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!

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)

Improve security and performance with Virtual Network Service Endpoints and Firewalls for Azure Storage by jawalte
Log Analytics workspace upgrade by martynas
OMS Monitoring solution for Azure Backup using Azure Log analytics–has been released by CliveW
OMS Monitoring solution for Azure Backup using Azure Log analytics by Kartik P V R
Azure M/B/V3-series VMs are now generally available in UK by Andres Juarez
Developing and Debugging Desired State Configuration Scripts for Azure VMs by Michael S. Hansen
Running Spark on a GPU enabled cluster with AZTK by Lee Stott

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Two Lesser Known Tools for Local Azure Development by Justin Clareburt
Upcoming changes to TLS defaults in API Management required to maintain compliance by Vlad Vinogradsky
January 2018 App Service update by Byron Tardif
PKI Authentication as a Azure Web App by JoeMVP
Serverless CQRS in Azure by Rich James

Serverless and Functions as a Service (FaaS)

Customize Approval Workflow in Logic Apps by Derek Li
Add an Azure Cosmos DB trigger to an existing Azure Function app from Azure Cosmos DB Portal by Abhijit Jana
Keeping your Azure Search Index up-to-date with Azure Functions by Christos Matskas
Understanding Serverless Cold Start by Colby Tresness
Why did we build Azure Logic Apps Monitoring in BizTalk360? by Lex Hegt
Calling an Azure Active Directory secured Azure Function from PowerApps by keydet

Software as a Service (SaaS)

Starting Microsoft Teams conversation on items from SharePoint list by Arbindo_C

Command-Line / ARM Templates

Introducing the Azure Cloud Shell by Chris Pietschmann
How to set Azure BASH to a specific Azure subscription by Benjamin Perkins
How to Backup/Restore an Azure App Service using BASH by Benjamin Perkins
How to Backup/Restore an Azure App Service using Azure PowerShell by Benjamin Perkins
az webapp new – where new is always better! by Ahmed Elnably
PowerShell sample for Privileged Identity Management (PIM) for Azure Resources by AnujChaudhary

Database / Big Data

How to retrieve json data from API and store it in Azure SQL using Azure automation by martynas
Working with Azure Cosmos DB using Visual Studio Code by Abhijit Jana
Analyze Synchronous Commit Impact on High Commit Rate Workloads by SourabhAgarwal
Automating the end-to-end migration of SQL Server to Azure SQL Database using the Azure Database Migration PowerShell module by Jim Toland
Azure Service Bus billing, vs metrics, vs current monthly cost by Ch. Wolf
Fast ASP.NET Core development with Azure Cosmos DB and DocumentDB package by Francesco Abbruzzese
Azure #CosmosDB Graph API now generally available by Luis Bosquez
Azure Tips and Tricks Part 92 – Part 3 – Querying an Azure Search Index by Michael Crump
Azure Databricks – Parsing escaping CSV files in Spark by Vincent-Philippe Lauzon
Load Testing Azure SQL Database by Copying Traffic from Production SQL Server by Mikhail Shilkov
Azure Tips and Tricks Part 91 – Part 2 – Implementing Azure Search with SQL Server by Michael Crump
Build email notifications for SQL Database Automatic tuning recommendations by Danimir Ljepava
Analysis of Spatial Data Using Cosmos DB by Ben Jarvis

Internet of Things (IoT)

Go serverless for your IoT needs by Raman Sharma
Kohler brings the IoT revolution to your bath via Microsoft

Machine Learning / Artificial Intelligence

Enterprise Bot Architecture by Brad R. Lawrence
Learn how Azure’s Custom Speech Service Powers Presentation Translator by Xuedong Huang
Microsoft Research Papers Behind the Cognitive Services by jennmar
Data Science Virtual Machine available by RalfWi
Custom Speech: Code-free automated machine learning for speech recognition by Xuedong Huang
Brand Detection in Microsoft Video Indexer via Dr. Abed Asi
Free: Microsoft AI Bootcamp Materials for Emerging & Pro Developers by Chris Testa-O’Neill
Machine learning implementation strategy for a customer service center via 365blog
AI resources for blending Microsoft AI Data Science into your curricula by Lee Stott
Learn how to do Image Recognition with Cognitive Services and ASP.NET by Phillip Carter
Bing Speech API extends its text to speech support to 34 languages by Qinying Liao

