Azure Weekly Newsletter Issue #269

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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

• On the DEV site, Chloe Condon (@ChloeCondon) walks through Making Sense of the Senses- Our Top 5 Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services Combos
• On Channel 9, Gary Pretty (@garypretty) talks about Bot Framework – Using custom adapters to surface your bot anywhere (Part 3 of 3)
• On the Azure blog, John Chirapurath discusses Extending the power of Azure AI to Microsoft 365 users
• The Azure updates team announces that Neural Text to Speech has new voice styles in Azure Cognitive Services
• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Sjoukje Zaal (@SjoukjeZaal) delves into What's New with Cognitive Services
• On Channel 9, Seth Juarez (@sethjuarez) gives a Azure Cognitive Search Overview
• On Azure medium, Em Lazer-Walker writes about How YOU Can Use Computer Vision to Avoid Touching Your Face

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

• On the MSSQL Tips site, Koen Verbeeck (@Ko_Ver) writes about Incremental File Load using Azure Data Factory
• Andy Leonard (@AndyLeonard) highlights his Azure Data Factory Execution Patterns Recording
• The Azure updates team announces that Azure Data Explorer has extended geospatial functionality
• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Jeffrey Chilberto spotlights Azure Data Factory
• On the DEV site, Abhishek Gupta (@abhi_tweeter) discusses how to Use Azure Functions to process real-time data from Azure Event Hubs and persist to Azure Cosmos DB

Blockchain

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

• On Channel 9, Cale Teeter (@Windozer) provides a Digital ecosystems deep dive: Developer experience on alternative ledgers - VS Code

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

• Callon Campbell (@flying_maverick) covers how to Extend Execution Timeout Past 5 Minutes in Azure Functions

• On the endjin blog, Jonathan George (@jon_george1) has written a great series of blogs about integration testing:
  An introduction
  Using step bindings to start functions
  Using hooks to start functions
  Controlling your functions with additional configuration
  Using Corvus.SpecFlow.Extensions in a build pipeline

• On the Azure blog, Yuemin Lu highlights the General availability of new Azure disk sizes and bursting
• On the Premier Developer blog, Chris Hanna and Frank Chen walk through Connecting A Durable Function to SharePoint Online

Containers

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

• Daniel Neumann (@neumanndaniel) walks through Upgrading AKS Kubernetes version does not upgrade node pools (Terraform)
• On the Premier Developer blog, Greg Roe covers how to Push an ASP.NET Core API Container to Azure Container Registry Part 2 of 2

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

• On the Database Journal site, Marcin Policht discusses some Considerations for Deploying Azure SQL Database Managed Instances
• The Azure updates team announces Azure Database for PostgreSQL—Logical decoding and wal2json for change data capture and Azure SQL Database—Subnet delegation enforcement for managed instances

Developer Tools

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

• On the Premier Developer blog, Adel Ghabboun describes a Use case for TelemetryClient flush calls to Application Insights

DevOps

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

• On the .NET Curry blog, Saumilkumar Shah blogs about Delivering Automated Terraform CI/CD with Azure DevOps
• On the Microsoft DevOps blog, Gloridel Morales blogs about how they are Optimizing for stability during the global health pandemic
• On Channel 9, Marcel de Vries talks about Zero Downtime Deployments with Azure PaaS
• Callon Campbell (@flying_maverick) explains how to Publish Nuget packages in Azure DevOps Pipelines
• The Azure updates team announces that Azure DevTest discounts are now available

Hybrid

Covering: Azure Arc, Azure Stack

• The Azure updates team announces: Integration of Azure Security Center with Windows Admin Center is now available, Azure Stack HCI with accelerated AI and machine learning and Direct Upload of Azure Managed Disks is Generally Available
• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Sjoukje Zaal (@SjoukjeZaal) describes Azure Arc for Servers: Applying policies and Azure Arc for Servers: Getting started

Identity

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

• Steve Buchanan (@buchatech) provides a "Delete Azure App Registrations" Script
• On the Black Marble blog, Richard Fennell (@richardfennell) talks about his Experiences setting up Azure Active Directory single sign-on SSO integration with GitHub Enterprise
• Stanislav Zhelyazkov (@StanZhelyazkov) writes about Inside Azure Management v4 – Implementing Process Automation
• Christos Matskas (@ChristosMatskas) writes about Secure app development with Azure AD, Key Vault and Managed Identities
• Sam Cogan (@samcogan) explains how to Provide Admin Consent for Azure AD Applications Programmatically
• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Sjoukje Zaal (@SjoukjeZaal) spotlights Password-less Sign-in to Azure & Windows 10
• On the Azure SQL Database blog, Mirek Sztajno blogs about Azure AD pass-through and password hash authentication support for SQL DB, DW and Managed Instance

