Azure Weekly Issue 460: 31st March 2024

Following the trend from last week, there are a number of new retirement notices again. In AI there were a number of interesting posts focusing on "Responsible AI": Detect and Mitigate Ungrounded Model Outputs, and March Responsibly: Creating effective security guardrails with metaprompt/system message engineering. There's an interesting post about what powers all these AI services in: Annual Roundup of AI Infrastructure Breakthroughs for 2023, and a fascinating post about Leveraging Knowledge Graphs with Azure OpenAI.

It was the first Fabric Conference in Las Vegas this week, the pace of innovation in Microsoft Fabric is quite staggering, which you can see in the Microsoft Fabric March 2024 Update release notes. There's also an useful post detailing how to Grow your FinOps practice with the Microsoft community.

Two really very useful new features in Azure Container Apps were announced this week: Generally Available: Free managed certificates on Azure Container Apps and Public preview: Support for Key Vault Certificates in Azure Container Apps. There's also a useful guide to Azure Network Subnetting made easy.

A busy week at endjin; first up Ian Griffiths appeared on the Real-world Serverless podcast to give a Azure Functions Deep Dive, Barry Smart published his yearly summary of SQLbits 2024 - The Best Bits. Matthew Adams reflects on SQLBits in Data and AI Engineering Maturity - Fix our problems before we hit the buffers, and I unveiled a tool I've been working on for a few years: adr - A .NET Tool for Creating & Managing Architecture Decision Records.

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 Migrate to Azure AI Document Intelligence v3.1 GA version
• The Azure Updates Team announces Public Preview: Safety evaluations for generative AI applications in Azure AI Studio
• Sarah Young (@_sarahyo) writes about March Responsibly: Creating effective security guardrails with metaprompt/system message engineering
• Ken Archer explains how to Detect and Mitigate Ungrounded Model Outputs
• Qiyang Li blogs about Introducing Risks & safety monitoring feature in Azure OpenAI Service
• Geert Baeke (@GeertBaeke) talks about Use Azure OpenAI on your data with Semantic Kernel
• On the Redmond magazine site, Gladys Rama covers Azure AI Gets Security, Anti-Hallucination Features
• On Hacker Noon, George Anadiotis covers Neo4j Is Building an Ecosystem of Graph-powered Features for Generative AI
• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Glaucia Lemos (@glaucia_lemos86) describes LangChain.js + Azure: A Generative AI App Journey Azure Developers JavaScript Day 2024
• Lo Kinfey (@Ljh8304) covers Journey Series for Generative AI Application Architecture - Model references and evaluation models
• Manny Sahota describes FAQ: Protecting the Data of our Commercial and Public Sector Customers in the AI Era
• Melissa Ma writes about 9 More Realistic AI Voices for Conversations Now Generally Available
• Yoav Dobrin discusses Optimizing Data Extraction Accuracy with Custom Models in Azure AI Document Intelligence
• Deepak Kaaushik talks about Azure Developer Community: Tech Talk on Microsoft Copilot
• Alexandre Levret explains how to Get started with Function Calling through Assistants API on Azure OpenAI
• Hugo Affaticati provides A quick start guide to benchmarking AI models in Azure: Llama 2 from MLPerf Inference v4.0
• John Lee writes about Annual Roundup of AI Infrastructure Breakthroughs for 2023
• Shubhendu Satsangi writes about Conversational Bots 2.0 – Setting a new paradigm
• Manoranjan Rajguru writes about Fundamental of Deploying Large Language Model Inference
• Sophie Chen covers Leverage Large Language Models such as ChatGPT for your Ecommerce System
• Shivam Goyal blogs about Getting Started With Azure AI Studio
• Sarah Yousuf blogs about Microsoft showcases latest AI solutions at NVIDIA GTC
• Minsoo Thigpen blogs about Introducing AI-assisted safety evaluations in Azure AI Studio
• Pavan Li covers Azure OpenAI Service Expands On Your Data with Elasticsearch to Revolutionize Conversational AI
• Federico Zarfati discusses Azure AI announces Prompt Shields for Jailbreak and Indirect prompt injection attacks
• Noa Ben-Efraim covers Leveraging Knowledge Graphs with Azure OpenAI
• From the Nashville Microsoft Azure Users Group, Bill Zack (@WilliamHZack) shares Unveiling the Secrets of Microsoft Copilot" by Micah Heaton

