Azure Weekly Newsletter Issue #324

powered by endjin

If you have any content you'd like to contribute to the newsletter, please tweet @AzureWeekly or ping an email to AzureWeekly@endjin.com.

Interested in Power BI? Sign up to our sister newsletter Power BI Weekly to receive all the week's Power BI news.

@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 Azure blog, Hadas Bitran highlights that Azure Health Bot has added eight new regions with additional language support, including India to support pandemic response
• On Channel 9, Tony Xing (@XingGuodong) and Seth Juarez discuss Multivariate Capabilities in Anomaly Detector
• Lee Stott (@lee_stott) explains how to Transform Machine Learning Research into a Professional Product with Azure
• On SQL Server Central, Ron L'Esteve discusses Getting Started with MLflow in Azure Databricks
• On Azure Sentinel blog, Sharon Xia explains how to Democratize Machine Learning with Customizable ML Anomalies
• Michael Crump (@mbcrump) walks through How to get started with Azure Health Bot

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 the endjin blog, James Broome runs through How to test Azure Synapse notebooks
• Also on the endjin blog, Carmel Eve (@Carmel_Eve) describes How to use Azure Synapse SQL Serverless to connect Data Lake and Power BI
• On the DEV site, Mark Kromer (@kromerbigdata) and Jay Gordon provide an Intro to Azure Data Factory and on Tech Community blog, Mark Kromer highlights that XML has been added to Parse transformation in ADF and Synapse Data Flows
• On the MSSQL Tips site, Ron L'Esteve discusses Creating Deep and Shallow Delta Clones in Azure Databricks and Using Delta Schema Evolution in 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

• Peter Pogorski highlights that Azure Service Fabric managed clusters are now generally available
• The Azure Updates Team announces Lower pricing for provisioned throughput on Azure Ultra Disks

Containers

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

• No content this week

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 has made a lot of announcements:
  Capacity calculator with Azure Cosmos DB API for MongoDB now generally available,
  And in Azure Database for PostgreSQL:
  Flexible Server public preview managed PgBouncer in public preview,
  Flexible Server: PowerShell Module in public preview,
  Flexible Server with managed PgBouncer in preview,
  Hyperscale Citus managed PgBouncer in public preview,
  Flexible Server now supported in new regions,
  Flexible Server public preview supports PostgreSQL minor versions
  and Flexible Server public preview support for PostgreSQL 13
  and finally Public preview: Azure Database for MySQL– Flexible Server: Announcing SSL enforcement and minimum TLS version choice,
  
  
• Marco Slot discusses the New Postgres superpowers in Hyperscale Citus with Citus 10
• Bjorn Peters blogs about Azure SQL VM – no possibility to configure the disk usage

Developer Tools

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

• On .NET Rocks, Simon Calvert, Anthony Cangialosi, and Andy Sterland discuss Visual Studio 2022
• Mark Heath (@mark_heath) walks through Running Durable Functions Locally with Azurite
• Radu Matei discusses Using Azure services from WebAssembly modules
• Paul Harrison walks through Running PowerShell against all Azure subscriptions
• Stephane Lapointe (@s_lapointe) blogs about Workaround for error 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0x82 using Azure CLI deployment and Bicep

DevOps

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

• Ahmed Ilyas and Jeffery Palermo explain how to use Customized Build Agents
• Barbara Forbes (@Ba4bes) walks From Bicep to ARM Template specs with Azure DevOps
• The Azure Updates Team runs through the Azure DevOps updates for May 2021
• John Reilly (@johnny_reilly) explains how to Create a Pipeline with the Azure DevOps API
• On the Microsoft DevOps blog, Damian Brady (@damovisa) discusses On Prem To the Cloud: Lets Rub Some DevOps On It
• Also on the Microsoft DevOps blog, Gloridel Morales highlights the May patches for Azure DevOps Server
• Kan Tang provides an Intro to DevOps Dojo
• Zachary Deptawa (@zdeptawa) lists the Top Stories from the Microsoft DevOps Community
• Peter Rombouts (@prombouts) walks through Static Code Analysis of Infrastructure as Code
• On Channel 9, Jessica Deen (@jldeen) and Damian Brady discuss Hyper Charging With DevOps episode 10
• Asir Selvasingh (@asirselvasingh) explains how to Automate Spring Boot application deployments to Azure
• On Code Project, The DotNetLead team discusses Building and Deploying CI/CD Angular Applications using GitHub and Azure

Hybrid

Covering: Azure Arc, Azure Stack

• Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) describes how to Check if network connectivity for Azure Arc Connected Machine Agent is blocked

Identity

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

• On the Redmond magazine site, Kurt Mackie (@kurmac) highlights that the Microsoft Design Changes Include New Azure Icon and New Default Font
• John Lian (@jlian) writes about Secure service connection to IoT Hub using Azure AD and RBAC
• Mia Guo describes how to Share a single identity across resources using user-assigned managed identity in Azure IoT Hub
• Mirek Sztajno talks about how to Support for Azure AD user creation on behalf of Azure AD Applications for Azure SQL DB
• Stuart Kwan introduces Attribute Based Access Control (ABAC) in Azure
• Sue Bohn talks about how Gogo soars through industry contraction by switching to Azure AD
• Christos Matskas (@ChristosMatskas) and Jay Gordon discuss Microsoft Identity

