The Azure Podcast

Shaloo Garg, a Managing Director in Microsoft Startups, explains to us how Startups can leverage valuable technical and business resources from Microsoft to help make them successful in the marketplace. Resources: https://Startups.microsoft.com https://azuremarketplace.microsoft.com/en-us Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode294.mp3 Transcript: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/c101319a3b/?location=EUS2   Other updates: Now available is a set of APIs that primarily helps increase efficiency in copying data from any URL to Azure or inside Azure. The APIs include: • Put Block From URL • Put Page From URL • Append Block From URL These APIs enable server-side synchronous copy of data from any URL source into either a block blob, page blob or as an append blob. The benefits of these APIs include: • Server-side data transfer. The data transfer is performed server-side, meaning the data is read directly from the source by the destination server in Azure. The data is not flowing through the caller, so you do not need a VM with CPU, memory and network capacity to move the data. You can get away with using a relatively small VM that just orchestrate the data transfer. • Synchronous data transfer.  Each call is performed synchronously, meaning the data transfer is complete when the call returns. This is unlike the existing asynchronous cross-account copy blob API, which is a scheduled background process where you need to regularly check if its complete. • Any data source. The data source can be any data addressable by a URL, meaning you can copy data from inside or outside of Azure. Further it can be from any blob type to any blob, e.g. reading from a page blob and writing to a block blob. From <https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/new-copy-apis-for-efficient-data-copy/> https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Azure-SQL-Database/Unified-Azure-SQL-experience/ba-p/815368 Work more efficiently with the updated Azure Blockchain Development Kit by using our new interactive debugger.  

Faith Xu, a Senior PM in the Microsoft ML Platform team, brings us up to speed on the Open Neural Network eXchange (ONNX) specification and it's associated Runtime which can be used for running interoperable ML models in Azure. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode293.mp3 Transcript: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/77672a62af/?location=EUS2 Resources: ONNX: https://github.com/onnx/onnx ONNX Runtime: https://github.com/microsoft/onnxruntime ONNX Tutorials: https://github.com/onnx/tutorials ONNX Runtime Tutorials: https://github.com/microsoft/onnxruntime#examples-and-tutorials ONNX Converters: https://github.com/onnx/onnxmltools/tree/master/onnxmltools ONNX Ecosystem Docker Image: https://github.com/onnx/onnx-docker/tree/master/onnx-ecosystem ONNX Runtime in AzureML: https://aka.ms/onnxnotebooks Other updates: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/general-availablility-of-managed-identity-for-linux-in-app-service-and-functions/ https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/general-availability-of-user-assigned-managed-identities-for-app-service-and-azure-functions/ https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/update-to-azure-sql-database-serverless-increases-compute-scale-limits-by-4x/ https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/announcing-the-general-availability-of-azure-ultra-disk-storage/ https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/azure-resource-manager-arm-application-and-service-deployment-is-now-ga/ https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/public-preview-of-managed-identity-for-azure-service-fabric-applications/ https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/new-powershell-scripts-available-for-azure-monitor-logs-query-and-data-collection/ https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/new-tool-for-automating-load-testing-of-power-bi-embedded-capacities-now-available/

Veteran guest of the show, Logic Apps Lead PM Kevin Lam is back to talk about their latest offering, Logic Apps ISE. He gives us the low-down on the unique features of this offering and when it makes sense to use it and off course, tips and tricks on how to use it. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode292.mp3 Transcript: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/37d7ca1e9d/?location=EUS2   Other updates: The Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) service is now available for preview in the Azure Goverment (Fairfax, VA) region. We're excited to announce that IoT Edge support in Azure DevOps Project and Azure Pipelines is generally available. Developers can easily set up CI/CD pipelines for IoT Edge projects with best practices. https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2019#development-environments-and-tools Service Tag Discovery API is in preview. It's now possible to programmatically retrieve global IP address information for Azure and its services using the Discovery API. Announcing new AMD EPYC™-based Azure Virtual Machine https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/announcing-new-amd-epyc-based-azure-virtual-machines/ Your single source for Azure best practices https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/your-single-source-for-azure-best-practices/ New for developers: Azure Cosmos DB .NET SDK v3 now available https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/new-for-developers-azure-cosmos-db-net-sdk-v3-now-available/ Announcing the preview of GitHub Actions for Azure https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/announcing-the-preview-of-azure-actions-for-github/  

