Azure Weekly Issue 167: 25th March 2018
The most notable news in this week's edition, which the majority of you may have already picked up, is that Service Fabric is going open source. Just another move that shows Microsoft's commitment to open source!
Another exciting announcement this week is the Common Data Service for Analytics which is coming soon to PowerBI, which will serve to simplify business data analytics processes, offering: a multitude of connectors, the ablility to set standard schema, and Out-of-the-Box solutions. Similarly, read here about the Common Data Service for Apps Spring update.
Here's some other noteworthy news from the past week:
- General availability of Azure database services for MySQL and PostgreSQL
- New columnstore support in Standard tier Azure SQL Databases
- Azure Redis Cache feature updates
- Improved multi-member Blockchain networks now available on Azure
- Global performance acceleration with Azure Traffic Manager
- The next generation of Azure Alerts has arrived
For you Cosmos DB enthusiasts, take a look at the Azure Cosmos DB query cheat sheets and have a read of Real-World Partitioning CosmosDb by Peter Rombouts.
A couple of other interesting articles are: Microsoft helps launch worlds first blockchain-based investment product, and Yousef Khalidi talks about SONiC, the network innovation powerhouse behind Azure.
Finally, we'd like to point out the Global Azure Bootcamp 2018 taking place on Saturday, 21st April. Get involved at your local event by either organizing, volunteering, sponsoring, promoting or just attending the event!
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
- Also on MSDN, the Nav Team posts Smart solutions 6: Income predictor for Dynamics NAV
- On Channel 9, Seth Juarez talks about Experimentation using Notebooks in Azure ML with remote compute [Part 3/4] with Parashar Shah on the AI Show
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
- Tony Smith (@tpsmith99) and Alice Kupcik write about GDPR – Implementing a Taxonomy in Azure Data Catalog Step by Step
- On the Power BI blog, Arun Ulag writes Coming soon to Power BI: Common Data Service for Analytics
- Also on the Power BI blog, Amanda Cofsky gives a Power BI Report Server Update – March 2018
- Chris Webb (@Technitrain) describes Improving The Performance Of Aggregation After A Merge In Power BI And Excel Power Query/Get&Transform and writes about the Power BI Roadmap Announcements In the Dynamics 365 Spring 18 Release Notes
- On The SQLBI Blog, Marco Russo describes Capturing Power BI queries using DAX Studio
- Devin Knight (@knight_devin) presents Power BI Custom Visuals Class Module 94 – Count Down Timer
- Also on the Power BI blog, Charles Sterling (@chass) points out the Week of 3/19 webinars: Advanced Tricks on manipulating structured JSON with Flow and Enhance Power BI Visualization with R
- On TechNet, Rachel Mason highlights the Data & Analytics technical webinars – March, April & May
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, Raman Sharma points to the Serverless computing recipe book for your cloud applications
- On MSDN, Pete Rodriguez describes Changing the License Type for an existing Virtual Machine Scale Set to use the Azure Hybrid Use Benefit
- On TechNet, Adam Lichtenberg blogs about Course 2 of 11: – Provision and Manage Virtual Machines
- John Savill walks through Deploying an Azure IaaS VM using PowerShell
- Mark Heath (@mark_heath) describes Managing Azure Functions Keys
- Also on MSDN, Lee Stott (@lee_stott) and Kristjan Košič describe Using Microsoft Azure to setup ARK Blockchain for Hacks and Blockchain Challenges
- Also on the Azure blog, Cody Born announces that Improved multi-member Blockchain networks now available on Azure
Containers
Covering: Container Registry, Container Instances, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Web App for Containers
- On Channel 9, Alena Hall has a Treehouse discussion: submitting Spark jobs using Kubernetes scheduler on AKS with Bernd Verst on the Open Source Show and presents Part 2 of 4: Create an Azure Container Instance with the container image on the Open Source Show
- Also on MSDN, the Service Fabric Team provides a Service Fabric Customer Profile: Honeywell
- On the Revolution Analytics blog, David Smith (@revodavid) covers R and Docker
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 Azure blog, Tobias Ternstrom announces the General availability of Azure database services for MySQL and PostgreSQL, on the Azure blog. Here are the Name changes: Azure Database for PostgreSQL and Name changes: Azure Database for MySQL
- Also on the Azure blog, Kevin Farlee announces the Columnstore support in Standard tier Azure SQL Databases
- Also on the Azure blog, Ye Gu highlights the Azure Redis Cache feature updates
- Also on the Azure blog, Mark Bolz writes Securing Azure Database for MySQL and Azure Database for PostgreSQL and describes the Compliance offerings for Azure Database for MySQL and Azure Database for PostgreSQL
- Also on MSDN, Yochanan Rachamim explains how to Stop / Cancel ongoing Azure SQL DB scale operation
- On TechNet, Theo van Kraay discusses Azure Cosmos DB – Tunable Consistency
