Azure Weekly Issue 433: 27th August 2023

Lots of interesting articles in a very mixed bag this week. First up: Transforming Text to Video: Azure Open AI, Cognitive Services and Semantic Kernel Python, and a look into Enhancing Recommendation Systems with Large Language Models, and big news for any users of Excel: Python in Excel: Combining the power of Python and the flexibility of Excel, the item of note is that the Python workload is being run in Azure in ACI. This might cause a few issues of concern for some users, and I would expect this to support local MicroVMs (like Firecracker) in the future, so that you don't need to go outside the firewall to execute cells in your spreadsheet.

In the analytics space is also packed this week: Designing Microsoft Fabric Workspaces, creating Metadata Driven Pipelines for Microsoft Fabric, the 4th part of Barry Smart's "Microsoft Fabric for Technology Leaders" focuses on Exploring Strategies Enabled By Microsoft Fabric (using Wardley Maps), Advanced scenarios with private endpoints to Azure SQL Managed Instance, and Jessica Hill provides a deep dive into Notebooks in Azure Databricks

For orgs who want to automate onboarding / offboarding from their HR systems, this is exciting news: Introducing a New Flexible Way of Bringing Identities from Any Source into Microsoft Entra ID. Introducing Azure Artifacts support for Rust Crates is also a welcome addition.

Finally, a post close to my heart; code = energy (carbon footprint) = cost; anything we can do to write more efficient code benefits everyone. We love .NET because we can write incredibly computationally efficient code, and every year the investments by the .NET Product Group deliver performance improvements that we can benefit from for free. We document the improvement benchmarks in How .NET 7.0 boosted AIS.NET performance by 19% In the last 4 years, for no extra effort, we've seen a net gain of an extra: 1,799,570 messages / core / second for "inspect", and 1,254,421 messages / core / second for "read" scenarios.

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

• Aleenah Ansari delves into Bing Chat Enterprise experience is now in preview for Microsoft 365 A3 and A5 licenses for faculty
• Lee Stott (@lee_stott) explains how to Unleash Your Inner Entrepreneur with MS FounderHub: AI-Based Startups with Azure OpenAI Services
• Ronak Chokshi introduces a new Azure AI Language video series showcasing features powered by Azure OpenAI & more
• Sabyasachi Samaddar blogs about Transforming Text to Video: Azure Open AI, Cognitive Services and Semantic Kernel Python
• Ben Roberts writes about Azure MLOps Challenge: Part 3
• Boris Zaikin presents an Azure Lightweight Generative AI Landing Zone
• On the Azure Medium blog, Valentina Alto blogs about Enhancing Recommendation Systems with Large Language Models
• Shikha Sinha blogs about Calculating Chargebacks for Business Units/Projects Utilizing a Shared Azure OpenAI Instance

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

• Jean Hayes delves into Metadata Driven Pipelines for Microsoft Fabric and Metadata Driven Pipelines for Microsoft Fabric – Part 2, Data Warehouse Style
• In part 4 of his "Microsoft Fabric for Technology Leaders", Barry Smart (@barry_j_a_smart) writes Exploring Strategies Enabled By Microsoft Fabric using Wardley Maps.
• Harun Legoz (@hylegoz) writes Microsoft Fabric vs. Azure Synapse Analytics, and How Can Delta Lake 3.0 Help You?, and OneLake vs ADLS Gen2: Full Feature Comparison and Designing Microsoft Fabric Workspaces
• Sally Dabbah walks through Notifying Outlook and Teams channel/group from a Microsoft Fabric pipeline
• On the endjin blog, Jessica Hill shares a deep dive into Notebooks in Azure Databricks
• On Microsoft Fabric Blog, Guy Reginiano walks through Using Data pipelines for copying data to/from KQL Databases and crafting workflows with the Lookup activity
• Nick Edwards explains how to Automate Power BI single table refresh using Azure Synapse Analytics and Power BI APIs

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

• KanikaS discusses Introducing new compute throttling policies
• Brett Tanzer announces new enhancements for Azure VMware Solution
• The Azure Updates Team announces Generally available: Cross Subscription Restore for Azure Virtual Machines
• The Azure Updates Team announces General Availability: Improve VM resiliency with Azure Advisor's Availability Zone recommendation.
• Ian Griffiths (@idg10) shares How .NET 7.0 boosted AIS.NET performance by 19%

Containers

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

• On episode 470 of the Azure podcast, Evan Basalik and Sujit D'Mello do a News Roundup
• Harun Legoz writes about 5 Azure Container Apps Features Made Generally Available And What You Can Do With Them

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

• Jim Evans explains how to Query Multiple Azure SQL Databases and Save Results Centrally
• Andreas Wolter (@AndreasWolter) discusses Delegating permission management using Roles vs WITH GRANT OPTION
• Zoran Rilak delves into Advanced scenarios with private endpoints to Azure SQL Managed Instance
• Kapil Samant discusses Oracle migration insights from the real-world customer use cases DBMSOUTPUT RAISE NOTICE
• The Azure Updates Team writes about General Availability: AzAcSnap 9 — Azure Application Consistent Snapshot tool updates

