Azure Weekly Newsletter Issue #487

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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

• Garfield He writes about New HD voices preview in Azure AI Speech: contextual and realistic output evolved
• On the GitHub blog, Yalini Prabhakaran talks about Code referencing now generally available in GitHub Copilot and with Microsoft Azure AI
• Steve Sweetman announces new products and features for Azure OpenAI Service including GPT-4o-Realtime-Preview with audio and speech capabilities
• April Speight writes about New Responsible AI Features for Building Trustworthy AI
• Erdal Cosgun talks about Genomics + LLMs: A Case Study on adding variant annotations to LLMs through RAG and Fine-tuning
• James Croft covers Using Structured Outputs in Azure OpenAIs GPT-4o for consistent document data processing
• Sarosij Ray talks about Integrating Azure AI Speech Services into Unity for a Seamless Speech-to-Text Experience
• Hugo Affaticati writes about Optimizing Language Model Inference on Azure
• Pablo Castro (@pmc) blogs about VoiceRAG: An App Pattern for RAG + Voice Using Azure AI Search and the GPT-4o Realtime API for Audio
• Marco Casalaina discusses The Future of AI: Single Agent or Multi-Agent - How Should I Choose
• Artem Lovan blogs about RAG On PDF With Text And Embedded Images, With Citations Referencing Image Answering User Query
• Michael Tremeer talks about The Azure Multimodal AI & LLM Processing Solution Accelerator

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, Miguel Llopis talks about Recap of Data Factory Announcements at Fabric Community Conference Europe
• Rie Merritt highlights the Fabric Influencers Spotlight September 2024
• Jose Barreto writes about Step-by-step: Microsoft Fabric Gather a detailed dataset on SharePoint Sites using MGDC and MGDC for SharePoint FAQ: How do I join File Actions with Files
• Dennes Torres blogs about Microsoft Fabric and PySpark: Coding tricks to improve your solutions
• Matt Basile covers OneLake shared access signatures SAS now available in public preview
• Joost van Rossum (@ssisjoost) discusses Synapse - Invalid notebook reference
• John Miner writes about What is Databricks?
• Adi Eldar covers Time Weighted Average and Value in Azure Data Explorer

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

• Ian Griffiths (@idg10) shares the 2nd post in his series on AI (and Cloud) Age Modern Compute: Unavoidable Practicalities
• MingJiong Zhang announces GA of new Mbv3 Virtual Machines
• Nitin Nagarkatte discusses Microsoft launches latest Azure virtual machines optimized for AI supercomputing, the ND H200 v5 series
• Garima Singh explains how to Modernize Your Infrastructure with Azure: Special promotional offer on Linux VMs
• On the Redmond magazine site, Gladys Rama discusses Microsoft Brings More AI-Optimized VMs to Azure

Containers

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

• Hang Wang explains how to Build and deploy full-stack Java Web Applications on Azure Container Apps with JHipster
• Peter Lithner explains Azure Kubernetes Service Baseline - The Hard Way, Part Deux

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

• Varun Dhawan covers PostgreSQL 17 Preview on Azure Postgres Flexible Server

Developer Tools

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

• On the Visual Studio blog, Harshada Hole writes about Effortless Instrumentation profiling with Persistent Target Selection and explains how to Discover Hidden Insights with Profilers External Code Decompilation
• On the Visual Studio blog, Mads Kristensen (@mkristensen) writes about Visual Studio 2022 – Recent performance enhancements

DevOps

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

• On the Microsoft DevOps blog, Eric van Wijk blogs about Deprecation of the macOS-12 Hosted Pipeline Image
• On episode 317 of the Azure DevOps podcast, Jeffrey Palermo (@jeffreypalermo) and Jeff Sutherland discuss The History of Agile
• Dan Rios (@@danonazure) talks about Getting started: Continuous deployment with Azure Bicep and Azure DevOps

Hybrid + Multicloud

Covering: Azure Arc, Azure Stack

• On Arinco Blog, Brendan Grill describes Using Azure Arc to maximise your Defender for Server Plan 2 investment with Azure Update Manager

