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:

Setup Visual Studio 2019 Development VM in Microsoft Azure Cloud by Chris Pietschmann
Apply Tags to all of your Azure Resources by Dan Patrick
Azure DevOps Saves Our Eyes! by Dan Patrick
Johnson Controls tackles a $15b building industry problem with Azure Cosmos DB by Rafat Sarosh
Service Fabric Mesh Preview Refresh Release by Service Fabric Team
Azure Stream Analytics on IoT Edge now generally available by Jean-Sebastien Brunner
Cincinnati Children’s has a great app development experience with Azure services by Rob Caron
Microsoft open sources the inference engine at the heart of its Windows machine-learning platform via ZDNet
Announcing WPF, WinForms, and WinUI are going Open Source by Scott Hanselman
An easy way to bring back your Azure VM with In-Place restore by Geetha Lakshmi G
Azure Cosmos DB and multi-tenant systems by Rafat Sarosh
Microsoft Briefly Took Over Apple As the Most Valuable US Company by Mehedi Hassan

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)

Disaster recovery of zone pinned Azure Virtual Machines to another region by Sujay Talasila
Apply the latest Azure Site Recovery capabilities with automatic agent update by Rajani Janaki Ram
SONiC: Global support and updates by Yousef Khalidi
An easy way to bring back your Azure VM with In-Place restore by Geetha Lakshmi G
Datacenter Migration on Azure – Portal by AzureCAT
Azure uses Live Migration for VMs by Thomas Maurer
Parallel Virtual File Systems on Microsoft Azure – Part 5: Monitoring and conclusion by AzureCAT
Azure Tips and Tricks Part 176 – Azure Lab Services Demystified by Michael Crump
SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines resource provider by Mine Tokus
Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines by Mine Tokus
Azure Log Analytics: Service Level Agreement (SLA) part 2 by CliveW
Hybrid Cloud Architecture on Azure – Portal by Ed Price

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Cincinnati Children’s has a great app development experience with Azure services by Rob Caron
WordPress on Linux Updated by Yi Liao
Premium Block Blob Storage – a new level of performance by Claus Joergensen

Serverless and Functions as a Service (FaaS)

Making Sense of Azure Durable Functions by Mikhail Shilkov
From 0 to 1000 Instances: How Serverless Providers Scale Queue Processing by Mikhail Shilkov
Azure Logic Apps connected to SAP, and now what? by David Burg
How to Create a Proxy for an Azure Function by David Giard
Configure Continuous Deployment of Azure Functions by David Giard
Simplifying security for serverless and web apps with Azure Functions and App Service by Matthew Henderson
Where’s my node? Logic Apps Flat File Decode beware suppress empty nodes unintended effect by David Burg
Considering Azure Functions for a serverless data streaming scenario by Kate Baroni
Parallel Durable Azure Functions by David Giard
Azure Logic Apps by David Giard
Azure Durable Functions by David Giard
Azure Tips and Tricks Part 175 – Machine Learning with ML.NET and Azure Functions – Part 2 of 2 by Michael Crump

Command-Line / ARM Templates

Apply Tags to all of your Azure Resources by Dan Patrick
Speeding up Azure Resource Manager Templates using cloud-init by send marsh
Configure Azure App Service IP Restrictions using PowerShell by Martin Brandl

Database / Big Data

Azure Data Architecture Guide – Blog #7: Intelligent applications by AzureCAT
Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 preview – More features, more performance, better availability by James Baker
Get up to speed with Azure HDInsight: The comprehensive guide by Dhruv Goel
How pharma sales operations benefit from centralizing data and process integration by Sidney Higa
General availability of VNet Service Endpoints for Azure SQL Data Warehouse by Kavitha Jonnakuti
Johnson Controls tackles a $15b building industry problem with Azure Cosmos DB by Rafat Sarosh
Azure Data Explorer Functions and Control Commands by Ben Martens
Azure Cosmos DB .NET SDK Version 3.0 now in public preview by Deborah Chen
Azure SQL Managed Instance Business Critical tier is Generally Available by Jovan Popovic
Azure SQL Data Warehouse Gen2 now supports lower compute tiers by Anthony van Gemert
Azure Cosmos DB now supports Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) by Christopher Anderson
Move to Azure Resource Manager REST APIs for Azure SQL Database by Vitor Faria Tomaz
Time series analysis in Azure Data Explorer by Api Eldar
CosmosDB change feed support for manual checkpoint by Kaduk Frantisek
Azure Data Architecture Guide – Blog #6: Business intelligence by AzureCAT
Three reasons why Windows Server and SQL Server customers continue to choose Azure by Julia White
Azure Cosmos DB and multi-tenant systems by Rafat Sarosh
Azure Data Architecture Guide – Blog #5: Clickstream analysis by AzureCAT
Visualize your Cosmos DB Gremlin API graph data with Linkurious enterprise by Luis Bosquez
How to develop secure applications using Azure Cosmos DB by Rafat Sarosh
Enforcing TLS 1.2 use with Azure Service Bus by Ashish Chhabria
Understanding Performance in Basic Tier for Azure Database PostgreSQL and MySQL by Bashar Hussein

