Azure Weekly Newsletter Issue #364

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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

• Matthew Casperson presents Building a Universal Translator with Azure Cognitive Services Part Three: Translating Text and Converting It to Speech
• Hadas Bitran writes about From free text to FHIR: Text Analytics for health launches new feature to boost interoperability
• Mehreen Tahir presents Training a Custom Object Detection Model on Azure Custom Vision Part 1: Gathering Data and Training the Model, Part 2: Testing the Model, and Part 3: Deploying and Running the Model
• Ashok Ambati covers Manufacturing Solution: Monitoring of Defective Components with Azure Percept

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

• Abhishek Narain (@narainabhishek) talks about ADF / Synapse Pipelines Web activity response timeout improvement
• Drew Furgiuele writes about Now in preview: Materialized Views Over Materialized Views in Azure Data Explorer.
• Maria Zakourdaev writes about Web scraping using Azure Synapse notebooks
• Ron L'Esteve writes about Real-Time Analytics, Advanced Analytics and Reporting in Azure Synapse Analytics
• Arindam Mondal explains how to Prevent Accidental Resource Deletion Using Locks in Azure Data Factory
• Joost van Rossum (@ssisjoost) presents ADF Snack - Script Activity
• On the Data Exposed channel, Anna Hoffman is joined by Noelle Li, Abhishek Narain and Mark Kromer to discuss Exciting New Features in Azure Data Factory
• Dave Upton discusses Nextflow On Microsoft Azure with a Blazor Frontend
• Charith Caldera describes how to Set up an Azure-SSIS Integration Runtime IR in Azure Synapse Analytics using PowerShell
• Michal Bar writes about New productivity features in Kusto Explorer

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 covers Public preview: Trusted launch support for Virtual Machines using Ephemeral OS disks and writes that Select Azure Dedicated Host SKUs will be retired on 31 March 2023
• Jerry Zhang talks about Difference of auto OS upgrade setting of Service Fabric Managed Cluster and Classic Cluster
• Symona Wang presents Deep understanding of TargetReplicaSetSize and MinReplicaSetSize for Service Fabric stateful service
• The Azure Updates Team explains how to Extended support for Microsoft .NET Core 3.1 will end on 3 December 2022

Containers

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

• Amit Khandelwal explains how to Configure MSDTC to run Distributed transactions for SQL Server Linux Containers on Azure Kubernetes
• Thorsten Hans explains How to run your own Helm Repository on Azure Container Apps
• The Azure Updates Team blogs about Azure Container Monitoring will be retired on 31 March 2025

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 writes about General availability: Azure Database for PostgreSQL - Flexible Server supports PostgreSQL minor versions, writes about General availability: Azure Database for PostgreSQL—Hyperscale Citus supports PostgreSQL minor versions, writes about General availability: New high availability regions—Azure Database for PostgreSQL - Flexible Server, writes about General availability: Azure Database for PostgreSQL - Flexible Server—new US government regions and writes about General availability: New extensions for Azure Database for PostgreSQL - Flexible Server
• The Azure Updates Team writes about General availability: Azure Database for MySQL—Flexible Server - New US government region and Generally available: Azure Database for MySQL – Flexible Server in two new regions
• The Azure Updates Team blogs about Public preview: Azure Synapse Link for Azure Cosmos DB partitioning Spark 3.1
• On Tech Community blog, Jose M Jurado (@jmjuradodiaz) describes Lesson Learned 191: Performance comparison using Inner vs Left Join in Linked Server/Elastic Query
• Jovan Popovic (@jocapc) writes about Best practices for integrating serverless SQL pool with Cosmos DB Analytical store via Synapse Link
• Johan Hln blogs about Monitoring Azure SQL Databases
• Daniel Calbimonte talks about Query History and Server Reports in Azure Data Studio
• Scott Kim announces GA release of Azure SQL Maintenance Windows for SQL Database and SQL Managed Instance
• The Azure Updates Team writes about Generally available: Best practices assessment for SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines, and Azure SQL—Public preview updates for mid-March 2022 and General availability: Enablement of combined security information registration for Azure Active Directory
• Ebru Ersan blogs about GA: SQL best practices assessment for SQL Server on Azure VMs
• N V Sudhir Kumar Raparla covers SQL Database Import Export using Private Link now in Preview

