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:

Azure DevOps Continuous Build/Deploy/Test with ASP.NET Core 2.2 Preview in One Hour by Scott Hanselman
AzureCAT Guidance: Develop Azure Resource Manager templates for cloud consistency by Ed Price
Azure Dev Spaces – Debug Containers directly in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) from Visual Studio 2017 by Atul Verma
Immutable storage for Azure Storage Blobs now generally available by Michael Hauss
Azure Tips and Tricks Part 158 – Part 2 Create Thumbnail Images with Azure Functions and Azure Storage by Michael Crump
Announcing Preview of MongoDB migrations to Azure Cosmos DB MongoDB API using Azure Database Migration Service by Nikhil Patel
Deep dive into Azure Artifacts by Henry Dixon
Service Fabric at Ignite 2018 via Service Fabric Team
Join the Azure Database Migration Engineering Team at Microsoft Ignite by Harini Gupta
Docker at Microsoft Ignite 2018 by Sergio Pineda
Roundup of Azure #CosmosDB Sessions at #MSIgnite by Jen Stirrup
What I’m doing this week at #MSIgnite by Jen Stirrup
Azure Functions feeding your Serverless appetite at Microsoft Ignite 2018! by Oded Dvoskin
Check out App Service sessions at Microsoft Ignite 2018! by Oded Dvoskin

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)

Parallel Virtual File Systems on Microsoft Azure – Part 2: Lustre on Azure by Kanchan Mehrotra, Tony Wu, Rakesh Patil
Design considerations for hybrid applications – Overview by Ed Price
The easiest way to create Azure VM that can access your Azure SQL Managed Instance by Jovan Popovic
Your enterprise containers orchestrator in the cloud: deploying OpenShift on Azure by ppatierno
Windows Server Azure Network Adapter by Thomas Maurer

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Immutable storage for Azure Storage Blobs now generally available by Michael Hauss
Publish a Web App for Containers Windows Docker Image by Benjamin Perkins
Run From Package and Slot Swap With Preview by Prashant Pratap

Serverless and Functions as a Service (FaaS)

Installing Node Packages for Azure Functions by David Giard
Azure Tips and Tricks Part 158 – Part 2 Create Thumbnail Images with Azure Functions and Azure Storage by Michael Crump
Azure Tips and Tricks Part 159 – Use Azure Logic Apps and CosmosDB to monitor and archive Twitter hashtags by Michael Crump

Command-Line / ARM Templates

AzureCAT Guidance: Develop Azure Resource Manager templates for cloud consistency by Ed Price

Database / Big Data

HDInsight tools for Visual Studio Code: simplifying cluster and Spark job configuration management by Jenny Jiang
Persisting job history in Azure SQL Managed Instance by Jovan Popovic
Azure Event Hubs WebSockets and Proxy support by Shubha Vijayasarathy
Announcing Preview of MongoDB migrations to Azure Cosmos DB MongoDB API using Azure Database Migration Service by Nikhil Patel
Simplify modern data warehousing with Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Fivetran by Ellis Butterfield
Remote Monitoring Solution allows for root cause analysis with Azure Time Series Insights by Aditi Dugar
See Power BI Preview Features in action at the Power BI World Tour by Charles Sterling

Internet of Things (IoT)

Azure IoT Toolkit supports IoT Hub Module Management (Module Twin, Module Direct Method, Module CRUD) by formulahendry
Announcing Connected Field Service for Azure IoT Central by 365blog
Remote Monitoring Solution allows for root cause analysis with Azure Time Series Insights by Aditi Dugar
Why IoT is for every business, not just enterprise by Peter Cooper

Machine Learning / Artificial Intelligence

Improve patient engagement and efficiency with AI powered chatbots by David Houlding
The Key Differentiator of the AI Platform of Today by Joseph Sirosh, Roger Magoulas
How to Implement AI-First Business Models at Scale by ML Blog Team
AI-Based Virtual Tutors – The Future of Education? by Chun Ming Chin, Max Kaznady, Luyi Huang, Nicholas Kao, James Tayali
Getting AI/ML and DevOps working better together by Kate Baroni

