Azure Weekly Newsletter Issue #338

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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

• The Azure Updates Team announces that Machine Learning Studio classic will retire on 31 August 2024
• On The Azure Podcast, Nikhil Vimal talks about Episode 391 - AI/ML for Process Automation
• Amy Boyd writes about 5 Ways Azure Cognitive Services Scale
• Valentina Alto talks about Azure Automated Machine Learning
• On Tech Community blog, CormacGarvey blogs about Performance considerations for large scale deep learning training on Azure NDv4 A100 series
• Jia Gu discusses Troubleshoot Azure Cognitive Search Latency Issue

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 talks about Managing schemas in Azure Synapse SQL Serverless
• Kevin Chant delves into Azure Test Plans example for Azure Synapse Analytics
• The Azure Updates Team announces Azure Data Factory Compute Optimized data flows will be retired on 31 August 2024 and Azure Synapse Analytics Compute Optimized data flows will be retired on 31 August 2024
• The SQL Server Team announces the Microsoft at Data Platform Virtual Summit 2021
• On the MSSQL Tips site, Ron L'Esteve explains how to Mount an Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 Account in Databricks
• Eduardo Pivaral writes about Real-Time Streaming using Power BI Streaming Dataset
• Guy Reginiano talks about Monitor ingestions with ADX Insights
• On Channel 9, Anna Hoffman, Alexandra Ciortea, and Steven Marturano talk about Migrating to SQL: New Conversion Reports in SSMA Ep. 7 Data Exposed
• Elizabeth Maher blogs about Power BI Reports for Azure Lab Services - Part 2: Visualizing Lab Information

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 announces ND-series Azure Virtual Machines will be retired by 31 August 2022 and Azure Functions support for Python 3.6 is ending on 30 September 2022
• Justin Yoo (@justinchronicle) blogs about Azure Functions Integration Testing
• Hailey Ding talks about Azure Cloud Service classic OS Upgrade Introduction
• The Azure Updates Team announces that Basic and Standard A-series VMs will retire on 31 August 2024
• The Azure Updates Team covers Azure Functions support for Node 8 is ending on 28 February 2022
• Mike Craft blogs about Azure Service Fabric managed clusters 2021-07-01-preview release
• Kevin Li discusses Play with Proxy in Azure Function App
• Wong Cyrus talks about Microsoft Azure Automatic Grading Engine

Containers

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

• Pixel Robots writes about AKS burst to ACI when node pool is full
• Thorsten.hansgmail.com Thorsten Hans explains how to Send a Microsoft Teams message when new OCI artifacts appear in Azure Container Registry

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

• Nir Ohfeld and Sagi Tzadik highlight a severe vulnerability they uncovered in Cosmos DB in ChaosDB: How we hacked thousands of Azure customers’ databases - if you're using Cosmos DB this is a vital read.
• The Azure Updates Team announces Retiring version Async 2.x of the Azure Cosmos DB Java SDK on 31 August 2024 and Community support for Azure Database PostgreSQL version 10 ends on 10 November 2022
• Masashi Narumoto talks about Handling failover events for Azure Database for MySQL Flexible Server when using connection pooling
• On SQL Server Central, Maria Zakourdaev discusses Azure Data Factory Incremental Pipeline from Azure SQL Database to Databricks

Developer Tools

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

• On Channel 9, Rich Lander and Mike Rousos talk about Diagnosing memory leaks in .NET apps On .NET
• On Channel 9, Scott Hanselman Rob Caron talks about Quantum-inspired algorithms and the Azure Quantum optimization service on Azure Friday
• On Visual Studio Magazine - Blogs, David Ramel (@dramel) says Azure SDK: Goodbye QnA Maker, Hello AI 'Question Answering' and Why Download Visual Studio/VS Code from Microsoft Store
• Donovan Brown (@DonovanBrown) demonstrates what happens when Codespaces meet Dapr

DevOps

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

• Jeffrey Palermo (@jeffreypalermo) blogs about Jason Beres on DevOps for Shipping Libraries - Episode 155
• Abhishek Narain covers CI/CD Improvements with GitHub support in Azure Government and Azure China
• Hannes Lagler-Gruener writes about New Youtube session on Azure bicep development
• The Azure Updates Team writes about Multi-step web tests will be retired on 31 August 2024
• Justin Yoo (@justinchronicle) talks about Hackathon as a Service with GitHub Actions, Microsoft 365 and Power Platform

