Azure Weekly Issue 428: 23rd July 2023

The Microsoft Inspire event happened this week, so it's a packed issues with lots of (AI) announcements. It's also been a good week for interesting blog posts; first off Azure Container Apps, Bicep, bring your own certificates and custom domains, and Exploring the New Preview Features in Azure Container Registry, and a good high level overview of Docker for Developers: Understanding the Core Concepts.

One of the biggest fundamental changes to Azure Resource Management (ARM) has been announced: ARM Deployment Stacks now Public Preview, Deployment Stacks is a new resource type for managing a collection of Azure resources as a single unit for faster update and delete, as well as more granular capabilities for preventing unwanted changes to resources. It's a very welcome addition to the platform. There's also a good post on: Azure DevOps Pipelines: Practices for Scaling Templates

Another big announcement for anyone with data / compute intensive workloads: Introducing Microsoft Azure Boost Preview which enables 200 Gbps networking throughput and remote storage throughput up to 10 GBps and 400K IOPS, enabling the fastest storage workloads available today.

There are a couple of interesting security posts: Azure Role Assignment Hygiene and Incident Triage: Microsoft Defender for Cloud Attack Path Analysis and Microsoft Sentinel. There's also a very interesting tool which enables you to generate technical Markdown documentation for your Azure Logic Apps. I'm hoping a Power Automate version will follow!

Finally, we've published part 2 of our Decision Maker's Guide to Microsoft Fabric series, which focuses on Generative AI. You can find part 1 here.

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

• The Azure Updates Team announces Azure Machine Learning - Public Preview for July and Public Preview: Vector search, a feature of Azure Cognitive Search
• The Azure Updates Team talks about Azure Machine Learning - General Availability for July
• Jared Andersen blogs about Bing Chat Enterprise FAQ
• Heiko Ra writes OpenAI Whisper is Coming Soon to Azure OpenAI Service and Azure AI Speech
• Vinod Kurpad (@Kurpad) discusses Azure Form Recognizer is now Azure AI Document Intelligence with new and updated capabilities
• Neta Haiby blogs about Document Generative AI: the Power of Azure AI Document Intelligence & Azure OpenAI Service Combined
• Manoj Bableshwar announces Falcon LLMs in Azure Machine Learning
• Qinying Liao talks about Creating a branded AI voice that conveys emotions and speaks multiple languages
• Vinayak Gavariya explains how to Build Your Own Chatbot in Minutes with Power Virtual Agents: No Coding Required
• Derek Legenzoff writes 'Function calling is now available in Azure OpenAI Service'
• Sarah Bird talks about how to Deploy large language models responsibly with Azure AI
• Liam Cavanagh announces Vector Search in Azure Cognitive Search Public Preview
• Pascal Burume blogs about Empowering Medicine with Responsible AI Solutions: A Journey through the Medical-Themed Hackathon

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

• The Azure Updates Team announces the Public preview of Stream Analytics No-Code Editor available in Azure Stream Analytics Portal
• Madhuvi Gupta writes about Metadata-Based Ingestion in Synapse with Delta Lake
• John Folberth and Joseph Fitzgerald explain how to Unlock the Power of Azure Data Factory: A Guide to Boosting Your Data Ingestion Process Part 1 and Part 2 
• On episode 195 of the Ctrl+Alt+Azure Podcast, Tobias Zimmergren (@zimmergren) and Jussi Roine (@JussiRoine) are joined by Oskari Heikkinen (@oskarialex) to do a A lap around Microsoft Fabric
• Denise Schlesinger walks through Building a self-serve analytics platform with Azure Data Explorer and OpenAI
• Michael Olschimke discusses Data Vault 2.0 Warehouse Automation on Azure and writes about Agile Data Vault 2.0 Projects with Azure DevOps
• Brad Watts writes about New ADX Version Deployment Notification
• Eduardo Pivaral explains how to do Data Transfer from Azure Blob Storage to Snowflake Using Pipelines
• Kevin Chant explains how to Migrate dedicated SQL Pool objects to a Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse
• Anna Chiang announes Sensitivity label support in Microsoft Fabric and Power BI enables end-to-end information protection

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 blogs about Public preview: Support for Python 3.11 in Azure Functions and Preview: Azure Boost
• Max Uritsky introdocues Microsoft Azure Boost Preview
• Graham Bury describes Takeaways from First Annual Confidential Computing Summit
• Aarthi Vijayaraghavan announces a new feature to Protect Azure workloads with VM level consistency using Agentless Crash-Consistent Restore Points

