The Azure Podcast

We got a chance to chat with Saurya Das, Senior Program Manager at Microsoft, who is working on extending Azure Machine Learning capabilities to Kubernetes clusters whether they are on-prem or in the cloud with the help of Azure Arc as the centralized control plane.  Media File: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode371.mp3 YouTube Video Resources: Run Azure Machine Learning anywhere - on hybrid and in multi-cloud with Azure Arc - Microsoft Tech Community Hybrid Cloud Machine Learning on Kubernetes with Azure Arc – The New Stack Updates: Microsoft Power Fx: The open-source low-code programming language is in public preview General availability: Azure Monitor for Windows Virtual Desktop New solutions for Oracle WebLogic on Azure Virtual Machines Microsoft named a Leader in Forrester Wave: Function-as-a-Service Platforms Improve supply chain resiliency, traceability, and predictability with blockchain Gartner Announces Supply Chain Winners of the 2021 Power of the Profession Awards    

The Azure co-hosts had Gino Filicetti and Peter Laudati back after two years to talk about their latest development of the What The Hack initiative that has now grown to over 30 hacks. They also talk about ways to get involve and how everyone can leverage these hack guides and learn with any group one likes.          Media File: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode370.mp3 YouTube Video Resources: Homepage: https://aka.ms/wthhome Repository: https://aka.ms/wthrepo How To Host a WTH: https://aka.ms/wthhost How To Author a WTH: https://aka.ms/wthauthor MSFT Employees: Propose a new hack: https://aka.ms/wthproposal External Folks: Send an empty PR with your idea! Other Updates: Testing device registration health You can use a PowerShell script to test the Internet connectivity to the following Microsoft resources under the system context to validate the connection status between the device that needs to be connected to Azure AD as hybrid Azure AD joined device and Microsoft resources that are used during device registration process. It also, checks for SSL/TLS handshake and report as failure if any. · https://login.microsoftonline.com · https://device.login.microsoftonline.com · https://enterpriseregistration.windows.net For more information, please see… Test Device Registration Connectivity - Code Samples | Microsoft Docs   Perform at-scale, agentless SQL server discovery and assessment with Azure Migrate Learn about the latest innovations: Inside Azure Datacenter Architecture    

The team meets with recurring guest Bob Ward and meet a new one, Anna Hoffman, to talk about their Learn Azure SQL video series. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode369.mp3 Resources: https://aka.ms/azuresqlyt --> Data Exposed / Data Exposed Live / Azure SQL 61 video series https://aka.ms/azuresqlbook --> Azure SQL Revealed https://aka.ms/azuresqlfordevelopers --> Practical Azure SQL Database for Modern Developers https://aka.ms/learnliveazuresqlfundamentals --> Learn Live Azure SQL Fundamentals (6 week live series) https://aka.ms/azuresqlfundamentals --> Learning Path on Microsoft Learn with free hands on exercises YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/I42ikJ1IfU8 Other updates: Our commitment to expand Azure Availability Zones to more regions (https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/blog/our-commitment-to-expand-azure-availability-zones-to-more-regions/) Limited-time free quantities offer for Azure Synapse Analytics https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/limited-time-free-quantities-offer-for-azure-synapse-analytics/ Do more for the National Security mission with Azure https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/do-more-for-the-national-security-mission-with-azure/  

The cohosts had the pleasure to chat with Anavi Nahar, Senior PM Manager about choosing the right load balancing solution, how load balancing is used internally at Microsoft, and a quick trivia of the different OSI levels.  Media File: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode368.mp3 YouTube: https://youtu.be/b7kXUXxafwA Resources: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/azure-load-balancing/ Other Updates: Increase availability at scale with Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets flexible orchestration mode - Microsoft Tech Community Scale your critical applications cost-effectively with Azure Disk Storage Architect and optimize your internet traffic with Azure routing preference Announcing preview of Azure Trusted Launch for virtual machines Empowering every developer to innovate with Azure Connecting customers and businesses with Azure Communication Services and Microsoft Teams

The team talks to Azure specialists Jeff Mitchell and Rob Kuehfus about the Enterprise Scale Landing Zones that are part of the Cloud Adoption Framework. These architectural templates allow enterprises to lay down an Azure footprint that is consistent with best practices in terms of security, governance, networking and identity and can be leveraged by new and existing Azure customers. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode367.mp3 YouTube: https://youtu.be/5xshifBaj1E Resources:   Review the Enterprise-scale landing zones Architecture guidance Review the Enterprise-scale landing zones implementation guidelines Review and deploy a reference implementation MS Learning Path - Create an enterprise-scale architecture in Azure Try out the reference implementation on your own: Introduction to Enterprise Scale ‘in-a-box’ tutorial (Github) Check out the Channel 9 series for ESLZ and WAF here Other updates: · Azure Defender for App Service introduces dangling DNS protection - https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/blog/azure-defender-for-app-service-introduces-dangling-dns-protection/ · Prevent dangling DNS entries and avoid subdomain takeover - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security/fundamentals/subdomain-takeover Demystifying cloud economics https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/demystifying-cloud-economics/ E-commerce on Azure increases security with Payment Card Industry Three-Domain Secure compliance https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/e-commerce-on-azure-increases-security-with-payment-card-industry-three-domain-secure-compliance/ Automating quota management with Azure Quota REST API https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/automating-quota-management-with-azure-quota-rest-api/ Microsoft plans to establish first datacenter region in Indonesia https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/microsoft-plans-to-establish-first-datacenter-region-in-indonesia/    

