Azure Weekly Newsletter Issue #474

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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

• Bruno Capuano (@elbruno) walks through Building Intelligent Applications with Local RAG in .NET and Phi-3: A Hands-On Guide
• Minseok Song presents Fine-Tune and Integrate Custom Phi-3 Models with Prompt Flow: Step-by-Step Guide
• Daekeun Kim walks through Fine-tuning Florence-2 for VQA Visual Question Answering using the Azure ML Python SDK and MLflow
• Arne De Proft writres about Building the Ultimate Nerdland Podcast Chatbot with RAG and LLM: Step-by-Step Guide
• The Student Developer Team highlights Recap: June 2024 Ambassador AI Projects Demo Day, Showcasing the Power of AI

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

• On Microsoft Fabric Blog, Evelina Alroy-Brin covers Microsoft Fabric .NET SDK
• Also on Microsoft Fabric Blog, Rick Xu writes 'Microsoft Fabric is compliant with SOC certifications'
• Koen Verbeeck (@Ko_Ver) discusses Microsoft Fabric Warehouse - Configure Access and Permissions
• On Microsoft Fabric Blog, Anshul Sharma writes about Empowering Real-Time Searches: Vector Similarity Search with Eventhouse
• Kevin Chant describes Fabric workloads and other items currently covered in the DP-600 exam
• Koen Verbeeck (@Ko_Ver) blogs about Choosing Between the Lakehouse and Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric
• Eduardo Noriega writes about Exploring the Relationship Between Microsoft Fabric and Microsoft Purview: What You Need to Know
• Surya Teja Josyula talks about Automating Real-Time Intelligence Eventhouse deployment using PowerShell

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

• Hari Pulapaka desctibes how to Securely design your applications and protect your sensitive data with VBS enclaves

Containers

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

• On Diagrid Blog, Bilgin Ibryam (@bibryam) shares a 3 part series Mastering the Dapr Inner Development Loop. Part 1: Code & Unit Test, and Part 2: Run & Validate Apps Locally and Part 3: Deploy to Kubernetes
• Vinicius Apolinario (@vrapolinario) delves into IIS Central Certificate Store and Windows containers

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 SQL Server Blog, Debbi Lyons (@debbilyons) announces the retirement of SQL Server Stretch Database
• Balmukund Lakhani covers Public Preview: Shrink for Azure SQL Database Hyperscale
• Gennady Kostinsky blogs about Azure Policy Support is Generally Available for PostgreSQL Flexible Server
• Shashikant Shakya (@shashikantshakya) highlights new troubleshooting guides features for PostgreSQL
• Eduardo Pivaral walks through Automating SQL Deployments using GitHub Actions - Part 2
• Matt Changchien explains How to remove the credential for legacy Threat Detection feature from Azure SQL Database
• On the Microsoft Mechanics show, Parikshit Savjani talks about More Performance + AI Integration Azure Database for MySQL-FlexibleServer
• Also on the Microsoft Mechanics show, Joshua Johnson (@JoshMSFT) talks about PostgreSQL with Local Small Language Model and In-Database Vectorization
• Jose M Jurado (@jmjuradodiaz) covers Lesson Learned 505: Verifying IP Resolution in Azure SQL Database in Private Link

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 - Blogs, David Ramel (@dramel) writes about New Visual Studio Workload Highlights Microsoft's 'Renewed Focus' on WinUI
• On the Visual Studio blog, Duncan MacMichael wtites Dive into native Windows development with new WinUI workload and template improvements
• Levi Masonde talks about Getting Started with Azure CLI to Manage Azure Resources
• Shreyan Fernandes writes about Visual Studio AI Toolkit : Building GenAI Applications

DevOps

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

• On episode 379 of he Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast, Scott Hoag and Ben Stegink (@ciphertxt, @benstegink) discuss Azure Verified Modules
• Richard Fennell (@richardfennell) writes Where has the staging URL PR comment generated by my GitHub Actions workflow gone?
• Richard Fennell (@richardfennell) writes Don't call your Azure DevOps YAML Deployment stage 'deployment' - strange things happen

Hybrid + Multicloud

Covering: Azure Arc, Azure Stack

• No content this week

Identity

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

• Kristopher Bash talks about June 2024 update on Azure AD Graph API retirement
• Shobhit Sahay talks about Whats new in Microsoft Entra – June 2024
• Sravani Saluru walks through Authenticating Microsoft Entra ID using windows principal metadata - Public Preview
• On episode 245 of the Ctrl+Alt+Azure podcast, Tobias Zimmergren & Jussi Roine (@CtrlAltAzure) talk about Entra ID licensing: One person, one license
• Alex Weinert talks about Microsoft Entra certificate-based authentication enhancements
• Andrew Wilson blogs about Azure Role Based Access Control RBAC Removing Orphaned Role Assignments

Integration

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

• Alex Zúñiga highlights Logic Apps Aviators Newsletter - July 2024
• Sandro Pereira (@sandro_asp) describes BizTalk Server Logic App Adapter: Could not establish secure channel for SSL/TLS with authority and provides a Friday Fact: Migrating BizTalk Server to Azure Integration Services will be expensive but cheaper than other competitor
• Parth Shah explains how to Automate responses to StackOverflow queries using OpenAI and Logic Apps
• Nidhi Shah describes How to Configure ServiceNow Knowledge Articles for Microsoft Graph Connector

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

• Bethany Jepchumba (@bethanyjep), Cloud Advocate, writes about Fast Practices for Founders - A New Video Series for Startups
• Orin Thomas talks about the New and Free Azure Arc Applied Skill Credential

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

• Doug Coombs discusses Windows 365 Cross-region Disaster Recovery generally available
• Michael Flanakin blogs about News and updates from FinOps X 2024: How Microsoft is empowering organizations
• The Intune Support Team writes about New Windows corporate device identifier feature with Microsoft Intune: Everything you need to know
• Sarah Lean (@TechieLass) explains how to Maximize Your Savings with Azure Advisor's Cost Optimization Workbook

Media

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

• No content this week

Migration

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

• Amlan Patnaik writes Seamlessly Migrate Your On-Premise Data Pipeline to Azure with These Key Steps

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

• No content this week

Security

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

• Heike Ritter highlights Microsoft Defender XDR Monthly news - July 2024

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

• Sander van de Velde blogs about Using Azure Blob storage as Azure Data Explorer external table

Web

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

• David Frazee walks through Getting Started with Azure WAF REST API for Application Gateway: A Step-by-Step Guide
• Andreas Helland blogs about Elevating BFF Apps with .NET Aspire
• David Giard (@DavidGiard) talks with Jeff Fritz about Deploying NET Aspire Applications
• On epsisode 304 of the Azure DevOps podcast, Jeffrey Palermo (@jeffreypalermo) is joined by Mitch Denny to talk about .NET Aspire Architecture

Azure Virtual Desktop

Covering: Azure Virtual Desktop

• Rachelle Cheung blogs about Connection Reliability in Azure Virtual Desktop Insights
• Rinku Dalwani describes Microsoft Teams in Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop

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"!