Internet of Things (IoT)

IoT in Action: 4 innovations that are revolutionizing IoT by Justin Slade
Azure IoT Java SDK provides improved Android support by Yi Zhong
Azure Stream Analytics on IoT Edge now generally available by Jean-Sebastien Brunner
Location intelligence for the enterprise: New pricing tier and SDK updates by Chris Pendleton
Azure IoT Remote Monitoring extends operator capabilities to the edge by Hector Garcia Tellado
Accelerating IoT solution development and testing with Azure IoT Device Simulation by Troy Hopwood
Using AI and IoT for disaster management by Julie Seto
Azure IoT Edge for VS Code 1.6.0 has been released – One click to switch IoT Edge platform by Xin_Shi
Connect devices from other IoT clouds to Azure IoT Central by Vivian Liu
Simplifying confidential computing: Azure IoT Edge security with enclaves – Public preview by Eustace Asanghanwa

Machine Learning / Artificial Intelligence

Upload Data to Azure ML Studio by David Giard
Azure AI – accelerating the pace of AI adoption for organizations by Eric Boyd
Microsoft open sources the inference engine at the heart of its Windows machine-learning platform via ZDNet
Creating a Chatbot in the Azure Portal by David Giard
New automated machine learning capabilities in Azure Machine Learning service by Krishna Aumalasetty
Feeding the world with AI-driven agriculture innovation by Microsoft Cloud Perspectives Blog Team
Using AI and IoT for disaster management by Julie Seto
Azure Content Spotlight – Cognitive Service Containers by Sjoukje Zaal
Improving Azure Virtual Machine resiliency with predictive ML and live migration by Catherine Burke
Running Cognitive Service containers by Henrik Frystyk Nielsen
Quantum Machine Learning Lab by Wriju Ghosh

Development and DevOps

Setup Visual Studio 2019 Development VM in Microsoft Azure Cloud by Chris Pietschmann
Azure DevOps Saves Our Eyes! by Dan Patrick
Integrate the Microsoft Graph in your HoloLens and Mixed Reality apps by Sevastien Bovo
Microsoft Launches Visual Studio 2019 Preview by Mehedi Hassan
New Azure Pipelines announcements – VS Code extension, GitHub Releases, and more by Jeremy Epling
Introducing Azure DevOps Service Status Portal by Azure DevOps SRE
Linking your GitHub commits with Azure Boards by Aaron Bjork
Announcing WPF, WinForms, and WinUI are going Open Source by Scott Hanselman
Azure Cosmos DB Developer experience updates December 2018 by Deborah Chen
Using Azure DevOps REST API to start multiple releases by Vincent-Philippe Lauzon
Python package (PyPI) support for Azure Artifacts now in preview by Jan Vandenbos
Making every developer more productive with Visual Studio 2019 via Visual Studio Blog
Microsoft open sources key Windows UX Frameworks, launches first Visual Studio 2019 preview via ZDNet
Modernize your Java Spring Boot application with Azure Database for MySQL by Ganesh Radhakrishnan
Get Started with AKS CI / CD in Azure DevOps by Wu Shuai
Blocking malicious versions of event-stream and flatmap-stream packages by Buck Hodges
Create Azure DevOps CI/CD pipeline using Azure DevTest Lab without access to environment ARM templates. by Roger Best
Extending Azure DevTest Lab environments in an Azure DevOps CI/CD Pipeline by Roger Best
Deploy SonarQube to Azure Kubernetes Service cluster and integrate with Azure DevOps build pipeline by Atul.Verma
BizTalk Application Deployment Using Azure Pipeline with BizTalk360 API’s by Senthil Kumar Palanisamy
Run your CI with Jenkins and CD with Azure DevOps by Ashok Kirla
What you need to know when writing hybrid applications by Ricardo Mendes
Announcing Azure DevOps Server 2019 RC1 by Erin Dormier

Containers / Service Fabric

Service Fabric Mesh Preview Refresh Release via Service Fabric Team
Azure Service Fabric 6.4 release via Service Fabric Team
Windows Server 2019 and Containers by Andreas Helland
Kubernetes Ingress Controllers and Certificates: The Walkthrough by jldeen
Understanding simple HTTP Ingress in AKS by Vincent-Philippe Lauzon

