Do you find it difficult to keep up-to-date on the frequent updates and changes in the Microsoft Azure cloud? If so, Build Azure Weekly is the solution you’ve been looking for! Build Azure Weekly is a weekly newsletter that includes all the latest Microsoft Azure Service Updates from the week in addition to links to many other blog articles, podcasts and videos from all over the Internet.

If you want to receive the newsletter in your email every week, then you’ll absolutely want to Subscribe!

The Weeks Top Links

Here are some of the most notable links from the week:

Now Available: Azure Sphere technical documentation by Ed Nightingale
New locations for Azure CDN now available by Maxwell Gattuso
Raspberry Pi GPIO Pin Reference by Chris Pietschmann
Windows Containers on Azure App Service Public Preview by Andrew Westgarth
The Developer’s Guide to Microsoft Azure eBook – August update is now available by Michael Crump
Announcing general availability of Azure SQL Database reserved capacity by Lindsey Allen
Announcing the public preview of Windows Container Support in Azure App Service by Andrew Westgarth
Linux on Azure App Service Environment now generally available by Jennifer Lee
Windows Containers on Azure App Service Public Preview by Andrew Westgarth
How to use containers for data science on Azure Government by Steve Michelotti
Azure Tips and Tricks Part 147 – Run TSQL on an Azure SQL database with Azure Functions by Michael Crump
Announcing ML.NET 0.4 by Ankit Asthana
Identify the best Azure SQL Database SKU for your on-premises database by using the Database Migration Assistant by Jim Toland
General availability of instance size flexibility for Azure Reserved Virtual Machine Instances by Manish Shukla
Managed Disks migration now available in the Azure Portal by Kay Singh
Azure management groups now in general availability by Rich Thorn

Azure Service Updates

Here’s a list of the Microsoft Azure Service Updates from over the past week:

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Blog Articles

Here’s a collection of some of the most note worthy blog articles posted over the past week:

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Why enable accelerated Networking in Azure VMs? Perf Test Results… by Tarun Arora
30 days of Azure OMS – Going from zero to hero on operations insights by Tarun Arora
General availability of instance size flexibility for Azure Reserved Virtual Machine Instances by Manish Shukla
Windows Server 2019 and Windows 10 with new Hyper-V VM Version and UEFI by Thomas Maurer
Windows 10 Enterprise for Remote Sessions: Another new Windows variant on the way via ZDNet
Managed Disks migration now available in the Azure Portal by Kay Singh
Azure management groups now in general availability by Rich Thorn
Ansible 2.6: What’s new for Azure by Ken Thompson

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Resource move validation failed. Cannot move Azure App Service by Benjamin Perkins
Redis Cache on Azure App Service is slow by Benjamin Perkins
How to optimize Azure App Service AlwaysOn, cold start, warm up request by Benjamin Perkins
New locations for Azure CDN now available by Maxwell Gattuso
Windows Containers on Azure App Service Public Preview by Andrew Westgarth
Debugging Node.js apps on Azure App Services by Kruthi Villivalam
Announcing the public preview of Windows Container Support in Azure App Service by Andrew Westgarth
Linux on Azure App Service Environment now generally available by Jennifer Lee
Windows Containers on Azure App Service Public Preview by Andrew Westgarth
WordPress Blog on Azure – full setup guide by Armin Reiter
Keep Calm and use Azure Application Insights by Aram Koukia
User Flows in Application Insights by Abhijit Jana
PHP Minor Version Update for September 2018 by Jennifer Lee
Azure API Management Feature: SOAP pass-through by Bill Chestnut
Announcing Linux on App Service Environment General Availability by Jennifer Lee

Serverless and Functions as a Service (FaaS)

Where are my Azure Functions, dissappeared by Benjamin Perkins
Our Integration Product Roadmap by Jon Fancey
What’s next for Microsoft’s BizTalk integration server, services via ZDNet
Learn how to orchestrate serverless functions by scraping APIs in 8 minutes by Maxime Rouiller
Why does my Azure Function sometimes stop being triggered by Benjamin Perkins
Building SharePoint Site Designs with Themes and Azure Functions by Bob German

Software as a Service (SaaS)

Querying the Office 365 Management APIs using Postman by Andrei Ghita

Command-Line / ARM Templates

Using Azure Shell with VSTS Git Repositories and VS Code by Tarun Arora
How to Deploy Marketplace VMs in Azure Stack by ARM template by Wu Shuai
Azure CLI Aliases Are Awesome! by Isaac Levin

