Microsoft Support & Discussions

[ATTACH type=full" alt="GabeHo_0-1723486248427.png]62782[/ATTACH] Welcome back to Grow Your Business with Copilot for Microsoft 365, a monthly series designed to empower small and midsized businesses to harness the power of AI at work. My team works with a wide range of small and midsized businesses. And while each is unique in their own way, we’ve found that regardless of size, industry, or market, they basically want the same thing: to grow. To attract more customers. To boost revenue. To scale efficiently. Make sure to also check out our weekly Copilot productivity series that just launched, as well as the new Copilot Success Kit, your one-stop s…

[HEADING=1]Introduction[/HEADING] As an Azure OpenAI customer, you have access to the most advanced artificial intelligence models powered by OpenAI. These models are constantly improving and evolving, which means that you can benefit from the latest innovations and enhancements, including improved speed, improved safety systems, and reduced costs. However, this also means that older model versions will eventually be deprecated and retired. We notify customers of upcoming retirements well in advance, starting from model launch. At model launch, we programmatically designate a "not sooner than" retirement date (typically six months to one year out). We notif…

We are excited to announce that Hyperscale named replicas now support configuring a specific maintenance windows. You can now choose from predefined time slots for maintenance and setup alerts to be notified of upcoming maintenance events. Why it matters: With named replicas, you can enhance your modern application architectures by scaling out read workloads to up to 30 read replicas. This reduces the load on the primary replica, allowing it to focus on write operations. Imagine multiple reader applications connecting to specific named replicas, each with its own unique business hours. This setup requires a tailored maintenance schedule, which minimizes downtime during…

By default, Microsoft 365 handles high-availability and disaster recovery. It, too, covers some point-in-time restore scenarios at the end-user and site level. However, when you need additional backup and restore options for your data, Microsoft 365 Backup is your in-place solution. It offers lightning-fast restorability, ensuring business continuity. And our partner ecosystem extends our core offering so you can design backup that works for your business. On this episode, guest host, Brad Gussin (Principal PM Manager on the SharePoint team) and I provide an overview of the core Microsoft offering. You'll then hear Brad interview our valued partner, Karinne Bessett…

Vulnerability prioritization is a critical component of an effective Vulnerability Risk Management (VRM) program. It involves identifying and ranking security weaknesses in an organization's systems based on their potential impact and exploitability. Given the vast number of potential vulnerabilities, it is impossible to address all of them at once. Effective prioritization ensures that the most critical vulnerabilities are addressed first, maximizing security efforts. This approach is crucial for defending against cyberattacks, as it helps allocate resources effectively, reduce the attack surface, and protect sensitive data more efficiently. We are excited t…

Microsoft partners like Derek Coleman & Associates deliver transact-capable offers, which allow you to purchase directly from Azure Marketplace. Learn about this offer below: [TABLE width=95%] [TR] [td][ATTACH type=full" alt="CommercialMarketplaceLogo_24073015042683.png]62764[/ATTACH][/td] [td] Azure VMs on Windows Server Datacenter: Whether you’re a small business or an enterprise, Azure Virtual Machines on Windows Server Datacenter ensure scalability, security, and performance for your workloads. Consult with Derek Colemand & Associates for tailored, reliable, and robust solutions. [/td] [/TR] [/TABLE] Continue reading...

Welcome to the July 2024 update. We are excited to announce new features and improvements in ADX web UI. Continue reading to learn more about: Ad-hoc visual data exploration Dashboards real time refresh rate Enhanced data interaction for dashboard tiles Resize and move dashboard tiles using keyboard only Introducing ad-hoc visual Data Exploration feature Our new "Data Exploration" feature allows you to dive deeper into the data on any dashboard, extending your exploration beyond the displayed tiles to uncover new insights. This user-friendly, form-like interface lets you add filters, create aggregations, and switch visualization types without writing…

[JUSTIFY]Introduction WebJobs are a feature of Azure App Service that allows you to run background tasks or scripts in your App Service. They are particularly useful for executing jobs such as scheduled tasks, data processing, or background maintenance tasks. WebJobs can run continuously, on-demand, or on a scheduled basis, and they can be written in various programming languages.[/JUSTIFY] The goal of this blog post is to guide you through the process of setting up and deploying a WebJob on an Azure App Service running Linux. We will walk you through the necessary steps to create and deploy a WebJob, configure its settings, and manage it effectively. By the end of …

Hi, I'm Jambo a Microsoft Student Ambassador for the Department of Applied Mathematics. First and foremost, this article is not a tutorial on regression analysis. Instead, it aims to share my thoughts on applying Phi3-vision through regression analysis. While some regression theory will be touched upon, the focus is not on the theory itself. The main goal here is to share how to use Phi3-vision, so even if you don't fully grasp the theory behind regression analysis, you'll still find this article accessible. [HEADING=1]What is Linear Regression[/HEADING] Linear regression is a method used to analyze and predict data. Simply put, it tries to describe the relationship…

Viva Connections is the one stop place for all employee service where employees can easily access the relevant company information and their personal tools. We keep on evolving and improving the Viva Connections experiences constantly with new out-of-the-box features and on new extensibility opportunities . We are excited to announce the availability of three new out-of-the-box cards, which are available to be used within the Viva Connections dashboard. These cards are a OneDrive card (files), Quick Links card and the Playlist card. These new cards are demonstrated in the following video with Pooja Gulati (Microsoft) & Vesa Juvonen (Microsoft). …

