Azure Weekly

Issue #274 - 10th May 2020

There have been a few very exciting announcements this week. The first is that Blob Index now available in preview in Azure Blob storage. Though still in preview, this is a gamechanger as it unlocks the possiblity of multi-indexing within the cost-effective world of Azure Storage! And on the analytics front, Data Factory has added new hierarchical data handling and new flexibility for complex joins. Mapping Data Flows are a great tool for designing data tranformation pipelines and these features add a lot of new and complex functionality.

Elsewhere, Ari Bornstein has provided some examples for Evaluating Deep Learning Models in 10 Different Languages. This is a great resource for anyone trying to choose between the huge wealth of ML models now available! On the Azure Podcast, Maria Naggaga has provided a deep dive into .NET Interactive. Here at endjin we're very excited to see what's next for notebooks in .NET, and plan on using this technology a lot more in the coming months.

And finally, on the endjin blog, Carmel has run through How Azure Key Vault secures your data!

⚙️ AI + Machine Learning

On the DEV site, Ari Bornstein (@pythiccoder) has listed some samples for Evaluating Deep Learning Models in 10 Different Languages
Michael Jonsson (@Michael_Jonsson) covers Script to invite externals to Azure Machine Learning Workspace governed by RBAC and writes about Global AI On Tour – Azure Skane Edition

🔎 Analytics

The Azure updates team announces that Data Factory has added new hierarchical data handling and new flexibility for complex joins
Jen Stirrup (@jenstirrup) blogs about the different Azure Data Sources for Data Science and Machine Learning
On Channel 9, Anna Hoffman Jeroen Ter Heerdt talks about Drive higher utilization of Azure HDInsight clusters with Autoscale Data Exposed

🖥️ Compute

Barbara Forbes (@Ba4bes) explains how to Configure Azure PowerShell Function Apps with Cosmos DB
On the Azure blog, Takeshi Numoto has highlights that Microsoft has announced the next evolution of Azure VMware Solution
Mikhail Shilkov (@MikhailShilkov) describes Serverless in the Wild: Azure Functions Production Usage Statistics
On the Azure blog, Takeshi Numoto announces that Microsoft announces next evolution of Azure VMware Solution

🚢 Containers

On Microsoft + Open Source, Brendan Burns (@brendandburns) highlights that Helm, the package manager for Kubernetes, is now a CNCF graduated project
Daniel Neumann (@neumanndaniel) walks through Switching to Istio CNI plugin on Azure Kubernetes Service
James van Den Berg explains how to Deploy a 10 – Node Azure Service Fabric Standalone Cluster
On the Azure podcast, Nills Franssens discusses Episode 329 - Hands on with AKS
On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Gaurav Aroraa talks about The FlixOne Bookstore Journey - WIN AN EBOOK PART 2: Hands-On Microservices with C and .NET Core

🗄️ Databases

On the Azure blog, Parul Matah (@ParulMatah) has written two blogs about "Minecraft Earth and Azure Cosmos DB": Part 1: Extending Minecraft into our real world and Part 2: Delivering turnkey geographic distribution
Radu Vunvulea (@RaduVunvulea) explains How does consistency levels affects the latency of Azure CosmosDB
The Azure updates team has announced that several services are now available in US goverment regions: Azure Private Link for Azure Database for PostgreSQL, Private Link for Azure Database for MariaDB and Private Link for Azure Database for MySQL
On the DEV site, Jay Gordon (@jaydestro) describes Azure SQL and Site Reliability
On the MSSQL Tips site, Koen Verbeeck (@Ko_Ver) explains how to Migrate a Package Deployment Integration Services Project to Azure

🛠️ Developer Tools

Maria Naggaga joins Jeffery Palermo to discuss .NET Interactive
Tobias Zimmergren (@zimmergren) highlights some Code analysis tools for Azure developers coding in .NET Core
On Channel 9, Robert Green (@rogreen_ms) talks about Visual Studio Subscriptions Visual Studio Toolbox
Gregor Suttie (@gregor_suttie) talks about Azure Tips n Tricks
Antariksh Mistry covers AZ-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Exam Preparation – Day 3 and describes AZ-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Exam Preparation – Day 4