Hybrid

Covering: Azure Arc, Azure Stack

• The Azure Updates Team highlights the Public preview: Apply settings inside machines using Azure Policy's guest configuration
• Robert Smit (@Clustermvp) writes about First hands-on Upgrading to Windows Server 2022 Domain Controller Windows2022 Windows2016 winserv CloudOS WIMVP
• Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) talks about Azure Unblogged - Azure Arc and Azure Stack HCI advanced specialization
• Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) covers Azure Webinar: Bring Cloud Value to Your Windows Server Anywhere
• James van Den Berg blogs about WindowsInsiders 11 Preview Enterprise Build in Azure Cloud

Identity

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

• The Azure Updates Team announces that Azure expands HITRUST certification across 51 Azure regions and that Azure AD B2C redirect URL login.microsoftonline.com will be retired on 31 August 2022
• Luis Aranda blogs about Troubleshooting Azure Active Directory Integrated Authentication in Azure SQL

Integration

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

• Sabyasachi Samaddar blogs about Sending Kafka Topics into MySQL DB using JDBC connector hosted in an HDInsight Managed Cluster
• Veera Reddy Gangala blogs about Logic App utility to perform bulk operations on Standard Logic App workflow runs
• Yanbo Deng discusses Use PowerShell Script to Manage Your API Connection of Logic App Consumption Resources
• Innocent Wafula discusses building an Ingestion Cost Spike detection App for Azure Sentinel

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

• Sucharita Das explains how to Sending streaming data from Azure IoT Central to Azure SQL Database
• On Tech Community blog, CharlesElwood describes The Moment: Azure Percept, Stream Analytics, and PowerBI all work together
• Kaushik Roy describes Design an AI enabled NVR with AVA Edge and Intel OpenVino
• The Azure Sphere Team writes about General availability: Azure Sphere OS version 21.08

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, Scheduler, Azure Purview

• Laurie Litwack explains how to Learn how MIP works with Azure Purview at the Azure Data Governance digital event on September 28
• Neha Kulkarni describes Azure Policy introduces user assigned MSI support, faster DINE deployment, and more
• The Azure Updates Team blogs about Transition to new work item integration in Application Insights by 31 August 2022

Media

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

• Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) covers Migrating Your Video Pipeline to Azure Media Services

Migration

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

• Sudheesh Narayanaswamy explains how to Migrate from Azure Database for MySQL - Single Server to Flexible Server in 5 easy steps
• Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) covers Hyper-V host already registered to Azure Recovery Vault Error
• The Azure Updates Team writes about Hard coded IP address for Azure Site Recovery will be retired on 31 August 2024
• Sarah Lean (@TechieLass) writes about Weekly Update 106 - Azure Policy, Azure Site Recovery & Windows 11 in AVD

Mobile

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

• On Channel 9, Craig Dunn talks about Can I build Surface Duo apps with C# and Visual Studio - One Dev Question

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

• Ala Raddaoui describes Going multicloud with kubernetes and Azure Front Door
• Greg Low (@greglow) talks about SQL: Fix: The parameters supplied for the procedure spsetfirewallrule are not valid.
• Adam Bertram (@adbertram) describes How to Set up an Azure Firewall And Why Not NSGS
• Sonia Cuff (@soniacuff) describes Step by step: Adding multiple IP addresses to an Azure Virtual Machine with PowerShell
• Joe Carlyle (@wedoAzure) describes How To – Troubleshoot Azure Virtual Network Peerings

Security

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

• Chi Nguyen describes Becoming an Azure Sentinel Notebooks ninja - the series
• Jody Cedola talks about Public Preview: File custom indicators of compromise IoC Enhancement & API schema update
• Lili Davoudian describes How Azure Security can help Federal Agencies meet Cybersecurity Executive Order Requirements
• Mohit Kumar writes about New Detections, Hunting Queries and Response Automation in Azure Firewall Solution for Sentinel
• Sarah Young (@_sarahyo) explains how to What's new: Azure Sentinel Ninja Training Knowledge Check
• Tom Janetscheck blogs about Azure Defender PoC Series - Azure Defender for Container Registries
• Zachary Cavanell explains how to Automate threat detection and response with Azure Sentinel and Microsoft 365 Defender

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

• No content this week

Web

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

• Alan Kinane (@Azure_Alan) provides A tour of the new look App Service networking features
• The Azure Updates Team announces Java 7 will be retired from App Service on 29 July 2022
• Nate Ceres says Join Microsoft at SpringOne 2021

Azure Virtual Desktop

Covering: Azure Virtual Desktop

• The Azure Updates Team announces Windows 11 public preview is now available on Azure Virtual Desktop
• Freek Berson (@fberson) discusses Multimedia redirection for Azure Virtual Desktop preview

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"!