Azure Weekly Updates - 23rd May 2021

MISC:

- Azure Stack HCI 60-Day Free Trial Now Available: Azure Stack HCI built-in free software trial has been extended from 30 to 60 days giving more time to evaluate the solution before making a purchasing decision.

Availability: Now Available

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/azure-stack-hci-60day-free-trial-now-available/

- Azure Stack HCI now available in China: Azure Stack HCI is now available in the China cloud. Get started in China with a 60-day free trial.

 Availability: Now Available

 Link:https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/azure-stack-hci-now-available-in-china/

- Public preview: Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Hyperscale (Citus) support for PostgreSQL 12 and 13: Create Azure Database for PostgreSQL - Hyperscale (Citus) server groups with Postgres 12 and Postgres 13, in addition to previously supported Postgres 11.

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/public-preview-azure-database-for-postgresql-hyperscale-citus-support-for-postgresql-12-and-13/

- Public preview: Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Hyperscale (Citus) columnar compression: Included with Citus 10, columnar compression is now supported in the Hyperscale (Citus) option in Azure Database for PostgreSQL, a managed service running the open source Postgres database on Azure.

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/public-preview-azure-database-for-postgresql-hyperscale-citus-columnar-compression/

- Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Flexible Server: Azure Free offer coming soon: Utilize the B1ms compute SKU and 32GB storage free offer (coming June 2021) on Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Flexible Server, a managed service running the open source Postgres database.

 Availability: In Development

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/azure-database-for-postgresql-flexible-server-azure-free-offer-coming-soon/

- Expanded Azure Cosmos DB free tier - GA: Get the first 1000 RU/s provisioned throughput and 25 GB storage free each month for the lifetime of one Azure Cosmos DB account with the Azure Cosmos DB free tier.

 Availability: Now Available

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/expanded-azure-cosmos-db-free-tier-now-in-general-availability/

- Azure Cosmos DB serverless now - GA: Optimize costs for spiky or intermittent workloads with Azure Cosmos DB serverless, a pure consumption offer where you are only billed for the Request Units and storage capacity consumed.

 Availability: Now Available

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/azure-cosmos-db-serverless-now-in-general-availability/

- Azure Cosmos DB integrated cache now in public preview: Optimize read costs in Azure Cosmos DB by enabling an integrated cache, an in-memory cache that is easy to configure and requires only minimal application code changes.

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/azure-cosmos-db-integrated-cache-now-in-public-preview/

- Azure Cosmos DB Linux emulator - public preview: Develop and test locally at no cost on Linux and macOS with our new Azure Cosmos DB Linux emulator.

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/azure-cosmos-db-linux-emulator-in-public-preview/

- Azure Cosmos DB role-based access control (RBAC) - GA: Enable fine-grained access control to data and leverage Azure Active Directory (AAD) authentication with Azure Cosmos DB role-based access control (RBAC), now generally available.

 Availability: Now Available

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/azure-cosmos-db-rolebased-access-control-rbac-now-in-general-availability/

- Cost-optimized diagnostics feature for Azure Cosmos DB in public preview

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/costoptimized-diagnostics-feature-for-azure-cosmos-db-in-public-preview/

- Always Encrypted for Azure Cosmos DB: Encrypt data inside the client application and never reveal the plain data or encryption keys to the database engine with Always Encrypted for Azure Cosmos DB.

Availability: In Preview

Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/always-encrypted-for-azure-cosmos-db-in-public-preview/

- Cluster auto-upgrade now respects planned maintenance windows: Use cluster auto-upgrade feature while minimizing interruptions.

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/public-preview-cluster-autoupgrade-now-respects-planned-maintenance-windows/

- Azure Communication Services UI Library: Developers can simplify the cross-channel user experiences within their applications with Azure Communication Services UI Library.

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/azure-communication-services-ui-library-available-in-public-preview/

- Traversal Using Relays Around NAT (TURN) is now in public preview for Azure Communication Services: This enables real-time communication when users are behind Network Address Translation (NAT) or firewalls.

Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/traversal-using-relays-around-nat-turn-is-now-in-public-preview-for-azure-communication-services/

- Save and share log analytics queries with new query packs in Azure Monitor: Query packs are a new capability within log analytics intended to make creating, saving, managing, and discovering log analytics queries simpler and more efficient.

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/public-preview-save-and-share-log-analytics-queries-with-new-query-packs-in-azure-monitor/

- Export Azure Monitor logs to multiple destinations: Logs export can be separated between multiple destinations to overcome destination rate limit and to maintain access control in destinations.

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/public-preview-export-azure-monitor-logs-to-multiple-destinations/

- Log Analytics workspace insights from Azure Monitor: A new workbooks-based insights experience for all log analytics workspaces available per resource, and at scale.

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/public-preview-log-analytics-workspace-insights-from-azure-monitor/

- Azure Machine Learning general availability announcements //Build, May 2021: New features now generally available including Data Labeling – Image Instance Segmentation and MLflow support

 Availability: Now Available

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/azure-machine-learning-general-availability-announcements-build-may-2021/

- Azure Applied AI Services: Azure AI is introducing a new category of services called Azure Applied AI Services. These services accelerate time-to-value in building AI solutions for common business processes. Within this category, there are important enhancements and status updates for Azure Bot Service and Azure Metrics Advisor.

 Availability: Now Available

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/general-availability-azure-applied-ai-services/

- Azure Cognitive Services Text Analytics for Health: Now generally available, use Text Analytics for Health to detect words and phrases mentioned in unstructured text as entities in the healthcare and biomedical domain.

 Availability: Now Available

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/general-availability-azure-cognitive-services-text-analytics-for-health/

- Azure Cognitive Services Text Analytics Adds Question Answering Feature: The new, standard Question Answering feature provides users the capability to answer questions over a passage of text without having to create knowledgebases and manage additional storage

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/public-preview-azure-cognitive-services-text-analytics-adds-question-answering-feature/

- Azure Confidential Ledger

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/public-preview-azure-confidential-ledger/

- Partial document update for Azure Cosmos DB in private preview: You now have the ability to perform path-level updates on specific fields/properties in a document with partial document update for Azure Cosmos DB.

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/partial-document-update-for-azure-cosmos-db-in-private-preview/

- Azure SQL Database ledger available in public preview: Use Azure SQL Database ledger (preview) to eliminate the additional cost, complexity, and performance overhead of decentralized blockchain technology and enable tamper-evidence through cryptographic verification of your centralized data store.

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/azure-sql-database-ledger-available-in-public-preview/

- Azure Database for MySQL – Flexible Server: Beginning in June 2021, enjoy the Azure Database for MySQL - Flexible Server B1ms compute SKU and 32GB storage free offer for the first 12 months.

 Availability: In Development

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/azure-database-for-mysql-flexible-server-azure-free-offer-coming-soon/

- Event Hubs Premium: Event Hubs Premium is a new product SKU that is tailor-made for high-end event streaming scenarios that require elastic, superior performance with predictable latency.

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/event-hubs-premium-now-available-in-public-preview/

- Scan and view lineage of data stored in Hive Metastore Database using Azure Purview: Azure Purview now supports automated scanning from a Hive Metastore Database to extract schema and lineage between data.

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/scan-and-view-lineage-of-data-stored-in-hive-metastore-database-using-azure-purview/

- Azure Security Center integration with GitHub Actions, in public preview: GitHub’s integration with Azure Security Center is now in public preview—offering new ways for you to integrate security and compliance into early stages of the software development lifecycle.

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/github-integration-with-azure-security-center-now-in-public-preview/

- Application Insight in South India

 Availability: Now Available

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/general-availability-application-insight-in-south-india/

- Azure Log Analytics in South India: Log Analytics, a feature of Azure Monitor, is now generally available for customers to start collecting telemetry and analyzing their services for health and usage in South India.