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 discusses Public preview: Network observability add-on for AKS and blogs about Public preview: Bring your own key on Ephemeral OS disk for AKS
• The Azure Updates Team announces Generally available: Event Grid upgrade enhancements for AKS
• John Reilly (@johnny_reilly) discusses Azure Container Apps, Bicep, bring your own certificates and custom domains
• John Kilmister (@johnkilmister) explores the New Preview Features in Azure Container Registry
• Dan Wahlin describes Docker for Developers: Understanding the Core Concepts
• Hamish Ricky talks about Scaling options in 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

• The Azure Updates Team writes about General availability: Partial document update in the Azure Cosmos DB Python SDK
• Kanchan Bharati writes 'PostgreSQL v15 is now Generally available in Flexible Server PostgreSQL'
• Nikita Takru blogs about Public Preview of Transparent Data Encryption and Credential Rotation for Arc SQL Managed Instance
• Carol Smith explains how to Say hello to Path To Citus Con, a podcast for developers who love Postgres
• Nevena Nikolic writes about 128 vCores on Azure SQL Managed Instance Business Critical
• Jose M Jurado (@jmjuradodiaz) describes Lesson Learned 403:Using Azure SQL Database Activity Monitor for Query Performance Insights and 404: Understanding and Addressing 100% Worker Utilization
• David Giard (@DavidGiard) walks through Enabling Diagnostic on an Azure SQL Managed Instance

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, Mads Kristensen (@mkristensen) writes Too many tabs open? No problem
• Maia Kelner introduces A powerful new Extension Manager
• Heiko Ra announces the public preview of Real-time Diarization in Azure AI Speech
• Subhojit Basak blogs about GitHub Copilot for SQL Developers: Turbocharge your SQL Development Workflow
• Leslie Overland writes New Viva Insights connectors enable automation, rich insights, and custom solutions
• Meet Sanghvi writes Start creating diagrams faster with the new Visio Templates page on Microsoft365.com
• Davide Griff (@OriginalGriff) writes about Visual Studio Project Templates - how to get parameter substitutions to work inside strings.
• Ravikanth Chaganti (@ravikanth) covers Azure SDK for Go - Authentication methods - Environmental credential

DevOps

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

• Ángel Pérez covers ARM Deployment Stacks
• Dan Hellem writes about New Boards Hub Path to GA
• Ravi Kumar discusses Improvements to code coverage experience under test automation
• Dominique St-Amand walks through Load testing your applications using Azure Load Testing, JMeter and GitHub Actions
• John Folberth (@j_folberth) covers Azure DevOps Pipelines: Practices for Scaling Templates
• Daniel Neumann (@neumanndaniel) explains How to not block Terraform with Azure resource locks

Hybrid + Multicloud

Covering: Azure Arc, Azure Stack

• The Azure Updates Team writes about New Extended Security Updates ESUs enabled by Azure Arc
• On the Redmond magazine site, Kurt Mackie (@kurmac) blogs about Hotpatch Desktop Now Commercially Available for Windows Server 2022 Datacenter Azure Edition
• Danny Maertens describes SSH for Azure Arc is now generally available
• Orin Thomas describes How to: Set up hotpatch on desktop versions of Windows Server 2022 running in Azure
• Satya Vel announces New options for Extended Security Updates enabled by Azure Arc

Identity

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

• Alex Weinert describes Advancing Modern Strong Authentication
• Joseph Dadzie announces Microsoft Entra ID Governance Introduces Two New Features in Access Reviews, and New Microsoft Entra ID Governance Dashboard Experience Rolling Out Soon and Microsoft Entra ID Governance Entitlement Management New Generally Available Capabilities
• On episode 343 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast, Scott Hoag and Ben Stegink (@msclouditpro) talk about Microsoft Entra
• Felipe Binotto delves into Azure Role Assignment Hygiene

Integration

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

• Aprana Seth blogs about Scaling Logic Apps Standard – Sustained Event Processing System
• Stefan Stranger (@sstranger) shares a tool to Generate technical Markdown documentation for your Azure Logic Apps
• Calvin Cai explains How to set offset for Event Hubs Trigger
• Marina Liu describes The behavior of Service Bus Topic output binding for Azure Function
• Sandro Pereira (@sandro_asp) presents a JSON Document to JSON Schema Converter Tool

