Azure Weekly

Issue #492 - 10th November 2024

The biggest announcement of the week, seems to have flown below the radar, but it's something I'm incredibly excited about and have been waiting a long time for. Announcing Hyperlight: Virtual machine-based security for functions at scale. You may remember seeing Mark Russinovich's Microsoft Build 2023 Inside Azure Innovations session about Hyperlight, or spotted the two "What is Hyperlight?" internals deep dive blog posts: Part 1 and Part 2. You can find more information to get up and running and the code over at the GitHub Repo.

In Data & Analytics: we have weekly briefing calls with customers asking about Azure Synapse vs Microsoft Fabric, it great to see some more guidance to help customers make big investment decisions (that have long term implications): Benefits of Migrating from Azure Synapse Analytics to Microsoft Fabric. Two other interesting guides this week: Fabricators guide to Microsoft Fabric deployment pipelines and part 3 of Carbon Optimised Data Pipelines - minimise CO2 emissions through intelligent scheduling which deep dives into the Data Pipeline Definition.

In Networking: three interesting posts: Secure Azure VMs with Private Subnets: A Step-by-Step Guide and Unlocking the future: Azure networking updates on security, reliability, and high availability, and PowerShell Automation for Azure Networks: Detailed VNET and Subnet Analysis.

Also, Windows Server 2025 now generally available, with advanced security, improved performance, and cloud agility, AKS Preview Feature: Optimizing Upgrades with Undrainable Node Behavior, and Trusted Signing is now open for individual developers to sign up in Public Preview, and a useful learning resource: 120 Days Study Plan to Become an AI-Focused Full-Stack Software Engineer.

Finally, Microsoft upgraded the Tech Community site this week, which had some interesting "improvements" such as removing RSS feeds. Hopefully these teething issues will be resolved soon and we'll also see the RSS feeds be reinstated for Azure Updates.