 Availability: Now Available

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/general-availability-azure-log-analytics-in-south-india/

- Cognitive Services - Form Recognizer adds new version: Support for 73 languages, prebuilt ID model, invoice line item extraction, table header extraction tagging as table, and more generally available in Azure Form Recognizer, part of Applied AI Services.

 Availability: Now Available

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/cognitive-services-form-recognizer-adds-new-version-in-general-availability/

- Query Delta Lake files using T-SQL in Azure Synapse Analytics: Use T-SQL in Azure Synapse to read Delta Lake format.

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/reading-delta-lake-with-t-sql-azure-synapse-analytics-serverless-sql-pools-public-preview/

Compute: 

- Run App Service on Kubernetes or anywhere with Azure Arc: You can now run Web Apps against a range of fully managed App Service plans or choose to deploy against Azure Kubernetes Service or your own Kubernetes clusters connected through Azure Arc that are running on-premises, at the edge, or in other clouds.

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/public-preview-run-app-service-on-kubernetes-or-anywhere-with-azure-arc/

- Public preview: Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Hyperscale (Citus) support for Citus 10: With the support of Citus 10, columnar storage, and more are now included in Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Hyperscale (Citus), a managed service running the open source Postgres database on Azure.

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/public-preview-azure-database-for-postgresql-hyperscale-citus-support-for-citus-10/

- Azure RBAC for Kubernetes Authorization in AKS - GA: Achieve unified management and access control across Azure and AKS resources.

 Availability: Now Available

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/general-availability-azure-rbac-for-kubernetes-authorization-in-aks/

- Encryption at host support in AKS - GA: You can now enable host-based encryption in AKS for end-to-end security.

 Availability: Now Available

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/general-availability-encryption-at-host-support-in-aks/

- AKS support for regulated industries: Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) makes it easier for regulated industries, such as healthcare & finance, to adopt Kubernetes for their regulated workloads

 Availability: Now available

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/aks-support-for-regulated-industries/

- AKS support for FIPS compliant nodes: Azure Kubernetes Service makes it easier for you to achieve FedRAMP compliance by supporting FIPS compliant nodes

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/preview-aks-support-for-fips-compliant-nodes/

- Public preview: Kubernetes 1.21 support in AKS: AKS customers can now benefit from new features in Kubernetes 1.21

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/public-preview-kubernetes-121-support-in-aks/

- AKS support for containerd for Windows server containers: Benefit from enhanced pod creation speed and stability when creating Windows server containers in AKS.

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/public-preview-aks-support-for-containerd-for-windows-server-containers/

- Run Event Grid on Kubernetes in Azure or anywhere with Azure Arc: You can now run Event Grid on Kubernetes clusters anywhere to manage routing of all your events from any source to any destination.

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/public-preview-run-event-grid-on-kubernetes-in-azure-or-anywhere-with-azure-arc/

- Azure Communication Services Calling SDK for Windows Apps: Add voice and video calling capabilities to applications that run on Microsoft Windows.

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/azure-communication-services-calling-sdk-for-windows-apps-in-public-preview/

- Easily onboard Application Insights for Java apps on Azure App Services: Customers writing Java apps on Azure App Services can now onboard to application insights for application monitoring, without making any code changes. App Service Linux, both code-based and custom containers, and App Service Windows code-based are supported.

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/public-preview-easily-onboard-application-insights-for-java-apps-on-azure-app-services/

- Azure Machine Learning Managed Online and Batch Endpoints now in public preview //Build 2021: Managed Online and Batch Endpoints, in public preview, allow for seamless deployment and operationalization

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/azure-machine-learning-managed-online-and-batch-endpoints-now-in-public-preview-build-2021/

- Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) on Azure Stack HCI: AKS on Azure Stack HCI is a Kubernetes based platform that developers and administrators can use to build, deploy and manage containerized applications in their datacenters and edge locations.

