Azure Weekly

Issue #275 - 17th May 2020

This week, the Azure team has announced the general availability of Azure Spot Virtual Machines. Azure Spot allows you to take advantage of unused Azure compute at extremely discounted rates. The caveat is that this compute can be repurposed at any time. So, if your processing can be interrupted, this is extremely cost-effective way to leverage both cloud compute and scale-out.

Also on the Azure blog, Klaas Langhout has highlighted how Azure Blob Storage is enhancing data protection and recovery capabilities. Along with the announcement around indexing last week, we are excited to see some great new features being added to this low-cost storage solution!

And, elsewhere, Tobias ZImmerman has provided a great walkthrough overview on how to use the Azure Resource Graph to improve your Azure Governance game. Some really useful tips around automated management and governance!

And finally, on the endjin blog, Carmel has shared some tips for maintaining relationships within a remote team. With endjin having been remote now for over 2.5 years, we've developed a few strategies for continuing to feel connected!

⚙️ AI + Machine Learning

Michael Jonsson (@Michael_Jonsson) has provided a Script to invite externals to Azure Machine Learning Workspace governed by RBAC
On ZDNet, Liam Tung discusses Bosque, a new programming language built for AI in the cloud
On the Premier Developer blog, Rich Maines writes: So You Want to Build an AI Solution?
On Channel 9, Seth Juarez (@sethjuarez) talks about Time Series Forecasting with Automated Machine Learning and how to Get Started with Reinforcement Learning on Azure Machine Learning
On the Revolution Analytics blog, Hong Ooi explains how to Create and deploy a Custom Vision predictive service in R with AzureVision

🔎 Analytics

On the Azure blog, Kaiser Larsen (@kaiserlarsen) explains how to deliver insights faster with Azure Synapse Analytics
The Azure updates team announces that Azure Private Link for Azure SQL Database and Azure Synapse Analytics is now available in all US government regions
On Channel 9, Cecil Phillip Rich Lander talks about Scaling .NET for Apache Spark processing jobs with Azure Synapse On .NET

🖥️ Compute

On the Daily Dot Net Tips blog, Abhijit Jana (@AbhijitJana) walks through Running Azure Functions in a Docker Container
On the Azure blog, Avirishu Verma highlights that Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets now provide simpler management during scale-in
The Azure updates team announces Virtual machine (VM)-level disk bursting
David O'Brien (@david_obrien) walks through how to Query Azure Subscriptions using Resource Graph and Functions
John Savill (@NTFAQGuy) has released a video on Using PowerShell with Azure Functions
On the Serverless360 blog, Srivathsan Sampathkumar provides a Detailed view on Azure Function Custom Handlers
On the Azure blog, Varun Shandilya announces the general availability of Azure Spot Virtual Machines
On Channel 9, Jeroen ter Heerdt (@jeroenterheerdt) talks about how to Drive higher utilization of Azure HDInsight clusters with Autoscale

🚢 Containers

Simon J.K. Pedersen (@simped) describes how to Schedule the Start/Stop of Azure Container Instances
The Azure updates team announces that an Optional Uptime SLA is now available for Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS)
On the DEV site, Abhishek Gupta (@abhi_tweeter) provides a Tutorial: Data pipeline using MongoDB and Kafka Connect on Kubernetes
Daniel Neumann (@neumanndaniel) covers Switching to Istio CNI plugin on Azure Kubernetes Service
On the Azure podcast, Nills Franssens describes how to get Hands on with AKS

🗄️ Databases

Radu Vunvulea (@RaduVunvulea) explains How consistency levels affects the latency of Azure CosmosDB
On the Azure blog, Parul Matah (@ParulMatah) has written two blogs on Office Licensing Service and Azure Cosmos DB, Part 1: Migrating the production workload and Part 2: Improved performance and availability
The Azure updates team announces that Enterprise features are coming soon in Azure Cache for Redis
On Channel 9, Rohit Nayak talks about Private Link for Azure SQL Database - Part 1

🔩 DevOps

Aidan Finn (@joe_elway) has provided a complete example of Deploying Azure ARM Templates From Azure DevOps
The Azure updates team announces an Azure DevOps update to configure deployment strategies from the Azure portal and that Azure Pipelines YAML CD features are now available
On the Black Marble blog, Richard Fennell (@richardfennell) talks about Running SonarQube for a .NET Core project in Azure DevOps YAML multi-stage pipelines
On the Premier Developer blog, Jafar Jaffery demonstrates Using Azure DevOps Pipelines with Redgate to Automate Oracle Database Deployments
On Channel 9, Martin Woodward (@martinwoodward) talks about Integrating with Azure DevOps and DAS Deployer
John Savill (@NTFAQGuy) discusses Deploying ARM Template to Azure with GitHub Actions

🧬 Hybrid

Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) has provided a Livestream on Hybrid Cloud Server Management with Azure Arc and highlights his appearance on Cloud with Chris – Podcast on Hybrid Cloud
The Azure updates team announces: SCOM management pack for Azure SQL Managed Instance is now available and there is an Azure App Service and Azure Functions on Azure Stack Hub update available
On the Azure SQL Database blog, Danimir Ljepava (@danimir) describes the Monitoring options available for Azure SQL Database Managed Instance

🎭 Identity

On the Premier Developer blog, Roger Lamb and Adam Toth detail how to Control Access to Power Apps and Power Automate with Azure AD Conditional Access Policies

