Azure Weekly Newsletter Issue #448

powered by endjin

If you have any content you'd like to contribute to the newsletter, please tweet @AzureWeekly or ping an email to AzureWeekly@endjin.com.

Interested in Power BI? Sign up to our sibling newsletter Power BI Weekly or follow on Twitter @powerbiweekly to receive all the week's Power BI news.

@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

• Bethany Jepchumba (@bethanyjep), Cloud Advocate, writes about Global AI Conference 2023
• Einat Gruda Idelovitch talks about Expansion of Azure Health Bot Template Catalog to Include PTSD screener
• Mohamed Elghazali blogs about Azure AI Custom Translator Neural Dictionary: Delivering Higher Terminology Translation Quality
• On Visual Studio Magazine, David Ramel (@dramel) covers Java on Azure Team Focuses on OpenAI Chat Playground for AI Experimentation
• Antonio Bucchiarone (@antbucc) writes Revolutionize Education with Azure OpenAI: PolyGlot-Edu Generator
• Episode 215 of the Ctrl+Alt+Azure podcast with Tobias Zimmergren & Jussi Roine (@CtrlAltAzure) Exploring AI and Copilot for Azure
• Assaf Yatziv explains writes Discover, monitor and protect the use of Generative AI apps

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

• The Azure Updates Team announces Migration of Azure Virtual Network injected Azure Data Explorer cluster to Private Endpoints
• Brad Watts blogs about ANNOUNCEMENT: CMK on Azure Data Explorer Leader/Follower Cluster
• Koen Verbeeck (@Ko_Ver) covers Microsoft Fabric Data Ingestion Methods and Tools
• Sander van de Velde delves into Microsoft Fabric real-time analytics exploration: Managed Grafana integration
• Michael Olschimke covers Data Vault 2.0 Modelling on Synapse Data Warehouse
• Ujval Gandhi walks through Using Spark to track PowerBI Activity Events
• Amira Bedhiafi explains How to make the most of Azure Data Factory

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 the Generally Available: Azure Functions support on Apple Silicon Macs
• Marc Charest describes Azure previews ND MI300X v5 optimized for demanding AI and HPC workloads
• Naiyuan Tian covers Preview of Durable Functions Extension v3.0.0
• Onepisode 363 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast, Scott Hoag (@ciphertxt) and Ben Stegink (@benstegink) discuss Hibernation is for more than bears

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: New AKS cost views for standard and premium tier clusters, and GA: Azure Kubernetes Service AKS support for 5K Node limit by default for Standard tier clusters, and Generally Available: AKS support for API breaking change detection and Public preview: Node autoprovision support in AKS
• Anthony Chu (@nthonyChu) discusses Azure Container Apps Newsletter – December 2023
• Henry Yan discusses The 2023 Image-Based Linux Summit
• Amit Khandelwal writes about Always on Availability Groups for SQL Server containers on Kubernetes - The DH2i's DxOperator way

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 Generally available: PostgreSQL 16 support in Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Flexible Server, and GA: Azure SQL Trigger for Azure Functions, and Public Preview: Accelerated logs in Azure Database for MySQL - Flexible Server, and General Availability: Connection audit logs for Enterprise tier caches for Azure Cache for Redis and announces the Public Preview: Azure Database for PostgreSQL - Flexible Server, enhanced disaster recovery features
• Varun Dhawan blogs about November 2023 Recap: Azure PostgreSQL Flexible Server and covers November 2023 Recap: Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server
• Sai Kondapalli walks through Performing Change Data Capture CDC of MySQL tables using FlinkSQL
• Jose M Jurado (@jmjuradodiaz) describes Lesson Learned 457:Optimizing SQL Connection Management with Single Token Authentication

Developer Tools

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

• Subhojit Basak talks about Embracing SQL Server 2022 with SSDT 17.8: Unveiling Key Updates
• Carolina Uribe-Gosselin talks about Building Securely, Developing Swiftly: Dev Tunnels Updates
• On the Visual Studio blog, Dominic Nahous (@DomsterFire) writes Scroll to expand document tabs
• Venkat Chaitanya Kanumukula talks about Designing an extension in Dynamics 365 Business Central using AL language plugin within Visual Studio Code
• David Hernandez explains The Importance of updating Azure SDKs: performance, security, and reliability

DevOps

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

• Tamara Taylor writes about Strategic goal planning and management are no longer a linear journey
• Andreas Helland talks about Getting Started with Infra for Developers in Azure
• Antti K. Koskela (@koskila) writes Azure DevOps suddenly not letting you manage Environments Sorry, its for your own security
• Didier Van Hoye walks through Deploying an OPNsense/pfSense Hyper-V virtual machine
• Thomas Thornton (@tamstar1234) blogs about Deploying Azure AKS with Application Gateway and Flux extension – An introduction to GitOps and covers Deploying Azure AKS GitOps Flux extension with Terraform

