Azure Weekly Newsletter Issue #294

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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 Channel 9 AI Show, Lu Zhang talks about Azure Machine Learning Designer and Kiana Mousavi discusses Automated Machine Learning on Azure
• On the Sharegate blog, Chris Hardee blogs about Project Cortex: Bringing content intelligence to Microsoft 365
• The Azure updates team announces that Assamese language is now available in Azure Cognitive Services Translator Text
• On the Perficient blog, Deepika Muralidharan explains how to Build Employee Face Detection Service with Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services in 3 Steps
• On the Microsoft blog, Matteo Interlandi, Karla Saur and Faith Xu discuss how to Accelerate traditional machine learning models on GPU with ONNX Runtime

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 endjin blog, Howard van Rooijen (@HowardvRooijen) explains How to use SQL Notebooks to access Azure Synapse SQL Pools & SQL on demand
• On the MSSQL Tips site, Ryan Kennedy discusses Orchestrating Azure Databricks Notebooks with Azure Data Factory
• The Azure updates team has made a few announcements:
  Azure Data Explorer extends functionality to support geospatial joins,
  New Common Data Model connector for Apache Spark in Azure Synapse Analytics & Azure Databricks in preview,
  New guided UI experience to deploy machine learning models in Azure Synapse Analytics in preview,
  Data Factory adds ORC data lake file format support for ADF Data Flows and Synapse Data Flows
  and Autoscale for Interactive Query with HDInsight 4.0 is now generally available
• On the Azure blog, Chaitanya Bangur discusses Accelerating genomics workflows and data analysis on Azure

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

• On the DEV site, Anthony Chu (@nthonyChu) talks about Overcoming Serverless challenges with Durable Functions
• Also on the DEV site, Burke Holland (@burkeholland) covers Unifying data with Hasura GraphQL Engine & Azure functions
• On the Microsoft Developer YouTube channel, the team present Create:Serverless - A one of a kind live event about all things serverless
• The Azure updates team announces that Azure Ultra Disk is now available in more regions
• Jaliya Udagedara (@JaliyaUdagedara) talks about RetryOptions in Azure Durable Functions

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 announces:
  Azure Container Registry now available in several new regions,
  Confidential computing nodes DCSv2 support on Azure Kubernetes Service AKS in public preview
  and New features for Windows Server containers in Azure Kubernetes Service
• On the DEV site, Lucas Santos covers Docker image deploy: from VSCode to Azure in a click
• Richard Hooper (@Pixel_Robots) talks about The official way to Stop and Start your Azure Kubernetes Service AKS cluster
• On Channel 9, MacKenzie Olson (@macolso) walks through Azure Container Instances ACI under the hood
• On SQL Server Central, Mahendran Purushothaman discusses Running Container Workloads in Microsoft Azure

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

• The Azure updates team announces Long term retention for Azure Database for PostgreSQL-Single Server and that The spring Data Azure Cosmos DB SDK v3.0.0 is release now available
• On SQL Server Central, John Miner (@JohnMiner3) discusses Azure Database for MySQL
• On the DEV site, Abhishek Gupta (@abhi_tweeter) talks about Data Ingestion into Azure Data Explorer using Kafka Connect
• Also on SQL Server Central, Steve Jones covers Editor Tips and Tricks for Azure Data Studio
• On the Azure blog, Aruna Somendra announces What's new in Azure Backup

Developer Tools

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

• No content this week

DevOps

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

• Jeffrey Palermo (@jeffreypalermo) discusses DevOps with dbatools with Chrissy LeMaire
• On the Daily Dot Net Tips blog, Abhijit Jana (@AbhijitJana) discusses how to Link Azure DevOps work items to an existing build and explains how to Update base Azure DevOps work item types description for an Inherited Process
• The Azure updates team announces that you can now Encrypt OS disks in your lab in Azure DevTest Labs and the Public preview of Azure Stream Analytics unit testing capability in an CI/CD pipeline
• On the DEV site, Frank Boucher (@FBoucheros) continues his series on Demystifying ARM Templates: GitHub Actions With ARM Templates
• Also on the DEV site, Justin Yoo (@justinchronicle) explains how to Build and Lint Bicep Codes within CI/CD Pipelines: GitHub Actions & ARM Template Toolkit
• On the Microsoft DevOps blog, Steven Murawski (@StevenMurawski) lists the Top Stories from the Microsoft DevOps Community
• On Channel 9, Frank Boucher (@FBoucheros) talks about GitHub Actions
• Also on Channel 9, Hamish Watson (@TheHybridDBA) talks about Infrastructure as Code and Azure (Part 1)
• Dave Rendón (@DaveRndn) blogs about Using Azure Devops to deploy ARM templates
• Kevin Chant writes about how You can set default branch name for new repositories in Azure DevOps

Hybrid

Covering: Azure Arc, Azure Stack

• Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) writes: Check out the new Azure Arc Center and highlights an Azure Stack Hub Partner Solutions Series
• The Azure updates team announces Data Factory adds SQL Managed Instance (SQL MI) support for ADF Data Flows and Synapse Data Flows (Public Preview) and Monitor Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes with Metric Alerts