Database / Big Data

Building an Azure Event Grid app. Part 4: Adding a service principal to the Event Grid Topic. by gdavi
Stream Analytics: batching events and trigger on “last” by Maarten van de Bospoort
Announcing general availability of Azure SQL Database reserved capacity by Lindsey Allen
Automatic intelligent insights to optimize performance with SQL Data Warehouse by Kevin Ngo
Identify the best Azure SQL Database SKU for your on-premises database by using the Database Migration Assistant by Jim Toland
Real example: improve accuracy, reduce training times for existing R codebase by Kate Baroni
Building an Azure Event Grid app. Part 1: Event Grid Topic and a .NET Core custom app event publisher. by gdavi
Building an Azure Event Grid app. Part 2: Adding a Logic App subscriber to the Event Grid Topic. by gdavi
Building an Azure Event Grid app. Part 3: Turning the publisher app into a Docker image. by gdavi
Building an Azure Event Grid app. Part 4: Adding a service principal to the Event Grid Topic. by gdavi
SQL Performance troubleshooting guide: A walk through by Don Castelino
New Azure #CosmosDB JavaScript SDK 2.0 now in public preview by Deborah Chen
Processing compressed event streams with Azure Stream Analytics by Courtney Thurston
Introduction to Data Science using F# and Azure Notebooks by Lee Stott
Login Problems with my Azure Active Directory Account to Azure SQL Data Warehouse by Allan Miller
Azure Data Factory Visual tools now supports GitHub integration by Gaurav Malhotra
How Microsoft drives exabyte analytics on the world’s largest YARN cluster by Raghu Ramakrishnan
Logging in CosmosDB change feed processor by Kaduk Frantisek
Azure Tips and Tricks Part 147 – Run TSQL on an Azure SQL database with Azure Functions by Michael Crump
Azure HDInsight Interactive Query: Ten tools to analyze big data faster by Ashish Thapliyal
Azure Tips and Tricks Part 146 – Rename an Azure SQL database by Michael Crump
Introduction to Azure Event Grid by Aram Koukia
Azure SQL Vulnerability Assessment – now with PowerShell support! by Ronit Reger
8 Azure Data Factory Tips & Tricks that you should know by Abhijit Jana
Multi-Model Azure Cosmos DB – Running SQL (Geospatial) Queries On a Graph by James
Responsibilities of a partner/system integrator in managing Azure Cosmos DB by Ravinder Gairola
Azure Tips and Tricks Part 145 – Easily reset the Administrator password for an Azure SQL database by Michael Crump

Internet of Things (IoT)

Now Available: Azure Sphere technical documentation by Ed Nightingale
Getting started with IoT: driving business action through analytics and automation by Olivier Bloch
SYNNEX is transforming shipping with IoT-connected vehicles by Justin Slade
Raspberry Pi GPIO Pin Reference by Chris Pietschmann
Quickly build your Azure IoT application in VS Code with Node.js, Python or REST API by formulahendry
Azure IoT Toolkit 1.2.0: Quickly build your Azure IoT application in VS Code with Node.js, Python or REST API by formulahendry
Improving quality control and rescue efforts with IoT by Justin Slade
Use WebUSB to allow Microsoft MakeCode to download direct to Circuit Playground Express by Mike Bareta
Getting started with IoT: what do you do with all that data? by Olivier Bloch
Announcing public preview of Azure IoT Hub manual failover feature by Roopesh Manda

Machine Learning / Artificial Intelligence

What is Artificial Intelligence? by Theo van Kraay
Speech Devices SDK and Dev Kits news (August 2018) by Grace Sturman
Announcing ML.NET 0.4 by Ankit Asthana
Communicate with customers in their language using multilingual bots via Microsoft Translator
Distributed Deep Learning on AZTK and HDInsight Spark Clusters by Chenhui Hu
Best Practices: Collaborative Approach to ChatBot Design using Bot Framework Tools by Christopher Harrison
Slides from Safenet Milwaukee Intro to Artificial Neural Networks talk by Cameron Vetter
3 Steps to Build Your First Intelligent App – Conference Buddy by Wilson Lee

Development and DevOps

Visual Studio Toolbox: Improved User Experience in VSTS & Azure DevOps Projects by Robert Green
Make your Visual Studio Team Services dashboard part of your conversation in Microsoft Teams by Romi Koilman
Revoking potentially impacted tokens from ESLint vulnerability by Justin Marks
The Developer’s Guide to Microsoft Azure eBook – August update is now available by Michael Crump
Team Foundation Server 2018 Update 3 RC is available by Erin Dormier
Publish Enterprise Apps with Visual Studio App Center and Intune by Girish Nedungadi

Containers / Service Fabric

Kubernetes DevOps I – Introduction to the Historic Events by Razi Rais
Generating and Loading Synthetic Patient to FHIR Server using Azure Container Instances by Michael S. Hansen

Blockchain / Smart Contracts

Ethereum Proof-of-Authority on Azure by Cody Born
Improve collaborative care and clinical data sharing with blockchain by David Houlding

Security / Privacy

Security Bulletin for August 2018 by Jeremy Hollett
Enhance your DevSecOps practices with Azure Security Center’s newest playbooks by Ty Balascio
Azure Monitor: Route AAD Activity Logs using diagnostic settings by John Kemnetz
Experts tips on hardening security with Azure security by Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center

