Microsoft Support & Discussions

Introduction The Azure Container Apps service enables you to run microservices and containerized applications on a serverless platform. With Container Apps, you enjoy the benefits of running containers while you leave behind the concerns of manually configuring cloud infrastructure and complex container orchestrators.  The new workload profiles feature on Azure Container Apps enables users to determine the amount of compute and memory resources available to the container apps deployed in an environment. Different profile types like Consumption, Dedicated (general purpose), Dedicated (Memory Optimized) can be configured to fit your application needs. Workload…

A much-awaited calendaring feature is finally coming to Outlook: the capability of keeping the events you decline on your calendar. In Settings, once you turn on the feature, declined events will no longer disappear but remain on your calendar so you can easily recollect related info or docs, find associated chats, or even take actions like updating your previous response (RSVP) and forwarding it to someone else; all while keeping your agenda free at that time slot. Worldwide release for the ability to preserve declined events is planned for the second half of November 2023. Once it is out, this is what you can do to take advantage of it: Step 1: Enab…

For a long time, if you were using the multi-tenant, PaaS version on many Azure services, then you had to access them over the internet with no way to restrict access just to your resources. This restriction was primarily down to the complexity of doing this sort of restrictions with a multi-tenant service. At that time, the only way to get this sort of restriction was to look at using single-tenant solutions like App Service Environment or running service yourself in a VM instead of using PaaS. This public access was a concern for many, and so Microsoft implemented new services that allow you to limit access to these multi-tenant services. Today, we have two solutions…

We’re excited to announce new and improved Narrator screen reader announcements in Excel for Windows. Announcements are now more concise, customizable via keyboard shortcuts, and give more context about your spreadsheet. These are new with the latest Windows release in September. What is a screen reader? A screen reader is assistive technology for people who prefer to hear content versus see it. For example, someone who is blind or who has low vision might use a screen reader to use their computer, read emails, or navigate their Excel spreadsheet. The Windows operating system comes with a screen reader pre-installed, called Narrator. You can turn on Narrat…

Microsoft Teams Rooms makes hybrid meetings better by connecting remote and in-office participants, enabling inclusive and interactive team meetings with video, audio, content sharing, and rich collaborative features. While Teams Rooms devices were initially offered exclusively on the Windows platform, we launched Teams Rooms on Android to offer additional customer choice and the ability to use more appliance-like devices. This blog is intended to help customers understand the differences between these platforms. The Microsoft Teams product is offered on a variety of Android-based devices, from mobile phones, IP desk phones, to panels and displays. Through innovation…

[ATTACH=full]54421[/ATTACH] What is the Azure App Service? Azure App Service is a fully managed platform as a service (PaaS) for building, deploying, and scaling web, mobile, API, and even serverless apps. In this article, you will learn all about App Service by deploying an ASP.NET Core app to Azure App Service Web Apps. You will also use a variety of services to monitor the app, including the Application Performance Management service called Application Insights. Objectives Upon completion of this article, you will be able to: Explain and create App Service plans and App Services. Understand the available App Service Web Apps deployment options …

The future is passwordless. Microsoft has an ongoing commitment with other industry leaders to enable a world without passwords. Today, we are excited to announce an improved Windows passwordless experience to organizations starting with the September 2023 update for Windows 11, version 22H2. Passwords are inherently insecure, inconvenient, and a prime target for attacks. In 2022, Microsoft tracked 1,287 password attacks every second. In the last 12 months, we saw an average of more than 4,000 password attacks per second[1]. Microsoft paved the way for Microsoft Accounts (MSA) in the consumer space with fully passwordless accounts so you no longer need a password in…

Overview Microsoft Azure services already operate in TLS 1.2-only mode. There are a limited number of services that still allow TLS 1.0 and 1.1 to support customers with legacy needs. For customers who use services that still support legacy protocol versions and must meet compliance requirements, we have provided instructions on how to ensure legacy protocols and cipher suites are not negotiated. For example, HDInsight provides the minSupportedTlsVersion property as part of the Resource Manager template. This property supports three values: "1.0", "1.1" and "1.2", which correspond to TLS 1.0+, TLS 1.1+ and TLS 1.2+ respectively. Customers can set the allowed m…

