The Azure Podcast

Deep Kapur, a Microsoft PM on the Azure team, gives us an great refresher on Service Fabric and breaks down the new Service Fabric Mesh offering for us.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode241.mp3 Some links: http://aka.ms/servicefabricdocs - learn more about Service Fabric http://aka.ms/servicefabricmesh - learn more about Mesh http://aka.ms/tryservicefabric - free clusters to party on! https://github.com/microsoft/service-fabric - our GitHub codebase https://twitter.com/deepkkapur   Other updates: Azure HDInsight Interactive Query: Ten tools to analyze big data faster https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-hdinsight-interactive-query-ten-tools-to-analyze-big-data-faster/ Ethereum Proof-of-Authority on Azure https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/ethereum-proof-of-authority-on-azure/ Microsoft Ignite – now with more code https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/microsoft-ignite-now-with-more-code/ Azure.Source – Volume 43 https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-source-volume-43/ Interested in deploying your Linux or containerized web app in an Azure Virtual Network? The Azure App Service team is excited to announce the general availability of Linux on Azure App Service… https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/linux-on-azure-app-service-environment-now-generally-available/ Windows Server Containers in Web App are now available in public preview! Web App for Containers is catered towards developers who want to have more control over what is installed in their containers. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/announcing-the-public-preview-of-windows-container-support-in-azure-app-service/ Instance size flexibility for Azure Reserved VM Instances is now generally available. Instance size flexibility is a new feature that is applicable to all new and existing Azure Reserved VM Instance purchases. Instance size flexibility can:  • Simplify the management of Azure Reserved VM Instances  • Avoid the need to exchange or cancel a reserved VM instance to apply its benefit to other virtual machines within the same Azure RI VM group and region  • Help further reduce costs in many scenarios  • Automatically apply Azure RI benefits that have been purchased to other VMs within the same group and region This feature applies to both Windows and Linux Azure Virtual Machines. For general information regarding this new Azure RI feature please visit the Azure Reserved VM Instances Webpage. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/reserved-vm-instances/  

Gautam Shah, an Azure Architect with Applied Information Sciences, talks to us about how Azure Automation can be used in Enterprises to automate almost anything.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode240.mp3 My go to source for Azure Automation is none other than Azure Docs. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/automation/ For folks just starting out on Azure Automation https://www.edx.org/course/infrastructure-as-code-0 https://www.appliedis.com/   Other updates: General availability: Start/Stop VMs during off-hours in Azure Automation From Top feature requests added with Azure Blockchain Workbench 1.2.0 https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/top-feature-requests-added-with-azure-blockchain-workbench-1-2-0/ R3 on Azure: Launch of Corda Enterprise v3.1 https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/corda-enterprise-launch-on-azure/ Orchestrating production-grade workloads with Azure Kubernetes Service https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/orchestrating-production-grade-workloads-with-azure-kubernetes-service/ Ansible 2.6: What’s new for Azure https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/ansible-2-6-what-s-new-for-azure/  

We talk to Azure Engineer Michelle Noorali about her passion with the Cloud Native Computing Foundation and the work she does to enable Developers to work easily with Kubernetes in Azure and any cloud. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode239.mp3 Resources: https://events.linuxfoundation.org/events/kubecon-cloudnativecon-north-america-2018/program/call-for-proposals-cfp/ https://github.com/helm/community/blob/master/helm-v3/000-helm-v3.md https://www.helm.sh/blog/bringing-helm-home/index.html   Other updates: http://www.eweek.com/database/microsoft-sharpens-sql-operations-studio-s-job-management-tools Microsoft PowerShell now available on Linux as an Ubuntu snap From   Learn KQL (the query language used in Application Insights and Log Analytics). Go from a beginner to a pro in just a few hours through a free, exercise-driven course. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/free-query-language-course-la-ai/   Visual Studio IntelliCode – Python Support in VS Code in Public Preview When writing Python code, the IntelliSense code completion in VS Code speeds up your productivity by providing suggestions as you type. However, there can be hundreds of completions to scroll through and you typically need to type the first few characters out before you can get close to the right result. Using our machine learning algorithm, we can infer the most relevant completions based on the current code context https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/visualstudio/2018/07/24/visual-studio-intellicode-expands-ai-assisted-coding-to-python-in-visual-studio-code/  

