Azure Weekly Issue 355: 14th January 2022
I want to start this issue talking about Azure API Management; in my opinion, it's one of the of the hidden gems of the Azure Ecosystem. We've worked with many customers over the last decade who have attempted to transform their organisations or deal with industry disruption by embracing the API Economy. These orgs have taken internal data & algorithms and created new business models and "coopetition" opportunities, or used APIs to break down internal siloes, or have leveraged Open Banking APIs for competitive advantage.
5 years ago we worked with the Azure APIM team to release a tech briefing on Digital Transformation with Azure APIM, and a API Maturity Model to help people to understand that embarking on the journey of designing, building, testing, deploying, supporting, marketing, metering & billing APIs can be a daunting prospect, but can be tackled by adopting a simple "assess & invest" feedback loop.
The barrier to entering the API Economy has been significantly reduced with services like Azure API Management, but the remaining challenge is how you approach designing your business model, your monetization strategy and your revenue model. You can find 100s of articles about choosing the right APIM solution, but none about the "secret sauce" that is the strategy and operational mechanics around actually monetizing your APIs... until now!
We've produced two in-depth articles: Monetization with Azure API Management, which covers the strategy & detail, and How API Management supports monetization which shows how to implement that strategy using Azure APIM. We've also created a GitHub repo that demonstrates easy to deploy examples of how to integrate Stripe and Adyen payment providers with Azure APIM, and implement & enforce pricing rules & limits. Finally, we've produced two walkthrough videos: Monetize APIs with Azure API Management Using Stripe and Monetize APIs with Azure API Management Using Adyen. Hopefully you'll find this content valuable. If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.
Other interesting content this week: a nice video of CI/CD deployments for Azure Container Apps and an interesting tutorial a realtime collaboration app using Vue.js and Node.js, hosted in Azure Static Web Apps. I'm a big fan of Semantic Search, and a nice new feature has been added: Semantic configurations and broader availability for Semantic Search. There's a new feature of Azure Synapse Analytics: Introducing Map Data preview for Synapse, and there's a neat little tutorial about Scanning and analyzing invoices using Xamarin.Forms and Azure.
Finally, Azure Cosmos DB Conf 2022 has been announced; it'll be running April 19-20. The Call for Papers has been announced. Submit your sessions!
AI + Machine Learning
Covering: Anomaly detector, Azure Bot Service, Azure Machine Learning, Azure Open Datasets, Bing APIs, Cognitive Services, Computer Vision, Content moderator, Custom vision, Data Science Virtual Machines, Face, Form Recogniser, Immersive Reader, Ink Recogniser, Language Understanding (LUIS), Machine Learning Studio, Microsoft Genomics, ML.NET, Personaliser, Project Cortex, QnA Maker, Speaker Recognition, Speech-to-Text, Speech translation, Text Analytics, Text to Speech , Translator Speech, Translator Text
- Daksh Vatwani talks about Securing machine learning environments on Azure Machine Learning Machine Learning Essentials
- Szczegielniak talks about Python Machine Learning on Azure Part 1: Creating an XGBoost Model with Python, VS Code, and Azure ML
- Szczegielniak describes Python Machine Learning on Azure Part 2: Creating a PyTorch Model with Python, GitHub Codespaces, and Azure ML
- Daksh Vatwani explains how to Build Securely with Azure AI, and How to scale applications through Azure AI, and How to build a chatbot with Microsoft Azure AI Azure AI Essentials, and How to use AI to automate document processing Azure AI Essentials,and Learn how to deploy Azure Cognitive Services in Containers, and Open and interoperable machine learning with Azure Machine Learning and How to create an intelligent call center with Microsoft Azure AI
- Afzaal Ahmad Zeeshan lists the Top 5 advices for users of Microsoft Cognitive Services
- Derek Legenzoff announces semantic configurations and broader availability for semantic search
Analytics
Covering: Apache Spark for HDInsight, Apache Storm for HDInsight, Azure Analysis Services, Azure Data Explorer, Azure Data Share, Azure Databricks, Azure Stream Analytics, Azure Synapse Analytics, Data Catalog, Data Factory, Data Lake Analytics, Event Hubs, HDInsight, .NET for Apache Spark, R Server for HDInsight, Azure Purview
- Joshuha Owen blogs about Introducing Map Data preview for Synapse
- Rohit Dhande talks about Log Pipeline Executions to File in Azure Data Factory
Compute
Covering: Azure CycleCloud, Azure Dedicated Host, Azure Functions, Azure VMware Solution by CloudSimple, Batch, Cloud Services, Linux Virtual Machines, SAP HANA on Azure Large Instances, Service Fabric, Virtual Machines, Virtual Machine Scale Sets
- Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) covers Hardening Azure VMs: 5 Critical Best Practices