Identity

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

• Adam Bertram (@adbertram) explains How to Create Azure Service Principals in PowerShell and describes How to Create Azure Service Principal with Certificates PowerShell

Integration

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

• Luis Rigueira provides a Friday Fact: Missing Environment Variables Can Break Your Logic App Standard Workflows
• Sandro Pereira (@sandro_asp) blogs about BizTalk Server Logic App Adapter Login Error: The remote name could not be resolved, describes Logic App Standard deploy issue: Error 403 – Forbidden and BizTalk Server debug map issue: Prefix ns2 cannot mapped to namespace reserved for xml or xmlns

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

• Kevin Chant (@kevchant) writes about About the DP-700 exam for the new Microsoft Fabric Data Engineering certification and provides a Checklist for the DP-700 beta exam for the new Microsoft Fabric Data Engineering certification

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

• Eduardo Noriega writes about Making Searching and Curating Data Assets in Microsoft Purview easier.
• Richard Pesenko provides A Quick Introduction to Microsoft's Support for Mission Critical Offering
• Vinil Vadakkepurakkal writes about Comprehensive Nvidia GPU Monitoring for Azure N-Series VMs Using Telegraf with Azure Monitor
• Meenakshi Balekar walks through Creating a Custom Policy to Check Last Activity on Azure Bot Channel
• Shikha Ghildiyal delves into Custom Policy- Reusable Logs Templates and discusses Azure Backup and DR: Cross-Region Restore - Exploring Solutions
• Dolev Shor talks about Azure Snapshots: Simplify Management and monitoring
• Harjit Dhaliwal talks about Windows 11, version 24H2: Whats new for IT pros

Media

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

• Fernando Aznar Cornejo talks about Introducing the Azure NMads MA35D: Exclusive Media Processing Powerhouse in the Cloud

Migration

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

• Shriram Natarajan blogs about Public Preview of Azure Migrate from VMware to Azure Stack HCI
• Marco Netto covers HPC Lift and Shift Cloud Migration: Architecture and Best Practices

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

• Ram Balakrishnan discusses ExpressRoute guided configuration of multi-site circuits and connections is generally available
• Raghavender Mareddy writes 'ExpressRoute Metro is now generally available'
• Jay Li explains how to Optimize Azure Landing Zone with Azure Virtual Network Manager IP Address Management
• Ramkumar Chandrasekaran shows how to Transition from VNET integration to public access or Private Link using the Azure CLI
• Steven Shell talks about Unmasking DNS Timeouts: The Hidden Culprit in Azure Virtual Networks
• Jose Moreno (@erjosito) writes about Azure Subnet Peering
• Hannes Lagler-Gruener talks about Network architecture in your enterprise scale framework

Security

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

• On episode 258 of the Ctrl+Alt+Azure podcast, Tobias Zimmergren and Jussi Roine discuss Approaching security assessments for your Microsoft tenant
• Efrat Kliger provides Guidance for handling CUPS remote code execution vulnerability using Microsoft Security capabilities
• On epsiode 385 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast, Scott Hoag and Ben Stegink (@ciphertxt, @benstegink) discusses Microsoft Sentinel: Deployment, Management, and Cost Optimization
• Maayan Mazig talks about Security settings management is available for multi-tenant environments in Microsoft Defender XDR
• Heike Ritter writes about Microsoft Defender XDR Monthly news - October 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

• Adam Groves announces UNLIMITED Public Preview of Metadata Caching for Azure Premium SMB/REST File Shares
• Anthony Mashford (@anthonymashford) discusses Azure NetApp Files Dynamic Service Level Change Enhancement
• Travis Roberts (@Ciraltos) talks about Azure Files Share with NFS:A Step-by-Step Tutorial

Web

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

• Abhishek Reddy explains How to Migrate from WP Engine to WordPress on App Service
• Andrew Wilson discusses Azure API Management Function App Backend

Azure Virtual Desktop

Covering: Azure Virtual Desktop

• No content this week

Community 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 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
• 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.
• Farmer - This is a DSL for ARM template creation - "Making repeatable Azure deployments easy"!