Azure Weekly Issue 152: 26th November 2017
In the rush to get last week's issue of the newsletter out before I could start celebrating my 40th birthday, I missed one very important announcement from the Connect conference: the support for Apache Cassandra API in Cosmos DB. It really does highlight the "multi-model" aspect of the platform statement that Cosmos DB is "the industry's first fully managed globally distributed, massively scalable, and multi-model database service". In this week's issue there is also an interesting article about using TypeScript to access Cosmos DB.
Other highlights in this issue are: a new ebook from the Azure CAT team onAzure Virtual Datacenter, and in the security and govenance arena Azure Policy features have gone into public preview, there's a great articles on creating custom Azure RBAC roles, Azure Application Security Groups and a reminder that it's time to migrate off Access Control Service.
On the network and storage front there are two interesting articles on measuring latency and throughput between Azure Regions, and storage account replication with Functions and Event Grid.
If you're interested in all things Container-based there's a great Windows Weekly Dockerfile deep dive into the classic NerdDinner application and a great tutorial to help you get started with Azure Container Instances.
In the Analytics space there are tips for getting new insights into your usage of Data Lake Analytics and a good exploration of the newly announced Azure Databricks offering.
The last two highlights of the week are the importance of data and AI in the 4th industrial revolution, and Buck Hodges keynote talk VSTS: Lessons Learned Doing DevOps at Microsoft at Scale.
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 MSDN, Lee Stott (@lee_stott) covers Microsoft AI & AI School, learn how to start building intelligence into your solutions and Chih Han Chen creates a step by step guide: Bored of MNIST? Lets build your own OCR deep learning computer vision AI using Microsoft CNTK with EMNIST
- On TechNet, Katharine Bale describes The importance of data and AI in the 4th industrial revolution
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
- Ajeta Singhal blogs highlights how to get new insights into your usage of Data Lake Analytics
- James Serra (@JamesSerra) answers the question "What is Azure Databricks?"
- On MSDN, Marco Dias discusses Analyzing Backup Activity with PowerBI
- Samuel Lester continues his "Exploring Big Data" course with part 7 – Implementing Real-Time Analytics with Azure HDInsight and part 2 – Analyzing and Visualizing Data with Power BI
- Devin Knight (@knight_devin) covers Power BI Custom Visuals Class Module 78 – Data Image by CloudScope
- On Channel 9, Donovan Brown and Josh Caplan talk about converting a Desktop Power BI model to Azure Analysis Services on Azure Friday
- Sid Ramesh explains how to make Python easier for the R User, using revoscalepy
- On Channel 9, Golnaz Sonya Koptyev & Seth Juarez introduce the AI Show
- On MSDN, Buck Woody discusses DevOps for Data Science – DevOps Maturity
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 Revolution Analytics blog, JS Tan shows how to Scale up your parallel R workloads with containers and doAzureParallel
- On MSDN, Ed Price - writes about New Service Fabric Technical Customer Profile from AzureCAT and CSA – Societe Generale SocGen + Qarnot Computing
- The Service Fabric Team blogs about Service Fabric sessions at Connect and Amsterdam TechDays
- Amit Agarwalamagar writes about the error "We are unable to retrieve the master / runtime keys for Azure Function app"
- Also on the Azure blog, Jan Kalis (@MeetJKalis) says that Azure Advisor - your personalized best practices service got better
- Kashif Ali covers R3 (the distributed ledger platform) on Azure: Strengthening our partnership
- Lee Stott (@lee_stott) talks about a recent Blockchain Hackathon in Clinical Trials and talks about Performance of running NNs across Azure GPU Series Data Science Virtual Machines
- Michael Crump (@mbcrump) describes Azure Tips and Tricks Part 53 - Prebuilt Azure VMs ready for Containers
- On the Azure blog, Corey Sanders (@CoreySandersWA) describes Transforming your VMware environment with Microsoft Azure
- Sameera Perera (@sameera_man) blogs about Migrating a VM from a Managed Disk to an unmanaged Disk
- Moti Bani discusses Encrypting Azure Virtual Machine using BitLocker
- Girish writes about Logical Volume Manager (LVM) with RedHat RHEL VMs in Azure and custom partitioning
- Shweta Nayak describes Creating a local Red hat repository for use within the specific environment.
- On All Things Cloud, Roberto (@soyroberto) blogs about Updating the timezone of a CentOS VM in Azure
Containers
Covering: Container Registry, Container Instances, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Web App for Containers
- Elton Stoneman features the venerable NerdDinner web application in his Windows Weekly Dockerfile, where he does a deep dive into a docker file and shows you what it does and how it works.
