Azure Weekly Issue 159: 28th January 2018
It seems to have been a busy week in the Azure Ecosystem, with the number of announcements in double figures. In addition to all of those, a couple of API Managment announcements from a fortnight ago seemed to have slipped through the corresponding newsletter's cracks, which concern the GA of Versions & Revisions and API Management's newfound integration with Application Insights. Moving back to this week, the technical announcements are:
- Zone Redundant Virtual Machine Scale Sets and Storage arenow available in public preview
- Integration of Azure Backup into VM create experience
- Azure Search encryption at rest for all incoming data indexed on or after January 24, 2018, in all regions and SKUs including shared (free) services
- New Features in Visual Studio Code IoT Edge Extension 0.1.3 & IoT Toolkit 0.5.0
- Comprehensive monitoring for Azure Site Recovery now generally available
- ITSM Connector for Azure is now generally available
A few other noteworthy announcements include:
- Azure Standard support now offers the highest value support for production workloads amongst major cloud providers
- Compliance assessment reports for Azure Stack are now available
- A New book: Exam Ref 70-532 Developing Microsoft Azure Solutions, Second Edition
- There is a new course: Getting Started with Cloud Administration, for those inexperienced with Azure/those coming from an on-premises data center, or those who just wish to maintain their Azure knowledge!
- There is a new webcast series starting in February regarding Azure Storage presented by partners who have built notable solutions on top of this infrastructure
Aside from those announcements, Matt McSpirit offers a very nice Introduction into Infrastructure as a Service IaaS with Microsoft Azure, Shayne Boyer talks about his hybrid solution around monitoring issues regarding Azure on Stack Overflow, and David Smith shows us how to Speed up simulations in R with doAzureParallel.
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 Azure blog, Joseph Sirosh (@josephsirosh) writes about the CustomVision.AI: Code-free automated machine learning for image classification
- On MSDN, Lee Stott (@lee_stott) describes Using customvision.ai and building an Android application offline image identification app
- Also on MSDN, Kenneth Teo talks about Finding QnAKnowledgebaseId and QnASubscriptionKey to configure the new Azure Bot Service
- Also on MSDN, Cheng-Bin Tham writes about No response from bot emulator after the new update to Bot Framework/Azure Bot Service
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 the .NET Curry blog, Rahul Sahasrabuddhe writes Machine Learning: An Introduction
- On Channel 9, Seth Juarez and Gopi Krishna Kumar talk about the Data Science Virtual Machine on the AI Show
- Also on Channel 9, Scott Hanselman and Shahrokh Mortazavi talks about Azure Notebooks on Azure Friday
- Also on Channel 9, Bharath Sreenivas talks about Cask CDAP and H20.ai on Azure HDInsight on Data Exposed
- Vincent-Philippe Lauzon blogs about Azure Databricks – Spark SQL – Data Frames
- On the Azure blog, JS Tan describes Accelerated Spark on GPU-enabled clusters in Azure
- On the Revolution Analytics blog, David Smith (@revodavid) describes how to Speed up simulations in R with doAzureParallel
- On MSDN, Matt Basile writes From unstructured data to dashboard with Azure Data Factory and Azure Data Lake
- Also on MSDN, Buck Woody writes DevOps for Data Science – Load Testing and Auto-Scale
- Also on MSDN, Isaiah Williams writes about the Data Connector SDK and Partner Center
- Chris Webb (@Technitrain) discusses Setting SQL Server Connection String Properties In Power BI and SSAS Tabular Modern Data Sources
- Devin Knight (@knight_devin) discusses Power BI Custom Visuals Class Module 86 – Bubble Chart by Akvelon and Module 87 – Funnel with Source MAQ Software
- On the MSSQL Tips site, Scott Murray talks about Power BI Ribbon Charts
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 Azure blog, Neil Gat announces that Zone Redundant Virtual Machine Scale Sets now available in public preview
- Also on the Azure blog, Trinadh Kotturu (@f2003629) announces the integration of Azure Backup into VM create experience
- On MSDN, Tzachi Elkabatz writes Azure-Linux VM -Configure A Partition Larger Then 2 TB. and Azure-Linux VM Cant SSH
- Also on MSDN, Cj Aliaga describes Installing NuGet Packages in Azure Functions 2.X Runtime (PREVIEW)
- Also on MSDN, Nathan Vanderby writes about Amazon Alexa Skills authenticated by Azure Active Directory and backed by an Azure Function
- Shayne Boyer (@spboyer) talks about Monitoring issues on Stackoverflow with serverless, CosmosDB and Teams
- On TechNet, Alex Bennett and Mike Brown describe How to use microservices with Azure Service Fabric
- Also on MSDN, Mike Finley covers Getting Started with Ethereum using Azure Blockchain
Containers
Covering: Container Registry, Container Instances, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Web App for Containers
- On Open AI's blog, Christopher Berner talks about Scaling Kubernetes to 2,500 Nodes
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 the Daily Dot Net Tips blog, Abhijit Jana (@AbhijitJana) walks through Connecting Azure Cosmos DB with Azure Storage Explorer by using Connection String
- On the Database Journal site, Anoop Kumar describes How to Implement Dynamic Data Masking in Azure SQL Database and SQL Server
- K. Scott Allen (@OdeToCode) describes Interacting with Azure SQL Using All Command Line Tools
- On MSDN, Tim Salch writes Performance: Evaluate Data Skew
Developer Tools