Five years after his last appearance, Gaurav Malhotra comes back to talk to the team about his current work with Azure Purview. Media File: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode366.mp3 Other Resources: Azure Purview Overview Azure Purview Docs Azure Purview Feedback Azure Purview blog on Tech Community Azure Purview discussion on Tech Community Updates: Apache Spark Connector for SQL Server and Azure SQL now compatible with Spark 3.0 Customers unify hybrid and multicloud IT operations with Azure Arc Future-proof your network with Azure for Operators Microsoft will establish its next U.S. datacenter region in Georgia’s Fulton and Douglas Counties Public preview: Application Insights work item integration for Azure DevOps & GitHub    

Evan and Sujit talk to Microsoft Cloud Solution Architects Matthew Garrett and Tyler Peterson about an interesting Open Source project they developed that can help customers reduce the consumption of resources in Azure. This innovative solution allows for lowering the service tiers in dev/test environments and can result in significant reduction of consumption costs.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode365.mp3 Resources: GitHub repo: https://github.com/Azure/bellhop Documentation site: https://azure.github.io/bellhop/#/   Other updates: General availability: Azure mobile app now supports Azure Government https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/features/azure-portal/mobile-app/ Today we’re announcing Microsoft Azure has increased the scope of its HITRUST CSF certification to include 172 Azure offerings across 49 Azure regions. Azure’s HITRUST certification letters are available on the Service Trust Portal and include the full list of HITRUST CSF certified Azure offerings and regions.   Azure has partnered with the HITRUST Alliance to deliver the HITRUST Shared Responsibility Matrix for Microsoft Azure. Azure customers can leverage Azure’s HITRUST CSF certification to inherit controls and apply them to their own assessments.   Azure customers can also accelerate their HITRUST CSF deployments by using Azure’s HITRUST Blueprint. This blueprint helps customers deploy a core set of policies by defining a repeatable set of standards, patterns, and requirements enforced across Azure resources. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/compliance/offerings/offering-hitrust https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-ddos-protection-2020-year-in-review/

Russell, Sujit, and Cynthia chat with Michael Collier about different considerations regarding Azure Functions ranging from virtual networking, hosting, common use cases and some of the existing limitations to be aware of.    Media File: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode364.mp3 Other Updates: Availability Zones now available in South Central US and Germany West Central Confluent Cloud Integration with Azure is now generally available Support for more workloads, tag based policies now in Backup Center public preview Azure Security Center—General availability updates for January 2021 Azure API-Management Updates Jan 21 More Resources: Michael's Blog @michaelcollier    

The team gets together with an Azure Networking developer, Vishal Munde, to talk about how streaming analytics can make troubleshooting NVAs better for everybody.  Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode363.mp3   Other updates: Python 3.9 in Azure Functions is now in public preview https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/python-39-in-azure-functions-is-now-in-public-preview/ Build regionally resilient cloud services using the Azure Resource Manager https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/build-regionally-resilient-cloud-services-using-the-azure-resource-manager/ Azure Cost Management and Billing updates – January 2021 https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-cost-management-and-billing-updates-january-2021/ Azure Availability Zones in the South Central US datacenter region add resiliency https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-availability-zones-in-the-south-central-us-datacenter-region-add-resiliency/ 4 reasons customers are asking service partners for Azure Lighthouse https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/4-reasons-customers-are-asking-service-partners-for-azure-lighthouse/

Sujit, Kendall, and Cynthia talk with Matt Henry about what Azure VMWare Solution is, how different people can take advantage of the offering, and the position Microsoft is taking given the interesting history with VMWare in the past.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode362.mp3 Resources: Introduction - Azure VMware Solution | Microsoft Docs <-basic documentation (Microsoft) Network & Security Insights for Azure VMware Solution - VMware Cloud Management <-Networking guidance (VMware) Catalogs | VMware Hands-on Labs | HOL-2194-91-ISM Azure VMware Solution - Lightning Lab | Lab | VMware Learning Platform <-Hands on Lab (VMware) How to enable your Azure VMware Solution resource - Azure VMware Solution | Microsoft Docs <- Steps to get nodes made available to you for deployment Microsoft Mechanics: Azure VMware Solution | How to run a complete VMware environment on Azure | Ignite 2020 (libsyn.com) <- How to deploy video including at 1:59 in the video – how to self-size your AVS environment using Azure Migrate Azure Products by Region | Microsoft Azure <-This is preselected for all Azure VMware globally. Check mark means there are nodes available, clock means pending launch date. Other Updates: Azure IoT Edge for Linux on Windows available for public preview Azure and HITRUST publish shared responsibility matrix Public preview: Automatic Cluster Upgrades in AKS