Integration

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

• On Azure Sentinel Blog, Alp Babayigit talks about Azure Sentinel Side-by-Side with Splunk via EventHub
• On BizTalk Gurus, Pedro Almeida describes Logic Apps: CI/CD Part 1- Building your Logic App
• On Code Project, Joel Ivory Johnson (@j2inet) blogs about Java on Azure: Leveraging Cloud-Native Services
• Antti K. Koskela (@koskila) explains How to move your Microsoft PowerAutomate Flow to Logic Apps
• On SQL Server Central, Elie Bou Issa covers Automating Azure DevOps with Logic Apps
• Sandro Pereira (@sandro_asp) blogs about the New Azure and Dataverse Logos in Microsoft Integration and Azure Stencils Pack for Visio)

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 the Azure blog, Ricardo Duncan discusses how to Modernize your IoT future with Azure and Microsoft Power Platform
• The Azure Updates Team runs through the Azure IoT Central new and updated features
• On Channel 9, Fanie Reynders (@FanieReynders) talks about How EDGE Next powers Smart Buildings with Azure Digital Twins
• Sander van de Velde describes Message enrichment for Azure IoT Edge modules and Azure IoT Edge UDP Client module

Learning

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

• Simon Foster (@funkysi1701) writes about his Road to Certification
• Gregor Suttie (@gregor_suttie) provides an AI-102 Azure Study Guide
• Brenda Saucedo explains how to Sharpen your skills with new Azure AI Fundamentals free course on Udacity
• Lee Stott (@lee_stott) discusses the Microsoft Learn for Educators (MSLE) Partnership & Impact
• Thuan Nguyen writes about Az-500: Quick notes on AAD hybrid identity

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

• Victor Silva walks through Getting Started with Azure Blueprints With Step-by-Step Demo
• The Azure Updates Team announces that Azure Purview now supports Private Endpoints in public preview and that you can now Enable Azure Site Recovery ASR while creating Azure Virtual Machines
• Stanislav Zhelyazkov (@StanZhelyazkov) discusses Deleting Custom Table from Azure Log Analytics
• On the DEV site, Yaser Adel Mehraban walks From ARM to Bicep
• Hannes Lagler-Gruener talks about Azure cost management solution
• Pierre Roman (@pierreroman) discusses Backups and Good Governance
• On System Center Automation, Billy York discusses Log Analytics Data Collection and Configuration with Bicep
• Steve Sherry explains How to Rename/Move Azure Resource Groups (GUI and CLI)
• Jose Moreno (@erjosito) covers Cisco ACI and Microsoft Azure
• On the Azure Medium blog, Adam Bertram (@adbertram) talks about Getting Started with Azure Blueprints With Step-by-Step Demo
• Pierre Roman (@pierreroman) talks about Azure Backup Center: Monitor and operate
• Ben Ari describes Monitoring and alerting design thoughts and considerations with Azure Web Apps

Media

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

• On the Azure blog, Erin Zefkeles discusses A fluent new look for the Azure icon

Migration

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

• On the SQL Server Blog, the SQL Server Team explains how to Accelerate SQL Server to Azure migration with Pure Cloud Block Store
• On Channel 9, Wayne Meyer and Sarah Lean discuss How to plan for cloud adoption Azure Enablement
• On the Microsoft site, a reporter covers how Microsoft and UK government make it easier for public sector organisations to use the Azure cloud
• On Channel 9, Venkata Raj Pochiraju talks about how to Discover and Assess SQL Server Data Estate and provides an Introduction to SSMA

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 announces Application Gateway Mutual Authentication
• Leo Li explains How to access on premises data stores from ADF managed virtual network using Private Endpoint
• On the Whizlabs blog, Vidya Ransam provides a Complete guide to Azure Load Balancer

Security

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

• Erin Boris blogs about Microsoft Cloud App Security: The Hunt for Insider Risk
• Gilad Elyashar (@GiladElyashar) highlights the General availability of new capabilities in Azure Defender – RSA 2021
• On Azure Sentinel Blog, Ben Nick highlights the Hunting dashboard refresh
• Also on Azure Sentinel Blog, Preeti Krishna (@PreetiKr007) introduces Azure Sentinel Solutions
• Also on Azure Sentinel Blog, Rin Ure explains What's New: Azure Sentinel - SOC Process Framework Workbook
• Thomas Thornton (@tamstar1234) runs through how to Copy Azure KeyVault secrets to another KeyVault using Azure CLI

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 Attribute-based Access Control ABAC is now available for preview in Azure Storage, that you can now Prevent Shared Key authorization for an Azure Storage account, that Zone redundant storage (ZRS) option for Azure managed disks is in public preview and a Application Consistent Snapshot tool AzAcSnap for Azure NetApp Files
• Sam Cogan (@samcogan) discusses Backup for Azure Blob Storage - 2021 Update

Web

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

• On the Azure blog, Daria Grigoriu (@DariaGrigoriu) announces that you can now Develop production-scale modern web apps quickly with Azure Static Web Apps
• The Azure Updates Team announces that Azure Static Web Apps is now generally available and and runs through the Azure API Management updates - May 2021
• On the DEV site, Aaron Powell (@slace) walks through Using Auth0 With Static Web Apps and Using Okta With Static Web Apps
• Rahul Nath (@rahulpnath) explains How To Deploy Web App and Web Job In A Single Pipeline
• Yan Jin explains how to Build real-time application with lightweight server and Azure Web PubSub service

Windows Virtual Desktop

Covering: Windows Virtual Desktop

• Travis Roberts (@Ciraltos) explains how to Shut Down Unused Session Hosts in a Windows Virtual Desktop Personal Host Pool

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"!