The Azure Podcast

Sasha Rosenbaum, a Senior PM from the GitHub team, is back on the show to talk to us about DevOps in the cloud and provides advice on choosing the right tools for your teams. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode321.mp3 Transcript: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/77937baf29/?location=EUS2   Other updates: ACR built-in audit policies for Azure Policy is now in preview Updated: March 13, 2020 We are pleased to announce the public preview of Azure Container Registry support for creation of built-in audit policies for Azure Policy.  Once the built-in audit policy is available for the security control, the assessment results can be surfaced through Azure Policy’s Compliance feature. The following 3 built in policies are planned: Network: Provide an audit policy that verifies if Private Link is being used Network: Provide an audit policy that checks if the firewall is enabled/ IP-based restrictions are applied Data transfer: Provide an audit policy to verify if customer-managed key is used   From         Private Endpoints provide secure connectivity to Azure Storage from a Azure virtual network (VNet). On-premises networks can also securely connect to a storage account using a private endpoint when that network is to a VNet using Express Route or VPN. Private Endpoints for Azure Storage are now generally available in all Azure public regions.     https://dilbert.com/strip/2020-03-15 - Mandatory Blockchain  << ❤ this   Azure Functions Premium plan regional virtual network integration Updated: March 24, 2020 Regional virtual network integration is now generally available in the Azure Functions Premium plan. Run serverless function apps with no cold-start, virtual network connectivity, and larger instance sizes with the Premium plan. The general availability of regional virtual network integration also brings these features: The ability to direct all traffic leaving an application into the virtual network. Support for applying user-defined routes and network security groups to the integrated application. Support for reaching private link-secured resources through a regional virtual network integration. Support for non-RFC 1918 addresses in an integrated virtual network. Regional virtual network integration is available in all public regions for function apps hosted on the Premi   From  

The team gets together to share personal thoughts and experiences on working at home for extended periods of time and how Azure and other cloud vendors are helping the cause during this difficult time. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode320.mp3 Transcript: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/f0d8448fcd/ Resources: https://www-theverge-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2020/3/21/21189227/cdc-microsoft-chatbot-coronavirus-symptom-checker https://hackorona.in.dev/ https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/our-commitment-to-customers-and-microsoft-cloud-services-continuity/ Other updates: Configure Azure Monitor log alert rules for recommendations and alerts exported from Security Center by taking advantage of Security Center's continuous export capabilities to Log Analytics Workspace. How Azure Machine Learning service powers suggested replies in Outlook https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/how-azure-machine-learning-service-powers-suggested-replies-in-outlook/ New Deploy to Azure extension for Visual Studio Code https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/new-deploy-to-azure-extension-for-visual-studio-code/ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/open-research-covid-19-literature-dataset-eric-horvitz/ https://www.bing.com/covid https://www.coepi.org/ http://privatekit.mit.edu/ https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2020/03/20/delivering-information-and-eliminating-bottlenecks-with-cdcs-covid-19-assessment-bot/ Azure Security Center—Protection for Azure Kubernetes Service is now available From Protect your web applications from common exploits and vulnerabilities with Web Application Firewall for Azure Content Delivery Network from Microsoft. Web Application Firewall is already natively integrated with Azure Application Gateway and Azure Front Door services. Apply the firewall policies to protect your Azure Content Delivery Network endpoints from malicious attacks. A Web Application Firewall security policy may consist of an ordered list of custom match rules, rate limit rules, or Azure-managed pre-configuration rules. From How Azure Machine Learning service powers suggested replies in Outlook From [Preview] Joining a Live Share session from the browser https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/liveshare/quickstart/browser-join Cognitive Services introduces new Neural Text to Speech voices for different styles Updated: March 18, 2020 We are announcing new style voices for Neural Text to Speech. Neural Text to Speech enables fluid, natural-sounding speech that matches the patterns and intonation of human voices. New speaking styles allow you to tailor your voice for different scenarios, such as expressing different emotions, like cheerfulness or empathy. We are excited to be rolling out new speaking styles for newscast, voice assistant, and customer service scenarios for our English and Chinese neural voices. From Azure Web Application Firewall service protects your web applications from malicious attacks. In addition to Azure Application Gateway and Azure Front Door service, Web Application Firewall is now natively integrated with Azure Content Delivery Network, protecting Content Delivery Network endpoints from common exploits such as SQL injection and cross site scripting (XSS) attacks. Azure Shared Disks for clustered applications preview now available Upda

