Azure Weekly Issue 143: 24th September 2017

Welcome to the latest edition of the Azure Weekly Newsletter.

I was in a bit of a rush last Sunday as I was heading off on holiday, and I completely forgot to include a very big announcement from the API Management Team about the new API Versioning (and Revisions) feature that has just been released. On a related note, we created a presentation in July called "Unlocking your Digital Transformation with Azure API Management" and have recorded three video versions - a 5 minute exec summary, a more detailed 20 minute overview and a 50 minute deep dive. We're quite pleased with the content - let me know if you have any thoughts or feedback.

Our summer project of revamping endjin.com also went live on Friday; it contains plethora of new content covering our services, solutions, products, information about the industries we work in, and some detailed customer case studies. I'm really pleased to announce our Incubator, based on our work with Microsoft Accelerator and many other start-ups over the last few years, we will allow start-ups access all of our IP to jump start their development, hopefully reducing their need for seed funding. We're also launching the endjin Academy - an online training resource; the first course will be "Real World Data Science", based on all of our experience running and operationalizing Machine Learning and Data Science experiments.

Back to the world of Azure - there have been a number of annoucements ahead of this week's Ignite conference. Firstly Tom Keane Head of Global Infrastructure for Azure introduced Azure Availability Zones for resiliency and high availability, Dinesh Murthy announced larger, higher scale storage accounts, and Alex Simons announced a feature that will make all users of Azure rejoice - the new "Keep me signed in" experience for Azure AD.

Paul Batum showcases processing 100,000 Events Per Second on Azure Functions - we're pleased to see this blog post as we've been processing 200 million messages a day for the last 3 months using Azure Functions on top of our Modern Data Platform solution blueprint (blog post coming soon!). Azure Functions really is a game changer!

On the Azure blog this week, Corey Sanders has More and more fun with Terraform on Azure while Noa Kuperberg invites you to Ask anything about the new Azure Log Analytics language.

Erich Andersen walks through extending Microsoft Azure IP Advantage to China, and Justin Incarnato covers servicing Azure Stack using the Update resource provider.

Nicole Berdy explains how to Route IoT device messages to Azure Storage with Azure IoT Hub, and Andres Juarez discusses Azure's IoT Hub global expansion.

Finally from the Seattle Times, a fascinating article about Microsoft's experiments with Fuel Cell technology for reducing Azure Data Centre energy costs.

AI + Machine Learning

Covering: Azure Batch AI, Azure Bot Service, Microsoft Genomics, Machine Learning services, Machine Learning Studio, Cognitive Services, Bing APIs, Computer Vision API, Content moderator, Custom Services, Emotion API, Face API, Language Understanding (LUIS), Linguistic Analysis API, QnA Maker API, Speaker Recognition API, Text Analytics API, Translator Speech API, Translator Text API, Web Language Model API

• On the Kloud blog, Qazi Mobeen walks through Using a Bot Framework to build LUIS enabled Bots
• On MSDN, Lee Stott covers Microsoft Data Science Virtual Machine Tutorials
• Also on MSDN, Malte Lantin (@MalteLantin) walks through Handling LUIS.ai Language Understanding Intelligent Service Keys
• Also on MSDN, Robin Lester talks about Creating a Documents Keyword Wordcloud with Azure Cognitive Services and R

Analytics

Covering: Azure Databricks, HDInsight, Data Factory, Stream Analytics, Data Lake Analytics, Event Hubs, Power BI, Azure Analysis Services, Apache Spark for HDInsight, Apache Storm for HDInsight, R Server for HDInsight, Data Catalog

• On MSDN, AUTHOR writes about Yes or No Classification: Practical Logistic Regression
• On the Azure blog, Bret Grinslade (@bretgr) announces that Azure Analysis Services now available in Azure Government
• Also on the Azure blog, Josh Caplan (@JoshCaplan1984) blogs about September updates to the Azure Analysis Services web designer

Compute

Covering: Virtual Machines, Functions, Batch, Service Fabric, Virtual Machine Scale Sets, Cloud Services, Linux Virtual Machines, SAP HANA on Azure Large Instances