🔩 DevOps

On the Premier Developer blog, Andrew Charbonneau provides 3 Tips for Adding Security to CI/CD Pipelines
The Azure updates team talks about Azure DevOps update to configure deployment strategies from the Azure portal
Also on the Premier Developer blog, Pete Tian (@PetePtian) writes about Upgrading Spring Boot App to Java 11 (LTS): Whats to be done in project config and Azure DevOps Pipelines
On the Microsoft DevOps blog, Steven Murawski lists the Top Stories from the Microsoft DevOps Community – 2020.05.08
On Channel 9, Abel Wang (@abelsquidhead) talks about Shifting Left: Testing in a DevOps world with SOFY
Stephen Cleary (@aSteveCleary) blogs about Using GitHub Actions for Pull Request Staging Environments, Part 4: Automated Deploy and Teardown

🧬 Hybrid

Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) describes How Azure Backup Integrates With Azure File Sync – Part II
On the Azure SQL Database blog, Danimir Ljepava (@danimir) talks about the Monitoring options available for Azure SQL Database Managed Instance
The Azure updates team blogs about SCOM management pack for Azure SQL Managed Instance is now available and talks about Azure App Service and Azure Functions on Azure Stack Hub update available
Travis Roberts (@Ciraltos) talks about using Azure Files SMB Access On-premises with Private Endpoints
Also on the Azure SQL Database blog, Mladen Andzic explains how to Integrate Microsoft cloud services with your Azure SQL Database managed instance

🎭 Identity

The Azure updates team announces that Azure custom role creation in the Azure portal is now generally available
Christos Matskas (@ChristosMatskas) talks about Working with OneDrive data and MS Graph in .NET Core
On the DEV site, Jay Gordon (@jaydestro) provides A Beginner's Guide To Role-Based Access Control on Azure.
Christos Matskas (@ChristosMatskas) blogs about Working with OneDrive data and MS Graph in .NET Core and describes Working with OneDrive data and MS Graph in .NET Core
Nicolas Bonnet (@nico_bonnet) provides an Access Review with Priveliged Identity Management and talks about an Autopilot and Hybrid AD Join
On the Microsoft BI Tools blog, Joost van Rossum (@ssisjoost) covers how to Use Managed Service Identity for Synapse PolyBase
On the Premier Developer blog, Roger Lamb covers Control Access to Power Apps and Power Automate with Azure AD Conditional Access Policies
Nicolas Bonnet (@nico_bonnet) talks about Access Review with PIM

🔌 Integration

On the Planet Geek blog, Daniel Marbach (@danielmarbach) continues his Azure Service Bus .NET SDK Deep Dive, this time covering runtime information
Sean Feldman (@sfeldman) discusses Azure Service Bus SDK - Sending ServiceBusMessages
Mark Heath (@mark_heath) blogs about Messaging with Azure Service Bus - Part 7 - Topics and Subscriptions
Meagan Longoria (@mmarie) discusses Using Logic Apps in a Data Factory Execution Framework – Part 1

💡 Internet of Things

On Channel 9, Barry Bond and Ryan Fairfax provide an Introduction to the Azure Sphere OS
The Azure updates team announces that the April 2020 Azure Sphere update is now available
On Code Project, Jonathan Nethercott writes about Easy Set Up of .NET Core on Raspberry Pi and Remote Debugging with VS Code

