Azure Weekly

Issue #179 - 17th June 2018

For those who attended NDC Oslo this week, we hope you had a fantastic time and had the chance to attend some of the great Azure-focused talks that took place. Well done to all the organizers for such a successful event and a massive thanks to all the speakers for their excellent content.

Here are this week's announcements and updates:

Some particularly interesting content in the ecosystem this week: Greg Oliver sets out the architecture for a fully automatable Power BI Data Analytics Pipeline for ISVs, James Serra writes a thorough article around Understanding Cosmos DB, and Arvind Harinder shares Identity deployment guides to help customers and partners plan, implement, and manage Azure AD solutions.

Elsewhere, there are a couple of new helpful resources from the Azure Customer Advisory Team: Parallel Virtual File Systems on Microsoft Azure eBook and High-performance computing on Microsoft Azure: GlusterFS Whitepaper.

Finally, the Microsoft Azure Industry Experiences team have published two articles about banking this week: first is Open Banking and the API Ecosystem and second is The latest trends in the Banking Landscape.

⚙️ AI + Machine Learning

On the Azure blog, Milan Gada blogs about Bing Visual Search and Entity Search APIs for video apps
On MSDN, Jennifer Marsman (@jennifermarsman) covers some Tips & tricks for using the Data Science Virtual Machine DSVM with GPU support for machine learning on Azure
On the .NET Curry blog, Atanu Gupta describes Building a Speech To Text Artificial Intelligence app in C# and Azure

🔎 Analytics

On MSDN, Basil Hariri writes about the New Akka Streams and Apache Flink tutorials/samples for Event Hubs for Kafka Ecosystems
Also on MSDN, Christian Wade (@_christianWade) writes about the New memory options for Analysis Services
Chris Webb (@cwebb_bi) writes How Much Does Azure Analysis Services Actually Cost
Also on MSDN, Michael Rys (@MikeDoesBigData) describes the Azure Data Lake Analytics and U-SQL Spring 2018 Updates: Parquet support, small files, dynamic output, fast file sets, and much more and writes Process more files than ever and use Parquet with Azure Data Lake Analytics
Also on MSDN, Greg Oliver Dpe describes A Power BI Data Analytics Pipeline for ISVs
On the Power BI blog, Kay Unkroth writes about the Easier set up of datasets in Power BI, Charles Sterling describes the 6/18 Webinar: My Power BI report is slow: what should I do by Marco Russo and Miguel Martinez announces Power BI's incredible speaker lineup for Microsoft Business Applications Summit
On the MSSQL Tips site, Scott Murray talks about Power BI Layouts and Themes
Devin Knight (@knight_devin) presents Power BI Custom Visuals Class Module 107 – Advance Card

🖥️ Compute

The Azure updates team writes about the Azure Batch updates
On MSDN, Ben Perkins (@csharpguitar) describes How to add a HOST.JSON file to an Azure Function, explains How I would handle a timeout in Azure Function and talks about an Azure Function 400 Bad Request
On TechNet, Rohit Minni (@rohit_minni) writes CredSSP encryption oracle remediation error when RDP to a Windows VM in Azure
On Code Project, Akhil Mittal describes Creating a Virtual Machine (VM) on Microsoft Azure

🚢 Containers

On the Azure blog, Brendan Burns (@brendandburns) announces the Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) GA – New regions, more features, increased productivity
On Channel 9, Lara Rubbelke (@sqlgal) talks about Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) GA with Brendan Burns
On Microsoft + Open Source, Stella Lin has a Q&A with Kubernetes co-founder Brendan Burns
Also on the Azure blog, Brady Gaster (@bradygaster) writes about the SmartHotel360 Microservices on Azure Kubernetes Service
Daniel Neumann (@neumanndaniel) describes Using custom DNS server for domain specific name resolution with Azure Kubernetes Service
Also on MSDN, Wriju Ghosh (@wrijugh) writes about the Easy steps to create Azure Kubernetes Service
Also on MSDN, Steve Lasker (@SteveLasker) writes that ACR Build OS & Framework Patching Now Supports Docker Hub
The Azure updates team writes about the Azure Container Instances: June updates
Vincent-Philippe Lauzon (@vplauzon) walks through Using Azure Container Instances to complete automation

