Central, Azure IoT Edge, Azure IoT Hub, Azure IoT solution accelerators, Azure Maps, Azure Sphere, Azure Time Series Insights, IoT DevKit, WildernessLabs, Windows 10 IoT Core Services

• Jaime Sanchez explains how to Build 5G Modern Connected Apps at the Edge

Learning

Covering: Microsoft Certifications, Azure Certifications, Microsoft Learning Paths, Certification Pathway Information

• Lynn Letukas covers The power of 2-year degrees and certifications in skills-based hiring
• Someleze Diko describes Hack-Together: the Microsoft Teams Global Hack keynote recap and whats coming
• Mike Tholfsen explains how to Unleash the power and fun of learning with colorful Microsoft Education Quick Guides

Management and Governance

Covering: Automation, Azure Advisor, Azure Backup, Azure Blueprints, Azure Lighthouse, Azure Managed Applications, Azure mobile app, Azure Monitor, Azure Policy, Azure Resource Manager, Azure Service Health, Azure Site Recovery, Cloud Shell, Cost Management, Microsoft Azure portal, Scheduler, Azure Purview

• Bruno Gabrielli blogs about Azure Monitor: Gain Observability Over Guest Users
• The Azure Updates Team announces Generally available: Multiple backups per day for Azure Virtual Machines
• Ariya Khamvongsa blogs about Updating your Azure landing zones
• James Havens discusses Microsoft Purview- Paint By Numbers Series Part 10a- Defender for Cloud Apps - MSTeams Browser DLP
• Atil Gurcan discusses Moving Cloud PC from One Datacenter Region to Another - Summer 2023 Edition
• The Intune Support Team explains how to Update to Microsoft Intune PowerShell example script repository on GitHub
• Chris Webb (@cwebb_bi) talks about Monitoring Power BI Dataset Refresh Memory And CPU Usage With Log Analytics

Media

Covering: Azure Media Player, Content Protection, Encoding, Live and On-Demand Streaming, Media Analytics, Media Services, Video Indexer

• Daysha Carter blogs about Azure Communication Services June 2023 Feature Updates

Migration

Covering: Azure Database Migration Service, Azure Migrate, Data Box

• No content this week

Mobile

Covering: App Service (Mobile), Mobile apps, Notification Hubs, Visual Studio App Centre, Xamarin

• No content this week

Networking

Covering: Application Gateway, Azure Bastion, Azure DNS, Azure ExpressRoute, Azure Firewall, Azure Firewall Manager, Azure Front Door, Azure Internet Analyzer, Azure Private Link, Content Delivery Network, Load Balancer, Network Watcher, Traffic Manager, Virtual Network, Virtual WAN, VPN Gateway, Web Application Firewall

• The Azure Updates Team announces Generally available: Private Link support for Application Gateway and General availability: Inbound ICMPv6 pings and traceroute are now supported on Azure Load Balancer
• The Azure Updates Team announces Public preview: Azure Front Door Standard/Premium in Azure Government
• Jing Wang explains How to expose Internal Azure Spring Apps with VNet Injection to the Internet
• Pierre Roman (@pierreroman) explains how to Wired for Hybrid - Deep Dive 2 - Azure Front Door
• Jose Moreno (@erjosito) explains how to Deploy Azure Network-as-Code as a champ

Security

Covering: Azure DDoS Protection, Azure Information Protection, Azure Sentinel, Key Vault, Security Center

• Catalin Esanu describes Defender for SQL Vulnerability Assessment Updates
• Nick Consolo blogs about Microsoft Defender for IoT moves to site-based licensing for protecting OT environments
• Greg Wiselka walks through Safeguarding your OAuth apps with App Governance
• Mike Browning writes about New Threat Actor Intel Profiles Added to Defender TI
• On episode 337 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast, Scott Hoag and Ben Stegink (@msclouditpro) discuss how to Secure your Office 365 tenant and protect your users

Storage

Covering: Archive Storage, Avere vFXT for Azure, Azure Data Lake Store, Azure FXT Edge Filer, Azure HPC Cache, Azure NetApp Files, Blob Storage, Disk Storage, File Storage, Managed Disks, Queue Storage, Storage Accounts, Storage Explorer, StorSimple

• Carlos Marin writes about 'Public access is not permitted on this storage account'
• Charles Wang writes about Illustrated Example of Applying ACLs Recursively with Storage Explorer and explains how to Mount ADLS Gen2 or Blob Storage in Azure Databricks
• Geert van Teylingen explains how to SAP HANA on Azure NetApp Files - Data protection with BlueXP backup and recovery
• Charles Wang blogs about Azure Table Storage Tutorial - Python Azure Tables SDK with NBA Stats API

Web

Covering: API apps, API Management, App Service (Web), Azure Cognitive Search, Azure SignalR Service, Azure Spring Cloud, Web apps

• Catherine Wang talks about Improving Web Application Performance Using Azure Cache for Redis
• Calvin Cai describes How to enable App Service Proactive Tools via PowerShell
• Yang Yu explains how to Configure ARRAffinity cookie when accessing Azure App Service behind Azure Application Gateway

