Azure Weekly Newsletter Issue #146
Welcome to the 146th edition of the Azure Weekly Newsletter.
We use Azure Notebooks (Jupyter) in all our data science work, like OneNote it's an incredibly useful, powerful tool that is often overlooked. Sidak Pasricha has written a great blog post about utilising Azure Notebooks for learning new programming languages like Python (R & F# are also available).
It got a brief mention in last week's issue, but Alex Sutton, Principal Program Manager, Azure Big Compute Team, has written a more detailed introduction to the Azure Batch AI preview
Tony Smith, a Microsoft UK Data Solution Architect has written a post on a subject that is close to our hearts describing how you can make sense of the swamp – Azure Data Catalog for your Data Lake
One of the lesser known feature of Azure Functions is Durable Functions - a framework that enabled you to orchestrate multiple functions and manage state. Chris Anderson has a new post which covers Durable Functions and Bindings Extensibility Preview Announcement. Staying with Functions, there's a nice post about securing Azure Functions calls to Dynamics 365 secured by Azure AD, the sample can be adapted for any AAD based Authentication.
If you have any content you'd like to contribute to the newsletter, please tweet @AzureWeekly or ping an email to AzureWeekly@endjin.com.
Compute
Covering: Virtual Machines, Virtual Machine Scale Sets, Functions, Batch, Service Fabric, Cloud Services
· On MSDN, Chris Anderson Azure (@crandycodes) writes about a Durable Functions and Bindings Extensibility Preview Announcement.
· On codeit blog, Toon Vanhoutte covers Azure Functions Proxies and A very lightweight API Management. If you've missed the rest of this series, start with part 1.
· On the Redmond magazine site, Jeffrey Schwartz (@JeffreySchwartz) talks about Microsoft Bringing Cross-Platform and Java Support to Azure Serverless Compute.
· On TechNet, Tsuyoshi Ushio (@sandayuu) walks through Enabling Typescript local debugging with Azure Functions on Mac.
· On MSDN, Ali Mazaheri covers Securing Azure Functions calls to Dynamics 365 secured by Azure AD.
· The Service Fabric Team cover the Service Fabric 6.0 Refresh Release for Windows Server Standalone, Azure and .NET SDK.
· John Knightly (@johnaknightly) explains how to Find Azure VMs that are Shut Down but not Deallocated.
· Mark Heath (@mark_heath) explains how to Create and Configure a VM with the Azure CLI.
· Also on MSDN, Igor Pagliai (@igorpag) asks Why Azure Availability Zones.
Networking
Covering: Virtual Network, Load Balancer, Application Gateway, VPN Gateway, Azure DNS, Content Delivery Network, Traffic Manager, ExpressRoute, Network Watcher
- No content this week
Storage
Covering: Blob storage, Queue storage, File storage, Disk storage, Data Lake Store, StorSimple, Backup
· Radu Vunvulea (@RaduVunvulea) walks through Migrating File Server Share to Azure.
· On the Azure blog, Rena Shah announces the Azure Files share snapshots public preview.
Web & Mobile
Covering: App Service, Web apps, Mobile apps, API apps, Content Delivery Network, Media Services, Azure Search
· On MSDN, Kaushal Kumar Panday investigates Socket exception for ASP.NET applications in Azure App Service.
· On MSDN, David Renton writes about Hosting your Unity game on Azure.
Containers
Covering: Container Service, Container Registry
· On TechNet, Tsuyoshi Ushio (@sandayuu) shares Migration tips from IaaS to Web App for Containers on Azure.
· On the Azure blog, Saurya Das (@sauryadas_) writes about Unifying monitoring and security for Kubernetes on Azure Container Service.
· On Channel 9, Pui Chee talks about Jenkins Plugins for Kubernetes.
· Christine Hall (@brideoflinux) walks through Looking for the OCI Seal of Approval when using Containers.
Databases
Covering: SQL Database, Azure Database for MySQL, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, SQL Data Warehouse, SQL Server Stretch Database, Azure Cosmos DB, Table storage, Redis Cache, Data Factory
· On the Azure blog, Sunil Kamath announces Azure Database for MySQL and PostgreSQL availability in Canada and Brazil.
· On the .NET Curry blog, Mahesh Sabnis (@maheshdotnet) discusses Using Azure Cosmos DB with ASP.NET Core and Angular.
· On MSDN, Joon Kyu Lee discusses Mapping a login to a user in Azure SQL Data Warehouse.
