Azure Weekly
Issue #15 - 28th February 2015
There were big announcements from the Azure team this week, particularly around data and analytics.
Azure Machine Learning is now generally available, moving to a new pricing structure from 1 April 2015. The new pricing includes a per workspace charge, so if you've set up several workspaces while testing out the service you might want to consolidate them. In the lead up to GA, there have been many improvements to the service, including a simpler workflow for publishing a trained model as a web service.
HDInsight is now in general availability on additional VM sizes, and is available on Linux, in public preview. Apache Storm on HDInsight is now in general availability.
Still in the world of big data, a Hadoop connector is now available for DocumentDB.
Dynamic Data Masking for Azure SQL Database, a service which masks data returned from queries in real time based on user priviledge, is now in public preview.
There's also the public preview of Azure Mobile Engagement, following on from Microsoft's purchase of Capptain in 2014.
⚖️ Management and Governance
On the Admin.Ian blog, there's a code sample that lets you post to Yammer from Azure Automation
On the Azure blog, Joe Levy (@Jodoglevy) announces full PowerShell Cmdlet Support for Azure Automation, with the release of a new version of the Azure PowerShell module, and 23 new Cmdlets for managing Azure Automation.
Donovan Brown (@DonovanBrown) writes 'do you, Release Management, take this feature, Deployment Slots, to be your DevOps partner', describing a combined approach, taking advantage of the PowerShell SlotStickyConnectionStringNames switch
On TechNet, Joseph Chan writes about new features for Operational Insights: Search Autocomplete which offers suggestions as you type, & improved filtering
On the WindowsITPro site, John Savill provides a tip on performing Concurrent Actions on a Cloud Service
🖥️ Compute
On the endjin blog, Richard Kerslake (@kerslakerichard) writes about diagnostic logging with Azure SDK 2.5, covering changes to configuration and deployment
On Channel 9, Scott Hanselman (@shanselman) talks to Corey Fowler @cfowlerMSFT about azure Virtual Machine creation and set up using Vagrant
Cory Fowler (@cfowlerMSFT) also makes an appearance on Channel 9's Web Camps TV with Jeff Mendoza and David Justice to discuss new Developments in the Vagrant Azure Plugin
On the Microsoft Open Technologies site, Doug Mahugh writes that the MS Open Tech Tools plugin for IntelliJ and Android Studio has been updated with integrated Virtual Machine management
Michiel van Otegem (@MichielvOtegem) walks through managing and Updating Custom Azure VM Images
On the WindowsITPro site, Rod Trent covers microsoft's achievement of the ISOIEC 27018 Privacy Standard for Azure
Two blogs from Alexandre Brisebois (@Brisebois) this week, on opening Windows Firewall Ports on Azure Cloud Services, and configuring internal endpoints on Azure cloud services,
🌐 Networking
Alexandre Brisebois (@Brisebois) provides an introduction to Azure Virtual Networks, asking when you need them, explaining how to use PowerShell to create one, listing best practices and more resources
Alexandre Brisebois (@Brisebois) also walks through deploying a Cloud Services to A Virtual Network VNet on Azure
On the WindowsITPro site, John Savill points out a useful guide to building a Highly Available SitetoSite VPN to Azure
💡 Internet of Things
On the endjin blog, Howard van Rooijen (@HowardvRooijen) explains how to send Data into Azure Event Hubs using Web Api's HttpClient
On Channel 9, Robert Green talks to James Montemagno from Xamarin about building Cross-Platform Apps with Xamarin Forms
On TechNet, Alex Simons announces that azure AD automated password rollover for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are now in preview
On Channel 9, there's a Q&A with ALM Rangers Jeff Beehler and Sam Guckenheimer
On the Azure blog, Laurent Lathieyre announces that azure Mobile Engagement is now in Public Preview, following on from Microsoft's acquisition of Capptain. Mobile Engagement enables real time fine grain user segmentation, app user analytics, and contextually-aware smart push notifications and in app messaging
Troy Hunt (@troyhunt) writes stories from the trenches - Sizing and penny pinching with Azure websites
On the Azure blog, Mimi Xu announces Mobile Services Beta Android SDK with Offline Incremental Sync, Soft Delete, and Android Studio Migration
On MSDN, there's an article welcoming the launch of Wiser Air, a Wi-Fi connected thermostat and on-demand response management system which follows the footsteps of Microsoft Hohm in using Azure
Felix Rieseberg (@felixrieseberg) writes about a new tool he built with Mike McNeill which lets you quickly deploy SailsJS Apps to Azure
On the Microsoft Open Technologies site, Ross Gardler writes that ruby Developers can now use Fog to Manage Microsoft Azure Services
⚙️ Data and Analytics
On the Azure blog, Corey Sanders (@CoreySandersWA), Director of Program Management Azure, announces HDInsight's support for Linux
On the Azure blog, Oliver Chiu also blogs about the release of the Public Preview of Azure HDInsight on Linux
HDInsight's support for Linux is also covered by Rohit Bakhshi on the Hortonworks blog
On the Cloud Cover show on Channel 9, Haishi Bai, Chris Risner and Josh Caplan from the Power BI team talk about the Power BI developer experience
There's a blog on the Channel 9 site describing the implementation of recommendations using Azure Machine Learning on the site
On MSDN, Clay Wesener continues his series on Power BI and Dynamics AX, focusing on the steps to extract data from Dynamics AX into PowerQuery and transform the data, including merging data from the Azure Marketplace
On the Azure blog, Pranav Rastogi, Program Manager - Azure ASP.NET and Cache, alerts us that a new monitoring system has been deployed, and the old system will be turned off on 15 March 2015
On the Redmond magazine site, Jeffrey Schwartz talks about Microsoft's aims to Make Machine Learning Mainstream
On the Microsoft Open Technologies site, Brian Benz writes about the new All-in-One Oracle Images in the Azure Marketplace. Four new VMs have been added to the Marketplace
Yossi Dahan (@yossidahan) walks through the steps to obtain the metrics for Document DB using the preview release of the Azure Insights library
📦 Storage
On Channel 9, 'RicksterCDN' talks to Drew McDaniel and Kenaz Kwa about Azure Premium Storage and Planned Service Updates
On Channel 9, Scott Klein and Ron Matchoro, a Senior Program Manager at the SQL Server Team, talk about dynamic Data Masking in Azure SQL Database
Robert Smit provides a step by step guide to getting started with Azure Backup, and also writes about how to replicate Hyper-v to Azure
Michiel van Otegem (@MichielvOtegem) digs into optimizing Performance with Windows Azure Premium Storage
🎬 Media
Mingfei Yan (@mingfeiy), Program Manager - Azure Media Services, blogs about using iPhone to live stream with Azure Media Services
⚙️ Hybrid Integration
On TechNet, Joe Weinman of the Microsoft Server and Cloud Platform Team writes the third in a series on hybrid cloud, covering the hybrid essentials needed to implement a sucessful hybrid solution, and the cost benefits of hybrid cloud
Marc van Eijk considers future changes for Windows Azure Pack, discussing the potential timeline for new features
⚙️ Identity and Access Management
On the Just Azure blog, Rick Rainey writes part 5 of his series on Azure Active Directory, covering Graph API
On the Redmond magazine site, Kurt Mackie writes about the upcoming Perks of the Azure Active Directory Connect Tool which will replace DirSync and Azure Active Directory Sync Tools
Marius Sandbu (@msandbu) writes about publishing internal applications using Azure Active Directory and Application Proxy
On the 'Brosteins' blog, Mike Branstein writes about Visual Studio Online with Azure Active Directory, describing how users can authenticate to Visual Studio online with Azure Active Directory