Azure Weekly Issue 197: 21st October 2018
There has been a fair amount of announcements/updates this week, so let's take a look at those:
- General availability: HDInsight Hadoop Enterprise Security Package
- General availability: Metric alerts for logs
- Public Preview of Accelerated Database Recovery
- Public preview: Azure AD authentication for Azure Files SMB access
- Public preview: Virtual network integration for Azure Data Lake Storage Gen1
- Limited public preview: Premium blobs in the Azure portal
- ONNX Runtime for inferencing machine learning models now in preview
- Azure Cognitive Services available in new regions
- New metric in Azure Stream Analytics tracks latency of your streaming pipeline
- Apache Spark jobs gain up to 9x speed up with HDInsight IO Cache
- Power BI Embedded capacity monitoring app
- Power BI Embedded advanced URL filtering capabilities
- Power BI Embedded Update Datasources API to change connection between data sources
- Power BI Embedded row-level security username property supports ASCII characters
- Parameterize connections to your data stores in Azure Data Factory
- Power BI Desktop October 2018 Feature Summary
- Aggregations for petabyte-scale BI available in the Power BI service
- Power BI Report Server release timing update
- Reservations now available for US Government cloud regions
- Azure SQL Database dev/test pricing available as part of Azure Enterprise dev/test offer
- Backup Protected Instance SQL Server GUID migration
- Entity Framework Core 2.2 Preview 3
- Accessibility and array support with Azure Blockchain Workbench 1.4.0
- Azure Marketplace new offers – Volume 21
- Azure Lab Services: Control the number of hours your lab users can use their virtual machines
- Scoped synchronization from Azure AD to your Azure AD DS managed domain
- Improved synchronization performance from Azure AD to Azure AD DS managed domain
- Fine-grained password policy support in Azure AD DS
- Azure AD DS now supports Azure managed disks
- Health monitoring and alerts for Azure AD DS
- Send your Azure Active Directory data to Azure Log Analytics
- Disable NTLM, TLS v1 and secure your Azure AD DS managed domain
- the public preview of Azure Digital Twins
- Azure PowerShell – Cross-platform Az module replacing AzureRM
- Azure Site Recovery - Update Rollup 30
- Application Insights is available in Central India and Canada Central
- What's new in Azure Media Services video processing
- Announcing migration assessments for on-premises SQL Server to Azure SQL Database Managed Instance using DMA 4.1
- Detecting fileless attacks with Azure Security Center
- Azure Security Center update September 2018
- Azure App Service: Price reductions for App Service on Linux basic and premium tiers
- New App Service VNet Integration feature
This week, we'd like to round up the industry experiences content from the past month-or-so:
- Driving identity security in banking using biometric identification
- Protecting banks through cloud-based sanction screening solutions
- Making HIPAA and HITRUST compliance easier
- Accelerating healthcare AI startups in the cloud
- Cooling down storage costs in the healthcare AI blueprint
- Healthcare costs are skyrocketing! Reduce costs and optimize with AI
- Creating a data stream from NIST manufacturing lab data – Part 1
- Eight use cases for machine learning in insurance
- A fast, serverless, big data pipeline powered by a single Azure Function
- Gaining insights from industrial IoT data with Microsoft Azure
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, Faith Xu announces that the ONNX Runtime for inferencing machine learning models now in preview
- The Azure updates team highlights that Azure Cognitive Services available in new regions
- On Stackify Blog, Cristopher Burge lists the Top 10 Azure Cognitive Services
- Jen Stirrup provides a Microsoft Ignite interview with Executive Team on ArtificialIntelligence, Data, OpenSource and Cloud
- On MSDN, Samantha Robins writes Save the Date and Register now for Microsoft 365 DevDays
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 Azure blog, Konstantin Zoryn writes that the New metric in Azure Stream Analytics tracks latency of your streaming pipeline
- Also on the Azure blog, Maxim Lukiyanov writes that Apache Spark jobs gain up to 9x speed up with HDInsight IO Cache
- On the Azure blog, Gaurav Malhotra describes how to Parameterize connections to your data stores in Azure Data Factory
- The Azure updates team provides a number of updates on Power BI Embedded: Power BI Embedded capacity monitoring app, Power BI Embedded advanced URL filtering capabilities, Power BI Embedded Update Datasources API to change connection between data sources and Power BI Embedded row-level security "username" property supports ASCII characters
