Azure Weekly Newsletter Issue #315

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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 DEV site, Henk Boelman (@hboelman) provides an Intro to Azure Machine Learning
• Minsoo Thigpen and Mehrnoosh Sameki cover how to Model understanding with Azure Machine Learning
• William Mendoza highlights how to Put AI into practice with Microsoft's Azure AI Hackathon
• Abe Omorogbe talks about Improving collaboration and productivity in Azure Machine Learning
• Mufajjul Ali blogs about Advance Resource Access Governance for Azure Machine Learning
• Varsha Parthasarathy (@varsha_partha) highlights that Mask detection is now available in preview via Azure Cognitive Services

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, Azure Purview

• Mark Kromer (@kromerbigdata) highlights that Improved support for Delta Lake has been added to data flows in ADF and Synapse
• On the MSSQL Tips site, Ryan Kennedy asks: What is Azure Databricks?

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 Azure podcast, Anavi Nahar (@AnaviNahar) discusses Azure Load Balancer
• The Azure Updates Team announces that Python Durable Functions support in Azure Functions is now generally available, that Node.js 14 in Azure Functions is now generally available, that Azure Functions now supports .NET 5 in production, and announces New Brazil Southeast region added to Azure HDInsight and New Norway East region added to Azure HDInsight
• Jeff Hollan and Anthony Chu present Azure Functions Live – March 2021

Containers

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

• On the MSSQL Tips site, Carla Abanes talks about some Considerations for Running SQL Server on Kubernetes
• The Azure Updates Team announces that Azure monitor for containers now supports Pods & Replica set live logs in AKS resource view
• Elton Stoneman (@EltonStoneman) writes - You can't always have Kubernetes: running containers in Azure VM Scale Sets
• Pixel Robots (@Pixel_Robots) provides a First look at Maintenance Windows on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) and Pixel Robots. walks through Building a Raspberry Pi Kubernetes Cluster on Ubuntu 20.04 using kubeadm and Containerd as the runtime.
• Daniel Neumann (@neumanndaniel) delves into how to Run the Envoy Proxy ratelimit service for Istio on AKS with Azure Cache for Redis
• On the DEV site, Aaron Powell (@slace) writes about why Your Open Source Project Needs a devcontainer
• Srikant Sarwa describes Deploying multi-tier applications on Azure Kubernetes Service
• Peter Pogorski highlights the Azure Service Fabric Seventh Refresh Release
• Michael Crump (@mbcrump) explains How to start and stop Azure Kubernetes clusters

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 Tech Community blog, Deepthi Prasad walks through Improving query response times on TEXT fields in Azure Database for MySQL
• Jose M Jurado (@jmjuradodiaz) covers Working with Get-AzSqlDatabaseSecureConnectionPolicy
• Jose M Jurado (@jmjuradodiaz) explains How to reduce the time inserting 10 millions of rows

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, Angelos Petropoulos describes Whats new with GitHub Actions tooling in Visual Studio
• Damien Caro announces Az Predictor preview 2

DevOps

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

• Rob Richardson discusses Database DevOps
• The Azure Updates Team announces that Token lifecycle management is now in private preview
• On the Perficient blog, Nitin Garg explains How to Deploy SQL Scripts Using Azure DevOps
• On the Microsoft DevOps blog, April Edwards, Jay Gordon, Steven Murawski, and Eric Sorenson discuss Infrastructure as Code
• Also on the Microsoft DevOps blog, Parsa Zand discusses Mitigating leaked personal access tokens (PATs) found on GitHub public repositories
• Travis Roberts (@Ciraltos) runs through how to Deploy a Windows Server with a DevOps Pipeline and Key Vault
• Kevin Chant discusses Using Azure DevOps Analytics Views and Power BI to create Sprint review dashboards

Hybrid

Covering: Azure Arc, Azure Stack

• Aaron Nelson (@SQLvariant) explains How to Run SQL Assessment Checks in Azure SQL Managed Instance
• Christopher Hoard talks about The Hybrid Workplace

