Azure Weekly
Issue #488 - 13th October 2024
There are a few interesting articles (and tools) this week. To kick off with AI: Microsoft 365 Copilot Wave Two updates-Pages, Excel, OneDrive, and agents and A Beginner's Guide to Text Moderation and Prompt Shields for Large Language Model LLM Chatbots, and Microsoft at Pytorch 2024.
In Analytics: Use Azure OpenAI to turn whiteboard sketches into data pipelines and European Microsoft Fabric Community Conference announcements. In Security Microsoft Entra ID App-to-App security architecture and Episode 386 – Exploring DevOps Tools: Maester, Pester, and SCUBA.
Finally, two useful Cloud Native guides: Deploying Open Source Software on Azure: New Guides for AKS and VMs, and AKS Standard vs. AKS Automatic: A Comprehensive Comparison.
⚙️ AI + Machine Learning
- Farzad Sunavala discusses Azure AI Search October Updates: Nearly 100x Compression with Minimal Quality Loss
- Jame Maguire writes about Semantic Kernel: Using Memories to Create Intelligent AI Agents
- Matt Peniket provides A Beginner's Guide to Text Moderation and Prompt Shields for Large Language Model LLM Chatbots
- Jeremy Chapman (@deployjeremy) describes Microsoft 365 Copilot Wave Two updates-Pages, Excel, OneDrive, and agents
- Xinyu Wei covers AI Content Safety Fast PoC
- Mandar Gujrathi walks through Fine-tuning a Hugging Face Diffusion Model on CycleCloud Workspace for Slurm
- Pamela Fox announces the winners of RAGHack 2024
- Michael Gannotti writes about Candidly Copilot - HLS Weekly Podcast
- On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Pamela Fox discusses Microsoft at Pytorch 2024
- Rena Liu announces Text PII Redaction Container Release
🔎 Analytics
- On Microsoft Fabric Blog, Abhishek Narain describes how to Use Azure OpenAI to turn whiteboard sketches into data pipelines
- Also on Microsoft Fabric Blog, Alex Lin writes about Secure Data Streaming with Managed Private Endpoints in Eventstream Preview
- James Serra (@JamesSerra) describes European Microsoft Fabric Community Conference announcements
- Kevin Chant (@kevchant) asks Will the new DP-700 Microsoft Fabric exam replace the DP-600 exam
- Alex Lin highlights Secure Data Streaming with Managed Private Endpoints in Eventstream (Preview)
- Misha Desai highlights Enhancing Open Source: Fabric’s Contributions to FLAML for Scalable AutoML
- Abhishek Narain shares Use Azure OpenAI to turn whiteboard sketches into data pipelines
🖥️ Compute
- Ning Kuang blogs about Breaking change for Window Server 2022 Image Users with .NET 6
🚢 Containers
- Colin Mixon discusses Deploying Open Source Software on Azure: New Guides for AKS and VMs
- Ricardo Martins (@ricmmartins) writes about AKS Standard vs. AKS Automatic: A Comprehensive Comparison
🗄️ Databases
- Morgan Oslake explains how to Reduce costs by lowering the auto-pause delay for serverless compute in Azure SQL Database
- Abe Omorogbe introduces DiskANN Vector Index in Azure Database for PostgreSQL
- Roberto Yonekawa covers Error SQL71627 exporting BACPAC file in Azure SQL Database
- Tanayankar Chakraborty explains How to query .xel log files in Azure SQL DB using T-sql
- Ralf Klahr walks through Restoring an MS SQL 2022 DB from a ANF SnapShot
🛠️ Developer Tools
- On Visual Studio Magazine - Blogs, David Ramel (@dramel) covers Python AI Updates Highlight New VS Code Release, writes about Visual Studio's Future: Live Help to 'AI-ify Your App', describes Microsoft Eases Integration with Semantic Kernel AI SDK, writes about Final .NET 9 Preview Ships with Go-Live License and explains how to AI Explains Expressions in Update to Java on VS Code
- McKenna Barlow writes about Easier localization with the new resource .resx manager
- Antti K. Koskela (@koskila) describes Intellisense not working for Fluent components in Blazor project Easy fix
🔩 DevOps
- Saloni Agrawal walks through Introducing Server-Side Test Criteria for Azure Load Testing
- John Kerski covers Testing for Broken Visuals with Azure DevOps
- Episode 386 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast with Scott Hoag (@ciphertxt) and Ben Stegink (@benstegink) – Exploring DevOps Tools: Maester, Pester, and SCUBA
⚙️ Hybrid + Multicloud
- Matthew Quickenden writes about HCI Box on a Budget. Leverage Azure Spot & Hyrbrid Use Benefits. Up to 93% savings.