Azure Virtual Desktop

Covering: Azure Virtual Desktop

• No content this week

Useful Links

• Azure Resource Inventory - Azure Resource Inventory is a powerful script written in PowerShell to generate an Excel report of any Azure Environment you have read access
• Azure Quickstart Templates - Learn how to deploy to Azure using ARM Templates. Over 850 examples in this repo.
• Azure CNAB Quickstarts Library - You can deploy to the Cloud, on Prem and on the Edge using CNAB & Porter. This library provides a number of quickstart templates to help you get started, fast!
• Power BI Weekly - Interested in Power BI? Sign up to our sister newsletter Power BI Weekly to receive all the week's Power BI news.
• Azure Resources - A fantastic collection of resources contained in this repo. Issue a PR if you have resources to share. Managed by Azure MVP Gregor Suttie.
• Azure Charts - Azure Charts is a set of auto-rebuilt charts to keep you updated on Azure changes, news, stats. Public updates, RSS channels and web pages are used as data sources
• The Developer’s Guide to Microsoft Azure (2nd Edition) - ebook from Microsoft showcasing architectural approaches and common design patterns you face when building modern applications.
• Azure Virtual Datacenter - ebook from Microsoft highlighting an approach to isolation, security, and trust in the Microsoft cloud.
• Cyber Security Demystified - ebook from Microsoft describing how to keep your organisation safe.
• Microsoft's What is Azure poster - a visual overview of Azure's services and features.
• Microsoft Azure Essentials: Fundamentals of Azure - a free ebook from Microsoft Press, by Michael S. Collier and Robin E. Shahan.
• Data Science in the Cloud with Microsoft Azure Machine Learning and R - a free ebook on Azure Machine Learning, by Stephen F. Elston.
• Protecting Data in Microsoft Azure - a whitepaper that describes the various mechanism you can you can leverage for managing sensitive data in the Azure platform.
• Azure Architecture Center - guidance from the Patterns & Practices team covering API Design, API implementation, Autoscaling, Background jobs, CDN, Caching, Data partitioning, Monitoring and diagnostics, Retry, Scalability and availability.
• Azure Architect's Reference - if you are an architect responsible for building an application on Azure, or are trying to figure out how you could migrate an application and need to dig deep into the workload, cost, security, capacity, availability, deployment and operational modelling this invaluable resource should be your first stop. An open source project, with contributions from several experienced architects, it gathers data from many different references into a single, useful guide that is constantly updated by the community.
• Azure Table Storage Design Guide - a guide from the storage team.
• Azure infrastructure services implementation guidelines - key design and implementation guidelines for deploying an IT workload in Azure infrastructure services.
• Azure Speed Test - a simple web tool that measures the latency between you and Azure Datacenters to suggest which might be fastest for you location.
• Azure Websites Cheatsheet - everything you need to know about configuring & managing Azure Websites on a single page.
• Data Migration Assistant - enables you to upgrade to a modern data platform by detecting compatibility issues that can impact database functionality on your new version of SQL Server and Azure SQL Database. It recommends performance and reliability improvements for your target environment.
• Azure SQL DTU Calculator - a tool to help you determine the number of DTUs for your existing SQL Server database(s) as well as a recommendation of the minimum performance level and service tier that you need before you migrate to Azure SQL Database.
• Microsoft Azure Symbol/Icon Set - a set of Visio and PowerPoint shapes for use in architecture diagrams / presentations.
• Service Bus Explorer - a free and open source tool for managing and exploring Azure Service Bus(including Event Hubs).
• Best practices for designing Azure Resource Manager Templates - guidance based on the whitepaper 'World Class ARM Templates Considerations and Proven Practices'.
• Microsoft Cloud Networking for Enterprise Architects - a downloadable guide to Azure networking, covering topics such as cloud migration and networking for PaaS and SaaS services
• Whitepapers for Power BI - numerous whitepapers ranging various Power BI topics
• Azure Serverless Computing Cookbook - ebook from Microsoft, including use cases, hands-on steps, and tutorials for quickly configuring your own serverless environments.
• Executive Summary: Enterprise Cloud Strategy - executive summary of the 140-page e-book from Microsoft. Learn about the basics of adopting a cloud computing strategy for your enterprise.
• Migrating SQL Server to Azure SQL Database Managed Instance—A Step-by-Step Guide - ebook from Microsoft providing breakdown of tactical steps for implementing a quick, simple, and low-impact data migration with Azure SQL Database Managed Instance.
• Azure Backup Deep Dive Whitepaper - a deep dive by Adin Ermie and Charbel Nemnom describing Azure Backup
• Azure Stack: An extension of Azure - whitepaper from Microsoft detailing how you can extend Azure Stack to make Azure services available on-premises
• Azure Strategy and Implementation Guide - For Azure users - ebook from Microsoft outlining recommended general architecture and cloud design principles, DevOps, approaches to service management, and overall governance.
• Azure Data Factory: SSIS in the Cloud - eBook from Microsoft explaining why you would want to migrate your existing SSIS workloads to Azure Data Factory and addressing common considerations and concerns. Includes technical details of creating an Azure-SSIS IR and then walk-throughs of how to upload, execute, and monitor your packages through Azure Data Factory
• Parallel Virtual File Systems on Microsoft Azure - ebook from Microsoft documenting the results of a series of performance tests on Azure to see how scalable Lustre, GlusterFS, and BeeGFS are
• Build and deploy a multi-container application in Azure Service Fabric - ebook from Microsoft which shows how to create a sample multi-container application using ASP.NET Core and Docker and deploy it on an Azure Service Fabric cluster.
• Azure ebook/whitepaper resources - White papers, analyst reports, and e-books landing page with an abundance of extra resources.
• Farmer - This is a DSL for ARM template creation - "Making repeatable Azure deployments easy"!