Azure Weekly Issue 427: 16th July 2023
The big announcement this week is that Azure AD is becoming Microsoft Entra ID. It's going to take a while to retrain the muscle memory from AAD to EID. A topic I've heard from a number of IT folks is the desire to unify some IT processes with HR processes, and there's a useful Microsoft Mechanics show that covers Automate onboarding & offboarding tasks with Microsoft Entra Identity Lifecycle Management.
On the AI front there are three noteworthy articles; Deploy and Orchestrate Large Foundation Models with Azure AI Studio a end-to-end guide to Building a Private ChatGPT Interface With Azure OpenAI - I spent an afternoon last week building something similar in an interactive notebook in Python using LangChain & Llama Index. My next experiment is going to be with Semantic Kernel, so this article looks particularly interesting: Create a Semantic Kernel service using minimal API.
I'm continually impressed by Azure Container Apps. This week we ported a worker service to use the new Jobs service, which will offer a considerable cost saving as we need to run a 5 minute job every hour, and we can do this using the new CRON based timer feature, rather than having and paying for a continually running container. There's a useful article showing how to Use Nginx as a reverse proxy in Azure Container App - we did a similar experiment last year, but using YARP.
Finally, we published the first episode in a new series called "Decision Maker's Guide" - a series of interviews with real-world Decision Makers (CTOs, CIOs, Heads of / Directors of Software Engineering, Data & Analytics) about how they manage their strategic roadmap and evaluate new technologies to simplify their portfolio, deliver better outcomes for stakeholders, or give them a competitive advantage. In a 3-part interview we talk to Tom Peplow, Senior Director Product Strategy at Milliman, about his assessment of Microsoft Fabric in Hedging your Fabric Bet.
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
- On the Azure Medium blog, Valentina Alto explains how to Deploy and Orchestrate Large Foundation Models with Azure AI Studio
- Kyle Raymond explains how to Create a Semantic Kernel service using minimal API
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, Microsoft Purview, Microsoft Fabric
- Ian Grifiths (@idg10) and Ed Freeman (@edfreeman_) interview Tom Peplow (@tpeplow) Senior Director Product Strategy at Milliman in the first episode of Decision Makers Guide to Microsoft Fabric - Hedging your Fabric Bet
- The Azure Updates Team announce Generally available: Autoscale Stream Analytics jobs
- Mark Kromer (@kromerbigdata) discusses Documentation search now embedded in Azure Data Factory
- Amira Bedhiafi describes Azure Analysis Services: Revolutionary Solution for Advanced Data Analysis
- Xu Jiang explains how to Streamline Stream Analytics Job Development with the No-Code Editor
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
- The Azure Updates Team announces Azure Managed Lustre now generally available and Public preview: Latest generation burstable VMs - Bsv2, Basv2, and Bpsv2
- Brianna McGovern writes about Dev-optimized, cloud-based workstations - Microsoft Dev Box is now generally available
- The Azure Updates Team announces Public Preview: Azure Dedicated Host - Resize
- Rishab Verma announces public preview of new burstable VMs - Bsv2, Basv2 and Bpsv2
- On Visual Studio Magazine, David Ramel (@dramel) covers Microsoft Dev Box Cloud Workstation Service Now GA
- Gerasimos Alexiou describes how to Run powershell command on virtual machines scale set
- Vinil Vadakkepurakkal covers Integrating Azure Managed Lustre Filesystem AMLFS into CycleCloud HPC Cluster
- Brianna McGovern announces Azure Managed Lustre for your HPC and AI workloads
- Wolfgang De Salvador walks through Accessing Azure Managed Lustre from Windows through a SAMBA server
Containers
Covering: Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure Red Hat OpenShift, CNAB, CNCF, Container Instances, Container Registry, Porter, WSL, Web App for Containers
- Coco Wang covers KMS v2 on Azure Kubernetes Service now Supporting Encryption of Secrets Beyond the 2k Limit
- Jing Wang blogs about Use Nginx as a reverse proxy in Azure Container App
- Vinicius Apolinario (@vrapolinario) and Venkat Gandhari talk about Leveraging New Relic for instrumentation of Windows Container on Azure Kubernetes Service
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 General availability: Azure Data Explorer adds support for PostgreSQL, MySQL, and CosmosDB SQL external tables