Analytics

Covering: Apache Spark for HDInsight, Azure Analysis Services, Azure Data Explorer, Azure Data Share, Azure Databricks, Azure Stream Analytics, Azure Synapse Analytics, Data Factory, Event Hubs, HDInsight, Microsoft Purview, Microsoft Fabric

• The Azure Updates Team say Custom .Net deserializer for Azure Stream Analytics will be retired on 30 September 2024., explains how to We're retiring Memory Optimized Data Flows in Azure Data Factory - use General Purpose for better performance at a lower price. and announces Azure HDInsight 5.0 will be retired on 31 March 2025
• Barry Smart (@barry_j_a_smart) shares his annual SQLbits 2024 - The Best Bits
• After SQLBits, Matthew Adams (@ythos) reflects on Data and AI Engineering Maturity - Fix our problems before we hit the buffers
• James Serra (@JamesSerra) highlights the Announcements from the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference
• On Microsoft Fabric Blog, Saveen Reddy (@saveenr) blogs about Microsoft Fabric March 2024 Update
• Also on Microsoft Fabric Blog, Justin Barry delves into Microsoft Fabric Lifecycle Management - Getting started with Git Integration and Deployment Pipelines, Charles Webb announces the Public Preview of Mirroring in Microsoft Fabric, Mark Kromer talks about REST APIs for Fabric Data Factory pipelines now available, covers Data Factory Increases Maximum Activities Per Pipeline to 80, covers Data Factory Adds CI/CD to Fabric Data Pipelines and Leo Li covers Integrating On-Premises Data into Microsoft Fabric Using Data Pipelines in Data Factory
• On the MSSQL Tips site, Koen Verbeeck (@Ko_Ver) explains how to Automate Delta Tables Maintenance in a Microsoft Fabric Warehouse
• Sander van de Velde (@svelde) describes User properties in Azure Stream Analytics, the smart way
• Noelle Li talks about Data Factory Increases Maximum Activities Per Pipeline to 80
• On Microsoft Security blog, Rohan Kumar blogs about The foundation for responsible analytics with Microsoft Purview
• On SQL Server Central, Koen Verbeeck (@Ko_Ver) writes about What is Eventstream in Microsoft Fabric - Part 1
• Noelle Li blogs about Action Required: Switch from Memory Optimized Data Flows in Azure Data Factory to General Purpose
• Chris Webb (@cwebb_bi) writes about Best Practices For Power BI On Databricks Webinar
• Sharmila Chockalingam talks about Elevating AI with Databricks on Azure: Introducing the Latest Large Language Models

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 Retirement: Support for .NET 6 ends on 12 November 2024 - upgrade your Azure Functions apps to .NET 8, talks about Retirement: Support for the in-process model for .NET apps in Azure Functions ends 10 November 2026., blogs about Support for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS for Batch pools will be retired on 23 April 2025, describes StandardNC6sv3, StandardNC12sv3 and StandardNC24sv3 Azure virtual machines will be retired on September 30, 2025 and discusses Azure CycleCloud support for Chef runlists and cookbooks in cluster-init projects is ending on 31 March 2025
• The Azure Updates Team announces GA: Azure SQL Trigger support for Azure Functions
• The Azure Updates Team announces Public preview: PowerShell 7.4 support for Azure Functions
• On the Real-World Serverless podcast, Ian Griffiths (@idg10) does an Azure Functions Deep Dive with Yan Cui (@theburningmonk), talking about how it works and how it differs (significantly) from AWS Lambda.
• Matthew Henderson writes about .NET on Azure Functions – March 2024 roadmap update
• On the MSSQL Tips site, Hristo Hristov explains how to Generate PDF file using Azure Functions, Python Runtime and xhtml2pdf Package
• David Santiago walks through Demystifying Azure VM Maintenance: A practical guide to minimizing disruptions
• Henry Yan describes Building Trust into OS images for Confidential Containers
• Sandeep Raichura covers Community images in Azure - A new way to share images on Azure
• Tarannum Ferdous discusses Capacity Reservation for Specialty SKUs - now available
• Alibek Jakupov covers Securing Azure OpenAI Usage with Azure Functions and Managed Identities: a Step-by-Step Guide

