November 1, 2023
Welcome to the twenty-second edition of the Azure World Newsletter in 2023.
Hello again, my friends from around the world. I’m so happy you continue to subscribe and read this bi-weekly newsletter on Azure. I enjoy sitting down each week to research and write this, and hopefully, you will continue to find value in it. Feel free to invite your co-workers or others to subscribe if you think they would find it helpful.
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ONE.
Microsoft Ignite is coming on November 15-16 in Seattle. This is the traditional time of year when Satya Nadella gives gifts to all the boys and girls of the world who have been good all year. There will be announcements about the future of AI, Azure, Identity, and Security, among other topics.
The first thing I always check for is if there are any certification topics. I can remember years ago, at Microsoft Ignite, going from room to room, hearing the experts talk about each of the certifications available. Those were mini cert-prep sessions, and you could then go and take the actual certification test for free on-site. Well, they don’t offer the cert prep sessions anymore. And I doubt they offer certification tests for free at Ignite like they used to.
I also always enjoy the talks by Mark Russinovich about the hardware and infrastructure underneath Azure. This year, it seems his talks will be about new innovations in AI and Cloud Native applications. There’s also an interesting talk on Radius, an open-source project that supports deploying applications across private cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Web Services.
In fact, there are a lot of talks about AI at this Ignite. This must be the main focus of the event this year.
Scott Hanselman is talking about Github Copilot and AI for developers this year. That should be interesting.
It looks like many of the events will not be recorded (even the online-only ones), so you have to watch live to catch them. Some will be, but not many will not.
See more:
https://ignite.microsoft.com/
TWO.
Microsoft has a new set of official Microsoft credentials if you are into learning and getting certified.
They are called Microsoft Applied Skills. And they are currently being offered online for free. It seems eventually, Microsoft will charge for them.
The current assessments being offered are:
- Secure storage for Azure Files and Azure Blob Storage
- Configure secure access to your workloads using Azure networking
- Deploy and configure Azure Monitor
- Deploy containers by using Azure Kubernetes Service
- Implement security through a pipeline using Azure DevOps
- Develop an ASP.NET Core web app that consumes an API
- Secure Azure services and workloads with Microsoft Defender for Cloud regulatory compliance controls
- Configure SIEM security operations using Microsoft Sentinel
- Create and manage automated processes by using Power Automate
Applied Skills differ from Certifications in a few key areas.
Certifications test a broad range of skills. For instance, on the AZ-104 Azure Administrator certification, there are over 100 topics listed on the exam requirements. The questions on the certification test are from this large, broad array of knowledge required.
Applied Skills are only one specific skill. So if you know how to configure Azure Monitor, you can get assessed on that and get an official Applied Skill badge.
Applied Skills are assessed online (like renewal exams) and can be taken at any time.
It looks like the Applied Skills can involve doing an interactive lab. So, for instance, if you’re taking the assessment for Virtual Networking, you’ll be asked to set up a Virtual Network on the real Azure environment.
Tonight, for fun, I did the Azure Networking Applied Skills assessment. I did enjoy it. It’s also good practice for taking a real certification. Covers only a small number of skills, but good practice.
(The result? I am pretty sure I did it exactly right. But it gave me an error when I submitted it. Oh well. Maybe it’s not 100% perfect. Still, it’s interesting.)
AZURE PLATFORM UPDATES.
The following updates to the Azure platform were announced in the last two weeks:
- Flush data operation for Azure Cache for Redis, in preview
- Built-in Azure Monitor alerts for Azure Site Recovery, in preview
- Disable Secure Shell (SSH) support in AKS, in preview
- Snippets for Azure Static Web Apps, in preview
- Traffic Splitting for Azure Static Web Apps, in preview
- Announcing the new Azure Bastion Developer SKU, in preview
Be sure and check out the Azure Updates page if any of these affect you.
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/
COMING UP FOR ME.
I’ve launched a bunch of new practice test courses on Udemy. So if you’re taking a video course from me, chances are that I have a practice test course available as a complement.
Other than that, I’m taking it easy this week in preparation for Microsoft Ignite coming up later this month. There are usually a bunch of announcements and changes that come out of that event, and I need to be well-rested.
WHERE TO FIND ME.
And that’s it for issue 4.22 Thanks for reading this far. Talk to you again in two weeks.
What is your favorite platform to be on? Perhaps we can connect there.
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