· On the MSSQL Tips site, John Miner writes about Full text indexing with Azure SQL database.
· On the Azure blog, Lindsey Allen explains how to Put your databases on autopilot with a lift and shift to Azure SQL Database.
· Also on the Azure blog, Rohan Kumar reveals Microsoft's Azure SQL Database is ranked #1 Database as a Service for developer satisfaction by SlashData.
Data + Analytics
Covering: HDInsight, Machine Learning, Stream Analytics, Azure Bot Service, Data Lake Analytics, Power BI Embedded, Data Catalog
· Tony Smith (@tpsmith99), a Microsoft Data Solution Architect in the UK describes how Azure Analysis Services – an Analytics Game Changer, in some older posts he examines Power BI's 3 query methods and writes about a lesser known, but in our opinion, vitally important Azure Service: Making Sense of the Swamp – Azure Data Catalog for your Data Lake
· On the Revolution Analytics blog, David Smith (@revodavid) shares a Tutorial for Azure Data Lake analytics with R.
· Gerardo Saca (@gsacavdm) reveals Data Science Virtual Machines are now available on Azure Government Cloud.
· Chris Webb (@Technitrain) blogs about Creating A Partitioned Table In SSAS Tabular 2017 And SSDT Using M Functions.
· Kay Unkroth talks about Hardening Azure Analysis Services with the new firewall capability.
AI + Cognitive Services
Covering: Computer Vision API, Face API, Bing Web Search API, Customised speech service, Custom Vision Service, Language Understanding Intelligent Service, Bing Custom Search
· On MSDN, Sidak Pasricha blogs about Utilising Azure Notebooks for learning new programming languages like Python.
· On the Stackify Blog, Barry Luijbregts delves into Getting started with Azure Cognitive Services.
· On the Azure blog, Alex Sutton talks about Scaling up your deep learning with Batch AI preview.
Internet of Things
Covering: IoT Hub, IoT Edge, Event Hubs, Stream Analytics, Notification Hubs, Time Series Insights
· On the Azure blog, Ashita Rastogi writes about Monitoring your Azure IoT solutions with Azure Monitor and Azure Resource Health.
· Eustace Asanghanwa announces support for X.509 CA on Azure IoT Hub.
· On Channel 9, Greg Duncan (@gduncan411) talks about the Journey from Device to Action at the IoT Virtual Bootcamp.
· On the Stackify Blog, Barry Luijbregts walks through Getting Started with Azure Event Grid Services.
Enterprise Integration
Covering: Logic Apps, Service Bus, API Management, BizTalk Services
· Stefan Roth (@stefanroth_net) discusses using Azure Logic App to Send Data From Application Insights To Azure Log Analytics.
· On the Azure blog, Alice Rison writes about Quarterly Microsoft Azure SOC reports and Compliance at warp speed.
Security + Identity
Covering: Security Center, Azure Active Directory for developers, Key Vault, Azure Active Directory, Azure Active Directory B2C, Azure Active Directory Domain Services, Multi-Factor Authentication
· Karan Singh (@im_karan_singh) blogs about Silent Authentication using Azure AD application.
· Pam Lahoud describes Developing an Azure AD B2C multi-tenant application.
· Stephane Eyskens blogs about Provisioning Azure Active Directory Apps in a highly controlled way.
· On the Azure blog, Greg Cottingham explains How Azure Security Center unveils suspicious PowerShell attack.
· Jean-Marc Prieur unveils ADAL.NET 3.17.0 has been released.
· Ben Kliger explains How Azure Security Center uses machine learning to enable adaptive application control.
· On TechNet, Stanislav Belov covers Infrastructure + Security: Noteworthy News from Ignite.
· On TechNet, Daniel Soto describes PowerShell, X.509, and SmartCards.
Developer Tools
Covering: Visual Studio Team Services, Azure DevTest Labs, HockeyApp, Developer tools and SDKs, Xamarin, Storage Explorer
· Edward Thomson blogs about DevOps with Azure and VSTS and shares Videos from Ignite 2017.
· On MSDN, Christopher Witte writes about Dependent Request Extraction VSTS.
Monitoring + Management
Covering: Microsoft Azure portal, Azure Resource Manager, Application Insights, Log Analytics, Automation, Site Recovery, Scheduler
· Tsuyoshi Ushio (@sandayuu) discusses Giving minimum access privilege using Service Principal.
· Michael Crump (@mbcrump) covers Working with Log Stream and Azure App Services and Using Application Insights with Azure App Services.