Today, we’re announcing the kick-off of an exciting new effort, the Azure Database for MySQL Contributor initiative! This initiative recognizes members of the Azure Database for MySQL community who actively work to raise awareness of the service by sharing relevant content, announcements, and product news via various social media channels. Depending on their level of interest, these community members can also opt to create and share their own content, or even reach out to the product team if they want to collaborate! Why should you consider participating in the program? Because you're enthusiastic about Azure Database for MySQL and helping others to learn and do…

Today we’re excited to announce the general availability of Windows Local Administrator Password Solution (LAPS) with Microsoft Entra ID and Microsoft Intune. This capability is available for both Microsoft Entra joined and Microsoft Entra hybrid joined devices. It empowers every organization to protect and secure their local administrator account on Windows and mitigate any Pass-the-Hash (PtH) and lateral traversal type of attacks. Since our public preview announcement in April 2023, we’ve continued to see significant growth in deployment and usage of Windows LAPS across thousands of customers and millions of devices. Thank you! This feature is available…

We are excited to announce our Preferred and Charter partners for FY24! Members of the Content AI Partner Program span the globe and offer a broad range of consulting, training, software, and adoption solutions. [ATTACH=full]54390[/ATTACH] The Microsoft Content AI Partner Program (CAPP) has recognized and supported strategic partners throughout the expansion of our content services platforms and the development of new offerings, since 2017. Formerly known as the Microsoft Content Services Partner Program, this program was developed and remains in place to help accelerate customer success with content management powered by Microsoft 365, Microsoft Synt…

It’s no secret that more and more organizations are making Teams Phone their cloud calling solution, with over 17 million users enabled for PSTN calling. But we also understand that it can be daunting to begin the journey, so last year we released an easy-to-use Teams Phone setup guide to help Teams administrators setup, configure, and manage Teams Phone for their organization. The setup guide walks through the steps and guidance to enable users, configure settings, setup call queues and auto attendants, integrate with existing telephony infrastructure, test your network, and more. Now, we’re excited to announce that the Teams Phone setup guide has been enhanced to pro…

When you’re focused on a project you want all the project files at your fingertips. However, oftentimes the content you need is stored in multiple places and takes time to find. OneDrive offers multiple solutions for you to organize important files all in one place. For example, the People, Meeting and Shared views help you spend less time finding files and more time getting your work done. Now with Favorites and shortcuts, you have two new ways to organize your content and keep everything you need in one place. Favoriting files and folders When you favorite a file or folder anywhere in Microsoft 365 it allows you to easily find and access the file in the futu…

With the emergence of generative AI, everyone wants to build an enterprise application with AI models. How do you approach knowledge retrieval in your application to improve the quality of conversations and responses, making them relevant to you? To answer this question, we find ourselves talking a lot about vectors, vector databases, and retrieval quality. While vector search is a critical component to improve LLM-generated responses, if you want to produce the most relevant, accurate responses, you need to think beyond vectors. I had the chance to speak with the Microsoft Mechanics crew where we talked about some of the core concepts in information retriev…

Every Managed Service Provider (MSP) has a vision and strategy for managing their customers’ tenants. Microsoft 365 Lighthouse helps them realize that vision and execute that strategy, at scale, better than ever before, with the ability to customize baselines based on their unique expertise and tailored to their customers’ needs. In this article, we'll examine what custom baselines are, why they matter, and how they can help you grow your managed services business. What are custom baselines? One of the best things about Lighthouse is the default baseline we provide that makes it easy for you to deploy a standardized set of configurations to your custom…

[ATTACH=full]54380[/ATTACH]   Cloud Champion Modern Work e Security 26/10/2023: FY24 MW/Security Incentive - Co-op Focus 22/11/2023: FY24 MW/Security Incentive - OSU On-demand: FY24 MW/Security Incentive - Overview Business Applications 15/11/2023: Novità e informazioni su Business Applications - Novembre 2023 16/11/2023: Business Applications - MAICPP & Incentives | parte 1 (link in arrivo) On-demand: Novità e informazioni su Business Applications - Settembre 2023 On-demand: Novità e informazioni su Business Applications - Ottobre 2023 Azure 30/11/2023: Azure - MAICPP & Incentives | parte 1 (link in arrivo) Security …

