Azure Weekly

Issue #306 - 10th January 2021

It's quite a bumper edition as we're covering the content published over the festive break. So let's start off with learning goals. Over the last year Microsoft have put in huge amounts of effort to improve the Azure certifications process, revamping the learning pathways and content to better reflect the latest services in Azure. If my LinkedIn feed is anything to go by, many people focused on learning during the pandemic. Two interesting posts in this topic are: Microsoft Certification Changes 2021 and Beyond and to help with your learning - five more free services now available in the Azure free account.

In the data & analytics space there have been a few posts of note: 4 common analytics scenarios to build business agility, How to use Azure Cosmos Emulator as a local MongoDb database, Resources for the SQL Server and Azure Data community, and Bulk upload files to Azure Blob Storage with the Azure CLI

On the Serverless front Barbara Forbes talks about Azure Durable Functions for PowerShell and a really interesting post from Guillaume Docquier about detecting anomalies in Azure costs with TensorFlow and Azure Functions. I'll stop there and let your read the rest of the newsletter!

⚙️ AI + Machine Learning

On the Microsoft DevOps blog, Damian Brady (@damovisa) walks through Using Azure Machine Learning from GitHub Actions
On the Azure blog, Lili Cheng introduces Azure Health Bot—an evolution of Microsoft Healthcare Bot with new functionality
Simon J.K. Pedersen (@simped) describes Running PyTorch with GPU Support in a Container on Azure VM
On the Azure Medium blog, Luca Zavarella provides A Review of Azure Automated Machine Learning (AutoML)

🔎 Analytics

Chris Webb (@cwebb_bi) shares a Sample HTTP Endpoint For Querying Azure Analysis Services And Power BI Premium
James Serra (@JamesSerra) blogs about DirectQuery for Power BI datasets and Azure Analysis Services (preview)
On the MSSQL Tips site, Fikrat Azizov delves into Azure Synapse Analytics Data Integration and Orchestration
On the Azure blog, Kaiser Larsen (@kaiserlarsen) discusses 4 common analytics scenarios to build business agility
The Azure updates team announces that Additional support for managed identity in Azure Stream Analytics is now in public preview
On the Microsoft BI Tools blog, Joost van Rossum (@ssisjoost) blogs about Pausing and resuming Dedicated SQL Pools from ADF
Darwin Schweitzer (@DataSnowman) covers how "Microsoft delivers best Analytics Data Pro Christmas gift since 1998"
Euan Garden (@euanga) explains how to Kickstart your Apache Spark learning in Azure Synapse with immediately available samples
Mark Kromer (@kromerbigdata) explains how to Implement Fill Down in ADF and Synapse Data Flows
Prathibha Vemulapalli discusses the Azure metrics Dashboard for Azure Synapse Analytics - Part 1 and Part 2
Santosh Balasubramanian explains how to Integrate Power BI with Azure Synapse Analytics
On SQL Server Central, Steve Jones - Ssc Editor covers Azure Synapse Analytics Data Integration and Orchestration
John Miner (@JohnMiner3) blogs about Azure Databricks Local File System Management
Joost van Rossum (@ssisjoost) writes about how to Use stored procedure output in Azure Data Factory

🖥️ Compute

Barbara Forbes (@Ba4bes) talks about Azure Durable Functions for PowerShell
The Azure updates team announces that the RabbitMQ Extension for Windows and Linux is now generally available
On the DEV site, Maxime Rouiller (@MaximRouiller) discusses Azure Durable Functions
Also on the DEV site, Nitya Narasimhan covers #SeasonsOfServerless: A Big Barbecue, Tteok-guk for The New Year and The Magic Chocolate Box
On Tech Community blog, Ariya Khamvongsa blogs about the Azure portal December 2020 update
On Code Project, Duncan Edwards Jones (@Merrion) blogs about Event Sourcing on Azure Functions
Gregor Reimling describes some Azure VM Best Practices

