Azure Weekly Issue 411: 26th March 2023

As you can probably guess it's an "AI all the things" week, with lots of announcements about GPT4 / OpenAI / Copilot. But there are a couple of interesting announcements. First off is the announcement of Data Wrangler for Visual Studio Code: A Power Query-Like Experience For Python People. This will be a boon for anyone do data wrangling for analytics or Machine Learning. Next is the announcement of Semantic Kernel. I dismissed this at first until I saw the article was written by Dr. John Maeda who wrote one of my favourite books: The Laws of Simplicity. There's a follow up article by Lee Stott: Unlock the Potential of AI in Your Apps with Semantic Kernel: A Lightweight SDK for LLMs. There's also a post about Upgrading from IntelliCode custom team completions models to deep learning (we have IntelliCode set up for each of our OSS projects), and of course introducing GPT-4 in Azure OpenAI Service.

Another interesting post is: How Microsoft uses Azure Maps Creator, which shows how you can map out your office space, and the potential to overlay this with real time data show where people are - which could be very using in the new hybrid working / hot desk world that lots of people are dealing with. Another big announcement is of Microsoft Loop, which requires a new M365 policy to be created in order to enable it: Learn how to enable the Microsoft Loop app, now in Public Preview. There is also an interesting post highlighting what's new in Speech Studio: Upload Your Own Videos and Audio for Captioning and Call Center Transcription. We've made use of some of these features to do transcript analysis of customer workshops and it's incredibly useful.

Three highlights of this edition are: Azure Policy for Azure Container Apps? Yes, please!, following on from my post last week about using Playwright to automate 2FA authentication, John Reilly writes Playwright, GitHub Actions and Azure Static Web Apps staging environments and there's a Building Static Web Apps with database connections: Best Practices.

Finally Barry Smart shares a write-up about the excellent SQLBits Conference that happened earlier this month, and includes a great summary of the sessions he attended.

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

• Parinita Rahi describes Azure Container for PyTorch is now Generally Available in Azure Machine Learning
• Bea Stollnitz walks through Training your PyTorch model using components and pipelines in Azure ML
• On the Azure blog, Eric Boyd (@eric_boyd) talks about Introducing GPT-4 in Azure OpenAI Service
• Mark Brown explains how to Build Intelligent Applications using ChatGPT & Azure Cosmos DB
• Derek Legenzoff discusses Working with GPT-4 and ChatGPT models on Azure preview
• Kurt Mackie (@kurmac) talks about Microsoft Previews GPT 4 AI Model on Azure OpenAI Service
• Utkarsh Maheshwari writes about New in Speech Studio: Upload Your Own Videos and Audio for Captioning and Call Center Transcription
• On the Azure blog, Anthony Joseph announces that Modernize your apps and accelerate business growth with AI
• Ruth Yakubu describes How to perform Error Analysis on a model with the Responsible AI dashboard Part 4
• On episode 455 of the Azure Podcast, the podcast team (@AzurePodcast) are joined by Andrés Padilla and Meer Alam to discuss Azure ML in the real world
• Savita Mittal explains how to Transform your business with automated insights & optimized workflows using Azure OpenAI GPT-3

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

• The Azure Updates Team writes about General availability: Serilog Sink for Azure Data Explorer and Tanmaya Panda discusses Getting started with Serilog and Azure Data Explorer
• Sander van de Velde describes how to Programmatically ingest data into Azure Data Explorer
• Charlotte Gayton shares a guide about Working with JSON in Pyspark
• Jeff Barnes describes How Azure Data Factory-Data Flows is Revolutionizing the Creation of Machine Learning Training Data
• Mariya Ali announces Multi-Column Distribution for Dedicated SQL pools is now GA
• On the Microsoft BI Tools blog, Joost van Rossum (@ssisjoost) covers Synapse - Using Spark SQL to time travel Delta Tables and Synapse - Creating Silver Delta Tables
• David Callaghan writes about Real-time data processing: Databricks vs Flink
• Eduard van Valkenburg explains how to Validate data using an Azure Function and Great Expectations
• Surya Teja Josyula provides an Introduction to Kusto Query Language KQL
• Temidayo Omoniyi blogs about Data Transformation and Migration Using Azure Data Factory and Azure Databricks
• Bartosz Jarkowski talks about the SAP CDC Connector and SLT - Part 1 - Overview and architecture

