Azure Weekly Newsletter Issue #291

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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

• Sebastian Zolg (@sebastianzolg) explains How to add Small Talk support to your Power Virtual Agents Chatbot
• On Channel 9, Shivani Patel talks about OSS Framework Support in Azure Machine Learning Service
• Jame Maguire covers Adding speech capability to your chatbot using Bot Framework and Azure Speech Services
• The Azure updates team announces the September new features, improvements and bug fixes for Custom Translator

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, Fikrat Azizov discusses Azure Synapse Analytics Overview
• The Azure updates team announces Improved delivery guarantees, schema registry support, and Confluent certification for Azure Data Explorer Kafka Connector, highlights that you need to Update .NET to 4.7.2 for Azure Data Factory (upgrade by 01 Dec 2020) and announces that Azure Synapse SQL on-demand now enforces TLS 1.2 on outbound connections
• On Channel 9, Ginger Grant (@DesertIsleSQL) talks about Analyzing your Data Lake with Power BI and Azure Synapse

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

• Sander van de Velde walks through Understanding TimerTriggers in Azure Functions
• Martin Brandl (@martin_jib) walks through Working with CosmosClient in Azure Functions
• On the DEV site, Suzanne Chen (@suzannechen) highlights an event - Microsoft Create:Serverless - Conversations with Community and Industry Experts

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) describes Using distroless images in Istio on Azure Kubernetes Service
• Roy Kim (@roykimyyz) covers Azure Portal Azure Kubernetes Resource Viewer vs Kubernetes Dashboard
• Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) explains how to Scan Container Images in Azure Container Registry with Azure Security Center

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 MSSQL Tips site, John Miner (@JohnMiner3) talks about Azure Database for MySQL
• Also on the MSSQL Tips site, Mohammed Moinudheen describes Auto Scaling Azure SQL DB using Automation runbooks
• The Azure updates team highlights that the Azure SQL Database Gateway with IP address 23.99.160.139 in Central US will be deactivated on 15th September 2020 and some Additional Azure SQL Database gateways changes effective October 12, 2020
• On the DEV site, Abhishek Gupta (@abhi_tweeter) explains how to Build fault tolerant applications with Cassandra API for Azure Cosmos DB
• Sean Feldman (@sfeldman) talks about CosmosDB - container provisioning throttling
• On the Azure SQL Database blog, Marisa Brasile highlights that you can Join the Azure SQL/ SQL Server Experts at Microsoft Ignite 2020

Developer Tools

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

• On the Azure blog, Carolina Uribe-Gosselin discusses how to View your Azure Cache for Redis data in new Visual Studio Code extension
• On the Visual Studio blog, Allison Buchholtz-Au (@allison_au) highlights that Visual Studio Codespaces is consolidating into GitHub Codespaces
• On the DEV site, Davide Mauri (@mauridb) talks about the Serverless REST API with Azure Functions, Node, JSON and Azure SQL
• Sarah Lean (@TechieLass) talks about how you can Use Azure Cloud Shell on your local machine
• The Azure updates team highlights that you should Begin migrating your codespaces to GitHub Codespaces

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 Part II with Steven Murawski
• On the Microsoft DevOps blog, Sidi Merzouk blogs about the September patches for Azure DevOps Server
• Kevin Chant discusses Automating SQL Server updates using Azure DevOps and explains how to Organize Data Platform presentations using Azure DevOps

Hybrid

Covering: Azure Arc, Azure Stack

• Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) continues the Azure Stack Hub Partner Solutions Series – Eversource
• Jose Moreno (@erjosito) covers Azure RedHat Openshift and Hybrid Networking

Identity

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

• June Castillote (@junecastillote) covers Azure Service Principals: How to Create and Understand Them
• On Channel 9, Cecil Phillip (@cecilphillip) talks about Microsoft Identity and series introduction

Integration

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

• On Code Project, Hugo Barona covers Using Inline Code on your Azure Logic Apps
• On the Serverless360 blog, The serverless360 team writes about 5 Common Challenges User Face with Logic Apps
• Gyanendra Kumar Gautam gives a 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