Development and DevOps

A Deep Dive into continuous delivery and Microservices on Azure by Jakob Ehn
Updates from the DevOps VSTS Bot by J. Opdam

Security

Using AzureAD Authentication within an Angular Application by Jose Paulo Pendao

Learning / Certification

Do Microsoft Certifications Expire? by Chris Pietschmann
Why You Should Take New Exam 70-537: Configuring and Operating a Hybrid Cloud with Microsoft Azure Stack by Salina Winter
Microsoft Professional Program for Data Science – Sharpen Your Data Science Skills by Premier Developer

Azure Government

Why cloud for state and local government? by Karina Homme

Events

Microsoft Build 2018 developer conference to return to Seattle May 7 to May 9 via ZDNet
Microsoft Announces Build 2018 Dates, Registration Opens February 15 by Mehedi Hassan

Other

Introduction to Quantum Computing by Lee Stott
Setting up a cloud IT solution for your school by Kristy Hill
Microsoft Azure IP Advantage: Our first year by Erich Andersen
Newsrooms turn to cloud and data tools to stay ahead of the story via Microsoft Cloud Perspectives Blog Team
Microsoft’s LinkedIn continues to go its own way in the cloud via ZDNet
Azure Search service upgrades: New hardware, unlimited document counts, and more! by Ashish Makadia
Diagnosing Errors on your Cloud Apps by Justin Clareburt
Last week in Azure: Event Grid GA, Ansible in Cloud Shell, and more by Rob Caron

Videos

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

Container-native developer experiences, Part 1 – Overview via Azure Friday
Container-native developer experiences, Part 2 – Draft | Azure Friday via Channel 9
Container-native developer experiences, Part 3 – Brigade via Azure Friday
Customer focus and making production visible with Raygun | The DevOps Lab via Channel 9
Stream Analytics on Azure IoT Edge | Internet of Things Show via Channel 9
Stream Analytics in IoT solutions | Internet of Things Show via Channel 9
Deep Learning for Music Generation | AI Show via Channel 9
Durable Functions now available | Tuesdays With Corey via Channel 9
SmartHotel360 Demo App Mobile Apps | Visual Studio Toolbox 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 48 – Azure Log Analytics: Change Tracking and Update Management via Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast
Episode 49 – Office 365 News for January 2018 via Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast
Episode 215 – Kubernetes Innovations via The Azure Podcast
Quantum Computing detangled with Dr. Krysta Svore via Hanselminutes
Building Cloud Native Apps in Azure with Scott Guthrie via .NET Rocks!
Episode 237 | Plethora of Office 365, Azure, AWS and Space 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:

Get started with KVM & Kubernetes by Alex Ellis
HPC System & Processor Trends for 2018 by Nicole Hemsoth
Criminals May Ditch Bitcoin for Litecoin, Dash, Study Says via IT Pro
Just How Large Can Nvidia’s Datacenter Business Grow? by Timothy Prickett Morgan
Why You Must Have an Online Presence as a Programmer NOW by Antonio Cucciniello
Why Mainframes Aren’t Going Away Any Time Soon by Christine Hall
Intel Launches Xeon Chips for Edge Computing by Christine Hall
A Statistical View Of Cloud Storage by Jeffrey Burt
Intel Issues First Corrected Firmware Fixes for CPU Security Flaws by Mehedi Hassan
Integrating CI/CD with Docker Enterprise Edition – Demo Webinar Recap by Richard Kiles
Don’t mine Bitcoin by Alex Ellis
Your instant Kubernetes cluster by Alex Ellis
Turn Any CLI into a Function with OpenFaaS by Alex Ellis
Why should I care about Kubernetes, Docker, and Container Orchestration? by Scott Hanselman
Just How Shallow is the Artificial Intelligence Talent Pool? via IT Pro
Tech Giants Back U.S. Bill Governing Cross-Border Data Searches via IT Pro
Microsoft tees up Windows 10 support of Progressive Web Apps via ZDNet

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.

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.

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.