- Devin Knight (@knight_devin) talks about Power BI Monthly Digest with Manuel Quintana – October 2018
- On the Power BI blog, Amanda Cofsky talks about Power BI Desktop October 2018 Feature Summary
- Also on the Power BI blog, Christian Wade (@_christianWade) writes that Aggregations for petabyte-scale BI available in the Power BI service
- Also on the Power BI blog, Christopher Finlan provides a Power BI Report Server release timing update
- Also on the Power BI blog, Charles Sterling (@chass) highlights the Webinar 10/18 Group Program Manager, Josh Caplan, and the Power BI team host an Ask Anything around managing and monitoring Power BI Premium and the Webinar 10/23: Advanced data prep with Power BI dataflows for unified data and powerful insights
- On the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast, Scott Hoag (@ciphertxt) presents Episode 90 – Power BI and Data Democratization with Alexander Arvidsson
- Chris Webb (@cwebb_bi) covers Testing Power BI Premium Features With Power BI Embedded and discusses Calling The Power BI REST API From Microsoft Flow, Part 1: Creating A Flow Custom Connector
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, Cale Teeter (@Windozer) writes about the Sweet updates about Truffle on Azure
- Simon Waight (@simonwaight) discusses Azure Functions for Java developers
- David Chou writes about Event-Driven Serverless Architectures
- Also on MSDN, the Service Fabric Team points to the Service Fabric Ignite 2018 Sessions and points out the Twitter AMA on Service Fabric Mesh
- James van Den Berg talks about Microsoft Azure Service Fabric Mesh for your Microservices and Container Apps in the Cloud
- On the Serverless360 blog, Mohan Nagaraj describes Serverless for the Enterprise, covers Serverless Use Cases and Best Practices and explains how to Build Real-Time Serverless Application with Azure Functions and SignalR
Containers
Covering: Container Registry, Container Instances, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Web App for Containers
- Also on MSDN, Yi Wang MS Oss explains how to Restrict access to login for the WordPress running on Azure web app container
- On Microsoft Cloud Show, Andrew Connell and Chris Johnson present Episode 275 | Azure Kubernetes News from Ignite 2018 with Brendan Burns
- On MSDN, Atul Verma explains how to Ingest Azure Redis Cache messages into Elasticsearch, Logstash and Kibana cluster deployed in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
- On Microsoft + Open Source, Eugene Chuvyrov describes a Use case: Modern Service Mesh with Consul on Azure Part 2
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 MSDN, Perry Skountrianos announces the Public Preview of Accelerated Database Recovery
- The Azure updates team writes that Azure SQL Database dev/test pricing available as part of Azure Enterprise dev/test offer and highlights the Backup Protected Instance SQL Server GUID migration
- James Serra (@JamesSerra) discusses Azure SQL Database Hyperscale
- Jen Stirrup provides a Microsoft Ignite interview with Kevin Farlee on Azure SQL Database Hyperscale
- Also on MSDN, Diego B Vega announces the Entity Framework Core 2.2 Preview 3
Developer Tools
Covering: Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, SDKs, Developer tool integrations, CLIs, Blockchain Workbench
- On the Azure blog, Zeyad Rajabi blogs about the Accessibility and array support with Azure Blockchain Workbench 1.4.0
- On Channel 9, Seth Juarez (@sethjuarez) describes how to Get Started with Azure Machine Learning with VS Code Tools with Chris Lauren
- Also on Channel 9, John Papa and Christina Warren talk about Five Things About Developing on a Mac
- Also on the Azure blog, Christine Alford highlights the Azure Marketplace new offers – Volume 21
- On the Visual Studio blog, the Visual Studio Blog discusses Microsofts Developer Blogs are Getting an Update, Unni Ravindranathan discusses What's Next for Visual Studio for Mac and John Montgomery provides some Visual Studio Roadmap Updates and Visual Studio 2019 Information
- Michael Crump (@mbcrump) posts Azure Tips and Tricks Part 165 - Live from Ignite 2018
DevOps
Covering: Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS), Azure DevTest Labs, DevOps tool integrations, Azure DevOps Projects, Azure Lab Services
- On the Kloud blog, Santhosh Kumar provides a Step-by-step: Using Azure DevOps Services to deploy ARM templates with CI/ CD – Part 1
- Shayne Boyer (@spboyer) covers Using Azure DevOps Pipelines and NuKeeper to Automate NuGet Package updates
- On MSDN, Ed Glas provides a Postmortem: Azure DevOps Service Outages in October 2018