- Peter Rombouts delves into Real-World Partitioning CosmosDb
Developer Tools
Covering: Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, SDKs, Developer tool integrations, CLIs, Blockchain Workbench
- On .NET Rocks, Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell present Surviving Microservices with Michele Bustamante
- On the Azure blog, Yaron Prigal writes Deploying WordPress Application using Visual Studio Team Services and Azure – Part two
- On the Black Marble blog, Richard Fennell writes Using VSTS Gates to help improve my deployment pipeline of VSTS Extensions to the Visual Studio Marketplace
- On MSDN, Dave Harrison describes How Microsoft Does DevOps – an Interview with Aaron Bjork, Microsoft Visual Studio Team Services VSTS
- Also on MSDN, Keith Beller describes how to Use Visual Studio Team Services VSTS to host your private package server
- Also on MSDN, Matthew Mitrik writes about the TFVC Windows Shell Extension for VSTS and TFS 2018
- Michael Crump (@mbcrump) continues the Azure Tips and Tricks 'An end to end scenario with Azure App Service, API Apps, SQL, VSTS and CI/CD' series with Part 104 - Day 4 and Part 105 - Day 5
- Tobias Zimmergren gives an Azure Tip: Installing and using the Azure CLI in VSCode
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 blog, Shalini Pasupneti writes about the Azure Security Center and discovery of partner solutions
- Also on TechNet, Yuri Diogenes (@yuridiogenes) blogs about Detecting Suspicious PowerShell Activity in Azure Security Center
- Sam Cogan (@samcogan) describes Changing an Azure Subscriptions Tenant
- Also on TechNet, Troy Arwine writes that DISA STIG Requires Privilege Access Workstations PAW for Cloud Tenant Administration
- Rob Kuehfus writes about Storing your Private SSH key in Azure Key Vault
- Also on TechNet, the US Partner Team discusses Azure Security and Management – Part 1: Capabilities of Hybrid Cloud
Integration
Covering: Service Bus, Logic Apps, Event Grid
- On the Adatis blog, Jose Mendes discusses Azure Event Grid in a Modern Data Warehouse Architecture
- On TechNet, the Intune Support Team blogs about Using O365 APIs and PowerShell to access Intune messages from Message center in Office 365 Part 1
- On the risual blog, Mollie Sutton describes How to optimise when you get into the Microsoft cloud and covers Reasons to move to the Microsoft Cloud
- On the Azure podcast, the Azure podcast team and guest Kevin Lam present Episode 220 - Logic Apps Update with Kevin Lam
Internet of Things
Covering: IoT Hub, IoT Suite, IoT Edge, IoT Central, IoT solution accelerators, Time Series Insights, Azure Maps, Azure Sphere
- On the Kloud blog, Darren Robinson discusses Integrating Azure IoT Devices with MongooseOS MQTT and PowerShell
- On Channel 9, Olivier Bloch is joined by Sam Vanhoutte whereby Codit share their experience building IoT applications with 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, Kiran Madnani announces that The next generation of Azure Alerts has arrived
- On the MSSQL Tips site, Joe Gavin describes an Easy Way to Build an Azure Log Analytics Query
- On MSDN, Michael S. Hansen blogs about Using Postman with Azure Resource Manager API – Commercial and Government
- On TechNet, Bruno M. Afonso writes about the Heartbeat Metric Alerts for Log Analytics
- On the Cloud Administrator blog, Stanislav Zhelyazkov (@StanZhelyazkov) describes Using Custom Log Search Alerts Based on Metric Measurement for Event Based Logs and explains Top 10 Charts in Azure Log Analytics and Application Insights
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 Azure blog, Dilip Lukose writes about Global performance acceleration with Azure Traffic Manager
- On MSDN, Jeff Sanders (@jsandersrocks) walks through Using Azure Traffic Manager probes with IP Restrictions protecting the App
- Also on MSDN, 'David-Sanchez' writes about the Azure WAF to protect your Web Application
- John Savill describes Using Azure Application Gateway to publish applications
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
- Aidan Finn writes about Faster & Bigger Azure Backup for Azure VMs and posts a Video–Azure File Sync
- On TechNet, Tim Tetrick provides an Introduction to Azure Backup
- On the Xamarin blog, Brandon Minnick explains how to Add Cloud Storage to Xamarin Apps with Azure Blob Storage
Web
Covering: App Service (Web), API Management, Content Delivery Network, Azure Search, Web apps, Azure SignalR Service
- On MSDN, Crystal Tenn provides an End-to-end from Code Project, to VSTS CI/CD, to Azure
- Also on MSDN, Giles Davies (@gdavi) writes Azure DevOps: automate App Service slot swaps in your VSTS release pipeline
- Also on MSDN, Kenneth Teo blogs about Azure App Service – Options Method (and other HTTPS Verb) disabled / not working in Azure Web App
- On the Azure blog, the Azure updates team writes Deprecating Service Management API support for Azure App Service
- Also on MSDN, Christina Compy (@ccompy) writes that BizTalk Hybrid Connections going end of life May 31, 2018
- Also on the Azure blog, David Holladay describes how to Build your next iOS and Android game with $2,500+ of gaming services
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