The Azure Podcast

In this episode, Sujit D'Mello and Cynthia Kreng are joined by special guest Mike Becker, an Azure Architect at Microsoft, to discuss how various Azure services can be combined to create a complex solution. Sujit covers the latest enhancements in AKS, including Azure CNI, load balancer support, network isolated clusters, cost recommendations, and GPU driver options. Mike shares insights into a comprehensive Azure cloud solution for collecting and analyzing economic data and media feedback about companies, highlighting the use of Azure Data Factory, Databricks, Power BI, and OpenAI for sentiment analysis. The discussion delves into the architectural decisions, technical challenges, and practical applications of these technologies in delivering robust and secure solutions.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode516.mp3 YouTube: https://youtu.be/wG12eJymh54 Resources: ADF how it workshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/data-factory/introduction#how-does-it-work Azure Data Factory- Best Practiceshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1283307/azure-data-factory-best-practices Azure Data Bricks Medallion architecturehttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/databricks/lakehouse/medallion Azure Data Bricks Best Practiceshttps://dzone.com/articles/azure-databricks-best-practices-for-a-developer Sentiment Analysis with Azure AI serviceshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/synapse-analytics/machine-learning/tutorial-cognitive-services-sentiment Power BI recommendationshttps://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Desktop/Power-BI-Development-and-Best-Practices/m-p/4632985/highlight/true#M1386307 Improve Power BI model's performancehttps://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/best-practice-rules-to-improve-your-models-performance/ GitLab best practices - if you cannot use Azure DevOpshttps://about.gitlab.com/topics/version-control/what-are-gitlab-flow-best-practices/

In this episode of the Azure podcast, Sujit and the team, including Cale, Russell, and Cynthia, are joined by special guest Matteo Pagani, a Cloud Solutions Architect in the Tech Strategy team at Microsoft. Matteo provides insights into the agentic world of Co-pilot, explaining how agents can enhance business processes and improve efficiency. Tune in to learn about the practical applications of these technologies and how they can be integrated into existing workflows.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode515.mp3 YouTube: https://youtu.be/qMJ88BLbTVo Resources:   Overview of Microsoft 365 Copilot extensibility: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/extensibility/ Building declarative agents with Visual Studio Code, Copilot Studio and Agent Builder: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/extensibility/overview-declarative-agent Building custom engine agents with Visual Studio Code and Copilot Studio: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/extensibility/overview-custom-engine-agent My blog with some fun experiments with multi-agents scenarios: https://www.developerscantina.com/   Other updates: Announcing GA for Azure Container Apps Serverless GPUs | Microsoft Community Hub   https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/introducing-deep-reasoning-agent-flows-copilot-studio-charles-lamanna-n1zxc/   Let's try GitHub Copilot Agent mode in VS Code to build a FULL app!

In this episode of the Azure Podcast, Sujit D'Mello and the team, including Cynthia, Evan, and Cale, are joined by special guest Mario Hewardt, an engineering manager on the Sysinternals team. Mario shares insights into the evolution of Sysinternals tools, their cross-platform journey, and their integration with Azure services. The discussion covers the development process, challenges faced, and the innovative features being added to these essential diagnostic tools. Tune in to learn about the latest updates and how Sysinternals continues to support both Windows and Linux environments.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode514.mp3 YouTube: https://youtu.be/6TAJfqnScuI   Resources: Sysinternals (/Windows) https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/ https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/ Email: syssite@microsoft.com ZoomIt is open source as part of PowerToys - https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys   Sysinternals (/Linux) ProcDump for Linux - https://github.com/microsoft/ProcDump-for-Linux Procmon for Linux - https://github.com/microsoft/ProcMon-for-Linux Sysmon for Linux - https://github.com/microsoft/SysmonForLinux For help with Linux tools, please file issues/discussions on GitHub.   Social media Bluesky: @sysinternals  

Evan, Kendal and Sujit dive into the details of Azure Container Apps sharing thier own experiences designing, supporting and using the service. They share tips and tricks for utilizing the correct ACA options for your workloads.  Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode513.mp3 YouTube: https://youtu.be/nuxBz8O05LU Resources: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-apps/overview   Other updates: Next generation Azure Databox - Azure updates | Microsoft Azure Azure HDInsight deprecates TLS1.1 - Azure updates | Microsoft Azure     MySQL Virtual Canary program - Scheduled Maintenance - Azure Database for MySQL - Flexible Server | Microsoft Learn   SQL MI Modernization Assistant - Modernization Advisor (Preview) - SQL Server on Azure VMs | Microsoft Learn   Private DNS Zones Internet fallback - Azure updates | Microsoft Azure   Modern Data Movement library - Azure updates | Microsoft Azure   https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-testing/how-to-schedule-tests https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure-data-studio/whats-happening-azure-data-studio https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/logs/log-analytics-simple-mode https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/databricks/clean-rooms/ https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/api-center/synchronize-aws-gateway-apis?tabs=portal https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-apps/sessions-tutorial-nodejs