Ever felt like your web projects are held back by server setup woes and complex configurations? Imagine a world where deploying your website is as easy as a few clicks, without any backend maintenance hassles. Whether you're a solo developer or part of a team, aiming for enhanced productivity and efficiency, Azure Static Web Apps, a revolutionary service from Microsoft, is here to transform how you create and deploy web applications. Let's dive in and discover how you can skyrocket your web projects to new heights! Why Opt for Azure Static Web Apps? Bid farewell to server setup headaches! With Azure Static Web Apps, deploying your website is as easy as …

Azure Files is a fully managed cloud file share service that enables organizations to share data across on-premises and cloud. The service is truly cross-platform and supports mounting of file share from any client that implements SMB and NFS protocols, it also exposes REST APIs for programmability. A key part file share service offering is its integrated backup for point in time recovery, this enables recovery of data from certain periods in the past in case data is deleted or corrupted. Such capability is best offered by Snapshots. We are excited to announce public preview of Snapshot support for NFS share. Customers using NFS shares will now be able to perform share…

In the digital age, spatial data management and analysis have become integral to a wide array of technical applications. From real-time tracking to location-based services and geospatial analytics, efficient handling of spatial data is pivotal in delivering high-performance solutions. Azure Cache for Redis, a versatile and powerful in-memory data store, rises to this challenge with its Geospatial Indexes feature. Join us in this exploration to learn how Redis's Geospatial Indexes are transforming the way we manage and query spatial data, catering to the needs of students, startups, AI entrepreneurs, and AI developers. Introduction to Redis Geospatial Indexe…

Introduction The healthcare industry is no stranger to complex data management challenges, especially when it comes to securing sensitive information. As technology continues to evolve, healthcare professionals are increasingly turning to modern frameworks like Blazor to streamline operations and improve patient outcomes. However, as with any new technology, there are challenges to overcome. One of the biggest hurdles is implementing delegated OAuth flow, a security measure that allows users to authenticate with delegated permissions. In this blog post, we'll explore step-by-step how Visual Studio and MSAL tools can accelerate your time to value and abstract away man…

If you are a product team leader or a member, you know the challenges of managing and tracking your team goals, especially when they involve cross-team collaboration and alignment with the wider organizational strategy. "From a leadership perspective, we always start with our annual planning including our top focus areas from our CISO and his direct reports. The coolest part about the Viva Goals connective tissue is that we can run all those alignments up and see how our teams are going to deliver on his key objectives, including seeing status automatically funneled up on a regular basis." -Mark Myers - Senior Program Manager, Digital Security & Resilience…

Support for Office 2016 and 2019 clients connecting to Microsoft 365 services has ended Support for Office 2016, Office 2019 clients connecting to Microsoft 365 services ended on October 10, 2023 (previously shared in older posts). If your organization is still using these versions to access Microsoft 365 services such as Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business, it is important that you take action. Implications for your organization: Customers using these versions of Office may experience performance or reliability issues when accessing Microsoft 365 services. Here’s what you can expect: Improvements to Microsoft 365 services wil…

Abstract: Handling massive SQLPackage diagnostic logs, like those spanning over 4 million rows, can be an overwhelming task when troubleshooting support cases. This article introduces a PowerShell script designed to efficiently parse through SQLPackage diagnostic logs, extract error messages, and save them to a separate file, thus simplifying the review process and enhancing the debugging experience. Introduction: SQLPackage is a widely used tool for managing SQL Server databases. Its diagnostic logs are crucial for debugging, but their size can make error extraction tedious and time-consuming. This is especially true in support cases where logs can grow …

Heya folks, Ned here again. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) just released their updated #StopRansomware Guide with a number of new contributions from Microsoft, including a substantial section on hardening SMB and remote file services. [ATTACH=full]54343[/ATTACH]Title page[ATTACH=full]54344[/ATTACH]Sample page See page 8 and 9 for the new SMB and remote file services recommendations. If you've been following my blogs and articles for the past few years, they should be familiar. The guide is substantial but very readable and full of practical advice for IT shops of all sizes. In their own words: "These ranso…

In any business organization, you need to be able to communicate effectively with your clients and prospects, as well as access and manage relevant documents and data in real-time. Microsoft Teams is a powerful tool that enables seamless collaboration and communication among team members, as well as with external parties. But when it comes to file management in Microsoft Teams, there are some nuances that need to be taken care of. With Microsoft Teams being built on the capabilities of SharePoint, whatever data we store in Microsoft Teams, is directly stored in SharePoint. But one of the drawbacks of uploading a file in a Teams conversation is that you have …