Cale, Cynthia, Kendall, and Russell speak with Senior PM Stephanie Krieger on what Azure Data Box Edge is, how we can get our hands on one, and some use cases that have been utilizing the computing powers at the intelligent edge. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode291.mp3 Transcript: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/dbdfaaaf3e/?location=EUS2   Resources Here is the link to the Intelligent Edge Patterns site that has the code and architecture for the retail out-of-stock (void detection) scenario Here is the link to the brief Olympus video about exploring AI on the Edge with Data Box Edge Data Box Edge technical docs   Other updates:   Azure Dedicated Host in Preview - A new Azure service that provides physical servers that host one or more Azure virtual machines. The server is dedicated to your organization and workloads. Network security group improvements—ICMP support and override default Azure platform considerations   Cross-tenant management is now supported in Azure Security Center https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security-center/security-center-cross-tenant-management    Moving your VMware resources to Azure is easier than ever https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/moving-your-vmware-resources-to-azure-is-easier-than-ever/   We’re making Azure Archive Storage better with new lower pricing https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/we-re-making-azure-archive-storage-better-with-new-lower-pricing/   Improved developer experience for Azure Blockchain development kit https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/improved-developer-experience-for-azure-blockchain-development-kit/   Introducing Azure Dedicated Host https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/ blog/introducing-azure-dedicated-host/   https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/resources/samples/azure-intelligent-edge-patterns/ https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/us-partner-blog/2019/07/24/mill5-and-olympus-use-azure-data-box-edge-to-expedite-ai-innovation-in-healthcare/  

Cynthia and Sujit discuss their experiences using App Service for Linux with some tips to get started and what to watch out for. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode290.mp3 Transcript: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/466596d4d8/?location=EUS2 Resources: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service/containers/app-service-linux-intro https://github.com/Azure-App-Service   Other updates: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/azure-security-center-launched-new-sql-recommendations/ New Analytics reports and Azure Boards app available for Slack https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/new-analytics-reports-and-azure-boards-app-for-slack/ https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/network-security-group-improvements-now-available/ https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/azure-blob-lifecycle-management-is-now-available-in-all-azure-regions/ https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/azure-monitor-for-containers-prometheus-integration-is-now-in-preview/

Cale and Sujit talk to Senior Software Engineer Eugene Chuvyrov about the partnership between HashiCorp and Microsoft and how customers can benefit by leveraging HashiCorp's products on Azure. He dives into Terraform, Consul and Vault and provides some nice tips on how and why customers should use these products on Azure. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode289.mp3 Transcript: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/127c6e7694/?location=EUS2 Resources: Microsoft and HashiCorp integration announcements https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/expanding-the-hashicorp-partnership/ Terraform Registry https://registry.terraform.io/ Terraform for Azure Doc Hub https://aka.ms/tfhub Terraform for Azure Examples https://github.com/terraform-providers/terraform-provider-azurerm/tree/master/examples