Identity

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

• John Reilly (@johnny_reilly) discusses Managed Identity, Azure SQL and Entity Framework
• Caleb Baker writes about Granular Conditional Access for sensitive data and actions
• Sonia Cuff (@soniacuff) talks about Microsoft 365 user management versus Azure Active Directory
• William Zhang writes about API Management Policy for Access Token Acquisition, Caching and Renewal
• Zeinab Mokhtarian Koorabbasloo describes Access management in Azure Purview - RBAC
• Joonas Westlin (@JoonasWestlin) describes Building Azure AD B2C custom policies part 2: Azure DevOps automated build and deployment

Integration

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

• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Derek Li announces the Logic Apps Public Preview Refresh
• Also on the Azure Developer Community Blog, Ricardo Duncan provides A Deep Dive into Serverless Applications on Power Apps and Azure
• On BizTalk Gurus, Gyanendra Gautam (@ggauta) gives 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

• Sander van de Velde discusses IoT on Microsoft Ignite, March 2021
• On the Whizlabs blog, Sudip Sengupta provides An Introduction to Microsoft Azure IoT Hub
• Lee Stott (@lee_stott) provides an Introduction to Microsoft Mesh
• The Student Developer Team provides a 2021 Imagine Cup category feature, in Earth and Education

Learning

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

• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Cliff Simpkins (@cliffsimpkins) explains how to Build new skills in 30 days
• Sarah Lean (@TechieLass) discusses Studying for the SC-900 Exam - Day 1
• Gregor Suttie (@gregor_suttie) provides a Azure DP-300 Exam Study guide
• Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) provides an AZ-204 Study Guide: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure

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

• Sarah Lean (@TechieLass) blogs about Azure Unblogged - Azure Cost Management
• Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) describes how to Audit server settings with Azure Policy Guest Configuration
• Tobias Zimmergren (@zimmergren) explains how to Exclude failing dependencies from Application Insights logging
• Mark Russinovich (@markrussinovich) walks through Advancing failure prediction and mitigation with project Narya

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

• John Chirapurath explains how to Drive successful data-driven transformation
• Also on the Azure blog, Locky Ainley highlights an event: Extend to the cloud with Azure VMware solution
• The Azure Updates Team announces that the Azure VMware Solution now generally available in the Southeast Asia region

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

• Jose Moreno (@erjosito) covers Connecting your NVAs to ExpressRoute with Azure Route Server
• The Azure Updates Team announces that Azure Routing Preference is now generally available and HDInsight Apache Kafka REST Proxy is now generally available
• Henry Yan highlights that Technical Sessions are now available on key Azure Networking services
• Jose Moreno (@erjosito) describes a Route Server Multi-Region Design
• On the Azure blog, Mahesh Nayak talks about how to Architect and optimize your internet traffic with Azure routing preference

Security

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

• On the Azure blog, Hasan Abo-Shally describes Azure Defender for Storage powered by Microsoft threat intelligence
• Mark Russinovich (@markrussinovich) announces the preview of Azure Trusted Launch for virtual machines
• Joanna Harding explains how to Uncover your blind spots: seamlessly control cloud usage risks to your organization and Label and Protect your sensitive information: discover, classify and deploy policy
• On Azure Sentinel blog, Ely Abramovitch describes Whats new in Azure Sentinel and Microsoft 365 Defender incident integration
• Also on Azure Sentinel blog, Jeremy Tan discusses Alert Enrichment – Custom Details and Entity Mapping
• On Microsoft Security blog, Lauren Goodwin talks about Azure LoLBins: Protecting against the dual use of virtual machine extensions
• Pete Bryan walks through Monitoring the Software Supply Chain with Azure Sentinel
• On the DEV site, Justin Yoo (@justinchronicle) writes about Event-Driven KeyVault Secrets Rotation Management
• Stanislav Belov talks about Security Control: Encrypt data in transit

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 Routing Preferences now generally available in Azure Storage
• Ankit Sharma runs through Using a Service Principal with AzCopy & Azure CLI to manage blobs in Storage Account
• Yuemin Lu discusses how to Scale your critical applications cost-effectively with Azure Disk Storage

Web

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

• No content this week

Windows Virtual Desktop

Covering: Windows Virtual Desktop

• No content this week

Useful Links

• 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.
• 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"!