Azure Weekly Newsletter Issue #317

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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

• Zachary Cavanell explains how to Build Semantic Search into your apps Latest in Azure Cognitive Search

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

• On SQL Server Central, Ron L'Esteve talks about Exploring the Capabilities of Azure Synapse Spark External Tables
• Meagan Longoria (@mmarie) discusses Control Flow Limitations in Data Factory
• Linda Wang writes about ADF connector updates: Azure Data Explorer, SFTP, REST and HTTP
• On the Azure blog, Yatharth Gupta (@y99) writes about 5 reasons Databricks runs best on Azure
• On the MSSQL Tips site, Ron L'Esteve writes about Real-time IoT Analytics Using Apache Sparks Structured Streaming into Databricks Delta Lake
• Jie Feng (@jiefeng) explains how to Get a 360-degree view of data sharing lineage with Azure Data Share and Purview
• Zeinab Mokhtarian Koorabbasloo covers March Ahead with Azure Purview: Access management in Azure Purview - Part 2
• On SQL Server Central, Randheer Parmar talks about Migrating SSIS packages to Azure - Lift and Shift using Azure Data Factory

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 writes about General availability: New VM series supported by Azure Batch
• The Azure Updates Team writes about General availability: Publishing VM Images from Shared Image Gallery to Azure Marketplace

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 highlights Azure Container Registry now available in Norway East region
• Amit Khandelwal explains how to Configure SQL Server AG Read-Scale for SQL Containers deployed on Kubernetes using Helm
• Sam Cogan (@samcogan) covers Azure Spring Clean: Replacing Kubernetes Pod Security Policies with Azure Policy on AKS
• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Ricardo Duncan writes about Modern Application Development

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, Fikrat Azizov explains how to Build real-time data pipelines with Azure Event Hub, Stream Analytics and Cosmos DB
• Jose M Jurado (@jmjuradodiaz) talks about Lesson Learned 168: Connection is not available error message using Hikari connection pooling on Azure SQL Database
• Mara Steiu (@MSteiu) talks about the Shape the Future of Azure SQL Products
• On the DEV site, Davide Mauri (@mauridb) discusses Dev life is easy with node-mssql

Developer Tools

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

• Scott Hanselman (@shanselman) blogs about The Windows Terminal made better with the Command Palette plus Multiple Actions in one Command and describes How to make Command Prompt, PowerShell, or any Shell launch from the Start Menu directly into Windows Terminal
• Nick Rimmer discusses Getting Started with the Azure CLI and explains How to Install the Azure CLI Windows, Linux, macOS, Azure Shell
• Elio Struyf writes about New VSCode extension for autocompleting your Microsoft Graph APIs
• Vesa Juvonen (@vesajuvonen) discusses SharePoint Framework Community Call Recording – 25th of March, 2021
• Tobias Zimmergren (@zimmergren) discusses Using third-party terminals within Windows Terminal
• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Malgosia Mazany describes Microsoft Customer Co-Creation: How You Can Help Influence the way Products and Services are Built
• On Channel 9, Robert Green (@rogreen_ms) talks about Choices in Desktop Development Visual Studio Toolbox

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) covers AureFunBytes - Chaos Engineering with Ana Margarita Medina of Gremlin Inc
• On the Microsoft DevOps blog, Gloridel Morales blogs about Introducing Azure DevOps Server 2020.1 RC1
• Also on the Microsoft DevOps blog, Jay Gordon (@jaydestro) highlights the AzureFunBytes – Intro to Azure Policy with Steven Murawski
• Peter De Tender (@pdtit) talks about Controlling Release Pipelines with Gates and Azure Policy Compliance
• Zachary Deptawa (@zdeptawa) writes about On Prem To The Cloud: DevOps-ing Everything As Code Ep 5 and lists the Top Stories from the Microsoft DevOps Community – 2021.03.26
• On Channel 9, Abel Wang and Zachary Deptawa talk about On Prem To The Cloud: DevOps-ing Everything As Code episode 5 The DevOps Lab
• Sagar Lankala writes about DevTest Labs Decommissioning preview API's '2015-05-21-preview' & '2017-04-26-preview' in 90 days
• Tao Yang (@MrTaoYang) blogs about Azure Bicep, Deployment Script and Role Definition Code Example
• Tobias Zimmergren (@zimmergren) discusses Getting started with Azure Bicep

Hybrid

Covering: Azure Arc, Azure Stack

• On the Azure blog, Mark Russinovich (@markrussinovich) explains how to Learn about the latest innovations: Inside Azure Datacenter Architecture
• The Azure Updates Team writes about General availability: Stream Analytics runs on Azure Stack Hub
• On the Azure Medium blog, Luca Zavarella writes about On-premises Data Gateway Monitoring Series—Part 2: CPU counters