 Availability: Now Available

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/azure-kubernetes-service-aks-on-azure-stack-hci-is-now-generally-available/

- App Service Managed Certificates now generally available: You can secure your custom domains at no additional cost.

 Availability: Now Available

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/app-service-managed-certificates-now-generally-available/

- Improved Python support in Visual Studio Code with Pylance: The latest release of the Python extension for VS Code comes with a much improved experience for Python developers thanks to the new Pylance language server in general availability.

 Availability: Now Available

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/general-availability-improved-python-support-in-visual-studio-code-with-pylance/

- Introducing Developer Velocity Lab to improve developers’ work and well-being: Developer Velocity Lab (DVL) is a new research initiative that includes contributions across Microsoft, its research labs and GitHub.

 Availability: Now Available

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/introducing-developer-velocity-lab-to-improve-developers-work-and-wellbeing/

- Azure Cognitive Services Translator Document Translation feature: Now generally available, use Document Translation to translate documents at scale.

 Availability: Now Available

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/general-availability-azure-cognitive-services-translator-document-translation-feature/

- Logic Apps with new hosting options: Logic Apps has been updated with new hosting options, improved performance, and developer workflows.

 Availability: Now Available

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/general-availability-logic-apps-with-new-hosting-options/

- Azure IoT Verified telemetry: Azure IoT Verified Telemetry provides data reliability and is available as part of Dependable IoT SDK and can be seamlessly integrated into current Azure IoT offerings such as Azure RTOS and IoT PnP. 

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/azure-iot-verified-telemetry-is-now-in-public-preview/

- Azure Machine Learning public preview announcement //Build, May 2021: New feature: Prebuilt Docker images for Inferencing, now in public preview.

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/azure-machine-learning-public-preview-announcement-build-may-2021/

- Enabling IBM WebSphere Application Server on Azure Virtual Machines: IBM WebSphere Application Server (Traditional) Network Deployment on Azure Linux Virtual Machines is now available, jointly developed and supported by IBM and Microsoft.

 Availability: Now Available

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/general-availability-enabling-ibm-websphere-application-server-on-azure-virtual-machines/

- Run Enterprise Java with Red Hat JBoss EAP for Azure Virtual Machines: Azure Marketplace offers to run JBoss EAP on Azure Virtual Machines and Virtual Machine Scale Sets are now available. Customers can quickly move existing Java EE/Jakarta EE workloads to the cloud with limited code changes.

 Availability: Now Availale

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/general-availability-run-enterprise-java-with-red-hat-jboss-eap-for-azure-virtual-machines/

- The Microsoft Build of OpenJDK: Customers and developers can use the Microsoft Build of OpenJDK to build their Java applications, and commercial support is available for applications running on Azure and Azure Stack.

 Availability: Now Available

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/the-microsoft-build-of-openjdk-is-now-generally-available/

- Spot Virtual Machines are now generally available on Azure Databricks: Access unused Azure compute capacity at discounted rates using Spot VMs on Azure Databricks

 Availability: Now Available

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/spot-virtual-machines-are-now-generally-available-on-azure-databricks/

- Introducing new Durable Functions storage provider options: Durable Functions, an extension to the Azure Functions runtime, adds two new storage provider options in public preview. 

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/public-preview-introducing-new-durable-functions-storage-provider-options/

- PowerShell support in Durable Functions: PowerShell users can use Durable Functions create serverless workflows to orchestrate complex, long-running automation processes.

 Availability: Now Available

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/powershell-support-in-durable-functions-is-now-generally-available/

Storage: 

- Azure Storage Blob inventory public preview is now available in all public regions: Blob inventory allows you to get a full listing of all blobs within a storage account or container. This can be used in conjunction with Synapse to calculate per container metrics such as capacity and count. 

 Availability: In Preview

 Link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/updates/azure-storage-blob-inventory-preview-is-now-available-in-all-public-regions/