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

• Jon Shelley discusses Accelerating NAMD on Azure HB-series VMs
• Olesya Melnichenko covers RNA sequencing analysis on Azure using Nextflow: low-priority vs. dedicated machines comparison.

Containers

Covering: Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure Red Hat OpenShift, CNAB, CNCF, Container Instances, Container Registry, Porter, WSL, Web App for Containers

• Craig Moyle covers Backup for Azure Kubernetes Service AKS and other new Azure updates
• Amit Khandelwal walks through Updating SQL Server containers deployed on Kubernetes
• Joji Varghese blogs about Decision Flow to Estimate Pod Spread on AKS
• Daniel Neumann (@neumanndaniel) discusses Using Kata Containers on Azure Kubernetes Service for sandboxing containers
• Nikhil Vetteth covers Capturing a Network Trace on Azure Container Apps and walks through Downloading Files from Azure Container App to your Local Machine via Azure Blob Storage
• Paolo Salvatori blogs about Azure Policy for Azure Container Apps? Yes, please!
• Erica Toelle blogs about Cloud native Data Loss Prevention: the future of data security

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

• Vincent-Philippe Lauzon discusses ARM Deploy Cosmos DB Data connection
• Erin Stellato (@erinstellato) announces the Release of Azure Data Studio 1.42
• On the Microsoft BI Tools blog, Joost van Rossum (@ssisjoost) writes DevOps - Get-SpnAccessToken is obsolete
• Orestis Meikopoulos covers Azure Functions - Part 2 - Unit and Integration Testing
• Thamires Lemes talks about Connections rejected by DoSGuard error 18456 state 113
• On the Data Exposed show, Anna Hoffman (@AnalyticAnna) and Bob Ward (@bobwardms) discusses SQL Server 2022: Data Virtualization and Object Storage
• Jasmine Greenaway describes how to Turn your database into an API in minutes with Data API builder for Azure Databases

Developer Tools

Covering: App Configuration, Azure Lab Services, CLIs, Developer tool integrations, SDKs, Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio Online

• On the Visual Studio blog, Aaron Yim talks about Upgrading from IntelliCode custom team completions models to deep learning.
• Chris Webb (@cwebb_bi) blogs about Data Wrangler: A Power Query-Like Experience For Python People
• David Ramel (@dramel) writes about AI-Powered 'Data Wrangler' VS Code Tool Eases Prep Work for Data Scientists and New, Advanced GPT-4 AI Model Comes to GitHub Copilot, Azure OpenAI Service
• Harshada Hole writes about Streamlining your Debugging process with Breakpoint Groups
• Leslie Richardson writes about Visual Studio Toolbox: Integrated C++ Game Development
• Mark Wilson-Thomas (@MarkPavWT) talks about GitHub Copilot chat for Visual Studio 2022
• Lee Stott (@lee_stott) covers Unlock the Potential of AI in Your Apps with Semantic Kernel: A Lightweight SDK for LLMs
• Matteo Pagani presents three articles on how to Build a Viva Connections card to display stock prices. Part 1: the backend,  Part 2: the card and Part 3: deployment and security
• On episode 237 of the Azure DevOps Podcast, Jeffrey Palermo (@jeffreypalermo) is joined by Toni Solarin-Sodara to talk about Developer Tools for Test Automation

DevOps

Covering: Azure Artifacts, Azure Boards, Azure DevOps, Azure Pipelines, Azure Repos, Azure Test Plans, Azure DevTest Labs, DevOps tool integrations