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 writes about Generally Available: Free managed certificates on Azure Container Apps
• The Azure Updates Team describes Preview: New Features in Azure Container Storage, covers Public Preview: Azure Container Apps OpenTelemetry collector support and describes Public preview: Support for Key Vault Certificates in Azure Container Apps
• Pixel Robots (@Pixel_Robots) describes Implementing Deployment Safeguards in Azure Kubernetes Service AKS: A Step-by-Step Guide
• Roy Kim (@roykimyyz) explains how to Did My Apps Go Down During AKS Upgrade
• On Diagrid Blog, Marc Duiker (@marcduiker) talks about Dapr 1.13 Release Highlights
• Steve Buchanan (@buchatech) discusses Azure Friday: Safeguard your containerized workloads using AKS backup

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 announces Every-write AOF persistence on Azure Cache for Redis Enterprise and Enterprise Flash will be retired on 1 April 2025
• The Azure Updates Team writes about General availability: Azure SQL updates for late-March 2024 and Scott Kim announces GA of Advance Maintenance Notifications for Azure SQL Database
• The Azure Updates Team describes Public Preview: Azure SQL Database Mirroring in Microsoft Fabric, blogs about Public preview: Change partition key of a container in Azure Cosmos DB NoSQL API, covers Public Preview: Real-time text translation using the azureai extension in Azure Database for PostgreSQL, discusses Public Preview: Invoke Azure Machine Learning models using the azureai extension, Arvind Shyamsundar discusses Public preview: Maintenance window support for Azure SQL Database Hyperscale elastic pools and Shoham Dasgupta covers Public preview: Label-based access control for Azure SQL Database using Microsoft Purview policies
• Idris Motiwala announces Mirroring Azure SQL Database in Fabric for Public Preview
• On the MSSQL Tips site, Jim Evans talks about List All Azure SQL Databases and Properties with PowerShell Script
• Marisa Mathews blogs about Introducing Copilot in Azure SQL Database Private Preview Data Exposed
• Denzil Ribeiro (@DenzilRibeiro) writes about Real-time predictions with the azureai extension Preview
• Hanno Borns discusses Dremio Cloud on Microsoft Azure enables customers to drive value from their data more easily
• Jose M Jurado (@jmjuradodiaz) covers Lesson Learned 480:Application-Level Locking in Azure SQL Database - Ensuring Exclusive Access
• Matt Changchien writes about HelloRetryRequest of the TLS 1.3 handshake messages during a connection to Azure SQL Database
• On SQL Server Central, Cláudio Silva writes Check Azure SQL DB Space Used
• Vijay Kumar explains how to Migrate SQL Server to Azure SQL Managed Instance at Scale

Developer Tools

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

• Howard van Rooijen (@HowardvRooijen) unveils adr - A .NET Tool for Creating & Managing Architecture Decision Records
• On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Laurent Bugnion (@LBugnion) covers Using GitHub Copilot Chat in Visual Studio, explains How to use Comments as Prompts in GitHub Copilot for Visual Studio and talks about The AskVS command in GitHub Copilot for Visual Studio
• Jeffrey Palermo (@jeffreypalermo) talks to Mark Miller: Voice User Interface
• The Azure Updates Team talks about Azure Maps Web SDK Map Control version 2.0.x and Azure Maps Service Module will be retired on 30 September 2026
• On the Visual Studio blog, Jim Harrer highlights In 4 Weeks: Visual Studio LIVE Chicago 2024
• On Hacker Noon, Sukhpinder Singh blogs about The 30-Day .NET Challenge Day 6: String built-in Methods
• Jasmine Greenaway (@paladique) covers 14 Days Of Data Science: Its Python Data Science Day
• On Visual Studio Magazine, David Ramel (@dramel) explains how to It's a 'Go' for Microsoft Azure Developers and discusses Microsoft Azure Experts On Tap for Chicago Developer Conference Keynotes

