Microsoft Support & Discussions

Our guest contributor for today’s blog is Jennifer Zarate, a Senior Communications Manager at Microsoft and host of the Microsoft Partner Innovation (MPI) Vodcast. The Microsoft Cloud Partner Program represents a global community of partners — and it is through this broad diversity that we realize the greatest value for our customers. That is why our offerings are designed to foster supportive micro-communities for partners and move us all toward a more equitable industry. In today’s blog, we are excited to share valuable perspectives from two women-owned and operated ISVs on how to navigate and thrive within the Microsoft partner ecosystem as minority business lea…

Today, we’re announcing the public preview of two GraphQL resolver types for Synthetic GraphQL in Azure API Management: Azure Cosmos DB and Azure SQL resolvers. If you ever faced the challenge of exposing your database through GraphQL, you’re aware of the complexities involved. It typically involves writing numerous lines of code, dealing with resolvers, and figuring out the nuances of database access. But is there a simpler way? Enter Azure Cosmos DB and Azure SQL data types in Synthetic GraphQL for Azure API Management. Upload your GraphQL schema and expose desired data using familiar database concepts – a seamless and straightforward process. In this blog post,…

We are pleased to announce that going forward we have removed foreign layers from our Windows Container images. This move aligns our technology with the licensing change that we ⁠announced in October 2022, as well as with the Open Container initiative (OCI) which governs container image formats. Why the change? We are implementing this change based on feedback from our customers, who expressed a need to distribute a complete containerized application directly to their customers. Removing the foreign layer will improve image locality by allowing the customers’ registries to be closer to their cluster location. Also, this will reduce dependency on a connection to M…

Zebra recently released a new OEMConfig app called Zebra OEMConfig Powered by MX for Android Enterprise devices running Android 11 and later. This new app aligns closely with Google’s standards, meaning that only one policy will be sent to the device, the new app will utilize Google’s feedback channel for reporting, and the app will behave like other OEMConfig apps that Intune supports. For more information on OEMConfig, refer to Google’s blog post, OEMConfig supports enterprise device features. Intune fully supports the new Zebra OEMConfig app. To start using it, add the new Zebra OEMConfig app to Intune, configure it by creating an OEMConfig profile, and then ass…

Heya folks, Ned here again. We recently made SMB signing the default in Windows Insider Enterprise client builds. In doing so, we were quickly reminded of a consequence from an old unsafe SMB behavior that some folks still use: guest authentication. Today I'll explain all this and give you the steps to both fix and workaround the issue. If you're in a hurry, skip down to the fixes and workarounds section below. Signing and guest authentication SMB signing ensures every message contains a signature generated using session key and cipher suite. The client puts a hash of the entire message into the signature field of the SMB header. If anyone changes the m…

Article contributed by Amirreza Rastegari, Jon Shelley, Scott Moe, Jie Zhang, Jithin Jose, Anshul Jain, Jyothi Venkatesh, Joe Greenseid, Fanny Ou, and Evan Burness Azure has announced the general availability of Azure HBv4-series and HX-series virtual machines (VMs) for high performance computing (HPC). This blog provides in-depth technical and performance information about these HPC-optimized VMs. During the preview announced in November 2022, these VMs were equipped with standard 4th gen AMD EPYCTM processors (codenamed 'Genoa'). Starting with the General Availability announced today, all HBv4 and HX Series VMs have been upgraded to 4th Gen AMD EPYCTM proc…

Este artigo possui a finalidade de demonstrar como podemos inspecionar o tráfego com destino aos recursos de Private Endpoint para o Azure Firewall ou NVA. O que é private Endpoint? Um private Endpoint fornece um endereço IP privado para uma lista de serviços de plataforma na Azure permitindo a comunicação privada com estes recursos. Como usar uma solução de firewall para inspecionar o tráfego destinado a um private endpoint? Um requisito de segurança talvez seja inspecionar ou bloquear o tráfego de clientes para os serviços expostos de forma privada por meio do private Endpoint. Porém para atingir esse objetivo devemos conhecer algumas características…

In May 2023, we shared our plan to undock Microsoft Edge from the Server and Windows container images and the ability to add it on demand for the scenarios that take a dependency on it. Today, we are pleased to announce that we shipped June 2023 images without Microsoft Edge in them, with the instructions below to add it if needed. The new images are now available in Microsoft Artifact Registry (Server and Windows). By undocking Microsoft Edge from the base images, we reduced the size of these images, thereby improving performance and reducing the attack surface. The size of the base layer was reduced by ~13%, whereas the delta layer was reduced by ~40% as a result…