• On the Microsoft DevOps blog, Dan Hellem writes about New Boards Hub Update, Sprint 219
• Gloridel Morales talks about March patches for Azure DevOps Server
• Panu Oksala lists the Top Three Essential Features coming into Azure DevOps during Q1 2023
• Aleks Lopez talks about App confidence: Monitor app health and fall back on App Assure
• Gerasimos Alexiou explains how to Scan azure devops repositories for credentials and passwords
• Pui Chee Chan presents Part 1b – azd-ify an App Template with existing Bicep files
• Yung Chou (@yungchou) writes about End-to-End BCDR with Azure ASR: From Setup to Failover and Back
• David O'Brien (@david_obrien) blogs about Automating Role Assignment Cleanup in Azure with PowerShell
• Thomas Thornton (@tamstar1234) writes about Storing and retrieving secrets in Azure Key Vault with GitHub Actions
• Matt White announces our new Subscription Vending IaC Modules for Bicep & Terraform

Hybrid + Multicloud

Covering: Azure Arc, Azure Stack

• Ganapathi Varma Chekuri explains how to Evaluate SQL Server configuration using Best practices assessment for Azure Arc Enabled SQL Server
• Uros Milanovic explains how to Try or run Azure SQL Managed Instance for $100 per month
• Silvio Di Benedetto covers Azure Stack HCI: enable HotPatch on Virtual Machine guest
• Andrew Westgarth describes Simplifying deploying Azure Container Apps to Arc enabled Kubernetes using az containerapp up

Identity

Covering: Azure Active Directory (AD), Azure Active Directory B2C, Azure Active Directory Domain Services

• The Azure Updates Team covers Announcement: Azure Active Directory backed authentication for JMS 2.0 API on Azure Service Bus
• Alex Simons (@Alex_A_Simons) explains how to Customize your authentication flows with custom claims providers
• Eldert Grootenboer announces Azure Active Directory backed authentication for JMS 2.0 API on Azure Service Bus

Integration

Covering: Azure API for FHIR, Event Grid, Logic Apps, Service Bus

• Drac Zhang explains how to Integrate Azure Open AI in Teams Channel via Logic App
• Kalyani Dhanda explains how to Restrict Logic App Consumption to be invoked only by specific Logic Apps
• Sandip Khandelwal delves into Mainframe EBCDIC Data File to ASCII conversion using Azure Logic App
• Sekhar Kutikuppala writes about Simplify building automated workflows and apps powered by Azure Digital Twins
• Sandro Pereira (@sandro_asp) provides A Comprehensive Guide For Logic Apps Standard REST APIs
• Chad Voelker walks through Copying FHIR Entities using fhir-loader

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 covers Public preview: Azure Maps Creator – Improved indoor maps onboarding and new Features API
• The Azure Updates Team writes 'Azure Maps is now HIPAA Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act compliant'
• Clemens Schotte explains How Microsoft uses Azure Maps Creator

Learning

Covering: Microsoft Certifications, Azure Certifications, Microsoft Learning Paths, Certification Pathway Information

• Lynn Letukas talks about The Value of Tech Skills in a Volatile Labor Market
• Shane Baldacchino discusses Certification – Is It Even Relevant, Should You Certify, What Will You Learn & How Do You Pass
• Lee Stott (@lee_stott) writes about ALM GitHub Sample Workflows for Power Platform: A Comprehensive Guide for Computer Science Students
• On episode 326 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast, Scott Hoag and Ben Stegink (@msclouditpro) talk about Using Microsoft Teams to run study groups
• Anthony Bartolo (@WirelessLife) writes about AZ-500: Microsoft Azure Security Technologies Study Guide
• Bethany Jepchumba provides A Guided Path to AI and ML on Azure at the Game of Learners AI and ML Clinics
• Aleks Lopez provides a Skilling snack: Windows app compatibility
• Tamine Mokdissi explains how to Learn how to enable the Microsoft Loop app, now in Public Preview
• Zach Rosenfield talks about The SharePoint storage platform supports the Loop app - Components, pages, and workspaces
• Theo Lorrain-Hale walks through Reinventing collaboration with AI in Microsoft Loop