⚖️ Management and Governance

The Azure updates team announces that you can now Select multiple resources in Azure Monitor Logs and discusses the Additional improvements made to tables side pane
The Azure updates team talks about Azure Site Recovery—Zone-to-zone disaster recovery now available
On the DEV site, Frank Boucher explains how to Simplify your deployment with nested Azure Resource Manager ARM templates
Sam Cogan (@samcogan) announces an ARM Template Masterclass
On the Premier Developer blog, Tim Omta explains How to Change Azure Monitor Log Agent Workspace Information For All VMs in a Subscription
On Code Project, Kevin Mack covers Log Analytics – Disk Queries
On the Serverless360 blog, The serverless360 team writes about Best Azure Monitoring Tools for Cloud Native Integration Solution
On the MSSQL Tips site, Vitor Montalvao runs through some Azure VM Deployment Best Practices
John Savill (@NTFAQGuy) blogs about Optimizing Your Azure Spend
Also on the MSSQL Tips site, Mohammed Moinudheen explains how to Restore an Azure SQL VM using Recovery Services Vault
On the Premier Developer blog, Khemraj Neupane and Adam Toth describe how they are Helping Enterprise Customers Develop High Performant and Scalable Solutions in Azure
On his blog, Jon Gallant (@jongallant) describes How to Delete Multiple Azure Resource Groups with Tags, Bash via Azure Cloud Shell, and the Azure CLI
And, on Azure Tips and Tricks, Michael Crump (@mbcrump) describes How to reduce cost in Azure
David O'Brien (@david_obrien) talks about Query Azure Subscriptions using Resource Graph and Functions
On the DEV site, Jay Gordon (@jaydestro) talks about Cloud Shell Tips for SysAdmins Part V - The One Liner Guide

🚌 Migration

Bill Zack (@WilliamHZack) writes about An Azure Migration Assessment Methodology

📱 Mobile

On Channel 9, Maddy Leger (@maddyleger1) talks about Accessibility using Automation Properties in Xamarin.Forms

🌐 Networking

Tobias Zimmergren & Jussi Roine (@CtrlAltAzure) talk about Succeeding with Azure DNS
The Azure updates team talks about Azure Virtual Network NAT now generally available in Azure Government and Azure China
On the Azure blog, Ali Zaman describes How Azure VPN helps organizations scale remote work

🔐 Security

On the endjin blog, Carmel Eve (@Carmel_Eve) has written about How Azure Key Vault secures your data
The Azure updates team announces that Microsoft Threat Protection will automatically turn on for eligible license holders
On the Microsoft BI Tools blog, Mark de Groot covers how to Use a Key Vault Secret in an Azure Data Factory pipeline

📦 Storage

The Azure updates team announces that Blob Index now available in preview in Azure Blob storage
James Serra (@JamesSerra) covers Query Acceleration for ADLS
On the Azure blog, Xin Huang explains how to Manage and find data with Blob Index for Azure Storage—now in preview
On Channel 9, Scott Hanselman Rob Caron talks about Azure HPC Cache - File caching for high-performance computing HPC Azure Friday
Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) explains How Azure Backup Integrates With Azure File Sync – Part II
On the Revolution Analytics blog, Hong Ooi discusses AzureQstor: R interface to Azure Queue Storage now on GitHub

🔗 Web

On Azure Medium, Mohit Gupta (@MohitGu48372760) has recorded a video about API Management : Introduction , Developer Portal and API Versioning
The Azure updates team blogs about Azure API Management update—May 2020
Mark Brimble (@BrimbleMark) writes about APIM – Caching
On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Andreas Helland writes about API Patterns and Technologies - WIN AN EBOOK PART 3: Hands-On Microservices with C# and .NET Core

💻 Windows Virtual Desktop

On the Azure podcast, Shane Curtis discusses Windows Virtual Desktop
On the Azure blog, Jonathan Federico explains how to Enable remote work faster with new Windows Virtual Desktop capabilities
Freek Berson (@fberson) blogs about Migrating your existing WVD Workloads to WVD Spring Update
Travis Roberts (@Ciraltos) describes Windows Virtual Desktop Spring Update
Christiaan Brinkhoff (@Brinkhoff_C) delves into Windows Virtual Desktop technical 2020 spring update – ARM-based model public preview deployment walkthrough. It covers all you need to know and beyond
On the Azure blog, Jonathan Federico explains how you can Enable remote work faster with new Windows Virtual Desktop capabilities
Christiaan Brinkhoff (@Brinkhoff_C) provides a Windows Virtual Desktop technical deployment walkthrough