• On the MSSQL Tips site, AUTHOR covers SQL Server Edition Post-Downgrade Steps and describes Auditing for New SQL Server Agent Jobs
• John Savill (@NTFAQGuy) talks about Storage Spaces Direct Across Locations Mixing OS Types on Azure Using Hyper-V to Protect Resources
• On Computing.co.uk, AUTHOR explains how to Make AI developers sign Hippocratic Oath, urges ethics report
• On the Azure blog, Tom Keane announces that Introducing Azure Availability Zones for resiliency and high availability
• Also on the Azure blog, Walter Harp writes about New offers in Azure Marketplace
• On the Microsoft site, Reporter (@MicrosoftUK) delves into Police in the UK have reached a major milestone – they can store data in the cloud

Containers

Covering: Container Registry, Container Instances, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Web App for Containers

• On the Revolution Analytics blog, David Smith (@revodavid) blogs about Tutorial: Launch a Spark and R cluster with HDInsight
• On MSDN, Monu Bambroo talks about Docker Blog Series Part 4 – Managing Secrets inside Kubernetes Cluster in Azure Container Service
• On TechNet, Tsuyoshi Ushio (@sandayuu) talks about OpenFaaS on Azure Swarm
• Jen Underwood (@idigdata) blogs about R-Brain: A New Data Science Platform
• Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) describes Microsoft and Canonical create Azure optimized Ubuntu Kernel
• Elton Stoneman writes about Weekly Windows Dockerfile 8: The Container Filesystem and covers Docker Healthchecks: Why Not To Use curl or iwr

Databases

Covering: Azure SQL Database, Azure Cosmos DB, SQL Data Warehouse, Redis Cache, SQL Server Stretch Database, SQL Server on virtual machines, Table storage, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, Azure Database for MySQL

• On MSDN, Allan.Miller walks through Pausing Azure SQL Data Warehouse using an Automation Runbook
• Also on MSDN, Matt Usher (@two_under) discusses Creating a SQL Data Warehouse user with a specific resource class
• Also on MSDN, Meet Bhagdev blogs about Servicing Update 2 for ODBC Driver 13.1 for Linux Released
• On TechNet, Cloud And Server Product Japan covers SQL Bring Your Own Key
• On Channel 9, Scott Hanselman Rob Caron talks about Azure Cosmos DB: Get the Most Out of Provisioned Throughput Azure Friday

Developer Tools

Covering: Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, SDKs, Developer tool integrations, CLIs, Blockchain Workbench

• On MSDN, Anisha Pindoria blogs about DevOps sessions at Microsoft Ignite 2017
• Also on MSDN, Willy-P. Schaub lists the Top stories from the VSTS community – 2017.09.22
• On TechNet, Mark O'Shea (@intunedin) covers Project Honolulu technical preview is now available for download
• Scott Hanselman (@shanselman) writes about What would a cross-platform .NET UI Framework look like Exploring Avalonia
• On Computing.co.uk, AUTHOR writes 'DevOps is key to British Gas's cloud migration'
• Mark Heath writes about Local Debugging with the Azure Functions CLI
• On Stackify Blog, Ben Putano lists the Top 13 DevOps Blogs You Should Be Reading
• Simon Foster writes 'Star Trek is back with Discovery'

DevOps

Covering: Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS), Azure DevTest Labs, DevOps tool integrations, Azure DevOps Projects, Azure Lab Services

Identity

Covering: Azure Active Directory, Multi-factor Authentication, Azure Active Directory Domain Services, Azure Active Directory B2C

• On the Azure podcast, AUTHOR talks about Episode 196 - Serverless Computing and Event Grid
• On MSDN, Tom Lee talks about Azure Media Services Explorer Azure Active Directory
• On TechNet, Mark O'Shea (@intunedin) describes Updates To Remote Desktop Services
• Tim Anderson (@timanderson) blogs about VMware Cloud on AWS: a game changer What about Microsofts Azure Stack

Integration

Covering: Service Bus, Logic Apps, Event Grid

• On the Revolution Analytics blog, David Smith (@revodavid) walks through Pirating Pirate Data for Pirate Day
• On MSDN, Shashidharan Krishnan blogs about Logic App: Json serialization issue when receiving message from Service Bus
• Also on MSDN, Sjoukje Zaal (@SjoukjeZaal) talks about Part 3: Secure your Logic App with Azure Active Directory using Azure API Management
• Trevor Sullivan explains how to Retrieve AWS AccountID using PowerShell
• Jose Moreno writes about Easily isolate compromised VMs with Azure Security Center and Logic Apps
• Armin Reiter (@arminreiter) writes about Weekly Azure billing report per mail with Azure functions

