Azure Weekly Newsletter Issue #290

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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 Channel 9, on the AI Show, Anna Roth (@AnnaSRoth) discusses What's New with Form Recognizer and Andreas Müller talks about Scikit-Learn

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 DEV site, Abhishek Gupta (@abhi_tweeter) walks through how to Build a pipeline to join streams of real time data
• On the Microsoft BI Tools blog, Joost van Rossum (@ssisjoost) explains how to Execute pipelines from another Data Factory asynchronously
• The Azure updates team highlights some necessary upgrades: Azure S8 and S9 Analysis Services SKUs retiring on 31 August 2023 and Migrate your Azure Data Factory version 1 to 2 service
• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Lena Hall (@lenadroid) writes about Large-scale Data Analytics with Azure Synapse - Workspaces with CLI

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 that Azure Dedicated Hosts now support new Azure Virtual Machines series, that Durable Functions v2.3 is now available and that New Azure VMs for general purpose and memory intensive workloads now available
• On the DEV site, Aaron Powell (@slace) continues his series on GraphQL on Azure: Part 4 - Serverless CosmosDB
• Also on the DEV site, Nitya Narasimhan lists 5 Things You Need to Know (ServerlessSeptember)

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 has made a few announcements: Azure Container Registry now available in Switzerland West region, Azure Container Registry now available in UAE Central region, and Log Analytics Agent for Windows August 2020 release is now available, and escalates two vulnerabilities: Privilege escalation from compromised node to cluster in Azure Kubernetes Service and Node disk DOS by writing to container /etc/hosts in Azure Kubernetes Service
• On Channel 9, Anna Hoffman and Anthony Nocentino discuss Deploying SQL Server 2019 in Kubernetes
• Also on Channel 9, Mark Russinovich (@markrussinovich) talks about Serverless containers with Azure Container Instances (ACI)

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

• Mariano Gomez blogs about how to Transfer records from SharePoint list to Azure SQL database using Power Automate
• On the MSSQL Tips site, John Miner (@JohnMiner3) covers Azure Database for MySQL
• The Azure updates team highlights that you should Update your Azure Cosmos DB .NET SDKs by 31 August 2022 and announces New regions in Brazil Southeast for Azure Database for MySQL
• On the DEV site, Davide Mauri (@mauridb) writes about Practical Azure SQL Database for Modern Developers
• Also on the DEV site, Davide Mauri (@mauridb) talks about Azure SQL & .bacpac the easy way
• On the Azure SQL Database blog, Marisa Brasile highlights that you can Join the Azure SQL/ SQL Server Experts at Microsoft Ignite 2020 and covers some of the Azure Data Sessions You Won't Want to Miss at SQLBits 2020

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 announces that the Azure Cache for Redis Visual Studio Code extension now in preview
• On the SQL Server Blog, the SQL Server Team (@SQLServer) highlights that The release of the Azure Data Studio extension generator is now available
• On the DEV site, Justin Yoo (@justinchronicle) describes Provisioning Azure VM as a Streamer Machine with Chocolatey
• Also on the DEV site, Lucas Santos discusses how you can Code Anywhere With Codespaces
• Also on the DEV site, Jay Gordon (@jaydestro) talks about Azure Cloud Shell

DevOps

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

• On the DEV site, Jay Gordon (@jaydestro) discusses DevOps on Azure with Donovan Brown
• On the Microsoft DevOps blog, Steven Murawski (@StevenMurawski) lists the Top Stories from the Microsoft DevOps Community
• Gregor Suttie (@gregor_suttie) provides a GitHub Actions 101
• On the DevOps podcast, Derek Comartin talks about Migrating to .NET Core
• James van Den Berg covers how to Start your DevOps pipeline in the Azure Cloud
• On Channel 9, Abel Wang and Neil Peterson discuss Linked and Nested ARM Templates
• Also on Channel 9, Damian Brady (@damovisa) talks about Repeatable Build Automation with Cake
• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, James van Den Berg explains how to Start your DevOps pipeline in the Azure Cloud

Hybrid

Covering: Azure Arc, Azure Stack

• Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) discusses Windows Server Hybrid and Azure IaaS VMs
• The Azure updates team announces that Stream Analytics now can be run on Azure Stack Hub and and that User-initiated failover for application fault resiliency in Azure SQL Managed Instance is now generally available
• On the Azure SQL Database blog, Danimir Ljepava (@danimir) covers User initiated manual failover on SQL Managed Instance

Identity

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

• Pixel Robots. explains How to build an Azure Kubernetes Cluster using Managed Azure Active Directory Integration
• On his blog, Joonas Westlin (@JoonasWestlin) discusses Azure AD v2 and MSAL in 2020

Integration

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

• On the Azure podcast, Ashish Chhabria (@ashishc1) discusses Service Bus JMS 2.0
• Gyanendra Kumar Gautam provides the Weekly Update on Microsoft Integration Platform & Azure iPaaS

