Azure Weekly Newsletter Issue #268

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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

• The Azure updates team announces that Integrating Azure Stream Analytics with Azure Machine Learning is in preview
• Zach Renwick (@zachrenwick) blogs about Automated Sales Forecasting with Azure Machine Learning
• On the Azure blog, Erez Barak explains How Azure Machine Learning enables PowerPoint Designer
• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Sjoukje Zaal (@SjoukjeZaal) spotlights What's New with Cognitive Services, Cognitive Service Containers and how to Get started with developing AI applications
• On Channel 9, Seth Juarez and Anna Soracco talks about how to Create event driven machine learning workflows
• Also on the Azure blog, Erez Barak explains How Azure Machine Learning powers suggested replies in Outlook

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

• The Azure updates team announces that Data Factory adds Managed Identity and Service Principal to Data Flows Synapse staging
• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Jeffrey Chilberto talks about Azure Data Factory
• Also on the Azure Developer Community Blog, Sjoukje Zaal (@SjoukjeZaal) provides a Azure Data Architecture Guide
• On the Microsoft BI Tools blog, Ricardo Schuurman explains how to Build dynamic pipelines in Azure Data Factory

Blockchain

Covering: Azure Blockchain Service, Azure Blockchain Tokens, Azure Blockchain Workbench

• No content this week

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

• On the Azure blog, Ziv Rafalovich (@zivraf) highlights the Azure Dedicated Host: New capabilities and benefits
• The Azure updates team announces that Azure Functions Premium plan is now available in 16 new regions and that Azure Dedicated Hosts now provide support for Azure reservations
• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Sjoukje Zaal (@SjoukjeZaal) describes Azure Service Fabric Mesh (Preview)
• On the Azure SQL Database blog, Davide Mauri (@mauridb) describes Autoscaling Azure SQL Hyperscale
• Jeff Hollan (@jeffhollan) explains how to Go serverless: Event-driven applications with Azure Functions
• On the Serverless360 blog, Amrita Varsihini gives an Introduction to Azure Functions 3.0

Containers

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

• Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) walks through how to Run Azure PowerShell in a Docker Container
• On the DEV site, Yoshio Terada (@yoshioterada) covers MicroProfile Config in Azure Kubernetes Service
• On the Azure Medium blog, Itay Podhajcer discusses Terraforming a Serverless etcd Cluster on Azure
• On Channel 9, Brendan Burns (@brendandburns) talks about Containers with Kubernetes and virtual nodes
• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Stephane Eyskens (@stephaneeyskens) provides The Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Architecture Map
• Daniel Neumann (@neumanndaniel) writes about High available control plane with Istio 1.5 on Azure Kubernetes Service and highlights that Upgrading AKS Kubernetes version does not upgrade node pools using 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

• Kirill Gavrylyuk and Scott Hanselman discuss Azure Cosmos DB Free Tier and Autopilot
• The Azure updates team announces that Azure Database for MariaDB reserved capacity pricing is now available, and three years reserved capacity is now available for Azure Database for MySQL and Azure Database for PostgreSQL
• On the SQL Server Blog, the SQL Server Team (@SQLServer) blogs about how to Use hyperscale for your most demanding cloud-born workloads
• On the DEV site, Abhishek Gupta (@abhi_tweeter) blogs about Connecting to Azure Cosmos DB MongoDB API using the MongoDB Go driver
• On the Azure SQL Database blog, Davide Mauri (@mauridb) lists 10 Reasons why Azure SQL is the Best Database for Developers
• On the SQL Server Blog, the SQL Server Team (@SQLServer) discusses Azure SQL Database managed instance vs. SQL Server
• On the SQL Server Blog, Alan Yu (@AlanYuSQL) highlights that The March 2020 release of Azure Data Studio is now available
• On Channel 9, Amit Banerjee talks about SQL Server Licensing: High Availability / Disaster Recovery Azure VM