Identity

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

• On BizTalk Gurus, Gyanendra Gautam (@ggauta) blogs about March 22, 2021 Weekly Update on Microsoft Integration Platform & Azure iPaaS
• Nicolas Bonnet (@nico_bonnet) discusses Azure AD Password Protection
• Alex Simons Azure blogs about Azure AD Ignite 2021 Recap: Securing your application ecosystem
• Eric Urban writes about New requirements for multi-factor authentication
• John Kilmister (@johnkilmister) discusses Azure Custom Roles Following Least Privilege Best Practices
• Antti K. Koskela (@koskila) blogs about Guide: How to take over and kill a viral AAD tenant
• On Microsoft Security blog, Emma Jones talks about Securing our approach to domain fronting within Azure
• Gregor Reimling describes Azure AD Connect Release 1.6.24 is available and moves synchronization to the new Azure AD V2 endpoint
• On the Premier Developer blog, Marius Rochon writes about To B2B or to B2C

Integration

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

• Yogendra Singh talks about Change broker property of Azure Service Bus message using azure-spring-cloud-stream-binder Library
• Rachel Chen discusses Explor Local Logs in Azure API Management Self-hosted Gateway
• On the Premier Developer blog, Bryan Soltis describes Calling a Helper API in an Azure APIM Inbound Policy

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 the General availability of IoT Hub Azure portal extension update
• On Channel 9, Olivier Bloch and Andy Rivas talk about How to Update Disconnected IoT Devices in the Internet of Things Show

Learning

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

• Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) describes How and why to earn an Azure Certification
• Kevin Chant describes How to make the most out of certification pages for Azure exams
• Kevin Chant discusses Thoughts about the increase in demand for Azure Data Engineering roles
• Abhijit Jana (@AbhijitJana) covers Start Learning Azure in the most effective way – Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Tutorial
• Mike Pfeiffer and Corey Knapp talk about Azure Landing Zones, Career Development, and Personal Branding on the cloud skills podcast
• Sarah Lean (@TechieLass) writes about New Microsoft Security Exams

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

• On the Azure blog, Siddharth Deekshit covers Expanding our DR scenarios to new zonal capabilities with Azure Site Recovery
• The Azure Updates Team writes about General availability: Enhanced Azure Dashboards experience for pinned Log Analytics parts
• Pierre Roman (@pierreroman) describes Building a Policy to deploy the new Azure monitor Agent.
• Sonia Cuff (@soniacuff) blogs about The impact of conflicting Azure Policies
• Yuri Diogenes (@yuridiogenes) describes Validating Azure Defender for Resource Manager Alerts
• Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) covers Cloud Adoption Framework Enterprise-Scale Series and Livestream and blogs about Scale cloud adoption with modular designs for enterprise-scale landing zones
• The Azure Updates Team shares that Azure Automation is now available in UK West
• Geert Baeke (@GeertBaeke) describes Azure Policy for Kubernetes: Contraints and ConstraintTemplates
• Shikha Jain (@be_shikha) describes Azure Workbooks - Set it to Auto-Refresh
• Mark Russinovich (@markrussinovich) walks through Advancing Azure business continuity management
• Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) explains how to Create Azure Backup Protection Policy With PowerShell
• Linishya Vaz discusses Security & Compliance within the Azure API for FHIR - Azure API for FHIR Skilling Video Series

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 the Azure blog, Abhishek A. Hemrajani explains how to Perform at-scale, agentless SQL Server discovery and assessment with Azure Migrate
• Ankita Kirti writes about Best practices for migrating to SharePoint and OneDrive

Mobile

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

• On Channel 9, James Montemagno (@JamesMontemagno) talks about Building Our First Microservice on The Xamarin Show
• Todd Baginski blogs about the Power Apps Community Call – March 2021

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

• Alan Kinane (@Azure_Alan) explains how to Live Monitoring Your VM Connections With Network Watcher
• Yuri Diogenes (@yuridiogenes) blogs about Azure Network Security Visibility and Control using ASC integration with Azure Firewall Manager
• The Azure Updates Team discusses Public preview: IPv6 Support for ExpressRoute Private Peering
• Robert Smit (@Clustermvp) covers Step by Step Create a User P2S VPN using Azure Secured Virtual Hub and Azure Active Directory SDWAN Azure Secure
• The Azure Updates Team covers Public preview: Service Tags for User Defined Routing

Security

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

• On the Azure blog, Ronit Reger explains how to Strengthen and optimize compliance in Azure Security Center
• Christopher Campbell covers The Best of Microsoft Compliance at Ignite March 2021
• Helen Allas talks about Mac updates: Control your USB devices with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Mac and HelenAllas walks through Enhancing Linux antivirus with behavior monitoring capabilities
• Mohit Kumar discusses Azure Firewall Manager Is Now Integrated with Azure Security Center
• Shir Feldman writes about New threat and vulnerability management experiences in Microsoft 365 security
• Tom McElroy blogs about Web Shell Threat Hunting with Azure Sentinel
• Yuri Diogenes (@yuridiogenes) describes Detecting who is changing Alert Suppression rules in Azure Defender
• Anthony Bartolo (@WirelessLife) covers AzUpdate: Zonal Capabilities for Azure Site Recovery, Azure Security Center Compliance and more

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 writes that AzCopy v10.9.0 now in public preview: import from GCP to Azure Block Blobs
• On the Codit blog, Gonçalo Chaves explains How to Use Azure API Management Service as Frontstage of a Blob Storage Account

Web

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

• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Ricardo Duncan explains how to Deliver Java Apps Quickly using Custom Connectors in Power Apps

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.
• 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"!