Senthuran Sivananthan comes on the show to talk about the Well-Architected Framework (WAF) and Well Architected Resiliency Review (WARA).   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode512.mp3 YouTube: https://youtu.be/xTxG7X9RoWQ   Resources: Azure Pricing Calculator Azure Architecture Review Web Application Firewall Other Updates: Retirement of Azure Automation's Powershell runbooks using AzureRM modules TLS1.0/1.1 retirement for Azure Automation Customer Managed Unplanned Failover for ADLS and Storage+SFTP

Cale and Sujit discuss their current projects in Azure as 2024 comes to a close. They also cover a ton of AKS updates. Semantic Kernel makes it easier for developers to build Azure Open AI applications that can also include SLMs like Phi-4.  Azure has many options to use File Shares and Volumes, and we walk through the process of figuring out which one is right for your needs.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode511.mp3 YouTube: https://youtu.be/dLfCJ6btKng Resources: Semantic Kernel - https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel Journey with SK on OpenAI and AzureOpenAI Ollama (running SLM local) - https://github.com/ollama/ollama Ollamazure (running SLM that looks like Azure OpenAI) - https://github.com/sinedied/ollamazure PhiSilica - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/ai/apis/phi-silica   File Shares: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-introduction    Other updates: Lots of AKS updates! https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/concepts-network-isolated https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/azure/azure-kubernetes/availability-performance/container-image-pull-performance https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/imds-restriction https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/use-windows-gpu https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/?id=471295 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/backup/tutorial-restore-aks-backups-across-regions https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/app-routing-nginx-configuration?tabs=azurecli#control-the-default-nginx-ingress-controller-configuration-preview https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/automated-deployments https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/aks-extension-ghcopilot-plugins https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/containers/container-insights-logs-schema#kubernetes-metadata-and-logs-filtering

The team meets with Stephane Erbrech to talk about Azure Kubernetes Fleet and learns why it is necessary and also why it isn't the same thing as Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode510.mp3 YouTube: https://youtu.be/h9rJNihhZPM Resources: The OSS bits powering Fleet Manager dataplane: https://github.com/Azure/fleet The service doc: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/azure/kubernetes-fleet/   Other updates: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cynthiakreng_nbafoundation-nbaallstar-nbafpitch-activity-7269908869684830209-MJlS

In this episode of the Azure Podcast, co-hosts, Sujit D'Mello, Evan Basalik, Russell Young, Cynthia Kreng, and Cale Teeter welcome special guest Thiago Almeida from the Azure Functions team. They dive into the details of the new Azure Functions Flex Consumption Plan, discussing its features, benefits, and how it fits into the broader landscape of Azure's compute options. Thiago shares insights on the programming model, pricing, and the improvements in cold start times, as well as the integration with networking features. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in serverless computing and Azure Functions.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode509.mp3 YouTube: https://youtu.be/WMdzxYy_tQ4   Resources: Ignite news from Functions https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/appsonazureblog/azure-functions-ignite-2024-update/4298757   Flex Consumption GA announcement https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/appsonazureblog/azure-functions-flex-consumption-is-now-generally-available/4298778 Azure Functions cold start improvements https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/appsonazureblog/our-latest-work-to-improve-azure-functions-cold-starts/4164500  

Cale, Evan, Russell and Sujit discuss the recent updates in Azure and specially cover the Azure-related announcements in the recent Ignite 2024 conference.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode508.mp3 YouTube: https://youtu.be/DwSqEMjmcn0 Resources: https://news.microsoft.com/ignite-2024-book-of-news/   https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/mysql/flexible-server/concepts-business-continuity   https://aka.ms/configure-pon   olling upgrades with MaxSurge for Virtual Machine Scale Sets - Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets | Microsoft Learn   https://aka.ms/vmss-zonal-expansion   Azure Container Apps planned maintenance (preview) | Microsoft Learn   Release ProcDump-for-Mac 1.0 · microsoft/ProcDump-for-Mac   Workspaces in Azure API Management | Microsoft Learn Protect APIs in API Management with Defender for APIs | Microsoft Learn