DevOps

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

• Mikayla Hutchinson provides A new MSBuild editing experience
• Leo Visser (@autosysops) explains how to Analyze sustainability data periodically with GitHub Actions for free
• Elio Struyf (@eliostruyf) describes Caching Dev Proxy in your GitHub Actions workflows
• Gerasimos Alexiou talks about Azure DevOps Terraform Provider
• On the Visual Studio blog, Jessie Houghton explains how to See Your Pull Request Comments with the Latest Preview

Hybrid + Multicloud

Covering: Azure Arc, Azure Stack

• Inbal Silis talks about Optimizing Azure Arc Health in AWS and GCP: A Defender for Cloud Workbook
• Kiana Harris covers Azure Adaptive Cloud Community Call Relaunch
• Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) discusses Azure Stack HCI 23H2 – VMs and containers at the edge

Identity

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

• Gerasimos Alexiou explains how to Connect to Azure resources with Managed Identity – Storage account example
• Anupma Sharma talks about Microsoft Entra Internet Access: Unify Security Service Edge with Identity and Access Management
• Nadim Abdo describes Microsoft Entra resilience update: workload identity authentication
• Nichole Peterson discusses Microsoft Entra: Top content creators to follow

Integration

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

• The Azure Updates Team writes about General availability: Rate Limiting on ExpressRoute Direct Circuits and talks about GA: Azure Logic Apps Designer for Consumption
• On By Sandro Pereira's blog, Luis Rigueira blogs about Friday Fact: Azure Logic Apps Supports Both Dot and Bracket Notations
• Also on By Sandro Pereira's blog, Sandro Pereira (@sandro_asp) describes Logic App Consumption deployment: The secret of KeyVault parameter cannot be retrieved. Http status code: Forbidden. Error message: Access denied to first party service
• Beena More talks about Azure Integration Services Quarterly Highlights and Insights 2024'Q1
• Kalyani Dhanda explains how to Deploy Workflows to Logic App Standard using AZ CLI Task in DevOps Pipeline with Append Option
• Travis Harris describes Introducing the New Azure Logic Apps Designer for Consumption: Faster, Smoother, and More Reliable

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 announces Azure Sphere version 24.03 and Azure Sphere Integrated are now generally available
• The Azure Sphere Team covers Azure Sphere version 24.03 is now available
• The Azure Sphere Team talks about Azure Sphere Integrated is generally available

Learning

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

• Stephen Jensen talks about Microsoft Credentials roundup blog post: March 2024
• Rie Moriguchi describes Microsoft AI Tour : Sydney, Bengaluru, Tokyo and explains how to Learn about Responsible AI with MVP Veronika Kolesnikova
• Nicholas Xuan Nguyen covers Master Azure Machine Learning Basics with this Comprehensive Guide
• Brady Bumgarner writes about Welcome to the updated Marketplace Rewards Toolbox
• Mark Kashman (@mkashman) writes about In-person events tips and tricks – The Intrazone podcast
• On Hacker Noon, Sukhpinder Singh covers Taking the Azure Open AI Challenge - Day 1, describes Taking the Azure Open AI Challenge: Image Generation - Day 2 and talks about Taking the Azure Open AI Challenge - Day 4: How to Set Up the Azure AI Search Service
• TJ Devine talks about Whats New in Copilot for Microsoft 365

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 announces Begin using Azure Monitor–based dashboards in Azure API Management before the built-in analytics dashboards are retired on 15 March 2027
• João Sá explains how to Assign an existing User-Assigned Managed Identity to VM from another subscription using Azure Policy
• Khushbu Gandhi explains how to Securing Monitoring Services
• Billy York (@SCAutomation) describes Windows Memory Metric in Azure Monitor Log Analytics
• Shishir Garde describes Azure Monitor Availability alerts using Resource Graph Queries
• Sonia Cuff (@soniacuff) explains how to Grow your FinOps practice with the Microsoft community
• Rama Shastri talks about Skilling snack: Copilot in Windows for IT admins