🚢 Containers

Jose Moreno (@erjosito) blogs about Using Azure Container Instances to create Lets Encrypt Certificates
The Azure updates team announces the Support of Azure Container Registry across Availability Zones
Geert Baeke (@GeertBaeke) writes about AKS Pod Identity with the Azure SDK for Go
Mark Heath (@mark_heath) explains How to run SQL Server as a Docker container instead of using LocalDB
Roy Kim (@roykimyyz) provides an AZ CLI Script to Create a Starter AKS Demo
On the Microsoft DevOps blog, Jay Gordon (@jaydestro) describes Modernizing Your Apps With Containers
On Tech Community blog, Athinanthny Senthil highlights that you need to Upgrade Azure Service Fabric Clusters on Unsupported Versions Below 6.3.63. By January 19, 2021

🗄️ Databases

Sam Nasr discusses SQL Server for Developers
On the DEV site, Yaser Adel Mehraban explains How to use Azure Cosmos Emulator as a local MongoDb database and asks How much do you know about Azure CosmosDB Emulator?
On Channel 9, Kate Smith (@aKateSmithSQL) talks about How to Create Elastic Jobs in Azure SQL Database Using T-SQL, Using PowerShell and Using PowerShell and T-SQL
On Tech Community blog, Luis Filipe blogs about Azure Redis Timeouts - Server Side Issues
Anna Hoffman (@AnalyticAnna) launches the Azure SQL News and Data Exposed Update
On the SQL Server Blog, the SQL Server Team (@SQLServer) highlights some Resources for the SQL Server and Azure Data community
David Engel highlights: Released - Microsoft.Data.SqlClient 2.1.1
Kevin Chant provides the 2020 edition of SQL Server related services in Azure
The Azure updates team announces the Application Consistent Snapshot tool (AzAcSnap) in public preview

🛠️ Developer Tools

Gregor Suttie (@gregor_suttie) blogs about Using the latest version of the Azure CLI

🔩 DevOps

Kendra Havens (@gotheap) discusses Codespaces
Barbara Forbes (@Ba4bes) explains how to Create an Azure DevOps service connection to Azure with PowerShell
Geert Baeke (@GeertBaeke) provides A look at GitHub Actions for Azure and AKS deployments
On the Black Marble blog, Richard Fennell (@richardfennell) runs through how to Automatically create and publish Azure DevOps Release Notes and talks about Porting Release Notes Azure DevOps Pipelines Extension to GitHub Actions
On the DEV site, Davide Mauri (@mauridb) writes about Modern development: creating a REST API, via CI/CD and back
On the Microsoft DevOps blog, Jay Gordon (@jaydestro) provides a CI/CD on Windows with the Azure DevOps Starter Kit
Ken Ross (@kzhen) runs through how to Conditionally add an access policy to a Key Vault using ARM templates
On Tech Community blog, John Vintzel (@jvintzel) highlights that the MSIX Packaging Extension is now available in the Azure DevOps Marketplace

🧬 Hybrid

The Azure updates team announces that the Azure Automation Python 3 runbook support is now available in public preview
On Tech Community blog, Liberty Munson discusses Azure Stack Hub operators: Prove you can bring cloud agility on-premises
Sonia Cuff (@soniacuff) provides a Azure Arc enabled server walk-through for hybrid & multi-cloud
Sarah Lean (@TechieLass) blogs about Azure Stack HCI

🎭 Identity

Damien Bowden (@damien_bod) talks about Azure AD Access Token Lifetime Policy Management in ASP.NET Core
On the DEV site, Waldek Mastykarz (@waldekm) blogs about Use single-tenant Azure AD apps with Microsoft Graph Toolkit
Marius Rochon covers Setting up for Azure B2C development
On Tech Community blog, Alex Weinert provides an Azure AD workbook to help you assess Solorigate risk
Tali Ash discusses the Hunt for Azure Active Directory sign-in events
Daniel Neumann (@neumanndaniel) covers using Azure RBAC for Kubernetes authorization
On Channel 9, Kyle Marsh (@kylemar) answers: What is MSAL + Microsoft.Identity.Web?