Hybrid + Multicloud

Covering: Azure Arc, Azure Stack

• Dinakar Nethi highlights the Azure Arc November release - PASS announcements
• Lance Wright discusses Performance dashboards for SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc – now in Public Preview
• Olaseni Adeniji discusses Achieving Distributed High Availability: Stack HCI and AKS Hybrid
• Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) walks through Azure Arc Setup on Windows Server

Identity

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

• Jethro Seghers describes Elevating User Management with Age Group and Consent Provided Fields in Microsoft Entra
• On the Microsoft Mechanics show Ashish Jain talks about Microsoft Entra Private Access protections for on-premises & private cloud network resources
• Claus Jespersen explains how to Deploy secret-less Conditional Access policies with Microsoft Entra ID Workload Identity Federation
• On the Microsoft Mechanics show, Camila Martins talks about Identity-centric Internet Access protections Microsoft Entra

Integration

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

• The Azure Updates Team announces the General availability: Encryption with customer-managed keys in Azure Health Data Services and Azure Event Grid system topics support for resource management and health resources now in Public Preview
• Emmanuel Abram-Profeta blogs about BizTalk Server 2020 Cumulative Update 5
• Danidu Weerasinghe writes Are You Wondering How to Deploy a Secure Azure App Service
• Javier Fernandez blogs about Azure Event Grid Pull Delivery Performance
• Jeffrey Chilberto covers How To: APIM Asynch to Synch Pattern
• Kent Weare (@wearsy) delves into Passing Complex Objects to .NET Framework Custom Code in Azure Logic Apps Standard

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

• Daniel Calbimonte presents Exam DP-203 Data Engineering on Microsoft Azure Preparation Guide
• Natalie Mickey talks about The AI Study Guide

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 the Generally available: Azure Site Recovery update rollup 69 - November 2023
• The Azure Updates Team announces Azure support plan offer extended to June 30, 2024
• Shikhar Jha writes about Viva Engage Report a Conversation via Communication Compliance in Microsoft Purview
• Priyanshi Verma discusses Azure Native Dynatrace Service - now starts at $0 and blogs about Azure Native Dynatrace Service - Free Trial & Upgrade
• Jason Leznek covers Plan for Windows 10 EOS with Windows 11, Windows 365, and ESU
• In his Twelve Days of Blog-mas series, Michael Hildebrand covers No.5 - The Endpoint Management Jigsaw, No. 6 - The Reporting Edition and No. 7 - Architecture Visuals - for Your Reference or Your Own Docs
• Felipe Binotto explains how to Switch to the new Defender for Resource Manager pricing plan

Media

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

• Daysha Carter covers Azure Communication Services December 2023 Feature Updates
• Milan Kaur describes Azure Communication Services at DEVintersection &amp Microsoft Azure + AI Conference

Migration

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

• RK Iyer walks through Migrating from Amazon RDS for MySQL to Azure Database for MySQL online using Azure DMS

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

• Leo Visser (@autosysops) explains How to use a cloud native DNS resolver in Azure
• Eliran Azulai talks about Azure Firewall: New Embedded Workbooks
• Wim Matthyssen (@wmatthyssen) covers Azure Bastion: Enable Azure Bastion Standard SKU features with Azure PowerShell

Security

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

• Raae describes The Microsoft Security Experts Discussion Space: Your Gateway to Knowledge Sharing
• Stanislav Belov writes about Defender for Cloud Monthly news - December 2023
• Dick Lake writes Better Together Defender CSPM + Database Protections

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

• On Tech Community blog, chenkaren highlights the Public Preview: Azure Managed HSM Backup/Restore when Storage Account is Behind a Private Endpoint
• Marcelo Rodriguez Corea describes TLS 1.0/1.1 retirement for Azure Cache for Redis

Web

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

• Thomas Gauvin writes about This Month In Azure Static Web Apps November & December 2023
• Andrei Kamenev covers Author API Management policies using Microsoft Copilot for Azure
• Mayunk Jain (@mayunkj) talks about The countdown is on Discover resources to upgrade your App Service Environment today
• Andre Dewes writes about Smart load balancing for OpenAI endpoints and Azure API Management
• Thomas Gauvin explains how to Build and deploy .NET 8 Blazor WASM apps with serverless APIs using Azure Static Web Apps
• On episode 274 of the Azure DevOps podcast, Jeffrey Palermo (@jeffreypalermo) and Daniel Roth (@danroth27) cover Blazor with .NET 8

Azure Virtual Desktop

Covering: Azure Virtual Desktop

• Jim Moyle writes about New app attach features for Azure Virtual Desktop in public preview

Useful Links

• Azure Resource Inventory - Azure Resource Inventory - It's a Powerful tool to create EXCEL inventory from Azure Resources with low effort
• 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"!