The Azure Podcast

In this episode, we explore the fascinating world of ARM processors on Azure. We're thrilled to have Arpita Chatterjee and Noah Wood, both Program Managers at Azure, join us. They share valuable insights into the new Microsoft ARM processor, currently in Preview, and discuss when and how customers can best leverage these innovative SKUs.

Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode501.mp3

YouTube: https://youtu.be/z5GN4-WjiJo

Resources: 

https://aka.ms/Cobalt100-VM-Preview-Blog

https://aka.ms/Cobalt100-VM-Preview-Signup

Other updates:

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/convert-to-azure-premium-ssd-v2

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/Azure-Monitor-Basic-Logs-Updates

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/App-Service-Environment-Retirement-Update

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/Azure-Functions-supports-NET8-using-in-process-model

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/Redis-Extension-Azure-Functions

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/Pgvector-support-in-Azure-Database

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/Update-Records-in-Kutso-Databases

The team catches up with Daniel Taylor and Bradley Ball of the Azure Fast Track team and learns about how Database Watcher can help customers better manage and debug their Azure SQL, Elastic Pools, SQL Managed Instances, and Hyperscale and the replicas. 

Daniel and Bradley also share the really cool work they are doing helping Azure customers learn about Azure with their Tales from the Field YouTube channel, plus we hear about some upcoming events where you can see Daniel and Bradley in person!!!

Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode500.mp3

YouTube: https://youtu.be/Z_jBWLUBY9g

Resources: 

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/database-watcher-overview?view=azuresql

https://youtu.be/qr1Qxwao68M?si=mO24KZF3PAvTnnmn

Other updates:

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/Guest-OS-Family-Retirement

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/cmk-for-backup-vaults-ga/

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/Azure-Elastic-SAN-Feature-Updates

Azure classic resource providers will be retired on 31 August 2024 | Azure updates | Microsoft Azure

Prashant Nayak, a Cloud Solutions Architect at Microsoft, gives us a quick background on AVS and enlightens us with the latest updates in migration and licensing to support customers wanted to move to Azure.

Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode499.mp3

YouTube: https://youtu.be/ut-iUJZXtI4

Resources:

Other updates:

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/azure-observability-blog/advanced-network-observability-for-your-azure-kubernetes-service/ba-p/4176736

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/Databricks-Jobs-Serverless-Compute

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/interactive-serverless-compute-AU

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/DLT-Serverless-Compute 

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/Cross-Subscription-Load-Balancer

We get an update on the fascinating topic of Quantum Computing on Azure from Cloud Solutions Architect and Quantum enthusiast Delbert Murphy. He gives us the latest status on Quantum, Quantum Elements and the Q# programming language and provides guidance on the type of use-cases that can take advantage of these services.

Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode498.mp3

YouTube: https://youtu.be/2bZD2Ns91O8

Resources:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/microsoft-has-demonstrated-the-underlying-physics-required-to-create-a-new-kind-of-qubit/ 

https://cloudblogs.microsoft.com/quantum/2024/04/03/how-microsoft-and-quantinuum-achieved-reliable-quantum-computing/ 

https://cloudblogs.microsoft.com/quantum/2024/05/30/in-collaboration-with-microsoft-photonic-demonstrates-quantum-entanglement-at-telecom-wavelengths/

https://www.qir-alliance.org/

https://github.com/microsoft/qsharp/

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/quantum/hybrid-computing-overview

https://quantum.microsoft.com/en-us/experience/quantum-katas

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/qsharp/design-fault-tolerant-quantum-computing-applications-with-the-open-source-resource-estimator/

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/solutions/quantum-innovator-series/

https://quantum.microsoft.com/en-us/quantum-elements/product-overview

https://cloudblogs.microsoft.com/quantum/2024/06/18/introducing-two-powerful-new-capabilities-in-azure-quantum-elements-generative-chemistry-and-accelerated-dft/

https://cloudblogs.microsoft.com/quantum/2024/01/09/unlocking-a-new-era-for-scientific-discovery-with-ai-how-microsofts-ai-screened-over-32-million-candidates-to-find-a-better-battery/

https://cloudblogs.microsoft.com/quantum/2024/02/29/microsoft-and-1910-genetics-partner-to-turbocharge-rd-productivity-for-the-pharmaceutical-industry/

https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2024/06/18/empowering-every-scientist-with-ai-augmented-scientific-discovery/

https://quantum.microsoft.com/en-us/quantum-elements/azure-quantum-elements 

https://quantum.microsoft.com/en-us/experience/quantum-cryptography

Other Updates:

Generally Available: az command invoke in AKS

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/access-private-cluster?tabs=azure-cli

Public Preview: Cluster operation status for AKS

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/manage-abort-operations?tabs=azure-cli

Public Preview: Geo-Replication for Azure Service Bus Premium

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/service-bus-messaging/service-bus-geo-replication

Public Preview: Force detach zone redundant data disks during zone outage

 https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/azure-updates/week-of-june-20-2024-azure-updates/ba-p/4173016

How hollow core fiber is accelerating AI

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/how-hollow-core-fiber-is-accelerating-ai/

Rishabh Tewari, a Software Engineer on the Azure team, gives us insights into Project Sirius. This is an upgrade to the Azure software that lights up Accelerated Connections for any resource that uses a network interface. Using a specialized SDN, customers and ISVs can achieve very high number of connections per second throughput across all of their Azure and non-Azure resources.

Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode497.mp3

YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZVgBBrRlZGQ

Resources:

https://www.usenix.org/system/files/nsdi23-bansal.pdf

Other updates:

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/general-availability-audit-logging-in-azure-api-management-developer-portal/ 

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/logs/log-analytics-simple-mode

Cale, Evan and Sujit have an insightful discussion with Niko Pamboukas and Siri Velauthapillai about the new Azure Boost feature that is being deployed into the Azure substrate for VMs. They explain the specialized FPGAs and ARM SoCs that provide extreme IOPs for storage and networking and almost no downtime for system upgrades.

Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode496.mp3

YouTube: https://youtu.be/4FPQCAmYrzw

Resources:

Learn more about Azure Boost at https://aka.ms/AzureBoost

Learn about accelerated networking with Boost at https://aka.ms/MANA

Learn about accelerated storage with Boost at https://aka.ms/NVMe

Other updates:

Public preview: Azure Load Balancer now supports Admin State | Azure updates | Microsoft Azure

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/public-preview-azure-bastion-premium/

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/kubernetesmetadataandlogsfilteringpublicpreview/

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/public-preview-azure-load-balancer-health-event-logs/

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/generally-available-azure-chaos-studio-supports-a-new-pause-process-fault-for-windows-virtual-machines/

Hearing how our ISVs are using Azure in innovative ways is always eye-opening. So, we are fortunate to have Saquib Rashid, a Technical Strategist in the Azure partner organization, give us insights into how Backbase used APIM and the Azure Service Operator to integrate with their customers and backend systems.

Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode495.mp3

 YouTube: https://youtu.be/qFwOoSNpDME

Resources:

Other updates:

Public Preview - Azure Compute Fleet | Azure updates | Microsoft Azure

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/copilot/#Usecases

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/azure-database-for-postgresql/gen-ai-simplified-the-azure-ai-extension-now-generally-available/ba-p/4146139

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/azure-sql-blog/microsoft-copilot-in-azure-extends-capabilities-to-azure-sql/ba-p/4075408

We are fortunate to have Vlad Joanovic to give us the valuable insights into ARM. He shares the importance of ARM in Azure, provides details on performance and reliability investments and gives us tips on how to make effective use of it to deploy and manage your workloads in Azure.

Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode494.mp3

YouTube: https://youtu.be/kaeXdi2khTc

Resources:

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/azure-tools-blog/azure-cli-and-powershell-tools-build-2024-announcement/ba-p/4148584

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/governance/resource-graph/changes/view-resource-changes

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/azure-governance-and-management/what-s-new-across-azure-governance-services-microsoft-build-2024/ba-p/4150428

Other updates:

Public preview: Azure Log Analytics enhances resilience with workspace replication across regions | Azure updates | Microsoft Azure

Update on Inter-Availability Zone Data Transfer Pricing | Azure updates | Microsoft Azure

General availability: ExpressRoute Seamless Gateway Migration | Azure updates | Microsoft Azure

App Service Environment version 1 and version 2 will be retired on 31 August 2024 | Azure updates | Microsoft Azure

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/public-preview-azure-application-gateway-v2-basic-sku/

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/cloud-services-classic-retirement-announcement-may2024/

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/gpt4-turbo-vision/

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/public-preview-sensitive-data-protection-for-azure-front-door-web-application-firewall/

The team catches up with Priyanka Khare to learn about recent advancements in Azure Advisor and how customers can use Advisor to help ensure their workloads are more stable.

Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode493.mp3

YouTube: https://youtu.be/Y9LVYhSiGgE

Resources:

Azure Advisor: Advisor - Microsoft Azure

Advisor Workbooks: Advisor Workbooks

Advisor WAF Assessments: Advisor WAF Assessments

Advisor Recommendations: Advisor Recommendations

Advisor Manage Reviews: Advisor Manage Reviews

What's new on Azure Advisor: What's new in Azure Advisor - Azure Advisor | Microsoft Learn

Engage with Microsoft for a Resiliency Review: Azure Advisor resiliency reviews - Azure Advisor | Microsoft Learn

Evan and Sujit catch up on a number of recent news items in the Azure space spanning Networking, Open AI and IBM Mainframes???

Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode492.mp3

YouTube: https://youtu.be/WslylOKwXDM

Resources:

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/apps-on-azure-blog/announcing-app-service-multi-plan-subnet-join/ba-p/3971493

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/general-availability-of-azure-logic-apps-connectors-for-ibm-mainframe-and-midranges/

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/public-preview-of-azure-openai-and-ai-search-inapp-connectors-for-logic-apps-standard/

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/alt-fairfax/

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/azure-backup-vm-disk-access-public-preview/

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/stream-analytics/write-to-delta-lake

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-high-performance-computing-leads-to-developing-amazing-products-at-microsoft-surface/

General availability: Azure Virtual Network encryption availability in all regions | Azure updates | Microsoft Azure

Azure Data Box Disk is now available with hardware encryption | Azure updates | Microsoft Azure

General availability: HBv4-series & HX-series VMs are now available in Sweden Central. | Azure updates | Microsoft Azure

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/expressroutemetro/

Public Preview – DR for Shared Disks – Azure Site Recovery | Azure updates | Microsoft Azure

Using Azure OpenAI speech to create our intro/exit segments in the podcast https://speech.microsoft.com/portal