Developer Tools

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

• The Azure updates team runs through the Azure SDKs General Availability
• Jakob Ehn (@jakobehn) walks through Debugging Dapr applications with Visual Studio Code
• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Jeffrey Chilberto walks through Debugging Docker Containers
• Gregor Suttie (@gregor_suttie) talks about Using GitHub Actions to deploy a .Net Web App
• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Stephane Eyskens (@stephaneeyskens) blogs about Azure API Management - VSTS extension v2.0 release

DevOps

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

• On the Premier Developer blog, Brian Blackman (@VitaStudere) discusses GitHub with Azure DevOps
• Andy Leonard (@AndyLeonard) discusses Azure DevOps, Software Development, and Git Part 4 – Command-Line with Azure DevOps and Source-Control SSIS Catalog Contents in Azure DevOps
• Also on the Premier Developer blog, Chris Westbrook discusses Using Azure DevOps Artifacts as Upstream from another Organization
• Also on the Premier Developer blog, Wael Kdouh walks through Improving Angular CI Build Time Using Azure DevOps "Cache Task"
• Gregor Suttie (@gregor_suttie) discusses Moving an Azure DevOps repo to use Github Actions instead
• On Channel 9, Alison Hawke discusses Growing an Effective QA Practice and Laurie Barth provides A Software Engineer's Guide to DevOps
• Also on Channel 9, Seth Juarez and Anna Soracco talk about MLOps feature dive: CI/CD with GitHub Actions
• Aaron Powell (@slace) describes Approval Workflows With GitHub Actions
• On the DEV site, Jay Gordon (@jaydestro) blogs about Dreams and Nightmares of Ops
• On the DEV site, Aaron Powell (@slace) discusses Approval Workflows With GitHub Actions

Hybrid

Covering: Azure Arc, Azure Stack

• The Azure updates team announces that Event Hubs on Azure Stack Hub is now in preview
• Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) covers how to Onboard On-Premises Servers To Azure ARC From Windows Admin Center
• Tobias Zimmergren & Jussi Roine (@CtrlAltAzure) discuss Getting Started with Azure Arc, the modern Group Policies
• Nicolas Bonnet (@nico_bonnet) covers Azure Arc
• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Stephane Eyskens (@stephaneeyskens) describes Azure Connectors, the DMZ 2.0?

Identity

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

• Rahul Nath (@rahulpnath) writes about how DefaultAzureCredential is Unifying How We Get Azure AD Tokens
• The Azure updates team highlights Unmanaged Azure Active Directory accounts update for March 2021 and the Azure Active Directory B2C meter id changes
• Christos Matskas (@ChristosMatskas) writes about Modern authentication with Azure AD for WinForms native apps
• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Sjoukje Zaal (@SjoukjeZaal) talks about Password-less Sign-in to Azure & Windows 10
• Also on the Azure Developer Community Blog, Stephane Eyskens (@stephaneeyskens) discusses The OpenID Connect (OIDC) Architecture Map
• Travis Roberts (@Ciraltos) discusses Azure Privileged Identity Management PIM For Beginners

Integration

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

• On the Planet Geek blog, Daniel Marbach (@danielmarbach) provides two Azure Service Bus .NET SDK Deep Dives on Connections and Scheduling
• Aram Koukia covers using Azure Logic App to publish COVID19 developments on Twitter
• On the DEV site, Abhishek Gupta (@abhi_tweeter) covers Azure Event Hubs multi-protocol support
• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Jeffrey Chilberto spotlights Azure SignalR Service

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

• The Azure updates team announces some Updates to .NET implementation support in latest Azure IoT C# SDK release and that Azure Sphere update 20.03 is now available
• On Channel 9, Olivier Bloch (@obloch) talks about Containerized PubSub with Azure Event Grid on IoT Edge
• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Sjoukje Zaal (@SjoukjeZaal) spotlights an Azure IoT Interactive Development Guide
• On the Azure blog, Dean Paron (@deanparon) writes about how 'Microsoft is expanding the Azure Stack Edge with NVIDIA GPU preview'