Media

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

• Galaan writes about New features to make your Clipchamp videos more accessible

Migration

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

• The Azure Updates Team writes about General availability: Migration service in Azure Database for PostgreSQL
• Jill Armour covers Partners increase deal velocity with Azure Migrate and Modernize and Azure Innovate and describes Access important Microsoft Azure resources in one convenient location
• On the Check your Logs blog, Cary Sun (@SifuSun) explains how to Migrate Physical Machine to Microsoft Failover Cluster

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 covers Azure Front Door classic will be retired on 31 March 2027
• Stefan Stranger (@sstranger) shares Azure Network Subnetting made easy
• Jose Moreno (@erjosito) explains how to Do not let ExpressRoute, VPN and SDWAN traffic bypass your firewall
• Andy Doyle explains how to Advanced routing capabilities using Application Gateway Rewrite Rules
• Brian Lehr explains how to Improve DNS security by using Domain Name Label Scope
• Daniel Mauser describes ExpressRoute MSEE hairpin design considerations
• Saleem Bseeu talks about Navigating Azure WAF Exclusions

Security

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

• Daniel Hidalgo describes how to Seamlessly secure your data estate with Microsoft Purview
• Dean Halstead explains How to balance Accessibility and Security in an AI world
• Edwin Chan discusses Migrating from Windows Information Protection to Microsoft Purview
• Giulio Astori talks about Microsoft Defender for API Security - Estimate Your Plan Cost Easily
• Tom Janetscheck (@azureandbeyond) explains how to Prepare for upcoming transitions in Defender for Servers
• Yotam Atad writes about Resource-level billing change for Defender for Servers Customers
• Zachary Cavanell discusses Insider Risk in Conditional Access Microsoft Entra + Microsoft Purview Adaptive Protection
• On the Check your Logs blog, Cary Sun (@SifuSun) explains How to create a Custom Quarantine Policy in Microsoft Deferent for Office 365, describes How to create custom Safe Attachments policies in Microsoft Defender for Office 365 and describes How to Configure Custom Safe Links Policies in Microsoft Defender for Office 365
• Surabhi Calla explains how to Expedite non-security updates in Windows 11
• Preeti Krishna (@PreetiKr007) explains how to What's New Easily migrate to Microsoft Sentinel with the new SIEM migration experience

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 Retirement notice: The legacy Azure Storage C++ client libraries will be retired on 29 March 2025
• The Azure Updates Team announces General Availability: Azure Files geo-redundancy for standard large file shares, and General availability: Availability zone volume placement for Azure NetApp Files, and GA: Improved throughput performance on Azure Disks Standard SSD and Jeff Patterson writes about General Availability: Azure Files geo-redundancy for standard large file shares
• Nishant Ranjan blogs about Public Preview: Use Azure Blob Storage on Windows as a file share using Network File SystemNFS 3.0, The Azure Updates Team talks about Public Preview: Agentless multi-disk crash consistent backup by Azure Backup for VM and describes Public Preview: Azure SQL updates for late-March 2024

Web

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

• The Azure Updates Team announces Migrate your Git Repository to automated deployments with APIOps by 15 March 2025
• The Azure Updates Team writes about General Availability: Automatic Scaling for App Service Web Apps and Gaurav Seth announces General Availability of Azure App Service Automatic Scaling
• The Azure Updates Team covers Breaking Changes to Azure API Management Workspaces and announces Azure Static Web Apps distributed functions capability now in Public Preview
• Tanuja Palakurthy covers Deploying React SPA and Python Backend Together on the Same Azure App Service
• Thomas Gauvin explains how to Add a context-grounded AI chatbot to your Azure Static Web Apps with streaming responses
• On the Perficient blog, Parag Balapure explains how to Create and Retrieve Secrets from the Azure Key Vault using an ASP.Net Core Application
• On The Azure Podcast covers Azure API Center on Episode 490

Azure Virtual Desktop

Covering: Azure Virtual Desktop

• Logan Silliman writes about Now available: Microsoft Graph Windows 365 APIs
• Zachary Cavanell describes Introducing Microsoft Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 for Business