Azure Weekly Newsletter Issue #161
powered by endjin
Welcome to another edition of Azure Weekly. We were very proud to sponsor DDD Scotland yesterday; the free-to-attend conference had a number of Azure related session covering everything from Cosmos DB, Functions, to Cognitive Services.
There are a few service announcements this week: firstly CosmosDB Graph API and Virtual Network Service Endpoints for Azure SQL Database have reached Generally Availability. SAP HANA supportable VMs are available in UK with the Azure M/B/V3-series, Azure Search service has been upgraded: New hardware, unlimited document counts, and more. Azure SQL Database – Managed Instance Management Pack is now in Public Preview, and an update has been released of the excellent Microsoft Azure Symbol / Icon Set Download available in Visio stencil, PNG, and SVG - an essential tool for anyone needing to design architecture diagrams or presentations.
Other interesting articles this week include a reflection of the one of the non-technical areas in which Microsoft are innovating in Azure: Microsoft Azure IP Advantage: Our first year. Chris Rhodes shared some tips on optimising Azure Spending, and Azure CosmosDB and Microsofts Project Olympus were honored in InfoWorlds 2018 Technology of the Year Awards.
There's an interesting new case study about Munich RE in The most innovative analysis of weather risks. and Stéphane Fréchette has written an article about analyzing NYC Citi Bike data with Azure Databricks.
In the realms of serverless there are two articles of note: an introduction to Azure serverless with Azure Functions, Logic Apps and Azure Event Grid, and a great project released on GitHub that shows how to use the Azure Advisor API and Logic Apps to send daily email alerts.
Finally, Scott Guthrie makes an appearance on .NET Rocks to talk about building Cloud Native Apps in Azure.
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 Channel 9, Corey Sanders and Jeff Hollan talk about Durable Functions now available on Tuesdays With Corey
- Mark Heath (@mark_heath) describes The Case for Durable Workflows
- Callon Campbell writes an Introduction to Azure serverless with Azure Functions, Logic Apps and Azure Event Grid and describes how to Try Azure Functions for Free
- On the Azure blog, Andres Juarez reveals that Microsoft offers SAP HANA supportable VMs in UK with the Azure M/B/V3-series
- On .NET Rocks, Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell describes Building Cloud Native Apps in Azure with Scott Guthrie
- On MSDN, Michael S. Hansen discusses Developing and Debugging Desired State Configuration Scripts for Azure VMs
Networking
Covering: Virtual Network, Load Balancer, Application Gateway, VPN Gateway, Azure DNS, Content Delivery Network, Traffic Manager, ExpressRoute, Network Watcher, Azure DDos Protection,
- On MSDN, 'jawalte' explains how to Improve security and performance with Virtual Network Service Endpoints and Firewalls for Azure Storage
- Wu Shuai explains how to Provide Cross Region Low-latency Service based on Azure Global VNET Peering
- Richard M. Hicks (@richardhicks) walks through Deploying NetMotion Mobility in Azure
Storage
Covering: Blob storage, Queue storage, File storage, Disk storage, Data Lake Store, StorSimple, Backup
- On Code Project, Carl Randall writes about: Windows Azure Storage Emulator Failed to Install
- Chris Risner (@chrisrisner) writes about Open Sourcing Azure Storage Explorer for Mobile
Web & Mobile
Covering: App Service, Web apps, Mobile apps, API apps, Content Delivery Network, Media Services, Azure Search
- On the Azure blog, Ashish Makadia (@_ashmaka) announces the Azure Search service upgrades: New hardware, unlimited document counts, and more
- Christos Matskas (@ChristosMatskas) writes Keeping your Azure Search Index up-to-date with Azure Functions
- Glenn Colpaert describes Building high performance APIs with Azure Search
- Michael Crump (@mbcrump) writes Azure Tips and Tricks Part 90 - Part 1 - Implementing Azure Search with SQL Server and ASP.NET MVC, Part 91 - Part 2 - Implementing Azure Search with SQL Server and Part 92 - Part 3 - Querying an Azure Search Index
- On MSDN, Byron Tardif (@bktv99), Program Manager - Azure Websites, discusses January 2018 App Service update
- Also on MSDN, Ben Perkins (@csharpguitar) describes How to Backup/Restore an Azure App Service using Azure PowerShell
- JoeMVP covers PKI Authentication as a Azure Web App
- Ahmed Elnably writes about az webapp new – where new is always better
- On Channel 9, Robert Green and James Montemagno talk about SmartHotel360 Demo App Mobile Apps on Visual Studio Toolbox
- Ben Perkins (@csharpguitar) describes How to Backup/Restore an Azure App Service using BASH and explains How to set Azure BASH to a specific Azure subscription
Containers
Covering: Container Service, Container Instances, Container Registry, Web App for Containers
- Jim Selders walks through Installing Service Fabric locally
- Scott Hanselman (@shanselman) writes Why should I care about Kubernetes, Docker, and Container Orchestration
- Pascal Naber writes about Persistent Storage and Volumes using Kubernetes on Azure with AKS or Azure Container Service
- On MSDN, Steve Lasker (@SteveLasker) writes Relaxing ACR storage limits,with tools to self manage
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, Luis Bosquez announces that the Azure CosmosDB Graph API now generally available
- On the Daily Dot Net Tips blog, Abhijit Jana (@AbhijitJana) covers Working with Azure Cosmos DB using Visual Studio Code and explains how to Add an Azure Cosmos DB trigger to an existing Azure Function app from Azure Cosmos DB Portal
- On the Database Journal site, Marcin Policht discusses Azure Cosmos DB Partitioning
