Azure Weekly Issue 356: 22nd January 2022
A slightly quiet week, but there are a plethora of announcements around AKS and PostgreSQL. We published a long in gestation blog post about the concept of a Digital Asset Register, describe how to create a high level view of your digital assets (bespoke software, cloud services), where everything is measured equally and actionable insights can be generated, to help make invest, protect, tolerate, or retire decisions. It might be worth sharing this article with your IT Director / CTO / CIO. We find it an invaluable tool for helping orgs manage their IT investments, to optimise budget value and to help free up bandwidth for cloud transformation projects.
Other interesting articles of note: How Custom Resource Provider Achieve Async Deployment, and Reading and Parsing Inbound Emails with SendGrid and Azure Logic Apps. In the analytics space: Introducing the 'Data Integration in a box' solution, and Implement Dimension Denormalization Using Synapse Mapping Data Flow. Finally, Achieving Zero Trust readiness in your apps 2: Designing for Least Privilege.
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 explains how to Reduce time to value with Azure Applied AI Services
- Radu Vunvulea (@RaduVunvulea) talks about Post Event Global AI Bootcamp Latin America
- The Azure Updates Team announce Azure Machine Learning January 2022 General Availability updates
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
- Fikrat Azizov explains how to Implement Dimension Denormalization Using Synapse Mapping Data Flow
- Abhishek Narain (@narainabhishek) talks about Introducing the 'Data Integration in a box' solution
- Jianlei Shen writes about New Connector Available: Dynamics 365 are Supported as both Source and Sink in Mapping Data Flow
- Radu Vunvulea (@RaduVunvulea) talks about Snowflake VS Azure Synapse 7 reasons why you should choose Snowflake OR Synapse on Azure
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
- On the Microsoft DevOps blog, Jay Gordon (@jaydestro) blogs about AzureFunBytes Episode 65 – Azure Durable Functions For Automation with Laurent Bugnion
- Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) covers The SysAdmins Guide to Azure IaaS – Second Edition
- Dennis Zheng talks about Function app could not be changed back to built-in storage account
Containers
Covering: Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure Red Hat OpenShift, CNAB, CNCF, Container Instances, Container Registry, Porter, WSL, Web App for Containers
- The Azure Updates Team announces the General Availability of: Containerd support for Windows in AKS, and FIPS enabled node pool in Azure Kubernetes, and Ultra disks support on AKS, and Azure Kubernetes support for upgrade events and announce the Public Preview of Kubernetes version alias support in AKS
- Justin Davies discusses Dockershim deprecation and AKS
- On Microsoft + Open Source, Anish Ramasekar And Sertac Ozercan announces Azure Active Directory Azure AD workload identity for Kubernetes
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
- The Azure Updates Team announces the General Availability of Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Flexible Server in two new regions, and Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Hyperscale Citus: New certifications and Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Hyperscale Citus in new regions
- The Azure Updates Team announces Azure SQL- General availability updates for late January 2022
- On the MSSQL Tips site, Daniel Calbimonte blogs about C# Application for Azure SQL Database
- Ahmed Mahmoud explains how to Automate native database backup of Azure SQL Managed instance to Azure blob storage
- Sudheesh Narayanaswamy describes Query Azure Database for MySQL - Flexible Server from Azure Data Explorer
- Neel Ball talks about Release: SQL Server Migration Assistant SSMA v8.24
- Niko Neugebauer discusses Changing backup storage redundancy in Azure SQL Managed Instance
- On SQL Server Central, Daniel Calbimonte blogs about SQL Server Dacpac in Azure Data Studio
Developer Tools
Covering: App Configuration, Azure Lab Services, CLIs, Developer tool integrations, SDKs, Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio Online
- On SQL Server Central, Tomaž Kaštrun walks through Playing popular game of Wordle using T-SQL
- On the Azure blog, Erich Barnstedt announces that What does "open" really mean to you
- Steve Smith explains how to Generate SSH RSA Key Pairs on Windows with WSL
DevOps
Covering: Azure Artifacts, Azure Boards, Azure DevOps, Azure Pipelines, Azure Repos, Azure Test Plans, Azure DevTest Labs, DevOps tool integrations
- Sonia Cuff (@soniacuff) covers Getting started with Azure Bicep
- Prasun Aggarwal writes about Just in time privilege's access to Azure DevOps