Evan and Kendall talk to Craig Wiand, a Principal Engineer in the Azure team, about the new Serial Console feature available for VMs. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode238.mp3 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/linux/serial-console Other updates: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/devtestlab/2018/07/03/save-time-by-leveraging-auto-filled-fields-at-virtual-machine-creation/ Azure Data Box Disk, an SSD-disk based option for offline data transfer to Azure, is now in preview. In Azure SQL Database, auto-failover groups are now generally available. They extend active geo-replication with the following capabilities:  • Geo-replication of a group of databases • Transparent manual or automatic group failover • Independent routing to secondary databases for load balancing of read-only workloads For more information, see the blog post.  From   https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/lightning-fast-query-performance-with-azure-sql-data-warehouse/   General availability: Azure DevOps Projects Friday, July 13, 2018 Back in November, we introduced Azure DevOps Projects. It helps you get up and running with a full DevOps pipeline on Azure, from code through monitoring, in just a few minutes. We've added services along the way and incorporated a lot of your feedback. It's now generally available. Public Preview- Azure Monitor Container Health Monitoring Capability We released a public preview of the Azure Monitor container health monitoring capability at the //build conference. The Azure Monitor container health capability enables you to track the health and performance of your Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster. Based on customer feedback, we're releasing new features and updates to onboarding and the portal experience.   From   https://buildazure.com/2018/07/17/new-microsoft-azure-certification-paths-coming-in-2018/  - Kendall Azure NetApp files now in public preview From Microsoft has teamed up with NetApp to enable enterprises to overcome the challenge of deploying file-based workloads to the cloud. Today we're pleased to announce the public preview of Azure NetApp Files, an Azure native service powered by NetApp's leading ONTAP technology, which has been long trusted by enterprises to meet their requirements for performance, scalability, data management, security, and hybrid capability. From Pluralsite course on Kusto Query Language which is used for Azure services https://www.pluralsight.com/courses/kusto-query-language-kql-from-scratch Azure tips and tricks: https://www.michaelcrump.net/azure-tips-and-tricks-sorted-list/

A great in-person discussion with two of my colleagues at Microsoft, Daniel Selman who is a Kubernetes Consultant and Razi Rais who focusses on DevOps and Blockchain. We talk about how a Developer can quickly go through the motions to package and deploy applications to AKS and monitor them as they run. Media File: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode237.mp3 Their blog: http://www.razibinrais.com/k8s-devops-part-1/  

Barry Luijbregts, a very well-known and respected Azure Developer, author and Pluralsight instructor, talks to us about the universal issue in Azure - which service should you use to run your app? Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode236.mp3 https://aka.ms/azurefordotnetdevs    Azure Quick Start Guide for .NET Developers   https://aka.ms/devsguide  The Developer’s Guide to Azure   Other updates: Maven Plugin on Azure Web Apps https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/maven-deploy-java-apps-to-azure-with-tomcat-on-linux/ https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-event-hubs-and-service-bus-vnet-service-endpoints-in-preview/ https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/spoken-language-identification-in-video-indexer/ https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-search-announcing-the-general-availability-of-synonyms/

Cale and Sujit talk about the new style of applications that leverage AI, Blockchain and Big Data services in Azure. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode235.mp3   Other updates: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/log-analytics-solutions-network-security-goup-analytics-and-azure-web-apps-analytics-now-available-in-azure-quickstart-template-gallery/ https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-storage-static-web-hosting-public-preview/ Microsoft from GeekWire Cloud Tech Summit: New Azure innovations will advance the intelligent cloud and intelligent edge https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/microsoft-from-geekwire-cloud-tech-summit-new-azure-innovations-will-advance-the-intelligent-cloud-and-intelligent-edge/ The emerging big data architectural pattern https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/the-emerging-big-data-architectural-pattern/ Reasons why retail and consumer goods brands should address Artificial Intelligence today https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/reasons-why-retail-and-consumer-goods-brands-should-address-artificial-intelligence-today/ Azure Data Factory new capabilities are now generally available https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-data-factory-new-capabilities-are-now-generally-available/

Longtime guest on the show, Bill Zack joins us along with colleague Aaron Ebertowski to talk about Azure Migrations. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/episode234.mp3 http://www.stratum-tech.com/ https://www.movere.io/ https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/migrate/migrate-overview Bill's Blog post: Is Azure Adoption too easy? https://cloudyinnashville.com/2018/03/11/is-azure-adoption-too-easy/   Other updates: Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) GA – New regions, more features, increased productivity https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-kubernetes-service-aks-ga-new-regions-new-features-new-productivity/ Event trigger based data integration with Azure Data Factory https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/event-trigger-based-scheduling-in-azure-data-factory/ Immutable storage for Azure Storage Blobs now in public preview https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-immutable-blob-storage-now-in-public-preview/ Disaster Recovery solution for Azure IaaS applications https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/disaster-recovery-for-azure-virtual-machines-using-azure-site-recovery/ Column-Level Security is now supported in Azure SQL Data Warehouse https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/column-level-security-is-now-supported-in-azure-sql-data-warehouse/ https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/windows/run-command https://www.marketplace.org/2018/06/05/tech/make-me-smart-kai-and-molly/67-bitcoin-runs-network-trust CryptoKitties  https://twitter.com/Windozer/status/996196708374761473?s=17

In this last of the shows recorded by our team at BUILD 2018, the guys talk to Senior Azure PM Jeff Hollan on all things IoT & Serverless.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode233.mp3    

Continuing our sessions from BUILD 2018, here is a great discussion with Asir Selvasingh on running Java on Azure.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode232.mp3