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

• On Channel 9, Vasiya Krishnan talks about Azure SQL Edge: Industry Use Cases & Customer Success
• On the DEV site, Chloe Condon (@ChloeCondon) describes Building a Heart Rate Monitor with Azure IoT Hub

Learning

Covering: Microsoft Certifications, Azure Certifications, Microsoft Learning Paths, Certification Pathway Information

• Gregor Suttie (@gregor_suttie) discusses his Azure Certification Prep
• On Azure Tips and Tricks, Michael Crump (@mbcrump) lists the Top 10 Azure resources that you can use today

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

• Andy Leonard (@AndyLeonard) discusses Microsoft Azure Announces Project Bicep, an ARM DSL
• The Azure updates team announces that you can now Manage your Azure & Amazon Web Services (AWS) spending in a single location with Azure Cost Management +Billing and on the Azure blog, Raphael Chacko delves more into the Connector for AWS in Azure Cost Management + Billing that is now generally available
• On the DEV site, Frank Boucher (@FBoucheros) continues his series on demystifying ARM templates, covering: Template Functions, Controlling Deployment,Parameters, Variables and Template Output
• Alongside this, Michael Flanakin (@flanakin) discusses Azure Cost Management + Billing updates – August 2020
• The Azure updates team have also made a load more announcements:
  Visualize and Manage your AWS costs in Azure Cost Management,
  View Designer in Azure Monitor is retiring on 31 August 2023,
  Improvements to Azure Monitor Metric Alerts,
  Azure Monitor Agent and Data Collection Rules Public Preview,
  Public preview: Automated deployment of Always On availability groups through the Azure portal,
  Azure Storage classic metrics will be retired on 31 August 2023
  and Azure API Management will retire 5 legacy metrics in Azure Monitor on 31 August 2023
• Also on the DEV site, Justin Yoo (@justinchronicle) discusses Power Platform for Ad-hoc Azure Resource Provisioning
• June Castillote (@junecastillote) describes How to Create Azure VM Scheduled Startup with Azure Automation and Tags
• Aditya Balaji lists 5 ways to optimize your backup costs with Azure Backup
• Mark Russinovich (@markrussinovich) discusses Advancing a culture of reliability at the pace of Azure
• Marcel Zehner (@marcelzehner) highlights that The live stream recording ARM templates basics for Microsoft Azure is now available
• Sarah Lean (@TechieLass) talks about Azure Update Management with AWS Virtual Machines
• Stanislav Zhelyazkov (@StanZhelyazkov) discusses Audit Tags on Azure Subscriptions

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

• The Azure updates team announces Migrate to Azure Availability Zones
• Robert Smit (@Clustermvp) discusses Azure Migration Services – Easy Cloud Migration Services Azure Cloud ASR Migrate azops VMware Database
• Mark Brimble (@BrimbleMark) walks through Migrating To Azure – BizTalk Cross Referencing Functoids
• On Channel 9, Brian Blanchard (@BrianBlanchard) talks about how to Establish cloud governance using Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure

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

• The Azure updates team have made a few announcements:
  Azure Private Link support in Azure Data Factory now available,
  Upcoming changes to Standard Public IPs and Standard Load Balancers,
  Azure DNS: Introducing automatic child zone delegation,
  Azure Private Link for Azure Cache for Redis now in preview
  and Upcoming billing changes to Azure Bastion
• Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) explains how to Automate Stop and Start of Azure Application Gateway
• Gunnar Peipman (@gpeipman) walks through Accessing restricted blob storage from virtual networks and Azure CDN

Security

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

• The Azure updates team discusses the Azure Security Center news and updates for August 2020
• Jaliya Udagedara (@JaliyaUdagedara) explains how to Consume Secrets in an Azure Key Vault from an Azure Function App

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

• The Azure updates team announces that Azure Blob versioning is now general available and the Public Preview of Azure NetApp Files Cross Region Replication CRR capability

Web

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

• The Azure updates team announces that Azure Spring Cloud is now generally available and on the Azure blog, Julia Liuson delves further into Azure Spring Cloud: a fully managed service for Spring Boot apps
• On the DEV site, Jen Looper (@jenlooper) covers the Azure Maya Mystery Part III: Ascent to the Summit
• Also on the DEV site, Suzanne Chen (@suzannechen) talks about Microsoft Create:Serverless - Conversations with Community and Industry Experts
• On Code Project, Nitin Sawant walks through Implementing an SMS API using Azure Serverless Functions

Windows Virtual Desktop

Covering: Windows Virtual Desktop

• Freek Berson (@fberson) covers Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 running in Windows Virtual Desktop
• The Azure updates team announces that Windows Virtual Desktop is now available in the Azure Government cloud in preview
• Christiaan Brinkhoff (@Brinkhoff_C) talks about Multiple AD forests architecture with Windows Virtual Desktop

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