The Dapr extension for AKS and Arc-enabled Kubernetes now supports Dapr v1.11.0. Dapr is a developer framework for building cloud-native applications, making it easier to run multiple microservices on Kubernetes and interact with external state stores/databases, secret stores, pub/sub brokers, and other cloud services and self-hosted solutions. The Dapr v1.11 release offers several new features, including the Cryptography building block, the capability to invoke non-Dapr endpoints, updates to Dapr Workflow, the ability to choose Dapr sidecar build variations, many fixes in the core runtime and components, and more. Learn how to get started with the Da…

In today's fast-paced digital world, databases are at the heart of almost every application or service. Databases are responsible for storing and managing vast amounts of data, providing real-time access to information, and powering critical business operations. As the amount of data and the number of users accessing databases continues to grow, it is essential to ensure that they can handle the expected workload and perform efficiently under heavy traffic. Whether you are launching a new application or getting ready for peak traffic, load testing helps you ensure that your database can handle the load and deliver reliable performance. While most database queries …

We are pleased to announce that Windows Holographic version 23H1 is now available! In this article, we’ll cover the highlights of this release. If you are looking for full details, please check out our official release notes. Features are added to Windows Holographic based on feedback that we hear from you, our customers. With this new upgrade, we reinforce our commitment to the platform by upgrading to Windows 11. By making this investment, we have optimized our engineering infrastructure and increased engineering velocity. For end-users, we have increased reliability and predictability of updating apps, as well as the OS. And we’ve made it quicker to close a…

Microsoft has released Security Updates (SUs) for vulnerabilities found in: Exchange Server 2016 Exchange Server 2019 SUs are available in a self-extracting auto-elevating .exe package, as well as the original update packages (.msp files), which can be downloaded from the Microsoft Update Catalog. SUs are available for the following specific versions of Exchange Server: Exchange Server 2016 CU23 Exchange Server 2019 CU12 and CU13 The June 2023 SUs address vulnerabilities responsibly reported to Microsoft by security partners and found through Microsoft’s internal processes. Although we are not aware of any active exploits in the wild, our recommend…

A few days ago, I encountered a case where our customer asked about the process of reading and reviewing all the ODBC traces generated by their application. In this example, I would like to share the lessons I learned while connecting to the database. You could see several articles written here: Lesson Learned #188: Tracing/logging the JDBC and ODBC driver operation - Microsoft Community Hub Lesson Learned #243: Enabling ODBC connection pooling in PHP - Microsoft Community Hub Lesson Learned #258: Python vs Connection Refused with Login timeout expired - Microsoft Community Hub Lesson Learned #359: TCP Provider: Error code 0x68 (104) (SQLExecDirect…

Recently, Anshika posted about OpenAI Hackathons at Microsoft, including some of the cool things they have produced, as well as some resources for running successful hackathons. I participated in these, and have seen a rise in my customers around building more intelligence into their apps and processes. microsoft/hackathon-starter-kit: Hackathon Starter Kit - Resources to help you organize and facilitate your own hackathon event. (github.com) Specifically, the exploration of using Azure OpenAI and other AI capabilities like cognitive services is continuing to increase. Hackathons can bring together individuals with a shared passion for technology, encour…

Microsoft is constantly looking for ways to improve its products and services, and listening to the voices of our customers is a crucial part of that process. We heard from our customers that they would appreciate an open and collaborative platform where they can provide feedback and help influence the direction of Microsoft products, and at the same time have a way to interact and have their voices heard by our product teams. We’re excited to announce that Microsoft 365 Defender is now part of the new community feedback experience, and our customers now have a dedicated platform to submit their suggestions and feature requests for our security products. The…

Migrate ADAL applications to MSAL is now available We are announcing a new Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) recommendation helping customers migrate apps using the legacy Azure AD Authentication Library (ADAL) to the Microsoft Authentication Library (MSAL). This is part of our ongoing initiative to improve the developer experience, service reliability, and security of customer applications to end support for ADAL. The final deadline to migrate your applications to MSAL has been extended to June 30, 2023. What do you do? We recommend customers migrate to MSAL, which is designed to enable a secure solution without developers having to worry…

Microsoft Learn is passionate about helping you build your skills and achieve your goals. This is easier to do when you have a community of support to guide you during your learning journey. Hearing from others just like you, encouraging them to share their stories–the ups and downs–and learning from their successes (or failures) can help us all find a learning path that fits. We have heard from our diverse and vibrant community of learners and wanted to share some of their wisdom with you. A little inspiration may be all you need to spark your possibilities. Check out some key pieces of advice from our own Microsoft Learn community: 1. Start with the ba…