🔌 Integration

On BizTalk Gurus, Pedro Almeida discusses Logic Apps: Moving from Azure Portal to Visual Studio and walks through Controlling the initial state of a Logic App
June Castillote (@junecastillote) writes about Which Azure Email Service to Choose for 2021
On the DEV site, Justin Yoo (@justinchronicle) describes an EventGrid Subscription to Custom Topic Using Azure CLI
Mark Heath (@mark_heath) talks about Using SQL Server as a Rebus Transport
On Tech Community blog, Hamza Assyad blogs about Azure Logic Apps Running Anywhere – Monitor with Application Insights
Tareq Saifi highlights an issue: Logic app creates unreadable base64 encoded files using HTTP action on Azure Blob Storage, and covers Calling Graph API from Azure Logic Apps using delegated permissions, how to Access Storage Accounts behind Firewalls from Logic Apps within the same region and discusses Calling REST API service using JSON object with fixed order of elements
On the Serverless360 blog, Sandro Pereira (@sandro_asp) continues his series on How to Expose and protect Logic Apps using Azure API Management
On Azure Tips and Tricks, Michael Crump (@mbcrump) discusses How to get started with Azure Communication Services Part 1 of 2 - Create a chat app

💡 Internet of Things

The Azure updates team highlights that Ingress logs are now available for Azure Time Series Insights environments
Tobias Zimmergren & Jussi Roine (@CtrlAltAzure) discuss Finding your way with Azure Maps
Sander van de Velde describes Getting started with the Azure IoT Central Rest API, Azure IoT Edge module metrics in action, blogs about Handling Advantech Wise 710 OPC-UA telemetry using OPCPublisher and explains how to Add local storage to Azure IoT Edge modules using Docker Bind
On Tech Community blog, Olivier Bloch (@obloch) writes: How I built my first Azure RTOS GUIX display driver
Matt Lavery (@matticusau) highlights: IoT is now Generally Available as a solution covered by FastTrack for Azure to eligible customers
On Channel 9, Olivier Bloch (@obloch) talks about Agentless IoT/OT security with Azure Defender for IoT
Hesham Saad talks about Azure Defender for IoT Raw-Data and ICS MITRE ATT&CK Matrix Mapping via Azure Sentinel

📚 Learning

Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) blogs about the Microsoft Certification Changes 2021 and Beyond
Karina Ung discusses How to stay motivated during your learning journey
On the Microsoft DevOps blog, Jay Gordon (@jaydestro) discusses The AZ-900 Badge, Your First Triumph on Azure
Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) provides an AZ-600 Study Guide Microsoft Certified Azure Stack Hub Operator, highlights Azure Arc and Hybrid Cloud Management on Microsoft Learn and discusses How to learn Microsoft Azure in 2021
Tiberiu Radu (@rctibi) blogs about the Azure Stack Hub Operator certification - Az-600
Adam Marczak (@MarczakIO) continues his series on AZ-900, covering Azure Blueprints
Ron L'Esteve runs through how to Prepare for the Microsoft AI 100 Exam

