Evan and Sujit talk to Microsoft Cloud Solution Architects Matthew Garrett and Tyler Peterson about an interesting Open Source project they developed that can help customers reduce the consumption of resources in Azure. This innovative solution allows for lowering the service tiers in dev/test environments and can result in significant reduction of consumption costs.

Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode365.mp3

Resources:

GitHub repo: https://github.com/Azure/bellhop
Documentation site: https://azure.github.io/bellhop/#/

Other updates:

General availability: Azure mobile app now supports Azure Government

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/features/azure-portal/mobile-app/

Today we’re announcing Microsoft Azure has increased the scope of its HITRUST CSF certification to include 172 Azure offerings across 49 Azure regions. Azure’s HITRUST certification letters are available on the Service Trust Portal and include the full list of HITRUST CSF certified Azure offerings and regions.
 
Azure has partnered with the HITRUST Alliance to deliver the HITRUST Shared Responsibility Matrix for Microsoft Azure. Azure customers can leverage Azure’s HITRUST CSF certification to inherit controls and apply them to their own assessments.
 
Azure customers can also accelerate their HITRUST CSF deployments by using Azure’s HITRUST Blueprint. This blueprint helps customers deploy a core set of policies by defining a repeatable set of standards, patterns, and requirements enforced across Azure resources.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/compliance/offerings/offering-hitrust

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-ddos-protection-2020-year-in-review/

Russell, Sujit, and Cynthia chat with Michael Collier about different considerations regarding Azure Functions ranging from virtual networking, hosting, common use cases and some of the existing limitations to be aware of. 

Media File: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode364.mp3

Other Updates:

Availability Zones now available in South Central US and Germany West Central

Confluent Cloud Integration with Azure is now generally available

Support for more workloads, tag based policies now in Backup Center public preview

Azure Security Center—General availability updates for January 2021

Azure API-Management Updates Jan 21

More Resources:

Michael's Blog

@michaelcollier

The team gets together with an Azure Networking developer, Vishal Munde, to talk about how streaming analytics can make troubleshooting NVAs better for everybody. 

Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode363.mp3

Other updates:

Python 3.9 in Azure Functions is now in public preview
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/python-39-in-azure-functions-is-now-in-public-preview/

Build regionally resilient cloud services using the Azure Resource Manager
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/build-regionally-resilient-cloud-services-using-the-azure-resource-manager/
Azure Cost Management and Billing updates – January 2021
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-cost-management-and-billing-updates-january-2021/

Azure Availability Zones in the South Central US datacenter region add resiliency
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-availability-zones-in-the-south-central-us-datacenter-region-add-resiliency/
4 reasons customers are asking service partners for Azure Lighthouse
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/4-reasons-customers-are-asking-service-partners-for-azure-lighthouse/

Sujit, Kendall, and Cynthia talk with Matt Henry about what Azure VMWare Solution is, how different people can take advantage of the offering, and the position Microsoft is taking given the interesting history with VMWare in the past.

Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode362.mp3

Resources:

Introduction - Azure VMware Solution | Microsoft Docs <-basic documentation (Microsoft)

Network & Security Insights for Azure VMware Solution - VMware Cloud Management <-Networking guidance (VMware)

Catalogs | VMware Hands-on Labs | HOL-2194-91-ISM Azure VMware Solution - Lightning Lab | Lab | VMware Learning Platform <-Hands on Lab (VMware)

How to enable your Azure VMware Solution resource - Azure VMware Solution | Microsoft Docs <- Steps to get nodes made available to you for deployment

Microsoft Mechanics: Azure VMware Solution | How to run a complete VMware environment on Azure | Ignite 2020 (libsyn.com) <- How to deploy video including at 1:59 in the video – how to self-size your AVS environment using Azure Migrate

Azure Products by Region | Microsoft Azure <-This is preselected for all Azure VMware globally. Check mark means there are nodes available, clock means pending launch date.