• The Azure updates team highlights that the Azure Sphere OS update 20.09 is now available for compatibility testing
• On Channel 9, Nandakishor Basavanthappa talks about Simplifying Vision AI in Azure IoT Central
• Also on Channel 9, Anna Hoffman Marisa Brasile talks about Azure SQL Edge: Demo, Renewable Energy

Learning

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

• No content this week

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

• On the MSSQL Tips site, Ron L'Esteve discusses Managing Azure Blueprints with PowerShell
• The Azure updates team announces an Azure Monitor for containers agent (ciprod08072020) update, that the The Azure Monitor Logs page now links to the community GitHub repo, announces that they are Introducing support for Resource Health (Azure Cloud Services) and that Automatic VM guest patching is now in public preview
• On the DEV site, Justin Yoo (@justinchronicle) blogs about Power Platform for Ad-hoc Azure Resource Provisioning and provides a Project Bicep Sneak Peek - The ARM Template DSL
• On the DEV site, Frank Boucher (@FBoucheros) confinues his series of Demystifying ARM Templates, covering Linked and Nested Templates and Loops
• On Channel 9, Pierre Roman and Abel Wang present ARM Series 9: Loops
• Adam Listek provides A Guide to Finally Understanding Azure VM Pricing
• Nicolas Bonnet (@nico_bonnet) covers Enterprise State Roaming
• Sam Cogan (@samcogan) discusses Project Bicep: ARM Templates Re-Imagined
• Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) describes How to configure Azure Automatic VM guest OS patching
• Ben Shy discusses Simplify financial reporting with cost allocation

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

• On Microsoft + Open Source, Mithun Shanbhag talks about how CloudSkew makes it easy to sketch cloud architecture diagrams
• Tao Yang (@MrTaoYang) discusses Moving My Data to Azure and Office 365 Using Synology Cloud Sync

Mobile

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

• On the .NET Curry blog, Gerald Versluis (@jfversluis) writes: Goodbye Xamarin.Forms, Hello .NET MAUI

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 Kemp Technologies blog, David O'Connor describes Web Application Firewall (WAF) Insight
• Aidan Finn (@joe_elway) describes Azure App Service, Private Endpoint, and Application Gateway/WAF
• Geert Baeke discusses Azure Private Link and DNS
• Damien Bowden covers Securing Azure Functions using an Azure Virtual Network
• On the DEV site, Jay Gordon (@jaydestro) talks about Virtual Networks (VNETs) on Azure
• Praveen Kumar Sreeram (@PrawinSreeram) blogs about how to Restrict Remote Desktop access to an IP Address using Network Security Groups
• On The Azure Podcast, Michael Zoller talks about Barracuda SD WAN
• 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

• On Microsoft Security blog, Jim Flack explains how to Accelerate your adoption of SIEM using Azure Sentinel and a new offer from Microsoft
• Damien Bowden discusses Securing Azure Functions using certificate authentication

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, Gunjan Jain (@gunjanjain123) talks about how Azure Files SMB Multichannel provides improved performance for clients
• The Azure updates team announces that Change feed support is now generally available for Azure Blob Storage, Azure Blob storage object replication is now generally available and that Query Acceleration for Azure Data Lake Storage is now generally available
• Gregor Suttie (@gregor_suttie) discusses Immutable storage for Azure Storage Blobs

Web

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

• On the DEV site, Adam Jackson presents The Cloud Skills Show Episode 5: Web
• Tobias Zimmergren & Jussi Roine (@CtrlAltAzure) discuss Azure Static Web Apps with Elio Struyf

Windows Virtual Desktop

Covering: Windows Virtual Desktop

• Roelf Zomerman discusses Builing your Image (I) in Windows Virtual Desktop
• Christiaan Brinkhoff (@Brinkhoff_C) delves into how to Deploy WVD using the Azure Portal
• On System Center Automation, Billy York explains how to Calculate WVD Profile Load Time

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"!