- Also on MSDN, Jasmine Greenaway discusses Automating Release Notes with Azure Functions
- James van Den Berg explains how to Make your first Pipeline with Azure DevOps Project in the Cloud
- Vincent-Philippe Lauzon (@vplauzon) writes about Azure Dev Ops CI / CD pipelines with AKS – Lessons learned
- Also on MSDN, Tanmayee Kamath blogs about Azure Lab Services: Control the number of hours your lab users can use their virtual machines
Identity
Covering: Azure Active Directory, Multi-factor Authentication, Azure Active Directory Domain Services, Azure Active Directory B2C
- The Azure updates team provides a number of updates on AAD: General availability: HDInsight Hadoop Enterprise Security Package, Scoped synchronization from Azure AD to your Azure AD DS managed domain, Improved synchronization performance from Azure AD to Azure AD DS managed domain, Fine-grained password policy support in Azure AD DS, Azure AD DS now supports Azure managed disks, Public preview: Azure AD authentication for Azure Files SMB access, Health monitoring and alerts for Azure AD DS, Send your Azure Active Directory data to Azure Log Analytics and Disable NTLM, TLS v1 and secure your Azure AD DS managed domain
- Rajinder Singh (@rajsinghper) explains how to Enable Modern Authentication on Office 365
- On MSDN, Charles Sterling (@chass) talks about Creating a new Azure Active Directory and AAD backed Accounts
Integration
Covering: Service Bus, Logic Apps, Event Grid
Internet of Things
Covering: IoT Hub, IoT Suite, IoT Edge, IoT Central, IoT solution accelerators, Time Series Insights, Azure Maps, Azure Sphere
- On the Azure blog, Daniel Escapa announces the public preview of Azure Digital Twins
- Also on the Azure blog, Nandakishor Basavanthappa announces the Azure IoT Reference Architecture 2.1 release
- On MSDN, Lee Stott (@lee_stott) writes about a Student Project for Monitoring of Movement Disabilities with Movesense and Azure IOT Hub by Sophia Botz
- On Channel 9, Olivier Bloch (@obloch) presents a Blinky Demo with Azure Sphere with Ed Nightingale
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, Mark Cowlishaw writes about Azure PowerShell – Cross-platform Az module replacing AzureRM
- Also on the Azure blog, Yashesvi Sharma covers Reservations now available for US Government cloud regions
- The Azure updates team highlights the General availability: Metric alerts for logs, talks about Azure Site Recovery - Update Rollup 30 and writes that Application Insights is available in Central India and Canada Central
- On TechNet, Kevin Justin talks about Azure Log Analytics for Windows Telemetry data
- Also on TechNet, Neha Garg talks about the File Not Found Exception while configuring Log Analytics
- Stanislav Zhelyazkov (@StanZhelyazkov) writes about Optimizing Your Log Analytics Logs Blade
- On MSDN, Ben Martens blogs about Kusto Code Hygiene and Performance Tips
- Michael Crump (@mbcrump) writes Azure Tips and Tricks Part 164 - Defining Parameters to be used with ARM Templates
- Also on TechNet, Martin Schvartzman walks through Creating symbolic links with PowerShell DSC
- On the MSSQL Tips site, Joe Gavin explains how to Create a SQL Server Performance Monitor Dashboard in the Azure Portal
- K. Scott Allen (@OdeToCode) discusses Tackling Costs in Azure and provides a .NET Core Opinion 5 - Deployment Scripts and Templates
Media
Covering: Media services, Encoding, Live and On-Demand Streaming, Azure Media Player, Content Protection, Media Analytics, Video Indexer
- On the Azure blog, John Deutscher announces What's new in Azure Media Services video processing
Microsoft Azure Stack
Covering: Azure Stack
- On Channel 9, Olivier Bloch (@obloch) talks about Azure Stack in IoT with Rita Cao
- Stefan Roth (@stefanroth_net) discusses Azure Stack – Azure Stack Development Kit Meets Terraform
Migration
Covering: Azure Database Migration Service, Azure Migrate, Data Box
- On MSDN, Raj Pochiraju announces migration assessments for on-premises SQL Server to Azure SQL Database Managed Instance using DMA 4.1
- Also on MSDN, Neetu Singh describes Troubleshooting MySQL online migration failure in DMS
- On TechNet, Kirill Kotlyarenko provides the Datacenter migration updates from Ignite 2018
Mobile
Covering: App Service (Mobile), Notification Hubs, Mobile apps, API apps, Visual Studio App Centre, Xamarin
- On the Xamarin blog, David Ortinau talks about Xamarin.Forms 3.3.0: Little Things, Huge Difference
- Also on the Xamarin blog, Slava Chernikoff blogs about Complex Animations in Xamarin.Forms using Finite State Machine
- On Code Project, Silvia Campo walks through Updating the Items Displayed of a listView in Xamarin.Forms
- On Visual Studio Magazine - Blogs, Peter Vogel asks Job Tip: Does the Future Belong to Xamarin.Forms?