Evan and Sujit talk to Microsoft Cloud Solution Architect Jose Medina about the options we have to run Machine Learning workloads in Azure and provides some great tips on how to pick the right option and what development tools are available.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode319.mp3 Transcription: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/f4a096fe20/?location=EUS2      

Cynthia and Sujit discuss a couple of things they are working on including training for the AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals exam and using Azure Files for remote software development.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode318.mp3 Transcript: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/0c405a46ce/ Resources: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/paths/azure-fundamentals/ https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/files/storage-how-to-use-files-linux   Other updates: Because Azure Resource Manager now has all the infrastructure as a service (IaaS) capabilities of Azure Service Management and new advancements, we’ll retire classic IaaS VMs on March 1, 2023. If you use IaaS resources from ASM, please complete your migration by March 1, 2023. We encourage you to make the switch sooner to take advantage of these feature enhancements in Azure Resource Manager: • Enables deploying complex applications through templates. • Includes scalable, parallel deployment for virtual machines into availability sets. • Provides lifecycle management of compute, network and storage independently. • Enables security by default with the enforcement of virtual machines in a virtual network. How does this affect me? Beginning today, customers who are not currently using classic IaaS VMs, will not be able to create new classic VMs. Beginning March 1, 2023, customers who are using classic IaaS VMs will no longer be able to start any classic IaaS VMs using ASM. Any remaining VMs in a running or stopped-allocated state will be moved to a stopped-deallocated state. The following Azure services and functionality will NOT be impacted by this retirement: Cloud Services, storage accounts NOT used by classic VMs, and virtual networks (VNets) NOT used by classic VMs. What actions should I take? To avoid service disruption, migrate your IaaS resources from classic IaaS VMs to Resource Manager by March 1, 2023. We recommend migrating sooner to start using the feature enhancements in Resource Manager. From ExpressRoute Global Reach: Building your own cloud-based global backbone https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/expressroute-global-reach-building-your-own-cloud-based-global-backbone/ Azure Cost Management + Billing updates – February 2020 https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-cost-management-billing-updates-february-2020/

In this episode we chat with Gunnar Campo on Azure Lighthouse, which provides partners with an easy way to run managed solutions for customers, and manage this via a single plan of glass.  Gunnar talks through the various areas that Lighthouse helps here with RBAC, scaling, and monitoring of these solutions.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode317.mp3 Transcript: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/fb6da9345b/   Other updates: Azure Monitor Log Analytics now has new, upgraded visualizations From Fileless attack detection for Linux in preview https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/fileless-attack-detection-for-linux-in-preview/ Burst 4K encoding on Azure Kubernetes Service https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/burst-4k-encoding-on-azure-kubernetes-service/ A secure foundation for IoT, Azure Sphere now generally available https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/a-secure-foundation-for-iot-azure-sphere-now-generally-available/ Preview of Active Directory authentication support on Azure Files https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/preview-of-active-directory-for-authentication-on-azure-file/  

Microsoft Cloud Solution Architect, Marc Böhnke, gives us the low-down on the partnership between SAP and Azure and the technical details that that has resulted in the ERP software to be easily accessible in Microsoft's cloud platform.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode316.mp3 Transcript: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/40cb937dc4/?location=EUS2 Resources: Embrace: https://www.sap.com/documents/2020/01/1a87f51d-7d7d-0010-87a3-c30de2ffd8ff.html SAP Reference architectures on Azure: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/sap/sap-s4hana Some examples for Integrationscenarios on GitHub from my colleague Roman Broich he uses in Partner Bootcamps: https://github.com/ROBROICH Other updates: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/introducing-the-new-azure-logs-table-pane-schema/ https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/migrate-tutorial-windows-server-2008 Extended Security Updates in Azure: Customers who migrate workloads to Azure Virtual Machines (IaaS) will have access to Extended Security Updates for both SQL Server and Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 for three years after the End of Support dates for no additional charges above the cost of running the virtual machine. For many customers, this is an easy first step before upgrading or modernizing with newer versions or services in Azure. Those that decide to move to Azure SQL Database Managed Instance (PaaS) will also have access to continuous security updates, as this is a fully managed solution. Customers do not need Software Assurance to receive Extended Security Updates in Azure. From Azure Virtual Network—Network address translation is now in preview Updated: February 18, 2020 Azure Virtual Network now offers network address translation (NAT) (in preview) to simplify outbound-only internet connectivity for virtual networks. All outbound connectivity uses the public IP address and/or public IP prefix resources connected to the virtual network NAT. Outbound connectivity is possible without a load balancer or public IP addresses directly attached to virtual machines. Virtual Network NAT Preview is fully managed, highly resilient. New Azure Firewall certification and features in Q1 CY2020 https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/new-azure-firewall-certification-and-features-in-q1-cy2020/ SQL Server runs best on Azure. Here’s why. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/sql-server-runs-best-on-azure-heres-why/ Azure Offline Backup with Azure Data Box now in preview From Private Link: Azure Private Link is a secure and scalable way for Azure customers to consume Azure Services (such as Storage, SQL, and Cosmos DB) or Customer Own services (for example, Partner Service and BYOS) privately from within their virtual network. Private Link brings in true private connectivity experience between services and virtual networks. The technology is based on a provider and consumer model where the provider and the consumer are both hosted in Azure. A connection is established using a consent-based call flow and, once established, all data that flows between the service provider and the service consumer is isolated from the internet and stays on the Microsoft network. There’s no need for gateways, NAT devices, or public IP addresses to communicate with this service. From Azure Backup offline-backup with Azure Data Box Updated: February 19, 2020 Now Azure Backup customers can take advantage of Azure Data Box to move large backups of critical enterprise data through offline mechanisms. With this preview, customers will be able to use Azure Data B