🗄️ Databases

On the Azure blog, Kevin Ngo writes about the Quick Recovery Time with SQL Data Warehouse using User-Defined Restore Points
The Azure updates team writes about the General availability: Scaling across tiers in Azure Database for PostgreSQL and for MySQL, and highlights the Name changes: SQL Database Singleton, Name changes: SQL Database Singleton US Government and Name changes: SQL Advanced Threat Protection
On MSDN, Sean Gallardy (@seangallardy) discusses Migrating Symmetric Keys Between SQL 2016 and SQL 2017/Azure
Also on the Azure blog, Rohan Kumar writes that Microsoft Azure Data welcomes attendees to ACM SIGMOD/PODS 2018
Also on MSDN, Michael S. Hansen writes that Firely Vonk FHIR Server adds Cosmos DB Mongo API Support
James Serra (@JamesSerra) writes Understanding Cosmos DB
On Code Project, Tom Ling walks through Creating a Serverless REST API with Cosmos DB on Azure and talks about Creating a serverless REST API with Cosmos DB on Azure Part 2 - Create and Update operations

🛠️ Developer Tools

On the Azure blog, Cristy Gonzalez writes about the Container Tooling for Service Fabric in Visual Studio 2017
On Channel 9, Scott Hanselman (@shanselman) talks about the Service Fabric Extension for VS Code with Peter Pogorski
On the Visual Studio blog, Lisa Guthrie writes about the Preview of Visual Studio Kubernetes Tools
On MSDN, Heath Stewart (@mrhestew) writes that there will be No container image for Build Tools for Visual Studio 2017
Also on the Azure blog, Christine Alford writes about the New free Go-To-Market Services for all marketplace publishers
On the Visual Studio blog, Dan Taylor covers Getting Started with Microsofts Python Developer Tools
Michael Crump (@mbcrump) writes Azure Tips and Tricks Part 130 - Manage Application Settings for Azure Functions within Visual Studio
K. Scott Allen (@OdeToCode) writes about the New and Updated Azure Course for .NET Developers
On the Daily Dot Net Tips blog, Abhijit Jana (@AbhijitJana) describes how to Use Azure Storage from Visual Studio Code

🔩 DevOps

On MSDN, Jafar Jaffery discusses DevOps for VMs with VSTS and Octopus Deploy
Also on MSDN, Edward Thomson lists the Top stories from the VSTS community – 2018.06.08

🎭 Identity

On Microsoft Cloud Blogs, Alex Simons (@Alex_A_Simons) writes Hallelujah! Azure AD delegated application management roles are in public preview
On TechNet, Aaron Guilmette writes about the Update: AAD Connect Network and Name Resolution Test
On MSDN, Chev Bryan explains How to fetch a users profile from Azure Active Directory using PowerShell
Also on MSDN, Jose Rojas writes about the Twitter Login changes to signin handshake. Some customers affected. Here is the fix.
Matthew Soucoup (@CodeMillMatt) writes Quick! Fix Your Azure AD B2C Twitter Settings
On Github, Arvind Harinder has shared some Identity deployment guides
Also on TechNet, dkegg covers Duplicating your production AAD Connect sync rules on your staging server using the AAD Connect Helper Module
Also on TechNet, Mark O'Shea (@intunedin) says to Download Two Azure Active Directory Whitepapers

🔌 Integration

On the Azure blog, the Azure updates team announces that Logic Apps available in US Gov
On MSDN, David Burg (@david_burg) writes about the Custom URL path for Pass-through SOAP connector for Azure Logic App
Also on MSDN, Michael S. Hansen describes Azure Active Directory B2B Self Service Sign-Up using Logic Apps
On the Azure blog, Steve Michelotti explains how to Publish your solutions to Azure Government – what, why and how
On TechNet, Jeff Wagner discusses Microsoft Azure: Recommendations to meet unique needs

💡 Internet of Things

On Channel 9, Olivier Bloch (@obloch) talks about the Azure IoT Edge updates with Chipalo Street and talks about Custom Vison AI on Azure IoT Edge with Emmanuel Bertrand
On MSDN, David Hardin talks about Azure IoT Edge Preview 2: Windows OS Version Prerequisites, Installing Prerequisites on Server Core, Restart Error, Debugging Container Exceptions, Module Networking, Use Chrome with the Portal, Windows Server 1709 is Core, Edge Requires Azure VMs with Nested Virtualization and Lessons Learned Series
On the Azure podcast, the Azure podcast team (@AzurePodcast) presents Episode 233 - Live from Build 2018 - Serverless & IoT with Jeff Hollan

