The Azure Podcast

Cale and Russell talk to Microsoft Cloud Solutions Architect, Jamie Bryant, about a new feature in Azure that makes it more secure - Just-In-Time Access. Media file: http://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode191.mp3 Indexed audio: https://www.videoindexer.ai/media/230c1fad19 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security-center/security-center-just-in-time https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security-center/security-center-intro   Other updates:   Reduce troubleshooting time with the upgraded Resource Health check in Azure SQL Data Warehouse.    This upgrade considers the health status of all components of the SQL Data Warehouse architecture, which includes each SQL database distribution and the SQL Data Warehouse engine on each compute node. Login and heartbeat signals of each component are emitted at least once every 2 minutes, providing you a low-latency, holistic view of the health status of your data warehouse. If your instance is Unavailable, we will provide the reason along with recommended actions that you should perform.   The Resource Health check can detect unavailability reasons, such as when your instance is pausing, scaling, or upgrading. This feature also detects when there are any connection issues, whether they are user connections or inner SQL database connections. You check the health of SQL Data Warehouse by signing in to the Azure portal and clicking the Resource Health blade.   Azure AD authentication extensions for Azure SQL DB and SQL DW tools https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-ad-authentication-extensions-for-azure-sql-db-and-sql-dw-tools/   Operating Azure Stack https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/operating-azure-stack/   Root cause analysis and time exploration updates to Azure Time Series Insights https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/root-cause-analysis-and-time-exploration-updates-to-azure-time-series-insights/   Azure Active Directory Pass-through authentication (Azure AD as a service – Highly available, secure, easy to deploy, great user experience) - doesn’t yet allow MFA. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/connect/active-directory-aadconnect-pass-through-authentication   Announcing deploy to Azure app service Jenkins plugin and more https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/annoucing-jenkins-deploy-to-azure-app-service-plugin-and-new-managed-disk-support-for-azure-storage-plugin/   Automate Application Insights processes with the connector for Flow and Logic Apps (Using connectors for Microsoft Flow to query and visualise App Insights data and send by email/raise work items in TFS)

The guys talk to Tara Raj, a PM in the SQL for Linux team about an open source tool called MSSQL Scripter that allows easy scripting of SQL and SQL Azure databases from any platform and integrates it into your DevOps flow. Media file: http://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode190.mp3 Indexed file: https://www.videoindexer.ai/media/306174b9d0  You can now use mssql-scripter, an open-source command-line interface, to generate database scripts. Mssql-scripter is a multi-OS command-line equivalent of the widely used Generate and Publish Scripts Wizard experience in SQL Server Management Studio. You can use mssql-scripter on Linux, macOS, and Windows to generate data definition language (DDL) and data manipulation language (DML) T-SQL scripts for database objects in SQL Server (running anywhere), Azure SQL Database, and Azure SQL Data Warehouse. You can save the generated T-SQL script to a .sql file or pipe it to standard *nix tools (for example, sed, awk, grep) for further transformations. You can edit the generated script or check it into source control. Then, you can execute the script in your existing SQL Database or SQL Data Warehouse deployment processes and DevOps pipelines with standard multiplatform SQL command-line tools such as sqlcmd. Mssql-scripter is built using Python and incorporates the usability principles of the new Azure CLI 2.0 tools. The source code is on GitHub, and we welcome your contributions and pull requests. An installation and quick start guide is available. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/mssqlscripter http://www.github.com/Microsoft/sql-xplat-cli   Other updates: Introducing Enterprise Smart Contracts https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/introducing-enterprise-smart-contracts/ Announcing the preview of App Service domain More resource policy aliases Azure Backup has expanded its service to cover all Azure Government regions. What it is about: Azure has a lot of VM families (A, D, E, F, G, … v1/v2/v3, etc). They all launched with a given set of purpose. Though in the end we have a lot of options to choose from. As I got the question to “Find the appropriate VM size” on a regular basis, I decided to write a small tool for this that could assist anyone with finding the cheapest & matching VM t-shirt size!  Azure VM Chooser  https://aka.ms/VMchooser   Instant recovery of files from Azure VM backups is generally available. Protect your Azure VM with Azure Backup and recover files, disks, VMs from a recovery point. With instant restore, immediately validate your backups or mount application files to your application to retrieve items without having to download the entire data. For more information, see the Azure documentation and the Azure VM file recovery blog. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/general-availability-instant-file-recovery-from-azure-vm-backups/  

