Azure Weekly
Issue #33 - 4th July 2015
This week's DockerCon in San Francisco saw a flurry of Docker-related news, including the announcement of the Open Container Project (OCP), a not-profit group formed of vendors including Docker and Microsoft, aimed at defining common specifications for container format and runtime. The launch of the project is covered on the Docker, Azure and Microsoft Openness blogs.
There were also several Azure announcements this week. Still in the world of containers, there was the the arrival of Container Apps in the Azure Marketplace. In the world of storage and data there was the limited public preview of Azure SQL Data Warehouse and 21 new partners for this service, and a lower minimum size for Azure SQL Database Elastic Database Pools reducing from 200 eDTUs to 100 eDTUs, which halves the minimum entry price by 50%. In the world of identity and access management, there was an update to the Azure AD Conditional Access preview, providing more apps and the ability to block access for users not at work. Finally in the world of apps, the 1.0.0 release of Application Insights Windows SDKs was announced.
Finally, Scott Guthrie announced two new Azure billing APIs; a Usage API that exposes subscription usage data and can correlate the usage/costs by resource tags, and a RateCard API, which exposes information on available Azure resources.
⚖️ Management and Governance
On the Docker blog, there's lots of content relating to the recent DockerCon. Ben Firshman announces Docker 1.7: Multihost networking, plugins and orchestration updates, Adam Herzog writes a wrap up of Day 1 of DockerCon 2015, Scott Johnston blogs about Docker: Ready for Production, Solomon Hykes writes an intro to runC: a lightweight universal container runtime and Dave Tucker writes that networking Receives an Upgrade
On the Azure blog, Corey Sanders (@CoreySandersWA), Director of Program Management Azure, summarizes the collaborations between Docker and Microsoft over the past year, including the announcement of the Open Container Project (OCP) at the recent DockerCon. The Open Container Project is also covered by Ben Golub on the Docker blog, in 'Docker and a Broad Industry Coalition Unite to Create an Open Container Project, and on the Microsoft Openness site, in 'Docker and Microsoft announce more crossplatform innovation'
Also on the Azure blog, Joshua Weber announces the 1.0.0 release of Application Insights Windows SDKs
- Ben Foster (@benfosterdev) explains how not to build your first SaaS startup
On the New Relic blog, Andrew Marshall writes that New Relic's Docker Monitoring is now Generally Available. This is also covered by Abner Germanow in new Relic Generates Real Data on Docker Container Adoption
Docker Con is also the topic of Channel 9's 'Tuesdays with Corey' Docker Con keynote goodness Tuesdays With Corey
On the Azure podcast, episode 82 covers Containers, Microservices, Paas & Service Fabric
🖥️ Compute
On the Azure blog, Joe Davies announces some new docs to help when troubleshooting SSH connections with Linux based Azure Virtual Machines
Also on the Azure blog, Vybava Ramadoss announces that Container Apps now available in the Azure Marketplace
On the Kloud blog, Simon Waight describes how to set distribution mode on Azure’s Internal Load Balancer (ILB) service
On Channel 9, Kenaz Kwa, Program Manager on the IaaS team talks Debunking Azure Myths: Azure Doesn't Scale up to large VMs
On Code Project, 'Member 11228329' provides a step by step guide to converting MCF Services to Azure Cloud Services
'Adminian' writes Cloud, Azure, DevOps, Love and Hate
On the Windows IT Pro site, Rod Trent covers the announcement that Shavlik Protect is now available in the Azure Marketplace, and John Savill (@NTFAQGuy) answers the questions if a VM is deallocated in Azure, do I still pay for the storage it consumes?, and how do I use a template to create VMs in Azure IaaS v2 ARM?
On Brisbane Cloud User Group blog, @aaronw2003 provides a link to a useful list of all the Microsoft server and Microsoft software that is supported on Azure
On the .NET Curry blog, Kunal Chandratre covers configuring ADFS in an Azure Virtual Machine for implementing Authentication in ASP.NET MVC
🌐 Networking
Marius Sandbu (@msandbu) talks about getting started with the new Azure Application Gateway
💡 Internet of Things
On the Azure blog, Kevin Lam (@kevinlam_msft) blogs about getting started with Logic App Templates
- On the iMason blog, Cosmin Ovesia writes about secure Enterprise Mobile Apps Office 365, ADAL and Azure
Ken Ross (@kzhen) explains how to send logs for an Azure Web App to Splunk with log4net UdpAppender
⚙️ Data and Analytics
On the endjin blog, Alice Waddicor (@AliceWaddicor) writes Azure data services part 3: Azure Machine Learning
On the Azure blog, Guy Haycock announces an update to the Azure SQL Database Elastic Database Pool Minimum Size
On the Azure blog, Garth Fort announces a new preview and 21 new partners for Azure SQL Data Warehouse
- Also on the Azure blog, Tiffany Wissner announces that Azure SQL Data Warehouse is available for limited public preview
On the Hortonworks blog, Neeraj Sabharwal describes some easy steps to create a Hadoop Cluster on Microsoft Azure
On MSDN, 'Tejaswi' writes about text analytics with Azure ML
📦 Storage
On the MSSQL Tips site, Tim Smith explains how to Automate Azure File Uploads and File Deletes With PowerShell
🎬 Media
- Mingfei Yan (@mingfeiy), Program Manager - Azure Media Services, describes how to use API connector to deliver AES encrypted video
⚙️ Hybrid Integration
'Gaurav' writes part 2 of his series on Azure Service Bus, covering Queues & Messages
⚙️ Identity and Access Management
On the Kloud blog, David Minnelli blogs about Azure Active Directory Connect high-availability using Staging Mode
On TechNet, R Schellens writes about a recent whitepaper on Active Directory from on-premises to the cloud
On TechNet, R Schellens writes a guide to Building Your Own Enterprise Mobility Lab
Also on TechNet, David Howell Microsoft describes an Azure AD Conditional Access preview update: More apps and blocking access for users not at work
On Brisbane Cloud User Group blog, Brisbane Cloud User Group explains how to Add a custom application with Single Sign-On to your Azure Active Directory accounts, explains how to Add FaceBook Single Sign-On to your Azure Active Directory accounts
On the Redmond magazine site, Kurt Mackie writes about the commercial launch of Azure Key Vault and delves into the release of Azure Active Directory Connect and Health Tools