Senior Azure PM Varun Shandilya talks to the team about Spot VMs and gives us some great tips on tricks on when and how to leverage these low-cost VM SKUs.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode315.mp3 Transcript:   Other updates: Azure Key Vault—Private endpoints now available in preview Updated: February 07, 2020 Establish a private connection between Azure Key Vault and other Azure services by using Azure Private Link, now available in preview for all public regions. From   Azure Cognitive Services Text Analytics sentiment analysis v3 now supports Korean Updated: February 07, 2020 The sentiment analysis v3 feature of Cognitive Services Text Analytics now supports Korean in addition to English, Japanese, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, German, and Dutch.  From Backup Explorer is now in preview Updated: February 07, 2020 Azure Backup now offers a new solution called Backup Explorer (in preview). Backup Explorer is a built-in Azure Monitor Workbook enabling you to have a single pane of glass to perform real-time monitoring across your entire backup estate on Azure. From Azure Stream Analytics—Machine learning–based anomaly detection functions Updated: February 06, 2020 Easily add anomaly detection capabilities to your Stream Analytics jobs without the requirement to develop and train your own machine learning models. Ready-to-use unsupervised learning ML models are provided within the SQL language From Advancing safe deployment practices https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/advancing-safe-deployment-practices/ Check out Azure for Education.   Build, deploy, and manage applications with comprehensive Azure cloud services. Whether you’re a student getting started, an educator teaching advanced workloads, or just interested in building cloud-based skills in your community, we’ve got the cloud development resources you need.   Azure for Students https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free/students/   Azure for Students FAQ https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free/free-account-students-faq/   Azure for Students Starter FAQ https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free/students-starter-faq/  

Senior Microsoft App-Dev Consultant, Avon Gonzales, fresh from the internal Microsoft Ready conference, shares his passion and learnings about Azure Sphere and IoT in general. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode314.mp3 Transcription: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/76066d068b/?location=EUS2   Other updates: Azure Site Recovery now supports customer-managed keys From https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/azure-site-recovery-now-supports-customer-managed-keys/ Azure Backup now supports selective disk backup and restore using Azure Virtual machine backup solution From https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/excludediskpreview/

Principal Architect Bob Ward makes another appearance to give us the latest technical details on the advances in SQL 2019 Big Data Clusters on Azure.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode313.mp3 Transcript: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/7984c7be05/?location=EUS2    

Dr. Ranveer Chandra, the Chief Scientist of Azure Global, talks about his ground-breaking work to democratize AI in the agricultural industry.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode312.mp3 Transcript: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/21b00130fc/?location=EUS2 Resources: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/farmbeats-iot-agriculture/ https://azuremarketplace.microsoft.com/en-us/marketplace/apps/microsoftfarmbeats.microsoft_farmbeats?tab=Overview   Other updates: Microsoft Sustainability Calculator provides insights into IT carbon emissions https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/microsoft-sustainability-calculator-provides-insights-into-it-carbon-emissions/ Cross Team Dashboard https://devblogs.microsoft.com/devops/create-dashboards-without-a-team/ Azure Active Directory support in Azure Database for MySQL https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/azure-active-directory-support-in-azure-database-for-mysql/