We talk to Igor Paripov about CloudMonix, an Azure (and soon on AWS) cloud monitoring service provider. http://cloudmonix.com @ipapirov Media file: http://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode189.mp3 Indexed file: https://www.videoindexer.ai/media/e0cb0166f          

Cale, Russell and Sujit talk to Raphael Dominguez, an Azure Technical Specialist about a variety of topics he sees with customers. (Note this episode was recorded at a Microsoft conference venue so there is a bit of background noise) http://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode188.mp3  

Super discussion with Rimma Nehme, an Azure Group GM, on the history of CosmosDB, what is available today, scenarios to use it and where its headed. Media file: http://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode187.mp3 @rimmanehme   Other updates: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/azure-service-health-preview/ Microsoft Azure Stack is ready to order now https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/microsoft-azure-stack-is-ready-to-order-now/ Service Fabric Community Q&A 14th Edition https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/service-fabric-community-q-a-14th-edition/ Azure Container Registry adds individual identity, webhooks, and delete capabilities https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-container-registry-adds-individual-identity-webhooks-and-delete-capabilities/ What’s brewing in Visual Studio Team Services: July 2017 Digest https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/visual-studio-team-services-july-2017-digest/ ADAL .NET 3.14.1 released https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/adal-net-3-14-1-released/ https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/azure-network-watcher-connectivity-check-preview https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/azure-backup-reports 

Jakub Jedryszek, a Software Engineer in the Azure Team, gives us the inside scoop about the Azure Mobile app currently available for iOS and Android and coming soon for Windows devices. blog: jj09.net twitter: @JakubJedryszek User feedback: aka.ms/azuremobilefeedback Under the hood of the Azure Mobile App: https://jj09.net/under-the-hood-of-the-azure-mobile-app/ Download iOS app: aka.ms/azureapp/ios Download Android app: aka.ms/azureapp/droid Media file: http://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode186.mp3   Indexed Media Other updates: Announcing new set of Azure Services in the UK https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/announcing-new-set-of-azure-services-in-the-uk/ Enhanced app usage monitoring and investigative features in Azure Application Insights https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/enhanced-app-usage-monitoring-and-investigative-features-in-azure-application-insights/ 

The guys (yes Cale as well) talk to Joe Losinski who is a Microsoft Technical Account Manager that focusses on Azure customers. He gives us the inside scoop on this critical customer-facing role and how he works with customers to make their journey to Azure a successful one. Along the way he provides some great insights and advice on moving to the cloud. Media file: http://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode185.mp3 http://www.linkedin.com/in/JoeLosinski   Indexed Media Other updates: Accounting Coalition Moves to Work with Regulators on Blockchain Innovation http://www.coindesk.com/accounting-coalition-moves-to-work-with-regulators-on-blockchain-innovation/ Power to the User: Accenture & Microsoft Are Changing Identity with Ethereum http://www.coindesk.com/power-to-the-user-accenture-and-microsoft-are-changing-identity-with-ethereum/ Petya ransomware prevention & detection in Azure Security Center https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/petya-ransomware-prevention-detection-in-azure-security-center/ Event Hubs Capture (formerly Archive) is now Generally Available https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/event-hubs-capture-formally-archive-is-now-generally-available/ Azure Site Recovery now supports Ubuntu https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/business-continuity-for-ubuntu-workloads-with-asr/ http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/move-over-bitcoin-ether-is-the-rising-digital-currency/ar-BBCUjfq?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp Azure SQL Data Warehouse now supports the IDENTITY property. Azure SQL Database will be accessible only through the Azure portal from July 1, 2017. Mssql-scripter is the multiplatform command-line equivalent of the widely used Generate Scripts Wizard experience in SQL Server Management Studio.  

Evan and Sujit chat with Martin Howell, IT Director for the Eos Group, about how he is migrating his company's infrastructure to Azure. He gives us some eye-opening advice, checklists, things to watch for and tips. Media file: http://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode184.mp3 @martinehowell http://www.eosgroup.com   Other updates: Scheduled runbooks will use the latest modules in your automation account Azure Automation currently uses the version of the modules in your automation for scheduled runbook jobs at the time the schedule was created. This behavior has caused confusion for customers because when they update their modules, they expect that all future scheduled jobs will use the latest version. To address this feedback, Azure Automation will start using the latest modules in your automation account when a new scheduled job is run. You should test any runbooks that have linked schedules by starting them manually. This will validate that your scheduled runbooks continue to work correctly. If you have not updated any modules since you created your schedules, this change won't affect you. In Azure Traffic Manager, two new features related to endpoint health are now generally available: Fast Failover and TCP Probing. Azure Storage Service Encryption (SSE) is now supported for Azure Managed Disks. SSE provides encryption-at-rest and helps safeguard your data.