- On Stackify Blog, Barry Luijbregts describes Getting Started with Azure Container Instances: Tutorial with Examples
- Michael Crump (@mbcrump) blogs more Azure Tips and Tricks: Part 54 - Getting a .NET Core WebAPI Project Ready for Docker, Part 55 - Use .NET Core WebAPI and Docker Compose and Part 56 - Deploy a .NET Core WebAPI Project to Web App for Containers
- On MSDN, Paras Patidar writes a 6 part series on Continuous deployment with Web App for Containers using Azure Container Registry; Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 Part 5Part 6.
- Scott Hanselman (@shanselman) discusses Docker and Linux Containers on Windows, with or without Hyper-V Virtual Machines and covers Trying out new .NET Core Alpine Docker Images
- Pui Chee Chan writes about Jenkins on Azure - ACI experiment and AKS support
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
- Wu Shuai shows how to Access Azure CosmosDB in TypeScript
- On MSDN, James R Tabor describes how to pause idle Azure SQL Data Warehouse Instances
- Ellis Butterfield discusses Azure SQL DW cost savings with optimized for elasticity and Azure Functions – part 1
- Xiaochen Wu talks about Azure SQL Databases Disaster Recovery 101
- The Redmond magazine has an article focused on Microsoft Joining MariaDB Foundation and their plans for an Azure Release
- On the Azure podcast, in episode 205 Ronit Reger, a Senior PM in the SQL Team discusses SQL Vulnerability Assessement
- On codeit blog, Maxim Braekman and Jacqueline Portier explains How to cluster the Enterprise Single Sign-On SSO Service on SQL Server 2016 Always On Availability Groups cluster in Azure
Developer Tools
Covering: Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, SDKs, Developer tool integrations, CLIs, Blockchain Workbench
- On the Kloud blog, John Downs talks about VSTS Build Definitions as YAML Part 1: What and Why and Part 2: How
- Also on MSDN, Buck Hodges (@tfsbuck) covers VSTS: Lessons Learned Doing DevOps at Microsoft at Scale
- Edward Thomson highlights DevOps and VSTS Videos from Connect 2017
- Jenny Jiang shows how to run your PySpark Interactive Query and batch Job in Visual Studio Code
- Rogan Ferguson says it has never been a better time to migrate from TFS to VSTS
- Adam Raffe describes The Wonderful World of Azure CLI JMESPath Queries
- Dmitry Lyalin Robert Green Jeremy Likness talks about Azure Functions: Less-Server and More Code Visual Studio Toolbox
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 Kloud blog, Edmond Guo discusses Azure AD Identity and Access Management & Features
- On MSDN, Ed Price - covers Azure Stack Validation Environment – Part 3: Subscriptions and Part 5: Putting it all together
- Also on MSDN, 'mihansen' describes Azure Government Web App Authentication using Azure Commercial AAD – PowerShell Configuration
- Matt Tatoczenko discusses Setting up Application Gateway with an App Service that uses Azure Active Directory Authentication and covers URL Authorization Rules
- On the Azure blog, Danny Strockis reminds you that it's time to migrate off Access Control Service
Integration
Covering: Service Bus, Logic Apps, Event Grid
- Tomas Restrepo (@tomasrestrepo) talks about Azure API Management - SOAP-to-REST date/time handling
- On MSDN, Ed Price - blogs about Azure Virtual Datacenter – New E-Book from AzureCAT
Internet of Things
Covering: IoT Hub, IoT Suite, IoT Edge, IoT Central, IoT solution accelerators, Time Series Insights, Azure Maps, Azure Sphere
- On MSDN, Jeff Chilberto (@JChilberto) highlights a number of articles on Azure IoT Edge
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 Azure blog, Mike Chen announces that Public preview of new Azure Policy features
- Sam Cogan (@samcogan) blogs about Custom Azure RBAC Roles
- On the Kloud blog, Tom Bromby blogs about Azure Log Analytics and Power BI Desktop for Advanced SharePoint Reporting
- On MSDN, Steve Lee blogs about PowerShell Core 6 Release Candidate
- James van Den Berg covers Monitoring Microsoft Azure Cloud Services and On-premises Datacenters Azure MSOMS Cloud
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
- On the Kloud blog, Michael Roger discusses Azure Application Security Groups
- Michiel van Otegem discusses Measuring Latency and Throughput Between Azure Regions
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 MSDN, Jason Boeshart (@jboeshart) discusses Storage Account Replication with Functions and Event Grid
Web
Covering: App Service (Web), API Management, Content Delivery Network, Azure Search, Web apps, Azure SignalR Service
- Christos Matskas (@ChristosMatskas) talks about Enforcing HTTPS-only traffic and HSTS settings for Azure Web Apps and Azure Functions
- On MSDN, Ben Perkins (@csharpguitar) discusses Troubleshooting an Azure App Service backup issue
- Dwyane George announces the public preview of Azure Media Clipper
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