As of 2023, Microsoft Teams has 280 million daily active users with new users joining every day. And it amounts to 5.57% of the total collaboration software market. One of the key drivers for the success of Microsoft Teams in organizations across the globe is its seamless integration with Microsoft Office 365. But is merely quick access to Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint enough in today’s AI-driven world? So, how is Microsoft taking its already successful collaboration tool to the next level? Microsoft has been pushing ONE MICROSOFT FAMILY and bringing all of its software together. This also aligns with the DO MORE WITH LESS vision of Satya N…

Microsoft partners like Gytpol, Pobuca, and Clockworks Data Innovation deliver transact-capable offers, which customers can purchase directly from Azure Marketplace. Learn about these offers below: [attachment=42646:name] Blicker - Utility Meter Readout Assistant: An AI-based cloud solution for automatically reading water, gas, and electricity meter data from images, Blicker provides reliable and transparent data digitalization from photos in just seconds. Blicker extracts real-time meter data from images taken in challenging field conditions and is available as an API for integration with other applications. [attachment=42647:name] Gytpol Validator:…

Over the past year, customers have informed the team there were a set of key columns missing in the standalone Dedicated SQL pools (formerly SQL DW) and Synapse workspace Dedicated SQL pool Diagnostic Setting logs. After receiving a considerable amount of customer feedback, nine fields have been added to the Dedicated SQL pool logs and are generally available. These values will provide a more effective monitoring experience as customers are now able to identify which session the query belongs to along with other fundamental insights. The fields added into the Synapse Diagnostic Settings Logs are the following: Azure Monitor Logs reference - SynapseSqlPool…

Teams never rests in our search for ways technology can bring everyone together in flexible work environments, even as those environments continue to evolve – thanks in large part to our customers who find new needs for the spaces they meet in, and our partners who work with them to find solutions. On that front, keep an eye out for some exciting updates from AVIXA soon. Meanwhile, we have a presence at InfoComm this week, where we look forward to meeting up with a ton of our partners. We’re excited to share some of the feature updates coming to Teams Rooms and Devices, and Teams Meetings that improve meeting experiences for everyone, including collaboration solution…

We are pleased to announce the following new features, improvements, and bug fixes in the BingAds SDK June 2023 Release (V13.0.16). Key Features New API Interfaces Campaign Management API: PMax Campaign, new Bidding Schemes (CostPerSale, ManualCPA) [*]Bulk service Bulk support for PMax campaigns, i.e. AssetGroup, AssetGroupListingGroup, AudienceGroup, AudienceGroupAssetGroupAssociation, CampaignNegativeWebPage. Release notes .NET Java Python Php Continue reading...

Ecco a voi il consueto appuntamento settimanale con tutte le news e le iniziative del mondo Enablement! Non prendete impegni il 19 e 20 luglio per il più grande evento dedicato ai partner! Microsoft Inspire è la soluzione per accelerare la trasformazione AI, far crescere i propri clienti e alimentare la crescita economica dei partner. Non perdete i prossimi webinar disponibili sulla piattaforma Cloud Champion: Digital & App Innovation 14/06/2023: Microsoft Commercial Marketplace Partner Showcase Cross Solution 29/06/2023: Novità da Build 2023 Business Applications 20/06/2023: Dynamics 365 Business Central e…

We are thrilled to announce the June 2023 releases for Azure VMware Solution. A variety of new and highly anticipated features such as Stretched Clusters and New Regions are now available. Read on to explore more. Azure VMware Solution Feature Updates AVS Stretched Clusters and CMK New Region: Switzerland North Azure VMware Solution Webinar: Now On-Demand Network Design Guide for AVS Azure VMware Solution Stretched Clusters and CMK AVS Stretched Clusters with customer-managed keys Stretched clusters for Azure VMware Solution (AVS), now Generally Available, provide 99.99% uptime for mission critical applications that require th…

A few days ago, we received a service request from a customer who encountered the following error message: "SqlServer error: code = '0', SQL state = '': The connection is closed." The customer informed us that this issue sometimes occurs during a long-running process when the connection remains open but idle for an extended period of time. This error occurs when the connection between the application and the Azure SQL database is closed due to the proxy connection policy. The proxy server is designed to close connections that have been inactive for an extended period of time, typically after 30 minutes of inactivity. To mitigate this issue, an alternative solution …