Other Updates:

Azure IoT Edge for Linux on Windows available for public preview

Azure and HITRUST publish shared responsibility matrix

Public preview: Automatic Cluster Upgrades in AKS

Our hosts talk to Ben Cutler from the Project Natick team and learns about the experimental work Microsoft did hosting a datacenter at the bottom of the ocean. Don’t  forget to check out the cool seal picture!

Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode361.mp3

Resources: https://natick.research.microsoft.com

Other updates:

Azure SQL Database named among the top 3 databases of 2020

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-sql-database-named-among-the-top-3-databases-of-2020/

Publishing Azure Container Instances from Docker CLI ( I think I did this one on a previous call -ken)

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/devops/publishing-azure-container-instances-from-docker-cli/

Jump Start your Developer Skills with Visual Studio Code Coding Packs

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/educator-developer-blog/jump-start-your-developer-skills-with-visual-studio-code-coding/ba-p/2036765

Cross resource query between Azure Monitor and Azure Data Explorer in public preview

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/cross-resource-query-between-azure-monitor-and-azure-data-explorer-in-public-preview/

The Azure Podcast co-hosts chat with Corey on his Azure journey, his favorite Microsoft services, what he saw in our customers digital transformation during COVID and many more. 

Media File: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode360.mp3

Other Updates:
Digital event: Explore how data and analytics will impact the future of your business

Azure Cost Management and Billing updates – November 2020

Let us know about your thoughts at https://aka.ms/azpodcastfeedback

Cale, Sujit, and Cynthia speak with Christos Matskas, Senior Program Manager in Identity about Microsoft's Identity strategy, how developers can utilize several ready-made components, the idea of Secure DevOps. 

Media File: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode358.mp3

Resources:

stream: aka.ms/425Show

Youtube: aka.ms/425Show/yt

Blog: aka.ms/425Show/blog

Discord: aka.ms/425Show/discord/join

Email: 425Show@microsoft.com

Twitter: @christosmatskas, @AzureAndChill

Updates:

Defining roles and responsibilities for cloud cost optimization

Optimum Developer Productivity – GitHub + Visual Studio Code + Azure

The team talks with Ankur Patel about decentralized identifiers and verifiable claims.  These are part of the next generation of identity systems and have been a part of an incubation initiation with the DIF (decentralized identity foundation).

Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode357.mp3

Other updates:

New feature in public preview for intelligent ingestion from Event Hubs source

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/next-time-you-connect-event-hub-with-azure-data-explorer-use-the-1click-tool-to-easily-and-accurately-define-the-endtoend-ing/

The team talks to Conor Kelly about how Microsoft is investing in sustainable energy – not only to power the Cloud, but also to advance the technology as a whole.

Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode356.mp3

Resources:

Azure Sustainability - Azure Sustainability—Sustainable Technologies | Microsoft Azure
SSE Airtricity project - Microsoft demonstrates how to increase green energy in Ireland one rooftop at a time | Innovation Stories
Azure IoT for Energy - IoT for Energy | Microsoft Azure

Other resources:
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/new-sap-hana-certified-memoryoptimized-virtual-machines-now-available

SAP On Azure book by Ravi Kashyap https://www.sap-press.com/sap-on-microsoft-azure_5174/

Nate McKervey, Head of Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies at Splunk, talks to the team about how Splunk technologies can make Blockchain networks on Azure more secure by providing insights into the networks that make up the distributed ledger.

Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode355.mp3

Other updates:

Boost your performance with Azure Files SMB Multichannel
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/boost-your-client-performance-with-azure-files-smb-multichannel/
Azure Hybrid Benefit now generally available for Linux
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-hybrid-benefit-now-generally-available-for-linux/
Empowering developer velocity and efficiency with Kubernetes
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/empowering-developer-velocity-and-efficiency-with-kubernetes/
Azure high-performance computing at Supercomputing 2020
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-high-performance-computing-supercomputing-2020/

AKS Office Hours hosted by Kendall

https://github.com/Azure/aks-gbb-officehours