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!

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)

Simplify Always On availability group deployments on Azure VM with SQL VM CLI via Mine Tokus
Known Issue for Service Fabric Linux Clusters via Service Fabric Team
Reserved instances now applicable to classic VMs, cloud services, and Dev/Test subscriptions via Yashesvi Sharma
Build your own deep learning models on Azure Data Science Virtual Machines via Gopi Kumar
Azure IoT drives next-wave innovation in infrastructure and energy via Bert Van Hoof

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Account failover now in public preview for Azure Storage via Lavanya Kasarabada

Serverless and Functions as a Service (FaaS)

Azure DevOps Projects supporting Azure Cosmos DB and Azure Functions via Pulkit Agarwal
Microsoft Integration Weekly Update: Feb 04, 2019 via Gautam

Command-Line and ARM Templates

Simplify Always On availability group deployments on Azure VM with SQL VM CLI via Mine Tokus
Friday Five: Azure Truck IoT, Mastering Azure with Cloud Shell, and More Azure! via MVP Award Program

Database and Big Data

Packt’s “Packt: Principles of Data Science, 2nd edition” free ebook via esseemme
Performance best practices for using Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Connection Pooling via Parikshit Savjani
Simplify Always On availability group deployments on Azure VM with SQL VM CLI via Mine Tokus
Azure DevOps Projects supporting Azure Cosmos DB and Azure Functions via Pulkit Agarwal
How to get Azure SQL database size via FonsecaSergio
Individually great, collectively unmatched: Announcing updates to 3 great Azure Data Services via Jurgen Willis
Azure Log Analytics: Looking at data and costs via CliveW
Microsoft Is Not The Only Way To Shrink Wrap SQL Server In Containers via Daniel Robinson
Emitting Empty Avro Files Now Optional on Azure Event Hubs Capture via Xu Rui
New connectors added to Azure Data Factory empowering richer insights via Linda Wang
Build your own deep learning models on Azure Data Science Virtual Machines via Gopi Kumar

Internet of Things (IoT)

Adafruit IoT Monthly (February 2019) #adafruitio #IoT via brent
Colfax amplifies the power of its ESAB product portfolio with IoT via Tony Shakib
Friday Five: Azure Truck IoT, Mastering Azure with Cloud Shell, and More Azure! via MVP Award Program
Azure IoT drives next-wave innovation in infrastructure and energy via Bert Van Hoof

Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Announcing ML.NET 0.10 – Machine Learning for .NET via Cesar de la Torre [MSFT]

DevOps and Development

Azure DevOps Projects supporting Azure Cosmos DB and Azure Functions via Pulkit Agarwal
Azure Blockchain Development Kit via Wriju Ghosh
VS Code Extensions for Azure Government via Steve Michelotti
Adding caching to Azure Pipelines via Alex Mullans (MSFT)

Containers (Docker, Kubernetes, etc) and Service Fabric

Packt’s “Containerize Your Apps with Docker and Kubernetes” free ebook via esseemme
Known Issue for Service Fabric Linux Clusters via Service Fabric Team

Blockchain and Smart Contracts

Azure Blockchain Development Kit via Wriju Ghosh

Security, Identity, and Privacy

Azure Advisor for Azure Government now generally available via Azure Gov Team

Azure Stack

Azure Stack Availability Sets via Bas Wassenaar

Learning and Certification

Packt’s “Containerize Your Apps with Docker and Kubernetes” free ebook via esseemme
Packt’s “Packt: Principles of Data Science, 2nd edition” free ebook via esseemme

Government

Azure Advisor for Azure Government now generally available via Azure Gov Team
VS Code Extensions for Azure Government via Steve Michelotti

Other

Ambition and Drive to Learn Azure – Part 2 via Gregor Suttie
Azure Marketplace new offers – Volume 31 via Christine Alford
Azure Monitor January 2019 updates via David Stephens
Analytics in Azure is up to 14x faster and costs 94% less than other cloud providers. Why go anywhere else? via Julia White
Azure Content Spotlight – Azure Cost Management via chilberto
Announcing an easier way to use latest certificates from Key Vault via Andrew B Hall – MSFT
Coding for the ZX Spectrum and Netflix/Black Mirror’s Bandersnach with Matt Westcott via scott@hanselman.com (Scott Hanselman)
Azure Cost Management now general availability for enterprise agreements and more! via Raphael Chacko
Microsoft Build 2019: It’s back in Seattle from May 6 to 8 via ZDNet | microsoft RSS
Azure Application Insights Role Name in web page via Vincent-Philippe Lauzon
Configure resource group control for your Azure DevTest Lab via Tanmayee Kamath
Azure Log Analytics: Disk Space Usage – Part 3 via CliveW
Investing in our partners’ success via Julia White
Microsoft Azure portal February 2019 update via Leon Welicki
Best practices to consider before deploying a network virtual appliance via Reshmi Yandapalli
Processing trillions of events per day with Apache Kafka on Azure via Negin Raoof
NEW REFERENCE ARCHITECTURE: Enterprise-grade conversational bot via AzureCAT
Accenture adds 10,000 more Microsoft-focused consultants to its practice via ZDNet | microsoft RSS

Videos

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

Code-free data transformation at scale using Azure Data Factory | Azure Friday via Microsoft Developer (uploads) on YouTube
An overview of Azure Data Explorer (ADX) | Azure Friday via Microsoft Developer (uploads) on YouTube
An overview of Azure Blueprints | Azure Friday via Microsoft Developer (uploads) on YouTube
Code-free data transformation at scale using Azure Data Factory via Azure Friday (HD) – Channel 9
An overview of Azure Blueprints | Azure Friday via Channel 9
An overview of Azure Data Explorer (ADX) via Azure Friday (HD) – Channel 9
An overview of Azure Blueprints via Azure Friday (HD) – Channel 9
An overview of Azure Data Explorer (ADX) | Azure Friday via Channel 9
Azure IoT Device Agent for Windows | Internet of Things Show via Channel 9
Logic Apps Connector to Ethereum Blockchain Networks | Block Talk via Channel 9
Enhanced monitoring capabilities and tags/annotations in Azure Data Factory | Azure Friday via Microsoft Developer (uploads) on YouTube
Enhanced monitoring capabilities and tags/annotations in Azure Data Factory via Azure Friday (HD) – Channel 9
Learning Machine Learning with .NET, PyTorch and the ONNX Runtime | On .NET via Channel 9

Podcast

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:

Cloud Commercial Communities webinar and podcast newsletter–February 2019 via Microsoft Azure Blog
Episode 111 – Calling in the Cloud via Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast
Episode 265 – Azure DevOps Server via The Azure Podcast
Implement This 34: Dates in the Common Data Service for Apps via CRM Audio — The Microsoft Business Applications Podcast
Episode 289 | Microsoft! Microsoft! Microsoft! via Microsoft Cloud Show

Feedback

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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.