- On the .NET Curry blog, Francesco Abbruzzese writes about Fast ASP.NET Core development with Azure Cosmos DB and DocumentDB package
- On MSDN, the SQL Server Engineering Team talks about Public Preview: Azure SQL Database – Managed Instance Management Pack
- On TechNet, Sasindu Kavinda (@kaviliya123) talks about Azure SQL Database – Database as a Service
- Danimir Ljepava explains how to Build email notifications for SQL Database Automatic tuning recommendations
- Jim Toland talks about Automating the end-to-end migration of SQL Server to Azure SQL Database using the Azure Database Migration PowerShell module
- Bart Duncan writes Filtered Indexes and Forced Parameterization: Cant we all just get along
Analytics
Covering: HDInsight, Stream Analytics, Data Lake Analytics, Azure Databricks, Power BI Embedded, Data Catalog
- On MSDN, 'RalfWi' writes Data Science Virtual Machine available on Azure Germany
- Stephane Frechette (@sfrechette) writes Analyzing NYC Citi Bike data with Azure Databricks
- Vincent-Philippe Lauzon covers Azure Databricks – Parsing escaping CSV files in Spark
- On Medium, Davide Mauri combines Power BI and Azure Databricks
- On MSDN, Samuel Lester describes Troubleshooting a Power BI Dataset Refresh Error
- Devin Knight (@knight_devin) presents Power BI Custom Visuals Class Module 89 – Filter by List
- Charles Sterling (@chass) announces the 2/15 Webinar: Unleash Security Patterns in Power BI – Reza Rad
- Chris Webb (@Technitrain) describes Creating Excel Data Dump Reports From Power BI
AI + Machine Learning
Covering: Machine Learning, Bots, Computer Vision API, Face API, Bing Web Search API, Customised speech service, Custom Vision Service, Language Understanding Intelligent Service, Bing Custom Search
- On the .NET Curry blog, Gerald Versluis discusses Adding Artificial Intelligence AI to your Xamarin Apps
- On the Xamarin blog, Courtney Witmer points to an Upcoming Webinar Xamarin University Presents: Building Your First Intelligent App with Xamarin and Microsoft Cognitive Services
- On the Azure blog, Xuedong Huang blogs about Custom Speech: Code-free automated machine learning for speech recognition
- On MSDN, Neerja Rewal describes the Machine learning implementation strategy for a customer service center
- Also on MSDN, Jamie Dalton covers Custom Vision with TensorFlow exported model using C# .NET Core and TensorFlowSharp
- On Channel 9, Seth Juarez talk about Deep Learning for Music Generation on the AI Show
Internet of Things
Covering: IoT Hub, IoT Edge, Event Grid, Stream Analytics, Notification Hubs, Time Series Insights, Azure Location Based Services
- On Channel 9, Olivier Bloch talks about Azure IoT C SDK insights with John Spaith and Stream Analytics on Azure IoT Edge & Stream Analytics in IoT solutions with JS Brunner on the Internet of Things Show
- On the Kloud blog, Darren Robinson (@darrenjrobinson) talks about Automating the creation of Azure IoT Hubs and the registration of IoT Devices with PowerShell and VS Code
- On the Azure blog, Raman Sharma writes Go serverless for your IoT needs
Enterprise Integration
Covering: Logic Apps, Service Bus, API Management, BizTalk Services
- Ercenk Keresteci provides a GitHub repository for an project that creates Azure Advisor recommendation emails with Logic Apps
- On the Azure blog, Vinod Kurpad describes the Enhancements to Azure Budgets API supporting Resource Groups and Usage Budgets
- On MSDN, Christian Wolf talks about Azure Service Bus billing, vs metrics, vs current monthly cost
- Also on MSDN, David Burg discusses Passing extra HTTP headers to any action in Logic App
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
- On MSDN, 'AnujChaudhary' writes a PowerShell sample for Privileged Identity Management PIM for Azure Resources
- On TechNet, Joel Vickery writes Rinse, lather, repeatAzure AD Connect Installation Stalls At Service Account Screen
Developer Tools
Covering: Visual Studio Team Services, Azure DevTest Labs, HockeyApp, Developer tools and SDKs, Xamarin, Storage Explorer
- Simon Waight (@simonwaight) writes about Easy Release Versioning for .Net Projects using VSTS and TFS
- On the Black Marble blog, Richard Fennell talks about Versioning your ARM templates within a VSTS CI/CD pipeline with Semantic Versioning
- Tomas Restrepo (@tomasrestrepo) writes about API Management Groups
- K. Scott Allen (@OdeToCode) describes Working with Azure Management REST APIs
- On MSDN, Justin Clareburt writes about Two Lesser Known Tools for Local Azure Development
Monitoring + Management
Covering: Microsoft Azure portal, Azure Policy, Cost Management, Azure Monitor, Application Insights, Log Analytics, Site Recovery, Scheduler
- On the Catapult Systems blog, Cameron Fuller writes Delving deeper into sharing Azure dashboards
- On the Azure blog, Kartik P V R announces the OMS Monitoring solution for Azure Backup using Azure Log analytics
- Nicole Welch compares OMS/Log Analytics and SCOM
- Marcel Zehner (@marcelzehner) describes Azure Resource Policies Management in the Azure Portal
- On the Kloud blog, Simon Waight (@simonwaight) gives some Recommendations on using Terraform to manage Azure resources
- Jason Wages blogs about Reusing Azure Automation Run As Accounts
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
- The Developer's Guide to Microsoft Azure (2nd Edition) - ebook from Microsoft showcasing architectural approaches and common design patterns you face when building modern applications.
- Azure Virtual Datacenter - ebook from Microsoft highlighting an approach to isolation, security, and trust in the Microsoft cloud.
- Cyber Security Demystified - ebook from Microsoft describing how to keep your organisation safe.
- 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
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