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

• Iram Arras walks through Improving efficiency of your eDiscovery workflows with Microsoft Purview
• Akanksha Agrawal explains how to Apply CIS compliant Azure Security baselines through Azure Automanage
• Amy Colyer covers Azure VMware Solution - Monitoring Quickstart Guide
• On epside 178 of thr Ctrl+Alt+Azure Podcast, Tobias Zimmergren and Jussi Roine discuss Using Microsoft Assessments to establish your cloud posture
• Boris Zaikin writes about Multi-Cloud Integration In Plain English
• Herbert Fuchs discusses Change Configuration Manager Site Server OS – In-place Upgrade Reference
• Mile Cabot covers Enabling App & Browser Control with Intune

Media

Covering: Azure Media Player, Content Protection, Encoding, Live and On-Demand Streaming, Media Analytics, Media Services, Video Indexer

• David de Matheu explains how to Build communication apps for Microsoft Teams users with Azure Communication Services UI Library

Migration

Covering: Azure Database Migration Service, Azure Migrate, Data Box

• Juan Manuel Rey explains how to Migrate your Microsoft SQL Server workloads to Azure VMware Solution
• Ganapathi Varma Chekuri explains how to Migrate Amazon RDS SQL DB to Azure SQL Database using Migration Extension for Azure Data Studio

Mobile

Covering: App Service (Mobile), Mobile apps, Notification Hubs, Visual Studio App Centre, Xamarin

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

• The Azure Updates Team writes about General availability: Reserved namespaces for subdomains, and General availability: Azure Virtual Network Manager and Generally available: Azure Private Link support in Azure API Management
• Andrea Michael announces Azure Virtual Network Manager - Connect, secure, and simplify your network resources with Azure Virtual Network Manager
• Jitendra Singh discusses Azure Standard Load Balancer with SAP BW HANA Scale-out deployment
• Tobi Otolorin covers Azure WAF Tuning for Web Applications

Security

Covering: Azure DDoS Protection, Azure Information Protection, Azure Sentinel, Key Vault, Security Center

• On Microsoft Security blog, Christine Barrett describes Gain real-time identity protection with Microsoft and Recorded Future and blogs about Microsoft recognized as a Leader in The Forrester Wave: Data Security Platforms, Q1 2023
• Jim Cheng announces Microsoft cloud security benchmark v1 General Availability
• Kavish Bakshi describes Whats New: Introducing Microsoft Sentinel Network Session Essentials solution
• Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) covers Windows Forwarded Events and Microsoft Sentinel
• Helder Pinto, Premier Field Engineer, shows How to configure Security Events collection with Azure Monitor Agent

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

• The Azure Updates Team writes about General Availability: ASP. NET web app migration to Azure App Service using PowerShell Scripts and Public Preview: Workspaces in Azure API Management
• Asir Selvasingh (@asirselvasingh) covers Start from zero and scale to zero – Azure Spring Apps consumption plan
• Mayunk Jain (@mayunkj) announces Secure Baseline accelerators for multi-tenant App Service deployments
• John Reilly (@johnny_reilly) talks about Playwright, GitHub Actions and Azure Static Web Apps staging environments
• Denver Brittain discusses Getting Started with MongoDB Atlas, NodeJS, and Azure App Service
• Thomas Gauvin talks about Building Static Web Apps with database connections: Best Practices
• Damien Bowden (@damien_bod) provides A first look at Blazor and .NET 8
• Andre Dewes writes about API Management: extract real requests traces temporarily by using FrontDoor or Application Gateway

Azure Virtual Desktop

Covering: Azure Virtual Desktop