🔌 Integration

The Azure updates team announces that App Service is now an events publisher on Azure Event Grid in preview and that Private Link is now available on Event Grid
Meagan Longoria (@mmarie) blogs about Using Logic Apps in a Data Factory Execution Framework – Part 1
Mark Heath (@mark_heath) describes Messaging with Azure Service Bus - Part 8 - Commands and Events
Sean Feldman (@sfeldman) describes Receiving ServiceBusReceivedMessage(s) with the Azure Service Bus SDK
On Code Project, Gaston Verelst (@DotNetPro) talks about Sending Notifications with Corona Updates to Thousands of Doctors using Azure Notification Hub

💡 Internet of Things

The Azure updates team announces that the Azure Sphere update 20.05 is now available for compatibility testing and describes the April 2020 new features of Azure IoT Central
On Channel 9, Ken Hosac talks about the Cradlepoint NetCloud Edge Connector for Azure IoT Central

⚖️ Management and Governance

The Azure updates team has made a lot of announcements:
You can now Select multiple resources in Azure Monitor Logs,
Additional improvements made to tables side pane,
Zone-to-zone disaster recovery is now available in Azure Site Recovery,
Azure Log Analytics agent for Windows SHA-2 signing date has been extended,
Azure Monitor Logs Agent for Linux May 2020 release now available,
Azure Monitor Logs is now available in the US Gov Arizona region
and finally, Azure Monitor for Containers is moving the health feature to limited preview
On the Premier Developer blog, Tim Omta describes How to Change Azure Monitor Log Agent Workspace Information For All VMs in a Subscription
On the Azure SQL Database blog, Danimir Ljepava (@danimir) talks about Fine tuning backup storage costs on Managed Instance and explains Backup storage consumption on Managed Instance
Daniel Neumann (@neumanndaniel) explains how to Optimize your Azure Function PowerShell run duration in the consumption plan
Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) explains How to SSH into an Azure VM from Windows Terminal Menu
Also on the DEV site, Jay Gordon (@jaydestro) talks about Cloud Shell Tips for SysAdmins Part V - The One Liner Guide
Tobias Zimmergren (@zimmergren) how you can Use the Azure Resource Graph to improve your Azure Governance game
On the MSSQL Tips site, Mohammed Moinudheen explains how to Restore an Azure SQL VM using Recovery Services Vault and Fikrat Azizov explains how to Automate Azure Analysis Services Management Tasks using Logic App - Part 1
Julien Corioland (@jcorioland) explains How to manage implicit and explicit dependencies with Terraform

🚌 Migration

On the Azure blog, Julia White (@julwhite) explains how to Migrate to Azure in order to save now and be future ready

📱 Mobile

On Channel 9, Gerald Versluis (@jfversluis) talks about Visual State Manger - Beyond the Basics and Don Syme and Timothé Larivière provide an Introduction to Fabulous - a F# MVU Framework for Xamarin
Also on Channel 9, Maddy Leger (@maddyleger1) provides an Intro to CollectionView and RefreshView in Xamarin.Forms

🌐 Networking

On the Azure blog, Megan Beatty announces that Azure Front Door Rules Engine is in preview
The Azure updates team announces that Azure Virtual Network NAT now generally available in Azure Government and Azure China and that Azure SQL Auditing to storage account behind Virtual Network and firewall is now generally available
Tobias Zimmergren & Jussi Roine (@CtrlAltAzure) ask: What is Azure Web Application Firewall?
On the Azure SQL Database blog, David Trigano discusses Azure SQL Auditing to a storage account destination behind a Virtual Network or a Firewall
Dave Rendn covers Disaster recovery with Azure DNS Zones and Kemp LoadMaster GEO

🔐 Security

On the Azure blog, Lily Kim describes Automating cybersecurity guardrails with new Zero Trust blueprint and Azure integrations
Also on the Azure blog, Avi Ben-Menahem (@Avibm) blogs about how you can Monitor your Azure workload compliance with Azure Security Benchmark
The Azure updates team announces that Azure Automation TLS 1.2 enforcement begins September 1, 2020

📦 Storage

On the Azure blog, Klaas Langhout talks about how Azure Blob Storage is enhancing data protection and recovery capabilities
Robert Smit (@Clustermvp) walks through Step By Step: Azure Files share SMB with native AD support
On Channel 9, Scott Jeschonek joins Scott Hanselman to discuss Azure HPC Cache - File caching for high-performance computing (HPC)
The Azure updates team announces that Private endpoints for Azure Storage are now generally available in the Azure Government region, Premium tier for Azure Data Lake Storage is now in public preview and that Azure File Sync is removing support for TLS 1.0 and 1.1 in August 2020

🔗 Web

The Azure updates team highlights the Azure API Management May 2020 update
On the Visual Studio blog, Jon Galloway walks through Building a Progressive Web App with Blazor
Mark Brimble (@BrimbleMark) writes about Caching and Caching Responses in APIM
On Code Project, Kevin Mack describes Azure Search SDK in Azure Government
The Azure updates team announces that Azure Private Link is now available for multiple new Azure services and Rules Engine for Azure Front Door Service is now in preview

💻 Windows Virtual Desktop

Freek Berson (@fberson) discusses Using WVD to provide secure and easy access to a management server in Azure
On the Azure blog, Yair Tor talks about how to Use Azure Firewall for secure and cost-effective Windows Virtual Desktop protection
James van Den Berg explains How to Migrate your VDI Infrastructure to Azure Windows Virtual Desktop WVD
Christiaan Brinkhoff (@Brinkhoff_C) describes Getting started: Windows Virtual Desktop ARM-based Azure portal
Travis Roberts (@Ciraltos) discusses the Windows Virtual Desktop Spring Update