Identity

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

• Anuj Chaudhary describes Azure AD PowerShell for Azure Resources in PIM and explains how to Connect to Azure AD PowerShell with MFA
• On the Check your Logs blog, Cary Sun (@SifuSun) explains how to Deploy a New Active Directory Domain Controller Server at Azure
• Armin Reiter (@arminreiter) covers Azure AD: Guest cant login – Your sign-in was blocked
• Damien Bowden (@damien_bod) explains how to Implement Azure AD Client credentials flow using Client Certificates for service APIs
• On the DEV site, Jay Gordon (@jaydestro) discusses Azure Active Directory
• The Azure updates team announces that you can now Authenticate Azure Stream Analytics to Azure Synapse Analytics using managed identities (preview)
• On the CloudSkills podcast, Christos Matskas and J.P. Dandison discuss Microsoft Identity for Developers

Integration

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

• On BizTalk Gurus, Gyanendra Gautam (@ggauta) 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

• On Channel 9, Ugan Sivaganenthirarajah talks about how to Connect any IoT sensor to Azure
• Also on Channel 9, Vasiya Krishnan talks about Intelligent Manufacturing with IoT Edge and SQL Edge
• On the Azure blog, Outi Nyman writes about the General availability of Azure Maps support for Azure Active Directory, Power Apps integration, and more
• The Azure updates team announces Embedded C SDK general availability

Learning

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

• Jame Maguire discusses Taking the Azure AZ-900 and Azure AI Fundamentals AI-900 Exams
• Richard Hooper (@Pixel_Robots) provides a Study guide for the AZ-304 Microsoft Azure Architect Design exam
• Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) discusses Passing AZ-303 and AZ-304 Microsoft Certified Azure Solutions Architect
• Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) discusses AZ-303 Exam: Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies and AZ-304 Exam: Microsoft Azure Architect Design
• d, Adam Marczak (@MarczakIO) provides AZ-900 Episode 18 - Azure DevOps - Solutions Azure DevOps, DevTest Labs, AZ-900 Episode 19 - Azure Tools - Azure Portal, CLI, PowerShell & Cloud Shell and AZ-900 - Episode 20 - Azure Advisor

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

• Aidan Finn (@joe_elway) talks about Monitoring & Alerting for Windows Defender in Azure VMs
• On the Azure blog, Michael Flanakin (@flanakin) talks about the Azure Cost Management + Billing updates - September 2020
• The Azure updates team has made a few announcements:
  General Availability of Application Insight in UK West,
  New recommendations for operational excellence are now available in Azure Advisor,
  New performance recommendations now available in Azure Advisor,
  Learn how to manage and optimize your Azure costs with our guided learning modules,
  General availability: Azure Availability Zones in more regions
  and Azure portal September 2020 update
• Stanislav Zhelyazkov (@StanZhelyazkov) describes Azure Policy for Sending Azure Activity Logs
• On the Sharegate blog, Chris Hardee blogs about Azure Monitor: To Azure and beyond
• On the DEV site, Jay Gordon (@jaydestro) discusses Azure Subscriptions with
• Also on the Sharegate blog, Elle Crosby blogs about How Maersk optimized their Azure costs and highlights Azure experts give insights into Microsoft Ignite 2020 announcements
• On the Check your Logs blog, Cary Sun (@SifuSun) explains How to Receive a discount on Azure services by purchasing reservations Azure
• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, George Grammatikos (@cloudopszone) covers how to Scale-Down VM Size using Azure Automation
• On the Hanu blog, Dave Sasson explains How to Optimize Your Costs in Azure
• Jaliya Udagedara (@JaliyaUdagedara) talks about Consuming Configuration Data from Azure App Configuration and Azure Key Vault in Azure Functions

Media

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

• On the Azure blog, Jason Hogg announces: Azure introduces new capabilities for live video analytics

Migration

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

• On the Azure blog, Eric Lockard announces that The new Azure VMware Solution is now generally available
• Also on the Azure blog, Riyaz Habibbhai writes about the New Datadog integration with Azure offers a seamless configuration experience
• Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) discusses Azure Architecture

Mobile

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

• Aaron Powell (@slace) discusses Building a Video Calling App
• On Code Project, Ana Carolina Zambon walks through A better approach for consuming authorized back-end services while transparently handling refresh tokens renewals for C#/Xamarin apps
• Also on Code Project, "Arcadenut" blogs about Push Notifications via Azure Templates in Xamarin

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 announces Raw Logs and Metrics are generally available on Azure Content Delivery Network CDN from Microsoft CDN
• Pantelis Apostolidis (@papostolidis) delves into Azure Application Gateway - WAF Policy per Listener
• Praveen Kumar Sreeram (@PrawinSreeram) walks through how to Change the Subnet of a Virtual Machine or Network Interface Card using Azure Portal

Security

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

• The Azure updates team blogs about the Azure Security Center news and updates for September 2020
• On the DEV site, Guy Podjarny (@guypod) discusses the CLAD Model for Serverless Security
• Daniel Neumann (@neumanndaniel) blogs about how to Trigger an on-demand Azure Policy compliance evaluation scan
• On Microsoft Security blog, Jim Flack discusses Microsoft Advanced Compliance Solutions in Zero Trust Architecture

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 Shared disks on Azure Disk Storage is now available in broader set of regions

Web

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

• Thomas Thornton (@tamstar1234) explains how to Deploy Azure Storage Static Website using Terraform

Windows Virtual Desktop

Covering: Windows Virtual Desktop

• On the Premier Developer blog, Reed Robison explains how to Collect and Automate Diagnostic Actions with Azure App Services

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"!