Development and DevOps

Azure DevOps Continuous Build/Deploy/Test with ASP.NET Core 2.2 Preview in One Hour by Scott Hanselman
Deep dive into Azure Test Plans by Ravi Shanker
Deep dive into Azure Artifacts by Henry Dixon
Azure DevOps: Dockerfiles with multiline environment variables, private repos, and ssh keys by Jessica Deen
Load Testing in Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) a.k.a. Azure DevOps Test Hub by Gouri Sohoni
Getting AI/ML and DevOps working better together by Kate Baroni

Containers / Service Fabric

Azure Dev Spaces – Debug Containers directly in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) from Visual Studio 2017 by Atul Verma
Debug .Net Core Application in Local Kubernetes Container with Azure Draft and VS code –Part – 1 by Paras Patidar
Azure Dev Spaces – Deploying Angular and ASP.net Core App to Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) by Atul Verma
Jenkins Azure ACR Build plugin now in public preview by Pui Chee Chan
Publish a Web App for Containers Windows Docker Image by Benjamin Perkins

Security / Privacy

Working with Azure Key vault using NodeJS by Utkarsh Shigihalli
Programmatically onboard and manage your subscriptions in Azure Security Center by Oren Parag

Learning / Certification

My new Pluralsight course—Cloud-native Architecture: The Big Picture—is now available! by Richard Seroter

Azure Stack

Highly Available App Service Solution – Part III – SQL Always On by Kristopher Turner
Azure Stack: Access Management by Kristopher Turner

Events

Service Fabric at Ignite 2018 via Service Fabric Team
Join the Azure Database Migration Engineering Team at Microsoft Ignite by Harini Gupta
Docker at Microsoft Ignite 2018 by Sergio Pineda
Roundup of Azure #CosmosDB Sessions at #MSIgnite by Jen Stirrup
What I’m doing this week at #MSIgnite by Jen Stirrup
Azure Functions feeding your Serverless appetite at Microsoft Ignite 2018! by Oded Dvoskin
Check out App Service sessions at Microsoft Ignite 2018! by Oded Dvoskin

Other

Saving Microsoft Bot State to Azure Storage by David Giard
Calling a Microsoft Chatbot from a web page by David Giard
Helping data scientists help the planet via Microsoft Cloud Perspectives Blog Team
Microsoft-GitHub Purchase’s Huge Price Tag Belies Big Competitive Worries by Adam Candeub

Videos

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

Creating an Azure Storage Account by David Giard
Batch and matrix routing with Azure Maps via Azure Friday
Batch geocoding and polygons for administrative areas with Azure Maps via Azure Friday
Mapping IP to location with Azure Maps via Azure Friday
Calculating isochrones in Azure Maps via Azure Friday

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 83 – Learn Azure in a Month of Lunches with Iain Foulds via Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast
Azure DevOps with Donovan Brown via .NET Rocks!
Episode 271 | VSTS is now Azure DevOps via Microsoft Cloud Show
Dynamics 365 Practice Podcast – Episode 31 – Training Resources available from LinkedIn Learning for Microsoft Partners with Doug Winnie via The Microsoft Business Applications Podcast
PowerApps Podcast 6: Pitching PowerApps to customers via The Microsoft Business Applications Podcast
Implement This 28: Native Charts in Dynamics & Model-Driven PowerApps via The Microsoft Business Applications Podcast
Episode 247 – Partner Spotlight – Snowflake via The Azure Podcast
MVP Show – Episode 30 Giorgio Garcia-Agreda via The Microsoft Business Applications Podcast

General Cloud / Related

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

The Graph Database Poised To Pounce On The Mainstream by Timothy Prickett Morgan
Windows Server 2008 Cutoff: How Docker Enterprise Cures Migration Headaches by David Hamdani
5 IoT Trends Reshaping the Industry & Driving New Business Models by Cameron Carr
Google Rounds Out Insight into TPU Architecture and Inference by Nicole Hemsoth
What Will Cryptocurrency Be Like in 10 Years? by Cale Moodie
The Future of Blockchain: Technology Partnerships with AI, Bots, and IoT by Brad Anderson
Self-Creating Neural Networks That Explain Themselves by Nicole Hemsoth
The Blockchain Talent Shortage May Be Nearing Its End by Frank Landman
Quantum Computers are the Future Nukes of the IT World by Nicole Hemsoth

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.