Covering: Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, SDKs, Developer tool integrations, CLIs, Blockchain Workbench
- On MSDN, Matt Farmer announces the Versions & Revisions – General Availability
- Also on MSDN, Miao Jiang writes about the Application Insights Integration
- On Code Project, Rahul Mittal covers Using Visual Studio Team Services VSTS and Git with VS 2017
- On the Xamarin blog, Prashant Cholachagudda discusses Running Xamarin.iOS Unit Tests in Visual Studio Team Services
- On the Daily Dot Net Tips blog, Abhijit Jana (@AbhijitJana) describes Working with Azure Storage Explorer for Azure Cosmos DB
- On PowerShell Magazine, Ravikanth C (@ravikanth) writes about the Azure DevTest Labs Artifact for installing PowerShell Core
- On TechNet, Anthony Watherston writes about PowerShell Core and Jenkins
- On Channel 9, Donovan Brown and Xiaokai He talk about how to Spring Boot with VS Code and Azure on Azure Friday
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 MSDN, Andreas Helland describes Accessing The Power BI APIs in a Federated Azure AD Setup
- Also on MSDN, Michael S. Hansen talks about Using Azure Commercial AAD Authentication and Graph API in Azure Government Web App – PowerShell Automation
- Also on MSDN, Parakh Jain walks through Updating "Select application" drop down in the Policy blade to only show B2C applications
- Also on MSDN, Sakthivel Chidambaram blogs about "User realm discovery failed" from ADOMD
- On TechNet, Tim McMichael talks about Office 365: ADConnect synchronization interval changed automatically
- James van Den Berg offers a Microsoft Azure Security Center Overview
- Also on TechNet, Yuri Diogenes (@yuridiogenes) blogs about Exploring Notable Events in Security Incidents
Integration
Covering: Service Bus, Logic Apps, Event Grid
- On the Azure blog, Filippo Seracini announces that Compliance assessment reports for Azure Stack are now available
- On Code Project, Hemang Maradia explains how to Send Email from Azure SQL using Logic App
- On the Kloud blog, Lucian Franghiu (@lucianfrango) writes about the Updated Intune and NDES reference architecture, multiple NDES patterns
- Sean Feldman writes about the Azure Service Bus with Managed Service Identity
- Tomas Restrepo (@tomasrestrepo) writes Azure API Management - Changing the Subscription Key header or query string names
Internet of Things
Covering: IoT Hub, IoT Suite, IoT Edge, IoT Central, IoT solution accelerators, Time Series Insights, Azure Maps, Azure Sphere
- On MSDN, Ray Fang writes about the New Features in Visual Studio Code IoT Edge Extension 0.1.3 & IoT Toolkit 0.5.0
- On Channel 9, Olivier Bloch and Paymaun Heidari talk about the IoT extension for Azure CLI on the Internet of Things Show
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, Bharath Sivaraman announces that Comprehensive monitoring for Azure Site Recovery now generally available
- Also on the Azure blog, Anoop K. Vasudavan writes Start replicating in under 30 minutes using Azure Site Recovery's new onboarding experience
- Also on the Azure blog, Kiran Madnani announces that the ITSM Connector for Azure is now generally available
- On the Catapult Systems blog, Cameron Fuller writes about Replacing GSM in SCOM with Application Insights
- On MSDN, Deepesh from the Application Insights Service Team writes about the Application Insights Availability Monitoring: Test Locations Updated
- Also on MSDN, Nikita Agarwal posts a Powershell script which deletes deployments from the Azure Resource Group
- On TechNet, Michael Repperger writes about the Replacement Azure Management Certificate Monitoring
- Stanislav Zhelyazkov (@StanZhelyazkov) covers Monitoring Windows Services States with Log Analytics
- Also on MSDN, Gaurav Patole talks about Understanding and Configuring Azure Communications
- Vincent-Philippe Lauzon discusses Solution SLAs in Azure
- Stefan Johner (@JohnerStefan) writes about Using Policy Initiatives to simplify Azure Policy Management
- On the Azure blog, Zach Alexander describes Keeping your environment secure with Update Management
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
- Sam Cogan (@samcogan) explains how to Simplify Azure NSG Rules With Augmented Rules and Service Tags
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 the Azure blog, Dinesh Murthy announces that Azure Zone Redundant Storage in public preview
- Also on the Azure blog, Karl Rautenstrauch writes Launching the Azure Storage Solution showcase
- Simon Foster (@funkysi1701) describes Moving files into blob storage
- On MSDN, Jeremy Likness (@jeremylikness) discusses Azure Storage for Serverless .NET Apps in Minutes
- Michael Crump (@mbcrump) writes Azure Tips and Tricks Part 82 - Creating your first Azure Storage Table, Part 83 - Adding an item to a Azure Storage Table, Part 84 - Reading an item from an Azure Storage Table and Part 85 - Updating an item from a Azure Storage Table
Web
Covering: App Service (Web), API Management, Content Delivery Network, Azure Search, Web apps, Azure SignalR Service
- On the Azure blog, Liam Cavanagh (@liamca) covers Azure Search enterprise security: Data encryption and user-identity access control
- On MSDN, Ben Perkins (@csharpguitar) writes about What Root Certificates exist on an Azure App Service, CA Root and blogs about TLS on Azure App Services
- Also on MSDN, Michael S. Hansen writes Azure Web App with Lets Encrypt Certificate – Powershell Automation
- Radu Vunvulea (@RaduVunvulea) covers HTTP Queue Length and Request counter of Azure App Services Web Apps
- Also on MSDN, K. Moussa writes Azure Media Functions Server-less Functions
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