- Aditi Gupta discusses Azure MySQL Import for Azure Database for MySQL - Single Server to Flexible Server migration
- The Azure Updates Team announces Azure SQL—General availability updates for early July 2023
- Uros Randjelovic describes SQL Managed Instance now available to all subscription types in large Azure regions
- Pinal Dave (@pinaldave) talks about SQL SERVER – Troubleshooting Non-Yielding Scheduler Issues
- Pieter Vanhove talks about VBS enclaves for Always Encrypted in Azure SQL Database elastic pools – preview
- Tanayankar Chakraborty covers Query performance impact due to a poorly managed mapping Index on an Azure SQL DB
- Jose M Jurado (@jmjuradodiaz) describes lessons learned 396: Fixing 'Invalid value for key 'authentication' using System.Data.SqlClient, 397: Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance vs Ole Automation Process, 398: Recommended Automatic Indexes Are Excluded from BACPAC Data Export, 399:Why is Private Link Still Resolving to Private IP Despite Its Removal in Azure and 400:Reigniting a Dormant Extended Event in Azure SQL Database with PowerShell
Developer Tools
Covering: App Configuration, Azure Lab Services, CLIs, Developer tool integrations, SDKs, Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio Online
- Ruben Rios (@rub8n) explains how to Get the most from Visual Studio with Microsoft Dev Box–now generally available
- Ryan Kahng announces New videos on how to set up and use Code Optimizations in Application Insights
- Rick Turner describes Microsoft Edge for Business available in preview
- On the Visual Studio blog, Maddy Montaquila announces the .NET MAUI extension for Visual Studio Code
- On Visual Studio Magazine, David Ramel (@dramel) talks about Microsoft Previews .NET MAUI Extension for VS Code and writes about VS Code June Update: Copilot AI Chat Creates Workspaces, Notebooks
- Ravikanth Chaganti (@ravikanth) walks through Getting Started with Azure SDK for Go
- On episode 253 of the Azure DevOps podcast, Jeffrey Palermo (@jeffreypalermo) and Mike Brind (@Mikesdotnetting) talk about Razor Pages in Action
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 224
- Gloridel Morales discusses Azure DevOps 2023 Q3 Roadmap update
- Richard Fennell (@richardfennell) explains How to run your own maintenance job on Azure DevOps pipelines
- Suraj Thakur walks through Deploying Azure Infrastructure With Terraform Using Azure DevOps Pipelines
- Tao Yang (@MrTaoYang) presents a YouTube Video Series - Infra as Code with CARML Bicep Modules
- Nagarjuna Vipparthi writes about Multi-region load tests using Azure Load Testing
Hybrid + Multicloud
Covering: Azure Arc, Azure Stack
- Walter Oliver writes about AKS on Azure Stack HCI and Windows Server 2023-07-10 Update
- Sonia Cuff (@soniacuff) blogs about The care and feeding of Azure Arc for Servers
Identity
Covering: Azure Active Directory (AD), Azure Active Directory B2C, Azure Active Directory Domain Services
- The Azure Updates Team discusses Azure AD is becoming Microsoft Entra ID
- Irina Nechaeva talks about Azure AD is Becoming Microsoft Entra ID, explains how to Explore New Product Announcements for Microsoft Entra and announces new innovations in Microsoft Entra
- On the Redmond magazine site, Chris Paoli talks about Microsoft Scorches 132 Flaws in July's Security Patch and Kurt Mackie talks about Microsoft Adds Two New Entra Products, Renames Entra Azure Active Directory
- Richard M. Hicks (@richardhicks) discusses Azure Conditional Access Certificates with SID Information Now Available
- Stuart Kwan introduces Restricted Management Administrative Units in Microsoft Entra ID
- On the Micrsooft Mechanics who, Jeremy Chapman (@deployjeremy) explains how to Automate onboarding & offboarding tasks with Microsoft Entra Identity Lifecycle Management and covers AD FS to Microsoft Entra How to migrate your cloudapps
- On Microsoft Security blog, Joy Chik (@joychik) writes Microsoft Entra expands into Security Service Edge and Azure AD becomes Microsoft Entra ID
Integration
Covering: Azure API for FHIR, Event Grid, Logic Apps, Service Bus
- Harold Campos describes Logic Apps Mission Critical Series: We Speak: IBM CICS
- Sandro Pereira (@sandro_asp) walks through an Azure Function to consume RabbitMQ messages and How to integrate RabbitMQ with Logic Apps video
- Pascal Burume covers Unlocking Seamless Communication: Integrating Azure Communication Services with Power Platform
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 Digital Twins supports Digital Twins Definition Language version 3