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, Sceduler

• John Joyner (@john_joyner) provides A Governance Plan for Managing Overrides to Azure Monitor and Azure Sentinel Rules
• Thuan Nguyen walks through an ARM template for Azure VM with Guest Configuration
• On the Azure blog, Michael Flanakin (@flanakin) highlights the Azure Cost Management + Billing updates – March 2020
• The Azure updates team announces that Log Analytics Agent for Linux March 2020 release now available
• Daniel Rneling walks through Getting started with Azure ARM templates
• On the Tallan blog, Byron Branning covers Resource Graph and Cost Management
• Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) explains how to Enable Azure Resource Diagnostic Settings To Event Hub Using Azure Policy
• David O'Brien (@david_obrien) writes: Azure Cloud Shell - For Real!
• On the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast, Alex Neihaus speaks about how to Azure Resource Manager All The Things!
• Adam Marczak (@MarczakIO) covers ARM Templates Parameter Files
• Stanislav Zhelyazkov (@StanZhelyazkov) writes about Implementing Governance in Azure
• On Channel 9, Seth Juarez and Anna Soracco provides a MLOps feature dive: Manage your assets, artifacts and code

Media

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

• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Sjoukje Zaal (@SjoukjeZaal) spotlights Offline media import for Azure

Mixed Reality

Covering: Kinect DK, Remote rendering, Spatial anchors

• No content this week

Migration

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

• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Sjoukje Zaal (@SjoukjeZaal) spotlights Migrating Apps to Azure

Mobile

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

• On Channel 9, James Montemagno (@JamesMontemagno) talks about Binding Kotlin Libraries
• On the Azure SQL Database blog, Davide Mauri (@mauridb) talks about how to Sync Mobile Apps with Azure using Change Tracking API
• Also on Channel 9, Matt Soucoup (@CodeMillMatt) talks about Don't Repeat Yourself (App Center/Azure DevOps)

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

• Aidan Finn (@joe_elway) discusses Errors When You Add a Cert To Application Gateway Listener From Key Vault
• On the Azure blog, Steve Lasker (@SteveLasker) highlights that Azure Container Registry Private Link support preview for virtual networks
• The Azure updates team announces that Azure Web Application Firewall for Azure Content Delivery Network is in preview, Azure Functions Premium plan regional virtual network integration and Azure Container Registry support for Private Link now in preview
• Antariksh Mistry weighs up: Azure Private Link Vs Azure Service Endpoints
• On the Azure SQL Database blog, Rohit Nayak blogs about the Azure SQL Database Connectivity and Network Security improvements

Security

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

• The Azure updates team announces: Azure Security Center—Protection for Azure Kubernetes Service is now available
• On the MSSQL Tips site, Vitor Montalvao explains How To Connect Remotely to SQL Server on an Azure Virtual Machine
• On Microsoft Cloud Blogs, Mayunk Jain (@mayunkj) discusses Helping businesses rapidly set up to work securely from personal PCs and mobiles

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 the Azure blog, Raman Kumar announces general availability of incremental snapshots of Managed Disks
• On the MSSQL Tips site, Koen Verbeeck (@Ko_Ver) describes how to Process Blob Files Automatically using an Azure Function with Blob Trigger
• On the Check your Logs blog, Rick Vanover (@RickVanover) highlights 3 Notable Azure Storage Enhancements in March 2020

Web

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

• On the DEV site, Michael Crump (@mbcrump) explains How to use Azure App Service managed certificates
• Sam Cogan (@samcogan) blogs about Azure App Service Networking

Windows Virtual Desktop

Covering: Windows Virtual Desktop

• Roelf Zomerman talks about Windows Virtual Desktop, on: SSO, Firewalls and Publishing RDP
• Christiaan Brinkhoff (@Brinkhoff_C) provides a Windows Virtual Desktop technical deployment and expansion walkthrough and helps us Learn how to increase the security level of your Windows Virtual Desktop environment

Useful Links

• 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!
• Azure Quickstart Templates - Learn how to deploy to Azure using ARM Templates. Over 850 examples in this repo.
• 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.
• A-Z of the Azure ecosystem - a slide deck outlining current Azure services.
• 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.