Developer Tools

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

• The Azure Updates Team blogs about Public preview: Azure App Configuration soft delete capability and explains how to Update your Azure SDK libraries by 31 March 2023
• On the Visual Studio blog, Mads Kristensen (@mkristensen) writes about Happy 25th birthday Visual Studio
• Also on the Visual Studio blog, Vritant Bhardwaj explains how to Live Unit Testing Preview: Better and Faster
• On the Visual Studio blog, Jordan Matthiesen (@JMatthiesen) writes about Visual Studio 2022 for Mac Preview 7
• Beatriz Stollnitz covers Configuring Azure ML projects to run on GitHub Codespaces

DevOps

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

• On the Microsoft DevOps blog, Mark Graham covers Deprecating weak cryptographic standards TLS 1.0 and 1.1 in Azure DevOps Services
• Also on the Microsoft DevOps blog, Michael Omokoh talks about Azure Artifacts now provides native support to use packages from more repositories and covers Azure Artifacts feed continues to make product accessible to everyone
• Raven Zhang explains How to deploy your Web App from Azure Pipeline with restricted access.
• Thomas Thornton (@tamstar1234) covers Creating dynamic variables during a pipeline run in Azure DevOps

Hybrid + Multicloud

Covering: Azure Arc, Azure Stack

• Danimir Ljepava (@danimir) announces Link feature for Managed Instance now in preview

Identity

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

• Chase Wilson talks about Azure CLI MS Graph Migration - Beta
• Damien Bowden (@damien_bod) covers Transforming identity claims in ASP.NET Core and Cache

Integration

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

• The Azure Updates Team discusses Public preview: Azure SignalR Service Premium Tier
• Sandro Pereira (@sandro_asp) writes about Logic App Best practices, Tips and Tricks: 5 Delete comments
• Monojit Datta explains how to Communicate Realtime on Azure with Web PubSub
• Fernando Mejia writes about Secure your APIs with Private Link support for Azure API Management

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 writes about General availability: Support for Private Link in Azure Digital Twins, writes about Generally available: Pin analytics tile to dashboards in Azure IoT Central, explains how to Migrate to MQTT broker on Azure IoT Edge by 31 March 2023 and blogs about IoT Hub on Azure Stack Hub public preview will be retired on 30 September 2022
• Also on Tech Community blog, BarReuven talks about Microsoft Defender for IoT for Device Builders in Public Preview
• Nicholas Switzer writes about Geographically Provisioning IoT Devices on Azure
• Spyros Sakellariadis talks about Anomalies, alarms, and faults in Smart buildings and smart manufacturing
• On episode 184 of the Azure DevOps Podcast, Chris Tacke joins Jeffrey Palermo (@jeffreypalermo) to discuss .NET 6 IoT on Linux
  
  
  
• The Azure Sphere Team blogs about Azure Sphere 22.02 Update 1 now available: resolves known SDK issues

Learning

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

• Nancy Tandy announces the Power Automate RPA Developer Associate certification
• Sandra Marin covers Coming soon: The new Azure Enterprise Data Analyst Associate certification
• Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) talks about Passing the Must Learn KQL Assessment
• On episode 125 of the Ctrl+Alt+Azure Podcast, Tobias Zimmergren and Jussi Roine discuss Azure Updates

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

• The Azure Updates Team writes about Generally available: Azure Site Recovery update rollup 61 - March 2022
• John Kilmister (@johnkilmister) explains How to Separate Production, Test and Development Resources in Azure
• Sam Cogan (@samcogan) presents Azure Spring Clean: Enforce Budgets with Cost Management and Logic Apps
• The Azure Updates Team writes about Generally available: Support for private links in Azure Monitor agent

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

• No content this week

Mobile

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

• On Visual Studio Magazine - Blogs, David Ramel (@dramel) covers Uno Platform Taps Xamarin for .NET WebAssembly Memory Profiler Support

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

• John Joyner (@john_joyner) presents Going Private: Move your Azure apps and services off the Internet

Security

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

• Lili Davoudian blogs about Azure Security Benchmark v3 Workbook and explains how to Updated Azure Security Benchmark Workbook
• Charles Pluta delves into Getting Started with Microsoft Azure Defender for Cloud

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

• The Azure Updates Team describes Public preview: Protect Azure Static Web Apps environments with a password
• Jason Freeberg blogs about Clustering Support for JBoss EAP on Azure App Service Public Preview

Azure Virtual Desktop

Covering: Azure 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"!