- Silviu Andrica writes about Safely Upgrade Your Pipelines from Azure DevOps Server 2019 to Server 2020
- Jeffrey Palermo (@jeffreypalermo) blogs about The state of .NET with Jeff Fritz - Episode 176
- The Azure Updates Team announces General availability: Azure DevOps updates
- Zoey Lan explains How Custom Resource Provider Achieve Async Deployment
Hybrid + Multicloud
Covering: Azure Arc, Azure Stack
- Roelf Zomerman (@RCZ_Jag) describes SQL on AKS on HCI
- Marisa Brasile explains How to Leverage Centrally-managed Azure Hybrid Benefit to Save Money, Manage Cost and Stay Compliant
- On Code Project, Florian Rappl (@FlorianRappl) talks about Azure Arc Enabled Servers Part 1: Introduction to Azure Arc for Developers and DevOps and Part 2: Setting up Azure Arc Enabled Servers
Identity
Covering: Azure Active Directory (AD), Azure Active Directory B2C, Azure Active Directory Domain Services
- Robby Millsap talks about Security Trends for 2022
- Jeff Sakowicz blogs about Achieving Zero Trust readiness in your apps 2: Designing for Least Privilege
- Robin Goldstein writes about External Identities B2C supports Authenticator apps, and new data residency pricing
- Damien Bowden (@damien_bod) talks about Use FIDO2 passwordless authentication with Azure AD
- Carlos Mendible (@cmendibl3) explains how to Protect your Node.js or .NET API with Azure Active Directory
- Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) explains how to Remove the SMTP Proxy Address for a User in Azure Active Directory and covers The SysAdmins Guide to Azure IaaS – Second Edition
- On the Ctrl+Alt+Azure podcast, Tobias Zimmergren and Jussi Roine talk about Making sure you have a break-glass admin account
Integration
Covering: Azure API for FHIR, Event Grid, Logic Apps, Service Bus
- Veera Reddy Gangala walks through Using Single Tenant Logic App workflow endpoint as Event Grid Subscription
- Zachary Cavanell writes about Robotic Process Automation with Power Automate How we built it: Xerox
- John Kilmister (@johnkilmister) blogs about Reading and Parsing Inbound Emails with SendGrid and Azure Logic Apps
- On SQL Server Central, Koen Verbeeck (@Ko_Ver) talks about Choosing Between SQL Server Integration Services and Azure Data Factory
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
- The Azure Updates Team announces Generally available: Azure IoT Edge tools for Visual Studio extension now supports Visual Studio 2022
- Jasmine Greenaway blogs about Analyzing Earth's Climate with Capstone Projects
- On Code Project, Roman Kiss describes Azure IoT Central Tester
Learning
Covering: Microsoft Certifications, Azure Certifications, Microsoft Learning Paths, Certification Pathway Information
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
- The Azure Updates Team writes about Generally available: Azure Monitor log alerts new version
- Pierre Roman (@pierreroman) talks about Azure Lighthouse - A service provider perspective
- Joe Carlyle (@wedoAzure) covers Azure Spring Clean 2022
- On the Azure blog, Asir Selvasingh (@asirselvasingh) writes about Elastic and Microsoft Azure: Unified Observability for Spring Boot applications
- Lucas Santos and Aaron Wislang covers Store Prometheus Metrics with Thanos, Azure Storage and Azure Kubernetes Service AKS
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
- Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) covers Windows Server 2022 VM Migration
Mobile
Covering: App Service (Mobile), Mobile apps, Notification Hubs, Visual Studio App Centre, Xamarin
- On the Xamarin blog, Israel Soto covers Facebook SDK v12.2 for Xamarin.iOS Now Available
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
- Tobi Otolorin describes Runbook to manage Azure Firewall Back ups
- Travis Roberts (@Ciraltos) writes about Private Endpoints and DNS in Azure
Security
Covering: Azure DDoS Protection, Azure Information Protection, Azure Sentinel, Key Vault, Security Center
- Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) explains how to Exclude a Storage Account from Microsoft Defender for Storage
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
- The Azure Updates Team discusses Public preview: Support for managed identity in Azure Cache for Redis
- Arindam Mondal explains how to Prevent Accidental Data Deletion in Azure Storage Container with Soft Delete Features
- Karthik Kanchinatham discusses Calculating Container Level Stats in Azure Blob Storage
Web
Covering: API apps, API Management, App Service (Web), Azure Cognitive Search, Azure SignalR Service, Azure Spring Cloud, Web apps
- The Azure Updates Team covers Public Preview: Managed Certificate support for Azure API Management
- Aaron Powell (@slace) describes httpstat.us - Now With .NET 6
Azure Virtual Desktop
Covering: Azure Virtual Desktop
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