- Gauhar Junnarkar discusses Barracuda Virtual Reactor on Azure
- Jerry Zhang writes about Not enough disk space issue in Service Fabric cluster
Containers
Covering: Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure Red Hat OpenShift, CNAB, CNCF, Container Instances, Container Registry, Porter, WSL, Web App for Containers
- Sam Cogan (@samcogan) walks through Accessing a Private AKS Cluster with Additional Private Endpoints
- Jay Gordon presents an Azure Container Apps - CI/CD deployments Video Demo
- Sayed Belal writes about Continuous Profiling in Kubernetes Using Pyroscope
- Episode 407 of The Azure podcast is all about Azure Container Apps
Databases
Covering: Azure Cosmos DB, Azure Database for MariaDB, Azure Database for MySQL, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Database Edge, Azure Cache for Redis, SQL Data Warehouse, SQL Server on virtual machines, SQL Server Stretch Database, Table storage
- Azure Cosmos DB Conf is returning, April 19-20, 2022; Mark Brown announces Azure Cosmos DB Conf 2022 – Call for Papers
- Ahmed Mahmoud discusses Learning from Expertise 8: Why cannot move SQL database from provisioned to serverless
- Hiten Bhavsar describes Automating Azure SQL DB index and statistics maintenance using Azure Data Factory - Single Database
- Sergiu Ernu explains how to Deploy a connectivity dashboard for PostgreSQL Flexible Server
- Sudheesh Narayanaswamy writes about Bidirectional replication with Azure Database for MySQL - Flexible Server
- Vishal Ani talks about Azure Purview Managed Vnet, Vnet Integration Runtime and Managed Private Endpoints
- Tao Yang (@MrTaoYang) discusses Azure SQL Virtual Machines - Sharing My Code and Experience
- Mangai Murugan blogs about Overview of Azure Modern Data Warehouse
Developer Tools
Covering: App Configuration, Azure Lab Services, CLIs, Developer tool integrations, SDKs, Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio Online
- Denizhan Yigitbas blogs about Bringing Code Cleanup on Save To Visual Studio 2022 17.1 Preview 2
- Fernando Sibaja Araya explains how to Get a Hadoop Sandbox for testing/troubleshooting POLYBASE and Hadoop in 20 minutes.
- David Ramel writes about See What's New for Git in Latest Visual Studio 2022 Update
DevOps
Covering: Azure Artifacts, Azure Boards, Azure DevOps, Azure Pipelines, Azure Repos, Azure Test Plans, Azure DevTest Labs, DevOps tool integrations
- Jeffrey Palermo (@jeffreypalermo) talks about Data Science With Buck Woody - Episode 175
- Richard Fennell (@richardfennell) delves into Using Azure DevOps Stage Dependency Variables with Conditional Stage and Job Execution
- Poorna Mishra blogs about Azure Synapse Studio CICD using YAML pipelines
- Thomas Thornton (@tamstar1234) walks through Running builds and releases in Azure DevOps using an Elgato Stream Deck
- Aidan Finn (@joe_elway) writes about Az Module Scripts in GitHub Actions
- On episode 408 of The Azure Podcast - Azure Load Testing
- Travis Roberts (@Ciraltos) talks about Remote Backend State with Terraform and Azure Storage
Hybrid + Multicloud
Covering: Azure Arc, Azure Stack
- Niko Neugebauer writes about How-to test TCP connectivity from a SQL Managed Instance
- Yasmeen Jassim covers Introducing the all-new azure stack HCI sizing tool preview
Identity
Covering: Azure Active Directory (AD), Azure Active Directory B2C, Azure Active Directory Domain Services
- Kurt Mackie writes about Continuous Access Evaluation Now Commercially Available for Azure Active Directory Users
- Akihiro Nishikawa (@Logico_jp) explains how to Configure RBAC for Cosmos DB with Managed Identity instead of Service Principal
- Alex Simons writes about Continuous Access Evaluation in Azure AD is now generally available
- Innocent Wafula writes about Single Sign On Support for authentication in Microsoft Sentinel Notebooks
- Umar Mohamed Usman walks through Protecting APIs in Azure API Management using OAuth 2.0 Client Credential Flow
- Rahul Sharma discusses Connecting Azure Authentication to Other Providers Article One: Linking Azure AD with On-Premises Active Directory, and Connecting Azure Authentication to Other Providers Article 2: Using Azure AD B2C to Enable Social Login and Connecting Azure Authentication to Other Providers Article 3: Connecting Azure AD with AWS Cognito for Authentication
Integration
Covering: Azure API for FHIR, Event Grid, Logic Apps, Service Bus
- Yi Yang describes Permission Level and Scope in Managed Applications
Internet of Things
Covering: Azure Digital Twins, Azure IoT Central, Azure IoT Edge, Azure IoT Hub, Azure IoT solution accelerators, Azure Maps, Azure Sphere, Azure Time Series Insights, IoT DevKit, WildernessLabs, Windows 10 IoT Core Services
- Simon Waight (@simonwaight) writes about Real-time air quality monitoring and alerting with Azure and PurpleAir – Part 1
Learning
Covering: Microsoft Certifications, Azure Certifications, Microsoft Learning Paths, Certification Pathway Information
- Liberty Munson writes about New to Microsoft Certification exams We have something you need to try
- Learn Live: Create microservices with .NET and ASP.NET - Events starting on the 11th January.
- Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) describes How To Learn Microsoft Azure in 2022
Management and Governance
Covering: Automation, Azure Advisor, Azure Backup, Azure Blueprints, Azure Lighthouse, Azure Managed Applications, Azure mobile app, Azure Monitor, Azure Policy, Azure Resource Manager, Azure Service Health, Azure Site Recovery, Cloud Shell, Cost Management, Microsoft Azure portal, Scheduler, Azure Purview
- Chris Webb (@cwebb_bi) blogs about Monitor Power BI Queries And Refreshes With DirectQuery On Log Analytics, Part 2: Dataset Refreshes
- Ben Brauer explains how to Do more for less with enhanced Azure Advisor recommendations for virtual machines
- Bruno Gabrielli blogs about Azure Monitor: Audit your Azure and non-Azure SQL Server
- James Eckhart talks about Getting Started with a Windows 365 POC
- Maria Zakourdaev blogs about Choosing Between Azure General Purpose or Business Critical Tiers
- Brendon Lee discusses Using Adaptive Policy Scopes to Apply M365 Retention to Shared, Resource, and Inactive Mailboxes
Media
Covering: Azure Media Player, Content Protection, Encoding, Live and On-Demand Streaming, Media Analytics, Media Services, Video Indexer
Migration
Covering: Azure Database Migration Service, Azure Migrate, Data Box
Mobile
Covering: App Service (Mobile), Mobile apps, Notification Hubs, Visual Studio App Centre, Xamarin
- Andreas Nesheim writes about Scanning and analyzing invoices using Xamarin.Forms and Azure
Networking
Covering: Application Gateway, Azure Bastion, Azure DNS, Azure ExpressRoute, Azure Firewall, Azure Firewall Manager, Azure Front Door, Azure Internet Analyzer, Azure Private Link, Content Delivery Network, Load Balancer, Network Watcher, Traffic Manager, Virtual Network, Virtual WAN, VPN Gateway, Web Application Firewall
- Niko Neugebauer writes about How-to test failover group connectivity between primary and secondary SQL Managed Instances
- Thomas Thornton (@tamstar1234) explains how to Connect to nested Hyper-V VMs in Azure from another Virtual Network using VPN Gateway
Security
Covering: Azure DDoS Protection, Azure Information Protection, Azure Sentinel, Key Vault, Security Center
- On episode 64 of the AzureFunBytes podcast Jay Gordon (@jaydestro) talks with Rod Tren about Building SOC Efficiency with Azure Sentinel
- On episode 116 of the Ctrl + Alt Azure podcast, Tobias Zimmergren and Jussi Roine talk about Azure Updates
- Matt Lowe explains how to Get Hands-On KQL Practice with this Microsoft Sentinel Workbook
- Tariq Rasheed Al-Qaralleh covers SQl Injection: example of SQL Injections and Recommendations to avoid it.
- Yoann Mallet explains how to Protect your Smartsheet Deployment using Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps
Storage
Covering: Archive Storage, Avere vFXT for Azure, Azure Data Lake Store, Azure FXT Edge Filer, Azure HPC Cache, Azure NetApp Files, Blob Storage, Disk Storage, File Storage, Managed Disks, Queue Storage, Storage Accounts, Storage Explorer, StorSimple
Web
Covering: API apps, API Management, App Service (Web), Azure Cognitive Search, Azure SignalR Service, Azure Spring Cloud, Web apps
- Sherry Sahni describes Import a WebSocket API in API Management
- Jay Gong describes How to track requests after integrating APIM with Logic App services
- Sravani Masapalli discusses Import Logic Apps Standard into Azure API Management
- Marc Duiker shares a Vue.js and Node.js tutorial: a realtime collaboration app hosted in Azure Static Web Apps
Azure Virtual Desktop
Covering: Azure Virtual Desktop
- Onboard Windows multi-session devices in Azure Virtual Desktop vis Microsoft Docs
- Justin Shiah talks about Azure Virtual Desktop Support for Trusted Launch Virtual Machines
- Claudia Zhou explains how to Deploy Teams media optimization with Intune Proactive Remediation to Windows 365
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