- Martin Tuip blogs about Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021 available through Volume Licensing starting August 1st
Learning
Covering: Microsoft Certifications, Azure Certifications, Microsoft Learning Paths, Certification Pathway Information
- Nandita Sampath talks about Business leaders: Take a 90-minute cloud journey, with Azure training created just for you
- Anthony Bartolo (@WirelessLife) describes Microsoft Learn AI Skills Challenge
- Harjit Dhaliwal presents a Skilling snack: Microsoft Store apps and app migration
- Jill Armour writes about Three new specializations for Solutions Partners for Azure and Business Applications and writes about Three new specializations for Solutions Partners for Business Applications
- Jill Armour describes Purchase Azure savings plan for compute in Partner Center
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 announces Datadog – An Azure Native ISV Service – the most desired new features now available
- Bruno Gabrielli talks about Azure Monitor: How To Use Managed Identity with Log Ingestion API
- Paul Harrison covers Azure Policy Exemption Validation
- Thomas Maurer (@thomasmaurer) explains how to Prepare your Azure Cloud Environment with the Cloud Adoption Framework
- On episode 194 of the Ctrl+Alt+Azure podcast, Tobias Zimmergren and Jussi Roine are joined by Jack Tracey to talk about Subscription vending to enable democratization of Azure with Jack Tracey
- Nicolas Bonnet (@nico_bonnet) explains how to Send Organizational messages
- Abraham Pineda blogs about Bulk resize for direct and group base licenses
- On episode 342 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast, Scott Hoag and Ben Stegink (@msclouditpro) talks about Microsoft Edge Workspaces
- Travis Roberts (@Ciraltos) presents Lets get started with Intune
Media
Covering: Azure Media Player, Content Protection, Encoding, Live and On-Demand Streaming, Media Analytics, Media Services, Video Indexer
- The Azure Updates Team announces General availability: Call automation capabilities for Azure Communication Services
- Daysha Carter talks about Azure Communication Services July 2023 Feature Updates
Migration
Covering: Azure Database Migration Service, Azure Migrate, Data Box
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 announces Azures cross-region Load Balancer is now generally available
- Mahip Deora explains how to Distribute global traffic with ultra-low latency using Azure Load Balancer
- Gopikrishna Kannan walks through Taking Azure Firewall IDPS on a Test Drive
- Gustavo Modena writes about Demystifying Explicit proxy: Enhancing Security with Azure Firewall
- Shane Baldacchino walks through Building a Private ChatGPT Interface With Azure OpenAI
- Tobi Otolorin covers Public Preview: Support for DRS and Mask sensitive data on Application Gateway WAF
- The Azure Updates Team announces General availability: ExpressRoute private peering support for BGP communities
Security
Covering: Azure DDoS Protection, Azure Information Protection, Azure Sentinel, Key Vault, Security Center
- Chaitra Satish describes Introducing the new Microsoft Sentinel simplified pricing.
- Preeti Krishna (@PreetiKr007) covers Whats New Microsoft Sentinel Content Hub GA and OOTB Content Centralization
- On the Azure Medium blog, Andre Camillo describes Microsoft Purview—Adaptive Protection—why and how to setup
- Eliran Azulai Exploring Azure Firewall's Threat Protection
- Dan Levy announces new features to Manage security settings for Windows, macOS, and Linux natively in Defender for Endpoint
- Beth Bischoff describes how to Future Proof your SOC with the Power of the Azure Ecosystem and Defender Threat Intelligence
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
- Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) delves into Auto-Protect Azure File Shares In Azure Backup
- Geert van Teylingen talks about Disaster Recovery using cross-region replication with Azure NetApp Files datastores for AVS and discusses Manual Recovery Guide for SAP DB2 on Azure VMs from Azure NetApp Files snapshot with AzAcSnap
Web
Covering: API apps, API Management, App Service (Web), Azure Cognitive Search, Azure SignalR Service, Azure Spring Cloud, Web apps
- Bobi Bao describes how to Use preview environment for test in static web app
Azure Virtual Desktop
Covering: Azure Virtual Desktop
- Derek Su announces General Availability of Confidential VMs in Azure Virtual Desktop
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