Learning / Certification

Getting Started with Microsoft in the Classroom by MSAUEDU
Achievement Unlocked: Certified in Artificial Intelligence by Thomas LaRock
Learn Azure by following Learning Paths by Abhijit Jana
Cybersecurity / IT Security Certifications for 2018 by Chris Pietschmann

Azure Government

How to use containers for data science on Azure Government by Steve Michelotti
Bots in Azure Government by Russ Williams
Nasuni supports Azure Government for more scalable file storage and improved cross-office collaboration by Tom Rose
Trusted Internet Connection guidance for Azure IaaS and PaaS solutions by Suzie Adams, Diego Lapiduz

Azure Stack

Enhance security and simplify network integration with Extension Host on Azure Stack by Thomas Roettinger
Azure Stack 1807 Update – It is like Christmas for some of us! by Kristopher Turner

Events

Connect with the Microsoft Power BI Team at Power Summit Phoenix October 15-18 in Phoenix, AZ by Charles Sterling
Twitter AMA with the App Service Team #AppServiceAMA!! by Oded Dvoskin
Microsoft’s Ignite 2018 IT Pro conference: What to expect via ZDNet
Microsoft Azure at SIGGRAPH 2018 via Tad Brockway
Microsoft Ignite – now with more code by Rob Caron
Microsoft Inspire 2018 Bing Maps APIs session recordings are now available Bia Bing Team
Microsoft Azure Data welcomes Data Platform Summit attendees by Rohan Kumar

Other

Accelerate healthcare initiatives with Azure UK NHS blueprints by David Houlding
WordPress Blog on Azure – full setup guide by Armin Reiter
Mark Azure Subscription Directory as favorite by Abhijit Jana
Bing Maps Autosuggest API GA Release by Bing Team
Azure cloud business value for retail and consumer goods explained by Mariya Zorotovich
Microsoft Edge Getting Advanced Web Authentication Support by Mehedi Hassan
Bing Now Lets You Make Your Own Itineraries in Maps by Mehedi Hassan
How to upgrade your financial analysis capabilities with Azure by David Starr

Videos

Here are links to some of the videos that have been posted over the past week:

Azure Data Factory visual tools now integrated with GitHub via Azur Friday
Siphon on HDInsight Kafka via Azure Friday
Improved User Experience in Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) & Azure DevOps Projects demo | Visual Studio Toolbox by Dmitry Layalin
Going real-time with ASP.NET Core SignalR and the Azure SignalR Service | On .NET via Channel 9
IoT In Action – The Next Agricultural Revolution | Internet of Things Show via Channel 9
Provisioning Kubernetes clusters on AKS using HashiCorp Terraform via Azure Friday
Execute Jars and Python scripts on Azure Databricks using Data Factory | Azure Friday via Channel 9
Azure Virtual Machines by David Giard
HDInsight: Fast Interactive Queries with Hive on LLAP via Azure Friday
Azure IoT Inception and Vision | Internet of Things Show via Channel 9
Automate Azure Resources with Ansible via Azure Friday
Introducing ML Services 9.3 in Azure HDInsight | Data Exposed via Channel 9

Audio / Podcasts

To complete the collection of different mediums to allow you to consume your Azure news / info in any way you want, here’s a list of the podcasts released this week:

Implement This 25 – Things The Second Time Around in Dynamics 365 via The Microsoft Business Applications Podcast
Episode 241 – Service Fabric & Service Fabric Mesh via The Azure Podcast
Episode 77 – Catching up on SharePoint and Office 365 via Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast
Scrum Dynamics 11: Estimating product backlog using planning poker for Dynamics 365 deployments via The Microsoft Business Applications Podcast
Episode 240 – Extreme Azure Automation via The Azure Podcast
Episode 76 – All the 2019 Previews! via Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast
PowerApps Episode 3: PowerApps roadmap with Charles Lamanna via The Microsoft Business Applications Podcast
Episode 265 | Teams and Skype Convergence and the News via Microsoft Cloud Show

General Cloud / Related

Here’s some noteworthy links about Cloud computing and other related topics that aren’t necessarily specific to Microsoft Azure:

QISKit Developments Key to IBM Quantum Engagement by Nicole Hemsoth
One click deploy for MakeCode and the amazing AdaFruit Circuit Playground Express by Scott Hanselman
Ten years left to redesign lithium-ion batteries by Mike Barela
Intel FPGA Architecture Focuses on Deep Learning Inference by Nicole Hemsoth
The Ada Lace Books Will Get Girls Interested in STEM #MakerEducation by Kelly

Feedback

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Please feel free to reach out and let me know your feedback on the Build Azure Weekly series. I post this weekly post as a service to others and really want to make it the best it can be.

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About the Author

Chris Pietschmann

Chris Pietschmann is a Microsoft MVP, HashiCorp Ambassador, and Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) with 20+ years of experience designing and building Cloud & Enterprise systems. He has worked with companies of all sizes from startups to large enterprises. He has a passion for technology and sharing what he learns with others to help enable them to learn faster and be more productive.