- On MSDN, the App Center Team writes about Visual Studio App Center: A New But Familiar Upgrade for HockeyApp Customers
Networking
Covering: ExpressRoute, Azure DNS, Virtual Network, Traffic Manager, Load Balancer, VPN Gateway, Application Gateway, Network Watcher
- The Azure updates team highlights the Public preview: Virtual network integration for Azure Data Lake Storage Gen1
- On the Kloud blog, Michael Roger describes how to Address Space maintenance with VNet Peering
- Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) explains how to Configure Azure Point-to-Site Connection In Windows Admin Center With Azure Network Adapter
- On the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast, Scott Hoag (@ciphertxt) presents Episode 91 – Azure Virtual WAN with Sony Kogin
Security
Covering: Azure Information Protection, Key Vault, Security Center, Azure DDoS Protection, Azure Advanced Threat Protection
- On the Azure blog, Ben Nick blogs about Detecting fileless attacks with Azure Security Center
- The Azure updates team provides the Azure Security Center update September 2018
- On TechNet, Kevin2017 writes Email Phishing Protection Guide – Part 14: Prevent Brute Force and Spray Attacks in Office 365 and Email Phishing Protection Guide – Part 15: Implement the Microsoft Azure AD Password Protection Service for On-Premises too
- Henry Been (@henry_been) writes a series of blogs about secret management: Part 1: using Azure Key Vault and Azure Managed Identity, Part 2: No more secrets using Azure Managed Identity and OAuth and Part 3: Config builders
- On MSDN, the Azure Gov Team talks about Bringing more cybersecurity capabilities to Azure Government
Storage
Covering: Storage, StorSimple, Data Lake Store, Blob Storage, Disk Storage, Managed Disks, Queue Storage, File Storage, Storage Explorer, Archive Storage
- The Azure updates team writes about the Limited public preview: Premium blobs in the Azure portal
- Tobias Zimmergren describes Getting Started with BYOK in Azure Storage - Encrypt data at rest with your own encryption keys
Web
Covering: App Service (Web), API Management, Content Delivery Network, Azure Search, Web apps, Azure SignalR Service
- On the Serverless360 blog, Eldert Grootenboer (@egrootenboer) describes Exposing Azure Services using API Management
- The Azure updates team writes about the Azure App Service: Price reductions for App Service on Linux basic and premium tiers
- On MSDN, Christina Compy (@ccompy) announces the New App Service VNet Integration feature
- On Channel 9, Jeremy Likness (@jeremylikness) talks about Deploying .NET Web Apps to Azure with Andrew Hall
- Shayne Boyer (@spboyer) describes Using ASP.NET Core with MongoDB in containers for local dev, CosmosDB for production
- Shahed C discusses Azure Blob Storage from ASP .NET Core File Upload
- Also on MSDN, Gaurav Patole explains Troubleshooting missing projects while using VSTS continuous deployment for Azure App Service
Azure Weekly Archive
If you would like to read more interesting articles from the Azure ecosystem check out our archive where you will find all of the back issues.
Contribute Content
If you would like to contribute any content to the Azure Weekly newsletter, please email azureweekly@endjin.com