Internet of Things

Covering: IoT Hub, IoT Suite, IoT Edge, IoT Central, IoT solution accelerators, Time Series Insights, Azure Maps, Azure Sphere

• On .NET Rocks, AUTHOR discusses Azure Event Grid with Dan Rosanova
• On the Azure blog, Nicole Berdy (@nberdy) covers Route IoT device messages to Azure Storage with Azure IoT Hub

Management and Governance

Covering: Backup, Site Recovery, App Insights, Azure Advisor, Sceduler, Automation, Log Analytics, Azure Monitor, Security & Compliance, Protection & Recovery, Automation & Control, Insight & Analytics, Azure Service Health, Microsoft Azure portal, Azure Resource Manager, Cloud Shell, the Azure mobile app, Azure Policy, Cost Management, Azure Managed Applications

• On the Revolution Analytics blog, David Smith (@revodavid) writes about Because it's Friday: Blue skies or SkyNet
• On MSDN, Pishoy B talks about Use Case: Region to Region Azure Site Recovery
• Also on MSDN, the Application Insights Service Team covers Application Insights Planned Maintenance – 09/14 – Final Update
• On TechNet, Chris We - covers Teams tidbits – Creating team sites programmatically
• Also on TechNet, Dan Sheehan blogs about Use PowerShell to determine the first day of the current calendar quarter. and blogs about PowerShell DateTime throws the error String was not recognized as a valid DateTime.
• Also on TechNet, Ian Farr talks about One-Liner: Query the AD Schema for User Object Attributes
• Scott Hanselman (@shanselman) explains how to Spend less time CD'ing around directories with the PowerShell Z shortcut
• Herve Roggero (@hroggero) talks about PowerShell: A curse in disguise and blogs about PowerShell: A curse in disguise
• On the SQL Server Pro site, AUTHOR talks about The Guide to Learning PowerShell
• Stefan Roth (@stefanroth_net) blogs about OMS – Upgrade Workspace Error
• John Savill (@NTFAQGuy) explains How to Set the Default OneDrive for Business Storage Space with the help of PowerShell
• On Stackify Blog, Angela Stringfellow blogs about PowerShell Commands Every Developer Should Know: 50+ Cmdlets for Getting Things Done, Monitoring Performance, Debugging

Media

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

Microsoft Azure Stack

Covering: Azure Stack

Migration

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

Mobile

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

Networking

Covering: ExpressRoute, Azure DNS, Virtual Network, Traffic Manager, Load Balancer, VPN Gateway, Application Gateway, Network Watcher

• Chris Risner (@chrisrisner) describes Running OpenWhisk on a VM in Azure
• On the MSSQL Tips site, AUTHOR describes Configuring a Dedicated Network for SQL Server Always On Availability Groups Data Replication Traffic

Security

Covering: Azure Information Protection, Key Vault, Security Center, Azure DDoS Protection, Azure Advanced Threat Protection

Storage

Covering: Storage, StorSimple, Data Lake Store, Blob Storage, Disk Storage, Managed Disks, Queue Storage, File Storage, Storage Explorer, Archive Storage

• On TechNet, Brandon Wilson describes Infrastructure + Security: Noteworthy News September, 2017
• Radu Vunvulea (@RaduVunvulea) discusses Azure Blob Storage - More storage and throughput
• John Savill (@NTFAQGuy) walks through Spanning Backup for Office 365 Now Supports SharePoint Online Backups
• On the Database Journal site, AUTHOR blogs about Overview of Azure Data Lake
• On the Azure blog, Rena Shah announces that On-premises Azure Files access on Linux update and new troubleshooter

Web

Covering: App Service (Web), API Management, Content Delivery Network, Azure Search, Web apps, Azure SignalR Service

• On MSDN, David Bristol describes Using AES with token authentication for Media Services
• Michael Crump (@mbcrump) describes Azure Tips and Tricks Part 20 - Working with Files in Azure App Service, covers Azure Tips and Tricks Part 21 - Adding Extensions to Web Apps in Azure App Service and discusses Azure Tips and Tricks Part 22 - Deployment Slots for Web Apps using Azure App Service