Azure Weekly Newsletter Issue #436

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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

• Tim Ward, CEO at CluedIn, explains how to Solve complex data challenges with CluedIn and Azure OpenAI
• The Azure Updates Team announces Azure Machine Learning - Public Preview for September
• Aleenah Ansari covers Bing Chat Enterprise now has user-level admin controls plus your data questions answered
• Christian Gero describes how Azure Machine Learning and DataRobot Team Up to Accelerate Value of Generative and Predictive AI
• Rashaud Savage introduces Vision Models in Azure Machine Learning Model Catalog
• Richard Tso (@pseudosound) provides an update on Generative AI in Azure Machine Learning: Operationalizing app development for AI transformation
• Ben Roberts talks about Azure MLOps Challenge Blog: Part 6
• David Giard (@DavidGiard) is joined by Mike Richter to talk about Taking AI Apps to Production on Azure
• Gaurav Mantri presents Azure Docs Copilot – A Generative AI App for Searching Azure Documentation
• On the Azure Medium blog, Valentina Alto covers Generating applications from sketches with LLMs
• Geert Baeke (@GeertBaeke) talks about Use Azure OpenAI Add your data vector search from code

Analytics

Covering: Apache Spark for HDInsight, Azure Analysis Services, Azure Data Explorer, Azure Data Share, Azure Databricks, Azure Stream Analytics, Azure Synapse Analytics, Data Factory, Event Hubs, HDInsight, Microsoft Purview, Microsoft Fabric

• Michal Bar writes about Azure Data Explorer Web UI updates – August 2023
• Greg Low (@greglow) blogs about Azure Data Factory ADF – Issues with parsing strings in CSVs
• Harun Legoz (@hylegoz) covers Calling Durable Functions From Fabric Pipelines and walks through Triggering Synapse Pipelines from Microsoft Fabric via REST APIs
• Rui Cunha explains how to Boost your CICD automation for Synapse SQL Serverless by taking advantage of SSDT and SqlPackage CLI
• On episode 351 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast, Scott Hoag (@ciphertxt) and Ben Stegink (@benstegink): Rock me like a hurricane or Python in Excel
• John Kilmister (@johnkilmister) provides A Beginners Guide to getting started with the Kusto Query Language in Azure

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

• The Azure Updates Team announces Generally available: Higher default value for Azure Functions Event Hubs max batch size
• The Azure Updates Team announces GA: Latest generation burstable VMs - Bsv2, Basv2, and Bpsv2
• Arpita Chatterjee announces the general availability of new Azure burstable virtual machines
• The Azure Updates Team discusses Azure Service Fabric 9.1 Sixth Refresh Release

Containers

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

• Edi Wang explains how to Deploy ChatGPT Next Web to Azure Container Apps with Individual Account Login in 3 minutes
• Houssem Dellai (@HoussemDellai) blogs about AKS Egress Traffic Demystified
• Richard Hooper (@Pixel_Robots) introduces the New az aks copilot Preview Feature for Azure Kubernetes Service AKS in Azure CLI

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

• The Azure Updates Team announces General Availability: Azure SQL updates for mid-September 2023
• The Azure Updates Team announces the Public Preview: Azure Cosmos DB Javascript SDK v4.0 and Public Preview: Configure customer-managed keys on existing Cosmos DB accounts
• The Azure Updates Team announces the Public Preview: Azure Cosmos DB Javascript SDK v4.0 and Public Preview: Configure customer-managed keys on existing Cosmos DB accounts
• Kurt Mackie (@kurmac) talks about Microsoft and Oracle Partner on New 'Oracle Database at Azure' Service Offering
• Jose M Jurado (@jmjuradodiaz) describes lessons learned:425:Azure SQL Database Failover Group Endpoint: A Deep Dive into DNS Resolution, 426:Identifying and Mitigating Query Regressions in Azure SQL using Query Data Store and covers 427:BUFFER IO in Azure SQL Database Query Data Store: An Expert's Guide
• Sandip Khandelwal writes about Best practices for utilizing Azure SQL to host Mainframe Data Tier & Workloads

Developer Tools

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

• On Visual Studio Magazine, David Ramel (@dramel) explains What's New for GitHub Copilot Chat in Visual Studio Code v1.82, blogs about Mads K's Favorite Features in New Visual Studio 2022 17.8 Preview 2 and highlights What's New in First Release Candidates for .NET 8, .NET MAUI, ASP.NET Core and EF8
• On the Visual Studio blog, Adrian Murphy writes Visual Studio 2022 17.8 Preview 2 has arrived
• Christine Ruana discusses Balancing User Updates with Security Best Practices for Visual Studio
• Elio Struyf (@eliostruyf) explains how to Add a custom themable icon to Visual Studio Code

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 blogs about View trends of client-side metrics across test runs in Azure Load Testing and explains how to Configure load testing in your CI/CD pipeline from Azure portal
• Gloridel Morales blogs about September patches for Azure DevOps Server and Team Foundation Server
• Eric van Wijk announces the Public preview of Workload identity federation for Azure Pipelines
• Ha Duong explains how to Build image with containerised self-hosted Azure DevOps agent and private Azure Container Registry
• Jared Holgate provides an Introduction to Azure DevOps Workload identity federation OIDC with Terraform