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 writes about General availability: IoT Hub Service Upgrade
• Jamie Scholfield covers Azure for Operators and ISVs are enabling modern connected apps

Learning

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

• Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) covers AI-102 Exam Study Guide: Azure AI Engineer Associate Certification
• John Wirtala explains how to Become a Microsoft Priva Ninja
• Jill Armour discusses Fueling partner growth and profitability in the era of AI

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

• Jeff Teper writes about Welcome to Microsoft Inspire 2023: Introducing Microsoft 365 Backup and Microsoft 365 Archive
• Matthew Stoodley writes about New Insider Risk Management features in general availability
• The Azure Updates Team announces Public Preview : Crash Consistent VM Restore points and 'Hotpatch is now generally available on Windows Server VMs on Azure with the Desktop Experience installation mode'
• On the Redmond magazine site, Kurt Mackie (@kurmac) covers Azure Enhancements Outlined at the Microsoft Inspire Partner Event
• Lucy Hitz writes Viva Goals Releases New Features to Help Improve Organizational Performance
• Vishal Bajaj announces Hotpatching is now available for Windows Server VMs on Azure with Desktop Experience
• Ariya Khamvongsa discusses Azure Optimization Mindset - Drive Business Value with Optimization

Media

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

• Freddy Dubon discusses Unleashing NDIs Video Switching and Routing Power in Microsoft Azure

Migration

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

• The Azure Updates Team discusses Windows Server end-of-support EOS: Upgrade seamlessly with Azure Migrate Public preview
• Anurag Mehrotra delves into Windows Server end-of-support EOS: Upgrade seamlessly with Azure Migrate Public preview
• Cyril Belikoff announces Azure Migrate and Modernize & Azure Innovate - offerings to accelerate your cloud journey
• Jill Armour writes about New Partner-led offers: Azure Migrate and Modernize, and Azure Innovate.
• Bhavna Appayya covers Discover Azure Migrate from SCOM
• On the Microsoft Mechanics show, Matt McSpirit (@mattmcspirit) describes How to migrate your VMs to Azure and why Complete tutorial with new business case
• Keshav Kiran explains how to Migrate Column Encrypted Database to Azure SQL Managed Instance

Mobile

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

• On episode 254 of the Azure DevOps Podcast, Jeffrey Palermo (@jeffreypalermo) is joined by Mitchel Sellers (@mitchelsellers) to talk about Architecting .NET MAUI

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 General availability: Always Serve for Azure Traffic Manager
• Didier Van Hoye delves into Passive FTP over SSL support in Azure Firewall

Security

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

• Hagai Kestenberg announces Microsoft Defender for Cloud capabilities to counter identity-based supply chain attacks
• Erin Miyake describes how to Streamline the process to bring your own detections in Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management
• Giulio Astori talks about Incident Triage: Microsoft Defender for Cloud Attack Path Analysis and Microsoft Sentinel
• Dick Lake covers Microsoft Defender for Cloud - 'SQL servers on machines should have vulnerability findings resolved'

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

• Mark Brimble (@BrimbleMark) provides a script to Count files in Blob
• Neha Bhaskar writes about New SMB security innovations from Microsoft Inspire 2023

Web

Covering: API apps, API Management, App Service (Web), Azure Cognitive Search, Azure SignalR Service, Azure Spring Cloud, Web apps

• The Azure Updates Team announces Public Preview: OData API type in Azure API Management
• Hang Wang blogs about Azure Spring Apps product updates in June 2023 and blogs about Azure Spring Apps feature updates in June 2023
• David Giard (@DavidGiard) covers Adding Application Insights Logging to an ASP.NET app using the .NET SDK
• Andrei Kamenev explains how to Publish, Protect and Validate OData APIs in API Management
• Chris Noring says Deploying with Azure Static Apps is even faster with the new HTML preset, check it out
• Joe Chen describes how to Load Custom Configuration .ini in PHP for Azure App Service
• Marco Bonilla explains how to Analyze HAR trace when importing an Azure Appservice / Webapp on API Management from Azure Portal.
• Ramya Gangula delves into App Configuration references in Spring Boot App deployed to Azure App services.

Azure Virtual Desktop

Covering: Azure Virtual Desktop

• Jessie Duan announces Public Preview of Personal Desktop Autoscale on Azure Virtual Desktop
• On the Miscrosoft Mechanics show, Matt McSpirit (@mattmcspirit) talks about Azure Virtual Desktop Automated scaling, imaging & monitoring