⚖️ Management and Governance

On the Azure blog, Manish Mittal writes about the Exciting advances in Azure Alerts – From better alert management to Smart Groups
Also on the Azure blog, the Azure updates team writes that Start/Stop VMs during off-hours in Azure Automation has been updated
On MSDN, Girish Pillai writes Oh no! The Azure EA portal converted my MSDN/VSTS subscription into EA subcription
Simon Waight (@simonwaight) explains how to Read Tags from Azure Resource Groups and track using Table Storage
On the Daily Dot Net Tips blog, Abhijit Jana (@AbhijitJana) explains how to Identify Azure Services Availability by Region, describes How to identify the Shared Dashboards in Azure Portal, writes about the Azure Mobile App – Monitor the health and status of your Azure Resources on the Go and discusses Using the Azure Cloud Shell from the Azure Mobile App
On the Microsoft Cloud Show, Andrew Connell and Chris Johnson present Episode 259 | Plethora of Microsoft, Cloud, Hyperfish News

🎬 Media

On the Azure blog, John Thuotte discusses Rendering in Azure with Qube 7
Isaac Levin describes Azure Media Services with Azure Functions

⚙️ Microsoft Azure Stack

Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) talks about his upcoming Azure Stack Webinar

📱 Mobile

On the Xamarin blog, James Montemagno (@JamesMontemagno) writes More Cross-Platform APIs with Xamarin.Essentials Latest Preview
Also on the Xamarin blog, Matt Soucoup writes Use MongoDB With Your Xamarin Apps
On Channel 9, James Montemagno (@JamesMontemagno) presents Snack Pack: Xamarin.Essentials - Cross-Platform APIs for Mobile Apps
On Code Project, Sid Sharma explains how to Add Video Calling in Xamarin apps using Agora.io

🔐 Security

On Microsoft Cloud Blogs, Niv Goldenberg writes about the Unified policies with Cloud App Security and the Microsoft Data Classification Service
K. Scott Allen (@OdeToCode) blogs about Key Vault and Managed Service Identities
On MSDN, Ben Perkins (@csharpguitar) describes How to connect to a database from an Azure Function using Azure Key Vault, blogs about Using Managed Service Identity MSI with and Azure App Service or an Azure Function and explains how to Create an Azure Key Vault and Secret

📦 Storage

On the Azure blog, Yuan Zheng writes that Azure Blob Storage lifecycle management in public preview
Radu Vunvulea (@RaduVunvulea) talks about Azure Storage authentication using Azure AD
On MSDN, Freddy Kristiansen (@freddydk) introduces CHALLENGE 6 – Access files stored in Azure Blob Storage LEVEL 2
Also on MSDN, Ed Price (@UserEd_) writes about the AzureCAT eBook: Parallel Virtual File Systems on Microsoft Azure and describes the AzureCAT Whitepaper: High-performance computing on Microsoft Azure: GlusterFS

🔗 Web

On MSDN, Oded Dvoskin (@odeded) writes that TLS configuration now fixed to block 1.0
The Azure updates team describes the Name changes and GUID migration: App Service Basic and Standard plans
Also on MSDN, Michael S. Hansen writes about the New Web App SSL Settings (Government and Commercial)
Also on MSDN, David Sanchez describes how to Use SSL certificates on your Azure WebApp
Also on MSDN, Ben Perkins (@csharpguitar) discusses Implementing custom cultures, CultureInfo, localize Azure App Service
Also on MSDN, Prashant Pratap covers Troubleshooting HTTP 502.5 startup issues in Azure AppService for ASP.NET Core Websites and writes about ASP.NET Core AppSettings for Azure App Service
On Channel 9, Donovan Brown (@DonovanBrown) talks about Java in App Service on Linux with Shrirang Shirodkar
Michael Crump (@mbcrump) writes Azure Tips and Tricks Part 131 - Quickly display a list of all Azure Web Apps URL from Azure Cloud Shell
On the Daily Dot Net Tips blog, Abhijit Jana (@AbhijitJana) explains how to Generate the OpenAPI definition for Azure Function Apps and talks about Using Azure API Management with Azure Function