Senior Software Engineer Romit Girdhar and Senior PM Tolu Agunbiade dive into the new Oracle-Azure Cloud Partnership that has opened up a world of possibilities for customers that use the benefits of both clouds for applications that run on Azure but rely on Oracle databases, software and services. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode288.mp3 Transcript: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/412422f41d/?location=EUS2   Resources: Public Announcements:   Oracle Press Release: https://www.oracle.com/corporate/pressrelease/microsoft-and-oracle-to-interconnect-microsoft-azure-and-oracle-cloud-060519.html Microsoft Press Release: https://news.microsoft.com/2019/06/05/microsoft-and-oracle-to-interconnect-microsoft-azure-and-oracle-cloud/   Landing pages:   https://www.oracle.com/cloud/oci-azure.html https://aka.ms/oracleonazure   Technical Content:   https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/workloads/oracle/oracle-oci-overview https://docs.cloud.oracle.com/iaas/Content/Network/Concepts/azure.htm https://cloud.oracle.com/iaas/whitepapers/deploy_peoplesoft_jdedwards_across_oci_azure.pdf https://cloud.oracle.com/iaas/whitepapers/deploy_oracle_retail_merchandising_suite_across_oci_azure.pdf  https://cloud.oracle.com/iaas/whitepapers/deploy_ebusiness_suite_across_oci_azure_sso_oam.pdf  https://cloud.oracle.com/iaas/whitepapers/deploy_ebusiness_suite_across_oci_azure_sso_idcs.pdf https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/saas-apps/oracle-cloud-tutorial     Other updates:  Ephemeral OS disks for Azure VMs Ephemeral OS disks are created on the local virtual machine (VM) storage and not saved to the remote Azure Storage. Ephemeral OS disks work well for stateless workloads, where applications are tolerant of individual VM failures, but are more affected by VM deployment time or reimaging the individual VM instances. With Ephemeral OS disk, you get lower read/write latency to the OS disk and faster VM reimage. The key features of ephemeral disks are: Ideal for stateless applications. They can be used with both Marketplace and custom images. Ability to fast reset or reimage VMs and scale set instances to the original boot state. Lower latency, similar to a temporary disk. Ephemeral OS disks are free, you incur no storage cost for OS disk. They are available in all Azure regions. Ephemeral OS Disk is supported by Shared Image Gallery.   Loads of announcements this week due to inspire - I've put a few below, but it's not exhaustive. Availability Zones support is now available for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) in preview   Protect applications and data from datacenter failures with redundancies across Availability Zones.    Blob API interoperability with Azure Data Lake Storage        Gen2 is now in preview   Proximity placement groups are now in preview   New 48vCPUs sizes for the Dv3, Dsv3, Ev3, Esv3, Fsv2, and Lsv2 Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) are now available so you can better match your workload requirements.    https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/announcing-preview-of-azure-data-share/    Introducing the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure   The Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure provides end-to-end guidance, best practices, documentation, and tools that cloud architects, IT professionals, and business decision makers need to successfully achieve their objectives.   Cognitive Services Form Recognizer prebuilt capability Form Recognizer learns the structure of your forms to intelligently extract text and data.   Introducing Azure Lighthouse Azure Lighthouse provides service providers with a single control plane to manage across customer estates with increased automation, efficiency, and governance.   Announcing Azure Migration Program Azure Migrati

Anna Roth, a Senior PM in the Computer Vision team and Anand Raman, Group PM of Cognitive Services, join us for all the latest and greatest updates in Azure Cognitive Services.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode287.mp3 Transcription: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/0fdc09c624/?location=EUS2 Resources: http://aka.ms/CognitiveServices https://github.com/Azure-Samples   Other updates: Thanks for 10 years and welcome to a new chapter in SQL innovation https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/thanks-for-10-years-and-welcome-to-a-new-chapter-in-sql-innovation/ Reducing overall storage costs with Azure Premium Blob Storage https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/reducing-overall-storage-costs-with-azure-premium-blob-storage/ What’s new in Azure Firewall https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/what-s-new-in-azure-firewall/ Previewing Azure SDKs following new Azure SDK API Standards https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/previewing-azure-sdks-following-new-azure-sdk-api-standards/ Azure DevOps adds new features including bi-directional traceability between Releases and Jira issues https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/bi-directional-traceability-between-releases-and-jira-issues/

The team talks to Frank Simorjay about the importance of securing the workstations and learns why if the workstation isn’t secure, then many of the other security controls become useless. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode286.mp3 Transcript: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/3efd880845/?location=EUS2 Resources: https://aka.ms/securedworkstation

Sujit, Kendall, and Cynthia talk with the one and only Richard Campbell on how to tell the cloud story, the conversations to have with customers as they enter the cloud and the implications of globally distributed cloud that needs to be considered. Probably one of our favorite shows. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode285.mp3 Transcript: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/538a6024a4/?location=EUS2      

Kendall, Cynthia and Sujit talk with Abel Wang, Anthony Chu and Cecil Phillip on their respective focus areas on DevOps, Serverless and Students. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode284.mp3 Transcript: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/bf9e9a1533/  

Sujit and Cynthia talk with VS & .NET Director, Scott Hunter, on how Microsoft is shifting paradigms in the Linux world and .NET development experience with Azure. Audio file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode283.mp3  Transcript: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/d7a742f921/

Cynthia talks with Sharad Agrawal on what Azure Front Door Service is, how to choose between Azure Front Door Service, CDN, Azure Traffic Manager and App Gateway, and how to get started. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode282.mp3 Transcript: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/cc15977be8/?location=EUS2

Kendall and Cynthia talk with Sujay Talasila and Won Huh on how to think about Disaster Recovery, differences that need to be considered between Disaster Recovery and Backups, and recommended practices that users should consider. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode281.mp3 Transcript: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/48a5536153

Cynthia talks with Satya Vel on the latest ARM template updates including an enhanced template export experience, best practices for ARM clients, and new capabilities that are now available on ARM templates. Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode280.mp3 Transcript: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/cd48c483cc/