Gabriel Monteiro Nepomuceno, a Software Engineer and Cloud architect in Microsoft's ISE team, explains the concept of Azure Verified Modules (AVM). These include both resource and pattern modules. These modules ensure consistency and compliance with best practices, making it easier for users to deploy secure and well-architected solutions. They are also supported by Microsoft, so customers get long-term stability for their deployments.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode507.mp3 YouTube: https://youtu.be/BB5HQ_VkHG0 Resources: https://azure.github.io/Azure-Verified-Modules/   Other updates:   Empower innovation and transformation through AI and data-driven insights on Azure https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/empower-innovation-and-transformation-through-ai-and-data-driven-insights-on-azure/ How higher education is reimagining student experiences with Azure OpenAI Service https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/how-higher-education-is-reimagining-student-experiences-with-azure-openai-service/ https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/Azure-Cobalt-100-Arm-based-Virtual-Machines https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/VM-watch-on-Azure-VMs https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/Ermetro-ga-announcement https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/ExpressRoute-guided-configuration-experience https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/Simulate-everyday-interactions-with-your-GenAI-App-Public-Preview  

The team meets up with Vaclav Jirovsky and Cody Hosterman from Pure Storage to learn about Pure's CBS solution and why Azure customers should consider using it.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode506.mp3 YouTube: https://youtu.be/wCbd5vdcBPQ Resources:  https://www.purestorage.com/products/cloud-block-storage/cbs.html https://support.purestorage.com/bundle/m_cbs_for_azure/page/Pure_Cloud_Block_Store/CBS_for_Azure/topics/topic/t_cbs_for_azure_overview.html   Other updates:https://powerplatformconf.com/  

Willie Ahlers, Principal Architect, joins Cale, Cynthia and Russell to discuss the challenges and processes to get value from AI projects and make them successful in a live environment.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode505.mp3 YouTube: https://youtu.be/1GsuH-YylP0   MAIVA - Microsoft AI Value Accelerator Playbook Data Science Toolkit - a collection of proven ML and AI implementation accelerators Other updates: Public Preview: Expanded GenAI Gateway capabilities in Azure API Management Azure AI Model Inference API Public Preview: Low-Code RAG ingestion with built-in document parsing and chunking in Logic Apps Standard Public Preview – Templates Support in Azure Logic Apps Standard Public Preview – Out of box monitoring dashboards for Logic Apps Standard Generally Available: Java on Azure Container Apps Generally Available: Azure Application Gateway v2 Basic SKU Introducing o1: OpenAI’s new reasoning model series for developers and enterprises on Azure Advanced Container Networking Services: Enhancing security and observability in AKS

Sadaf Khan joins Evan and Russell to explain and talk about Service Reliability Engineering in the Azure engineering group.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode504.mp3 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNGdTnb1W90&t=1684s   Public Preview: Customer managed planned failover for Azure Storage Public Preview: Instance Mix on Virtual Machine Scale Sets Generally Available: Workspaces in Azure API Management Generally Available: Azure NetApp Files storage with cool access for all service levels Generally Available: Larger Enterprise tier cache instances for Azure Cache for Redis Generally Available: Azure Red Hat OpenShift Now Supports Clusters Up to 250 Nodes Key Topics: Azure Reliability SRE: Evan introduced the episode's focus on Azure reliability SRE and mentioned a special guest, Sadaf, who would provide insights on the topic. 0:19 Azure Storage Public Preview Feature: Russell discussed a new public preview feature for Azure storage that allows customers to manage planned failovers, enhancing the service's reliability. 1:10 Virtual Machine Scale Set Update: Russell highlighted an update to virtual machine scale sets that allows mixing different instances, improving flexibility and scalability. 1:38 Azure API Management Workspace: Russell introduced a new feature in Azure API management that enables teams to have more autonomy in managing and publishing APIs. 2:08 NetApp Files Storage Update: Russell mentioned the general availability of cool access for NetApp files storage, allowing for more cost-effective data storage based on access patterns. 2:40 Redis Cache Update: Russell discussed a new tier for Redis Cache that supports larger enterprises with increased memory and compute capabilities. 3:02 Azure Red Hat Openshift Update: Russell shared an update on Azure Red Hat Openshift, which now supports up to 250 nodes, significantly increasing scalability. 3:29 SRE Role and Impact: Sadaf explained the role of SRE in improving service reliability and quality, detailing their engagement model with various Azure services. 4:52 SRE Engagement and Resistance: Sadaf shared insights on the initial resistance faced from service teams during SRE engagements and how trust is built over time to allow for more impactful changes. 7:49 SRE's Approach to Service Improvement: Sadaf outlined the SRE team's structured approach to service improvement, focusing on fundamentals, service health, operational efficiency, and scalability. 10:51 AI Initiatives in SRE: Sadaf discussed the SRE team's initiatives in leveraging AI to analyze incident data and generate insights, aiming to reduce the cognitive load on engineers. 30:27