· On the Azure blog, Kiran Madnani shows you how to Send your Azure alerts to ITSM tools using Action Groups.
· On MSDN, Eric W. DeBord talks about Monitoring Azure Resources – Tools and Technology.
· Linda Lee Chapman explains Microsoft is retiring exam 70-534 and replacing it with a new exam 70-535.
· On the Azure blog, Asir Selvasingh talks about .NET: Manage availability zones and more.
Thought Leadership from endjin
- Unlocking Digital Transformation with Azure API Management - a training session from endjin, explaining what Digital Transformation is, and how to use Azure API Management to take your first steps. Three versions are available: 5 minute exec summary, 20 minute overview or 50 minute deep dive.
- How to plan your cloud transformation journey - an article explaining how you should use the various bits of thought leadership content from endjin to plan your cloud journey.
- API Maturity Matrix - a spreadsheet to help you assess your organization's ability to build, test, deploy, manage and monetize an API Platform.
- Azure Technology Selector - a flowchart which guides you through the process of chosing the best Azure service for your needs.
- Cloud Comparison Poster - a free poster, comparing the three major cloud platforms - Azure, AWS & Google Cloud Platform. For more information, see the accompanying blog series.
- Cloud Migration Process - a free poster, outlining our process for cloud adoption
- Cloud Adoption: Risk & Mitigations - The Swiss Cheese Model - a free poster from endjin & Hymans Robertson outlining the risk and mitigations of adopting public cloud.
- Embracing Disruption: Financial Services & the Microsoft Cloud - a free ebooklet from endjin describing how companies in FS can take advantage of Azure.
Solutions from endjin
- Modern Data Platform Blueprint - our opinionated architecture over Azure Data Lake, which solves common security, ingestion, and data processing requirements.
- API Economy Platform Blueprint - our solution accelerator for building an API first architecure on Azure.
Useful Links
- Microsoft's What is Azure poster - a visual overview of Azure's services and features.
- Microsoft Azure Essentials: Fundamentals of Azure - a free ebook from Microsoft Press, by Michael S. Collier and Robin E. Shahan.
- Data Science in the Cloud with Microsoft Azure Machine Learning and R - a free ebook on Azure Machine Learning, by Stephen F. Elston.
- Protecting Data in Microsoft Azure - a whitepaper that describes the various mechanism you can you can leverage for managing sensitive data in the Azure platform.
- A-Z of the Azure ecosystem - a slide deck outlining current Azure services.
- Azure Architecture Center - guidance from the Patterns & Practices team covering API Design, API implementation, Autoscaling, Background jobs, CDN, Caching, Data partitioning, Monitoring and diagnostics, Retry, Scalability and availability.
- Azure Architect's Reference - if you are an architect responsible for building an application on Azure, or are trying to figure out how you could migrate an application and need to dig deep into the workload, cost, security, capacity, availability, deployment and operational modelling this invaluable resource should be your first stop. An open source project, with contributions from several experienced architects, it gathers data from many different references into a single, useful guide that is constantly updated by the community.
- Azure Table Storage Design Guide - a guide from the storage team.
- Azure infrastructure services implementation guidelines - key design and implementation guidelines for deploying an IT workload in Azure infrastructure services.
- Azure Speed Test - a simple web tool that measures the latency between you and Azure Datacenters to suggest which might be fastest for you location.
- Azure Websites Cheatsheet - everything you need to know about configuring & managing Azure Websites on a single page.
- SQL Database Migration Wizard - a very useful tool for migrating existing SQL databases to SQL Azure; will fix some common conversion errors automatically.
- Azure SQL DTU Calculator - a tool to help you determine the number of DTUs for your existing SQL Server database(s) as well as a recommendation of the minimum performance level and service tier that you need before you migrate to Azure SQL Database.
- Microsoft Azure Symbol/Icon Set - a set of Visio and PowerPoint shapes for use in architecture diagrams / presentations.
- Service Bus Explorer - a free and open source tool for managing and exploring Azure Service Bus(including Event Hubs).
- Best practices for designing Azure Resource Manager Templates - guidance based on the whitepaper 'World Class ARM Templates Considerations and Proven Practices'.
- Microsoft Cloud Networking for Enterprise Architects - a downloadable guide to Azure networking, covering topics such as cloud migration and networking for PaaS and SaaS services
- Cyber Security Demystified - a free ebook from Microsoft describing how to keep your organisation safe.
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