Evan, Russell and Sujit have a good discussion on all topics Data with CSAs Phil Harvey and Robin Lester from Microsoft UK. @CodeBeard https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/robinlester/ Media File: http://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode183.mp3 Transcribed and Indexed https://www.videoindexer.ai/media/a17d83e363/ Other updates: Update: In-Memory OLTP in Azure SQL Database Premium Monday, June 5, 2017 Starting today, you can take advantage of the following improvements to In-Memory OLTP technology in Azure SQL Database Premium:  • You can create more than eight indexes on memory-optimized tables.  • You can use sp_rename for renaming memory-optimized objects.  • We have eliminated the limit on the number of commit dependencies. You will no longer receive the corresponding error message.  • You can use the CASE expression, the CROSS APPLY operator, and all JSON functions in natively compiled T-SQL modules.  • You can create computed columns in memory-optimized tables. From Microsoft joins Cloud Foundry Foundation However, we aren’t done. Far, far from it. Today, at the Cloud Foundry Summit in Santa Clara, I am honored to join Abby Kearns, executive director of the Cloud Foundry Foundation on stage to announce that we have joined the Cloud Foundry Foundation as a Gold Member. Cloud Foundry on Azure has seen a lot of customer success, enabling cloud migration with application modernization while still offering an open, portable and hybrid platform. The partnership with the Cloud Foundry Foundation extends our commitment to deeply collaborate and innovate in the open community. We remain committed to create a diverse and open technology ecosystem, to offer you the freedom to deploy the application solution you want on the cloud platform you prefer. In addition to joining the Cloud Foundry Foundation, we are also extending Cloud Foundry integration with Azure. This includes back-end integration with Azure Database (PostgreSQL and MySQL) and cloud broker support for SQL Database, Service Bus, and Cosmos DB. We even included the Cloud Foundry CLI in the tools available in the Cloud Shell for easy CF management in seconds. Here are some additional details on the integration offered between Azure and Cloud Foundry. From POWER BI PREMIUM Now generally available (not azure) https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/power-bi-premium-generally-available/  

Russell and Sujit have a great chat with Daniel Baker (a.k.a. @AzureDan), a Partner Development and Learning Specialist at Microsoft, about the resources available to ramp up and get certified on Azure. Cloud and Proud www.cloudandproud.info Tuesdays with Corey https://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Tuesdays-With-Corey Azure Fridays https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/resources/videos/azure-friday/ All of the following links are under https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/community/training/ along with the Pluralsight videos. Azure Skills Initiative https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=847447&clcid=0x409 Learn about Azure Certification https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/browse-all-certifications.aspx?technology=Microsoft%20Azure Explore Certification Offers https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/learn/skills/ Learning Partners https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/azure-learning-partner-offers.aspx Microsoft IT Pro Career Center https://www.itprocareercenter.com/ Microsoft IT Pro Cloud Essentials https://www.itprocloudessentials.com/ Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode182.mp3   Other updates: New language support for Azure Media Indexer v2 Russian, British English, and Mexican Spanish support in Azure Media Indexer v2 HDInsight tools for IntelliJ May updates The primary focus for our May updates is to make the Spark development work easier for you in IntelliJ! In this release, your spark remote debugging experience is significantly improved. Scala SDKs… Diagnose sudden changes in your app behavior with a click! Spikes or steps in the telemetry of your app can now be easily diagnosed. When you use Application Insights Analytics to explore app metrics over time, sudden changes, such as spikes or dips, are highlighted. With one click, Smart Diagnostics will find a pattern (a series of data with common values) that correlates with the change, and explain the reason behind it. Azure Security Center adds Context Alerts to aid threat investigation In two recent articles Greg Cottingham and Jessen Kurien described investigation processes triggered by a security alert. If you haven't already done so, please read “How Azure Security Center helps… V2 VPN Gateway SKUs available https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/azure/vpn-gateway/vpn-gateway-about-vpngateways#a-namegwskuagateway-skus Azure SQL Data Sync Refresh https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/sql-database/sql-database-get-started-sql-data-sync Higher database eDTU limits for Standard elastic pools in Azure SQL Database Spark Connector for #CosmosDB - seamless interaction with globally-distributed, multi-model data