Hybrid + Multicloud

Covering: Azure Arc, Azure Stack

• Wim Matthyssen (@wmatthyssen) walks through Troubleshooting Azure Arc: Resolve error Current user does not have Log Analytics Contributor rights on any workspace at the Resource Group level within the subscription when configuring SQL best practices assessment
• Matthew Quickenden covers Interesting changes to Arc Agent 1.34 with expanded detected properties

Identity

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

• Alex Simons Azure discusses Microsoft Entra ID named leader in KuppingerColes Access Management Leadership Compass
• Anna Barhudarian describes How Tenant Restrictions v2 Can be Used to Prevent Data Exfiltration
• Gerasimos Alexiou blogs about Access Managed Identity from container inside VM – Azure
• On episode 203 of the Ctrl+Alt+Azure podcast, Tobias Zimmergren & Jussi Roine (@CtrlAltAzure) talk about PIM, PAM and PAW - what and how in Azure

Integration

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

• The Azure Updates Team announces Preview: Cross Region Restore CRR for Recovery Services Agent MARS using Azure Backup
• Reid Carlberg covers File and Document Management Considerations for Enterprise B2B SaaS Startups
• Sung Gun Lee discusses Eventhub How to receive diagnostic log from Storage Accounts on different Subscriptions to EH

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

• No content this week

Learning

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

• No content this week

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

• The Azure Updates Team announces General availability: Selective Disk Backup and Restore in Enhanced Policy for Azure VM Backup
• Vlad Rodriguez covers Microsoft Purview DevOps policies for Azure SQL MI enters Public Preview
• Brad Watts walks through Sending Azure Cost Management to Azure Data Explorer/Fabric KQL DB
• Zachary Cavanell writes about Data Security Exploit Real Crime Case + How Microsoft Purview is Designed to Detect & Respond
• Piyush Dash explores the new capabilities with Datadog—An Azure Native ISV Service
• David Giard (@DavidGiard) talks about Azure Application Insights Alerts
• Cary Sun (@SifuSun) describes How to configure Notification with Free SendGrid Account of Azure at Veeam Backup and Replication v12

Media

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

• Daysha Carter talks about Azure Communication Services September 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 Azure Front Door Standard and Premium support bring your own certificated based domain validation and General availability: Sensitive Data Protection for Application Gateway Web Application Firewall
• Calvin Cai explains how to Integrate Application Gateway with App Service behind Private Endpoint
• Hanli Ren walks through Navigating Common VNET Injection Challenges with Azure Spring Apps
• Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) writes about Mastering Azure Point-to-Site VPN and DNS Private Resolver
• On episode 262 of the Azure DevOps podcast, Jeffrey Palermo (@jeffreypalermo) is joined by Chris Woodruff (@cwoodruff) to talk about Network Programming

Security

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

• The Azure Updates Team announces General availability: Use Azure Key Vault to securely store and retrieve access key when mounting Azure Storage as a local share in App Service and discusses Preview: Save Azure Backup Recovery Services Agent MARS passphrase to Azure Key Vault

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

• The Azure Updates Team announces General availability: Azure Backup support for Azure Files in China North2, China East 2, China North 3, and China East 3 and Generally available: Azure Ultra Disk Storage is now available in UK West
• Yoav Dobrin writes  From Blobs to Insights: Your Guide to Smart Storage Lifecycle Policies

Web

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

• The Azure Updates Team announces WordPress on App Service - Free hosting plan now in Public Preview
• Hang Wang talks about Run Your Spring Boot 3 App on Azure Spring Apps
• Selina Sun provides a five part series covering Azure App Service limits: 1 - Remote Storage Windows, 2 - Temp File Usage Windows, 3 - Connection Limit TCP Connection, SNAT and TLS Version, 4 - CPU Windows and 5 - Memory Windows
• Damien Bowden (@damien_bod) explains how to Implement a secure web application using nx Standalone Angular and an ASP.NET Core server
• On The New Stack, B. Cameron Gain writes WebAssembly Reaches a Cloud Native Milestone

Azure Virtual Desktop

Covering: Azure Virtual Desktop

• Michael Hildebrand blogs about Windows 365 Enterprise – Points of Clarification and PoC Proven Practices

Useful Links

• Azure Quick Review (azqr) - A command-line interface (CLI) tool specifically designed to analyze Azure resources and identify whether they comply with Azure's best practices and recommendations.
• AzSaveMoney - Clean-up and save money by identifying and marking unused Azure resources/groups as subject for deletion by tagging.
• Azure Cost CLI - CLI tool to perform cost analysis on your Azure subscription
• Azure Code Samples - Explore Microsoft's samples and discover the things you can build.
• 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.
• Cyber Security Demystified - ebook from Microsoft describing how to keep your organisation safe.
• Azure Resource Center - Whitepapers, code samples, solution architectures
• 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.
• Design scalable and performant tables - a guide from the storage team.
• Azure Speed Test 2.0 - a simple web tool that measures the latency between you and Azure Datacenters to suggest which might be fastest for you location.
• 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).
• Microsoft cloud for IT architects illustrations - These cloud architecture posters give you information about Microsoft cloud services, including Microsoft 365, Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), Microsoft Intune, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and hybrid on-premises and cloud solutions.
• Whitepapers for Power BI - numerous whitepapers ranging various Power BI topics
• Farmer - This is a DSL for ARM template creation - "Making repeatable Azure deployments easy"!