⚖️ Management and Governance

Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) explains how to Deploy and manage Azure resources with ARM templates
The Azure updates team has made a series of announcements:
Azure Monitor for Containers support for Private Clusters now in public preview,
Cross resource query between Azure Monitor and Azure Data Explorer in public preview,
View changes at-scale with Application Change Analysis now in public preview,
Azure Automation is now available in UAE North,
Microsoft to establish new datacenter region in Chile,
Azure Health Bot is now generally available
and Azure Automation is now available in Germany West Central
Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) describes How To Export and Backup Azure Policy Definitions
On the Check your Logs blog, Cary Sun (@SifuSun) explains How to configure notification for Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure with free SendGrid account and describes How to use Cloud Shell to fix failed to resize virtual machine at Azure
Meagan Longoria (@mmarie) walks through Retrieving Log Analytics Data with Data Factory
On Tech Community blog, Shawn Xiao describes how to Monitor MySQL server performance using performance_schema and Azure Log Analytics
Sarah Lean (@TechieLass) highlights a series: Inside Azure Datacentres from Mark Russinovich
On System Center Automation, Billy York describes How to Show Azure Resource Icons in Workbooks
Brandon Olin (@devblackops) discusses Infrastructure Development
On the MSSQL Tips site, Vitor Montalvao discusses how to Deploy VMs from a Template
On Microsoft + Open Source, Aaron M. Schifman explains How to monitor your Azure infrastructure with Filebeat and Elastic Observability
On the Sharegate blog, Guillaume Docquier writes about Detecting anomalies in Azure costs with TensorFlow and Azure Functions
Justin Sylvester describes How to Set Up Azure DSC on an Ubuntu Linux VM
The Azure updates team highlights Five more free services now available in the Azure free account
Brad Watts talks about Azure Cost Anomalies
On Azure Sentinel Blog, Innocent Wafula blogs about Ingestion Cost Alert Playbook
Travis Roberts (@Ciraltos) highlights that Azure Automanage is now in Public Preview
Jaspreet Kaur highlights: Azure Automation Runbooks moving to GitHub
On Channel 9, Chuck Weininger talks about the Azure Application Insights Profiler

🎬 Media

Simon J.K. Pedersen (@simped) explains how to Build your own streaming service using Azure

🚌 Migration

On the Azure podcast, Cynthia, Cale, Evan and Sujit provide a 2020 Roundup
Aidan Finn (@joe_elway) writes about Everything You Need to Know About Azure Infrastructure – December 2020 Edition

📱 Mobile

On Code Project, Ana Carolina Zambon discusses Adaptive Layouts for Different Device Sizes in Xamarin Apps
Jamie Maguire discusses Streaming your Android Phone to Windows 10
Maddy Leger (@maddyleger1) describes Xamarin in a .NET 5 World

🌐 Networking

The Azure updates team announces that Built-in Azure Policy support for NSG Flow Logs is now available
Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) runs through how to Export All NSG Rules from All Azure Subscriptions With PowerShell
On the DEV site, Christina Compy (@ccompy) answers: Why should I care about Azure App Service Environment version 3?
On Tech Community blog, Reshma Vishwanath runs through the Steps to Associate Old IP address to New Service Fabric cluster.
Bill Kindle explains How to Find Azure IP Ranges (And Keep Them Up to Date)
On Azure Medium, Akihiro Nishikawa runs through how to Permit access from Azure Front Door to Azure App Service only as simply as possible

🔐 Security

The Azure updates team highlights Azure Defender for SQL in Azure Security Center—News and updates for December 2020 and Azure Security Center—News and updates for December 2020
On Tech Community blog, Innocent Wafula blogs about Improved Analytics Preview Graph in Public Preview in Azure Sentinel
Sarahzin Chowdhury asks Do I use MCAS or MIP?
Sonia Cuff runs through Using rule templates in Azure Sentinel
Steve Newby explains How to use tagging effectively (Part 1)
On Azure Sentinel Blog, Tiander Turpijn highlights the New Official Azure Sentinel PowerShell Module

📦 Storage

Mark Heath (@mark_heath) describes how to Bulk upload files to Azure Blob Storage with the Azure CLI

🔗 Web

Aaron Powell (@slace) blogs about Simplifying Auth With Static Web Apps and React
On Code Project, Kim Noel describes How to Get Started with Static Web Apps on Azure Using the Azure Static Web Apps Service
Also on Code Project, Frank Boucher (@FBoucheros) explains How to Configure a Secured Custom Domain on an Azure Function or Website
On Tech Community blog, Vijay Saayi Ravinuthala talks about Using the 'pyodbc' module in Linux based App Services
On the Premier Developer blog, Reed Robison blogs about Reducing SNAT Port consumption in Azure App Services
Carter Socha runs through: Why did my availability test fail while my website is still available?

💻 Windows Virtual Desktop

Travis Roberts (@Ciraltos) explains how to Connect to Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) with a Raspberry Pi and Stratodesk