🎭 Identity
- Shobhit Sahay explains how to What's new in Microsoft Entra - September 2024
- Adam Bertram (@adbertram) explains How to Create and Use Azure KeyVault Secrets with PowerShell
- Damien Bowden (@damien_bod) delves into Microsoft Entra ID App-to-App security architecture
🔌 Integration
- Kavya Sinha describes Whats new and improved with Microsoft Graph connectors
- Bhalchandra Atre describes Updates to High Volume Email HVE Public Preview
- Milan Kaur blogs about Azure Communication Services September 2024 Feature Updates
- Alex Zúñiga describes Logic Apps Aviators Newsletter - October 2024
- Jason Moore writes about Welcome to the New Era of Microsoft OneDrive: AI, Productivity, and Memories at Your Fingertips
- Achraf Ben Alaya covers Automated Monitoring of Azure App Registration Secrets with Automation Accounts and Logic Apps
- Allison Sparrow explains how to Automate RAG Indexing: Azure Logic Apps & AI Search for Source Document Processing
- Tareq Saifi describes how to Set content-type using logic app standard built-in blob connector
- Thomas Thornton (@tamstar1234) walks through Azure Logic App Consumption Plan Creation using Terraform
- Sandro Pereira (@sandro_asp) provides a Friday Fact: When a HTTP request is received trigger has different behaviors depending on the designer you use
📚 Learning
- Nandita Sampath explains how to What's new with Microsoft Credentials
- On episode 318 of the Azure DevOps podcast, Jeffrey Palermo (@jeffreypalermo) is joined by Dave Plummer to talk about Programming Windows
- Claire Smyth describes MVPs and RDs innovate and contribute to Microsoft Global Hackathon 2024 and talks about Microsoft Global Hackathon 2024: MVPs/RDs' Innovation and Contribution
- Mindy Rosenthal talks about Coming late October: PL-7004: Implement AI models with Microsoft Power Platform AI Builder
- Malena Lopez-Sotelo explains how to Make Azure AI Real is back - Join Microsoft AI experts for Season 2 with the Reactor
- Sourabh Kumar Verma writes about Exploring Windows on ARM: The Future of Computing
⚖️ Management and Governance
- Arthur Clares discusses Unlocking Azure Savings: Introducing the FinOps Best Practices Library
- Sacha Narinx blogs about Azure Landing Zones - Policy Refresh Q1 FY25
- Adam Bertram (@adbertram) describes How to Create Your First Azure Automation Runbook with PowerShell and walks through Automating Azure VM Power Management with Runbooks
- Abhishek Sharan blogs about Demystifying Log Ingestion API
- Dieter Gobeyn explains how to Monitor Azure Logic Apps Tracked Properties in Application Insights
- Simone Oor explains How to use Log Analytics log data exported to Storage Accounts
🌐 Networking
- Kayode Salawu covers Network Connectivity for RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition on Azure
- Episode 259 of the Ctrl+Alt+Azure podcast with Tobias Zimmergren & Jussi Roine (@CtrlAltAzure) - Hey there, RDP Shortpath
🔐 Security
- Charbel Nemnom (@charbelnemnom) explains how to Update Microsoft Sentinel Workbooks Efficiently at Scale In Bulk
- Ajaj Shaikh explains how to Use community queries to hunt more effectively across email and collaboration threats
- On the Micsrosft Mechanics show, Alex Weinert talks about Token theft protection with Microsoft Entra, Intune, Defender XDR &Windows
- Travis Roberts (@Ciraltos) show how to Master Azure Resource Locks: Protect Your Cloud Resources from Accidental Changes
🔗 Web
- On the Azure Developer Community Blog, Glaucia Lemos writes about This Month in Azure Static Web Apps 08/2024
- Abhishek Reddy shows how to Transition from Alpine Linux to Debian for WordPress on App Service