Security / Privacy

Azure obtains automotive industry’s TISAX compliance by David Burt
Announcing Azure Dedicated HSM availability by Devendra Tiwari
Microsoft’s multi-factor authentication service goes down for second week in a row via ZDNet
Microsoft details the causes of its recent multi-factor authentication meltdown via ZDNet
The Green Team solves high-risk, systemic security issues for Microsoft Azure by John Walton
Azure Tips and Tricks Part 177 – Getting Started with Azure Information Protection by Michael Crump
Azure VNet Peering across Azure Active Directory tenants using Service Principal authentication by Arsen Vladimirskiy

Learning / Certification

Start with Our New Workload Certifications to Become a Microsoft 365 Enterprise Administrator by Liberty Munson
Hey, Modern Desktop Administrators! Take MD-100 and MD-101 in Beta Today! by Liberty Munson
Our New Fundamentals Certification Program Launches with Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 by Liberty Munson

Azure Stack

Using Azure Update Management on Azure Stack by Thomas Maurer
Considerations for deploying apps and services on Azure Stack by Thomas Maurer
Customers are using Azure Stack to unlock new hybrid cloud innovation by Talal Alqinawi
Extension Host is coming to Azure Stack with the next update 1811 by Thomas Roettinger
The Most Awesome Script You Will Ever Need For your Azure Stack Development Kit deployments by Kristopher Turner

Other

Azure Blockchain, Xamarin & MvvmCross, and More on the Friday Five! via Microsoft MVP Award Program Blog
Microsoft Confirms It Will Adopt Chromium for Microsoft Edge by Mehedi Hassan
Improve the employee experience with the cloud via Microsoft Cloud Perspectives Blog Team
Azure for Enterprises by Wriju Ghosh
Microsoft Azure portal December 2018 update by Leon Welicki, Peri Rocha
Azure REST API Explorer by Wriju Ghosh
Control your Azure Cost by Wriju Ghosh
Microsoft to Make 100,000 Specialized HoloLens Devices for the U.S Army by Mehedi Hassan
Microsoft Briefly Took Over Apple As the Most Valuable US Company by Mehedi Hassan
Microsoft Passes Apple to Become Most Valuable U.S. Company by Juli Clover

Videos

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

Pros and cons of stable and unique tags in Docker image tagging via Azure Friday
Azure Container Registry updates for security and reliability via Azure Friday
Azure Durable Functions by David Giard
Azure API Management for serverless applications via Azure Friday
Azure Container Registry Tasks: Build and deploy to Azure App Service | Azure Friday via Channel 9
Azure Container Registry Tasks: Build and deploy to Azure App Service via Azure Friday
SmartHotel 360, a demo powered by Azure Digital Twins | Internet of Things Show via Channel 9
Azure Function CosmosDB Binding by David Giard
Track my Pizza Cat van with Azure IoT solution accelerators | Internet of Things Show via Channel 9
Brady Gaster on Marketing Azure by David Giard
Writing Tests for Azure Functions | On .NET via Channel 9
How the Azure ML Data Prep SDK Will Make Your Life Better | AI Show via Channel 9
Qualcomm LTE for IoT SDK integrates Azure IoT | Internet of Things Show 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:

Episode 257 – Azure Firewall via The Azure Podcast
Episode 102 – Azure AD Goes Down (Again?) via Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast
Episode 256 – Living in a Serverless world via The Azure Podcast
Episode 101 – Excited About Office 365 with Jason Himmelstein via Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast
Episode 281 | Another Social Network and Azure AD MFA Madness via Microsoft Cloud Show
Episode 100 – SHAZAM! via Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast

General Cloud / Related

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

Source code to PC/GEOS has been published to GitHub #VintageComputing #MSDOS #GUI #Commodore by Mike Barela
Building an IoT Ecosystem that Fuels Business Transformation by Rodney Clark
How To Secure Your IoT Devices And Why Should You Do It by Milos Mudric
How to Setup Nextcloud on a Raspberry Pi by Jessie Mae
Donate to the Internet Archive @internetarchive #GivingTuesday by Phillip Torrone
Operational Technology in Industrial IoT Can’t Tolerate IT-Style Patching. “Threat Analysis” is a Safe and Powerful Solution by Satish Gannu
4 Reasons Behind Slow Adoption of IoT by Milos Mudric
One Linux Stack To Rule HPC And AI by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Feedback

Do you have any suggestions or general feedback on the Build Azure Weekly blog series? Please contact me and send it on over! Or tweet it over to @BuildAzure.

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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.