In this episode of the Azure Podcast, Cale, Evan, and Sujit engage in a comprehensive discussion about the Secure Future Initiative at Microsoft. They explore how this initiative influences our use of Azure and why it's beneficial for customers to consider implementing similar strategies in their own Azure environments.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode503.mp3 YouTube: https://youtu.be/TyvkKhdRR5k Resources: https://www.microsoft.com/en/microsoft-cloud/resources/secure-future-initiative#tabx6a6ce2c0327741938ac10b008d5cff64 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/well-architected/security/design-patterns SFI Updates   Other resources: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/Volume-enhancements https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/Dedicated-log-analytics-tables-in-Application-Gateway https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/ANF-Double-Encryption-at-rest https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/FIPS-mutability-support-in-AKS https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/CNI-Powered-by-Cilium-Azure-CNI-Overlay-support-AKS https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/New-features-in-AKS-extension-for-Visual-Studio-Code https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/Enable-multifactor-authentication-for-your-tenant-by-15-October-2024  (also below) https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/generally-available-azure-chaos-studio-supports-a-new-network-isolation-fault-for-virtual-machines https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/High-Scale-mode-Container-Insights

Azure Open AI is widely used in industry but there are number of security aspects that must be taken into account when using the technology. Luckily for us, Audrey Long, a Software Engineer at Microsoft, security expert and renowned conference speaker, gives us insights into securing LLMs and provides various tips, tricks and tools to help developers use these models safely in their applications.   Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode502.mp3 YouTube: https://youtu.be/64Achcz97PI Resources: AI Tooling: Azure AI Tooling Announcing new tools in Azure AI to help you build more secure and trustworthy generative AI applications | Microsoft Azure Blog Prompt Shields to detect and block prompt injection attacks, including a new model for identifying indirect prompt attacks before they impact your model, coming soon and now available in preview in Azure AI Content Safety.  Groundedness detection to detect “hallucinations” in model outputs, coming soon.  Safety system messagesto steer your model’s behavior toward safe, responsible outputs, coming soon. Safety evaluations to assess an application’s vulnerability to jailbreak attacks and to generating content risks, now available in preview.   Risk and safety monitoring to understand what model inputs, outputs, and end users are triggering content filters to inform mitigations, coming soon, and now available in preview in Azure OpenAI Service. AI Defender for Cloud AI Security Posture Management AI security posture management (Preview) - Microsoft Defender for Cloud | Microsoft Learn AI Workloads Enable threat protection for AI workloads (preview) - Microsoft Defender for Cloud | Microsoft Learn        AI Red Teaming Tool Announcing Microsoft’s open automation framework to red team generative AI Systems | Microsoft Security Blog AI Development Considerations:   AI Assessment from Microsoft Conduct an AI assessment using Microsoft’s Responsible AI Impact Assessment Template Responsible AI Impact Assessment Guide for detailed instructions Microsoft Responsible AI Processes Follow Microsoft’s Responsible AI principles: fairness, reliability, safety, privacy, security, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability Utilize tools like the Responsible AI Dashboard for continuous monitoring and improvement Define Use Case and Model Architecture Determine the specific use case for your LLM Design the model architecture, focusing on the Transformer architecture   Content Filtering System How to use content filters (preview) with Azure OpenAI Service - Azure OpenAI | Microsoft Learn Azure OpenAI Service includes a content filtering system that works alongside core models, including DALL-E image generation models. This system uses an ensemble of classification models to detect and prevent harmful content in both input prompts and output completions The filtering system covers four main categories: hate, sexual, violence, and self-harm Each category is assessed at four severity levels: safe, low, medium, and high Additional classifiers are available for detecting jailbreak risks and known content for text and code. JailBreaking Content Filters Red Teaming the LLM Plan and conduct red teaming exercises to identify potential vulnerabilities Use diverse red teamers to simulate adversarial attacks and test the model’s robustness Microsoft AI Red Team building future of safer AI | Microsoft Security Blog Create a Threat Model with OWASP Top 10 owasp.org/www-project-top-10-for-large-language-model-applications/assets/PDF/OWASP-Top-10-for-LLMs-2023-slides-v1_1.pdf Develop a threat model and implement mitigations based on identified risks   Other updates: Los Angeles Azure Extended Zones Carbon Optimization App Config Ref GA OS SKU In-Place Migration for AKS Operator CRD Support with Azure Monitor Managed Service Azure API Center Visual Studio Code Extension Pre-release Azure API Management WordPress Plugin Announcing a New OpenAI Feature for Developers on Azure