Integration

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

• On the Planet Geek blog, Daniel Marbach (@danielmarbach) provides a Azure Service Bus .NET SDK Deep Dive – Expiry and one on Deadlettering
• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Jeffrey Chilberto discusses Azure Event Grid - Serverless event-based applications
• Jeremy Likness and Scott Hanselman discuss Enterprise integration with Azure Logic Apps
• On the Serverless360 blog, Ezhilarasi Chezhiyan writes about 5 Challenges with Service Bus Explorer
• Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) talks about Export Azure Security Center Alerts And Recommendations To Azure Event Hubs
• On Channel 9, Anthony Chu talks about Real-time applications with Azure SignalR Service
• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, John Wargo walks through Using Azure Notification Hubs in Apache Cordova and Ionic Apps

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

• Callon Campbell (@flying_maverick) blogs about Azure IoT Central and talks about how Microsoft partners with the industry to unlock new 5G scenarios with Azure Edge Zones
• The Azure updates team announces that Azure Edge Zones extends Azure services to the edge
• On Channel 9, Olivier Bloch (@obloch) talks about Remote Patient Monitoring with Internet of Medical Things (IoMT)

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

• The Azure updates team announces:
  Azure Monitor for containers now supports GPU monitoring on AKS GPU-enabled node pool,
  Azure Advisor data in Azure Resource Graph is now available,
  Azure Backup solution for SAP HANA databases is now available
  and Azure Ultra Disks—Shared disk capability is now in preview
• Also on the DEV site, Michael Crump (@mbcrump) checks out the Azure CLI Interactive Mode
• James van Den Berg describes how Microsoft Azure Resource Graph is a Powerful Tool

• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Stephane Eyskens (@stephaneeyskens) has provided several architecture maps:

  The Azure Kubernetes Service AKS Architecture Map
  The Cloud-native Azure Application Architect Map
  The Azure Infrastructure Architect Map
  The Azure Solution Architect Map
  and The Azure Security Architect Map

• Daniel Örneling discusses ARM Templates: Working with naming conventions
• On the Premier Developer blog, Laurie Atkinson (@JoyfulCoder) writes about Angular How-to: Add Application Insights to an Angular SPA
• John Savill (@NTFAQGuy) covers Isolation and Resiliency Guidance in Azure
• On the .NET Curry blog, Subodh Sohoni (@subodhsohoni) covers Using Application Insights in Azure for Monitoring health of Web Apps
• On the DEV site, Julien Dubois (@juliendubois) covers Using the new Gradle plugin for Azure Functions to deploy Spring Boot serverless applications
• On Azure Tips & Tricks, Michael Crump (@mbcrump) explains how to Write queries and create dashboards using the full power of Azure Resource Graph

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

• The Azure updates team announces that Azure Kinect DK is now available in Japan, Germany, and the UK

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

• On Channel 9, James Montemagno (@JamesMontemagno) talks about Theme Detection (Xamarin.Essentials API of the Week) and Awesome Xamarin.Forms Controls
• On the Azure SQL Database blog, Davide Mauri (@mauridb) discusses how to Sync Mobile Apps with Azure using Change Tracking API

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

• On the TechKB blog, Michael Coutanche (@mum3LE5) asks: What is Azure Private Link?
• The Azure updates team announces that IPv6 for Azure Virtual Network is now generally available
• Tobias Zimmergren & Jussi Roine (@CtrlAltAzure) speak about The basics of Azure CDN, and how you can protect it
• On Microsoft Cloud Blogs, the Intune Team talks about how Microsoft Endpoint Manager expands ecosystem of VPN partners to support customer needs

Security

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

• Henry Been (@henry_been) blogs about Loading settings for an Azure Function from Azure Key Vault- a better way
• The Azure updates team announces Azure Security Center - Continuous export of security recommendations and alerts and Workflow automation is now generally available
• Richard Hooper (@Pixel_Robots) explains how to Scan your Azure Container Registry container images with Azure Security Centre
• Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) explains how to Protect SQL Servers Running On Azure VMs With Azure Security Center

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 server-side encryption with customer-managed keys for Azure Managed Disks
• The Azure updates team announces:
  New additions to the Azure Archive Storage partner network,
  Azure Managed Disks—Incremental snapshots are now available,
  Server-side encryption with customer-managed keys for Azure Managed Disks in GA now
  and New Azure Disk sizes and bursting support are now available

Web

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

• No content this week

Windows Virtual Desktop

Covering: Windows Virtual Desktop

• Joseph Landes and Amol Dalvi discuss Windows Virtual Desktop
• On the Premier Developer blog, Gary Ciampa walks through Enabling remote workers with Azure Windows Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

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.