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, Mark Wilson-Thomas (@MarkPavWT) and Mark Downie (@poppastring) talk about Simplified Code Refinement and Debugging with GitHub Copilot Chat
• Also on the Visual Studio blog, Sayed Ibrahim Hashimi describes how to Safely use secrets in HTTP requests in Visual Studio 2022
• Michiel van Oudheusden (@mivano) explains How to get a token to access the Azure cost API
• Kevin Guo covers Socket.IO support on Azure
• Excel announces Python in Excel: Combining the power of Python and the flexibility of Excel.
• On Visual Studio Magazine, David Ramel (@dramel) writes about VS Code Tool for Microsoft Teams Sports New Chat Bot App Template

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, Jorge Fernandez walks through Introducing Azure Artifacts support for Rust Crates
• On episode 259 of the Azure DevOps podcast,  Jeffrey Palermo (@jeffreypalermo) and Bob Walker (@_BobJWalker_) talk about Painless Operations
• Richard Fennell (@richardfennell) talks about Setting Azure DevOps Agent Pool Descriptions via the Azure DevOps API
• Panu Oksala writes about Cannot Delete Azure DevOps Build Pipeline
• Sarah Lean (@TechieLass) describes Using Terraform with Azure Key Vault to Retrieve Secret Values

Hybrid + Multicloud

Covering: Azure Arc, Azure Stack

• Molishvinayagan R writes about New Azure management and onboarding capabilities for Azure Arc-enabled VMware vSphere

Identity

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

• Joseph Dadzie introduces a New Flexible Way of Bringing Identities from Any Source into Microsoft Entra ID
• On episode 200 of the Ctrl+Alt+Azure podcast, Tobias Zimmergren @zimmergren) and Jussi Roine (@JussiRoine) discuss What is API-driven inbound provisioning in Microsoft Entra ID
• Timur Engin explains how to Configure Just-in-Time Access to M365 Defender

Integration

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

• Divya Swarnkar talks about Announcement Premium Integration Account and Enhanced EDI Connectors
• Wagner Silveira describes Announcement Azure Logic Apps Standard RBAC Roles in Public Preview
• On episode 100 of the Intrazone podcast, Mark Kashman (@mkashman) and Chris McNulty (@cmcnulty2000) are joined by Liz Sundet (@percusn) and Luis Enrique Torres (@luisto) to discuss Viva Connections adoption best practices

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

Learning

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

• Liberty Munson talks about Introducing a new resource for all role-based Microsoft Certification exams
• Daniel Calbimonte covers AI-900: Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals Certification Exam Tips and Tricks
• Daniel Neumann (@neumanndaniel) writes My preparation and tips for the Certified Kubernetes Administrator exam
• Frank Rojas presents a Skilling snack: Configure devices with Windows Autopilot
• Bruno Capuano (@elbruno) writes about .NET MAUI Summer Coding Adventure

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

• Curtis Sawin covers Deploying Windows 365 Frontline beyond shift workers
• Saul Dolgin walks through Introducing the Azure Business Continuity Guide
• Billy York blogs about Managed Identity for Azure Monitor Log Alerts
• David Giard (@DavidGiard) talks about Configuring Azure Monitoring for App Services, Functions, and VMs
• Jorge Miguel Ferreira and Sebastian Werner write about MDE Device Control – Leveraging Reusable Settings in Intune
• Episode 348 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast presented by Scott Hoag and Ben Stegink (@msclouditpro): You get a subscription, and you get a subscription, and you get a subscription
• Shishir Garde covers Azure Budgets and Azure OpenAI Cost Management

Media

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

• On Tech Community blog, Srini Raghavan covers Supercharge brand content with the Typeface AI app for Microsoft Teams

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 Public preview: Rate-limit rules for Application Gateway Web Application Firewall
• Scott Hoag writes about Quick create Azure Front Door endpoints for Azure Storage accounts
• Mark Heath (@mark_heath) talks about Cleaning up dangling DNS entries for an Azure DNS Zone
• David Frazee delves into Azure WAF – Masking Sensitive Data

Security

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

• Jeremy Tan blogs about Introducing Microsoft Sentinel Optimization Workbook
• Nicholas Kondamudi writes about General Availability : Azure governance policy for Azure Key Vault Managed HSM
• Saleem Bseeu walks through Strengthening Your Defenses: Simulation Testing for Azure DDoS Protection
• Matt Lowe explains how to Manage Access to Microsoft Sentinel Workbooks with Lower Scoped RBAC
• Jamil Mirza writes about One Microsoft: Enriching MDEASM assets with Threat Intelligence Feeds
• Lara Goldstein talks about Defender for APIs Better Together with Azure Web Application Firewall and Azure API Management

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

• Karl Rautenstrauch covers Modernization through Tiger Bridge Hybrid Cloud Data Services

Web

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

• Arjun Baliga explains How to remove the PHP X-Powered-By header from HTTP response for PHP 8.x apps on Linux App Service
• Julia Kasper explains how to Build an enterprise-ready Azure OpenAI solution with Azure API Management
• Damien Bowden (@damien_bod) writes about ASP.NET Core Logging using Serilog and Azure
• Holly Hamilton writes Strengthen Up Your API Program With Azure API Center
• Aarthi Murugan explains how to Build Right and Fast: Landing Zone Accelerator for Spring Apps - Now Generally Available

Azure Virtual Desktop

Covering: Azure Virtual Desktop

• Andrej Radinger discusses VMware extends Windows 365 Cloud PCs to new audiences
• Jason Parker announces general availability of FSLogix 2210 hotfix 2