[HEADING=2]Introduction[/HEADING] For the workload profile container app, private link support is not yet available. This is because the “Private Link Service does not support a load balancer that has an IP-based backend pool, which is used in Consumption + Dedicated environments (Workload Profile)”. Although we have a roadmap to implement this feature (Private link support for Workload Profiles · Azure Container Apps Roadmap), there is currently no ETA. In the meantime, I will guide you on how to integrate a workload profile container app with Azure Front Door using an Application Gateway. The architecture involves using the Application Gateway private link to …

For cloud applications and mission-critical workloads, organizations trust Azure to drive innovation, scale operations, and keep their business competitive. As cloud environments grow more complex, however, companies strive to build secure and reliable cloud infrastructures while maintaining cost-efficiency—but achieving this balance can be daunting. We understand how important it is for our customers to implement better applications through curated guidance based on the needs and demands of their organizations, which is why we’re thrilled to announce Advisor Well-Architected assessment in Azure, now in public preview. Advisor Well-Architected assessments are self…

Oracle Database@Azure is an Oracle database service running on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), collocated in Microsoft data centers. This ensures that the Oracle Database@Azure service has the fastest possible access to Azure resources and applications. The solution is intended to support the migration of Oracle database workloads to Azure, where customers can integrate and innovate with the breadth of Microsoft Cloud services. For more information and to gain a better understanding of Oracle Database@Azure please visit Overview - Oracle Database@Azure | Microsoft Learn [HEADING=1]Problem Statement[/HEADING] The current Oracle Database@Azure service ha…

Container Insights is Azure Monitor’s solution for collecting logs from your Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) clusters. As adoption of AKS continues to grow, we are seeing an increasing number of customers with log scaling needs that hit the limits of log collection in Container Insights. We are happy to announce High Scale mode in Container Insights to help customers achieve a higher log collection throughput from their AKS clusters. When High Scale mode is enabled, Container Insights does multiple configuration changes leading to a higher overall throughput. These include using a more powerful agent setup, using a different data pipeline, allocating more me…

We recently identified an issue where newly added apps aren’t targeted automatically in Microsoft Intune app protection policies (APP) when the policy is targeted to app groups such as "All Apps" or "All Microsoft Apps". While we’re working on a fix, we recommend updating existing policies that target app groups to ensure all apps within an app group are included and receive APP. [HEADING=2]Workaround [/HEADING] Use the steps below to ensure all apps within the app groups are correctly targeted for policy: Navigate to Microsoft Intune admin center > Apps > App protection policies. Select the policy that targets the app group “All apps” or “All Micros…

A comparison of two communication channels for Azure Bot Service [HEADING=1] [/HEADING] [HEADING=1]Introduction[/HEADING] Azure Bot Service is a cloud platform that enables developers to create and deploy conversational agents, also known as bots, that can interact with users through various channels, such as web, mobile, or messaging applications. One of the key features of Azure Bot Service is the ability to connect your bot to multiple channels, such as Skype, Facebook Messenger, Slack, or Teams, using a single bot registration and code base. However, not all channels offer the same level of functionality and user experience. Some channels, such as we…

Kick off your journey with SharePoint Embedded. At the SharePoint Embedded for Enterprise Apps events, you'll explore best practices for your projects, glimpse the future of SharePoint Embedded, and learn to integrate Copilot into document-centric apps. We're eager for your feedback and experiences; your creations shape ours. The SharePoint Embedded product team is coming to New York City and London in September! Come join us for an all-day event to learn how SharePoint Embedded can deliver Copilot, Collaboration, Compliance, and Core Enterprise Storage for your document centric apps. Specifically, you’ll have the opportunity to do the following: Learn abou…

The foundation models that power Microsoft’s AI experiences are evolving constantly, becoming more powerful and efficient. In recent months, we’ve received questions from customers about which foundation model or models Microsoft deploys in its Copilot for Microsoft 365 service. Today, Copilot for Microsoft 365 uses a combination of foundation models, allowing us to match the specific needs of each feature – e.g., speed, creativity – to the right model. We are consistently evaluating and aligning the capabilities of both existing and new foundation models. When we can demonstrate that any model enhances the capabilities of Copilot for Microsoft 365, we wi…

Azure Firewall and WAF are critical security services that many Microsoft Azure customers use to protect their network and applications from threats and attacks. Azure Firewall is a fully managed, cloud-native network security service that safeguards your Azure resources. It ensures high availability and scalability while filtering both inbound and outbound traffic, catching threats and only allowing legitimate traffic. Azure WAF is a cloud-native service that protects your web applications from common web-hacking techniques such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting. It offers centralized protection for web applications hosted behind Azure Application Gateway and Azu…

As we saw in previous article, the binary drift alert gives you information about where the activity happened like the object namespace, image, cluster, etc. This might or might not be enough information for you to act. Say, if you want to identify “how” this drift came to be for example, did a user logged on to container and downloaded the said binary. To supplement the information provided by the alert we can then use Defender XDR portal (Microsoft Defender portal - Microsoft Defender XDR) [HEADING=1]Harnessing the power of the Microsoft Ecosystem[/HEADING] If you are an E5 customer, your security teams most likely are very familiar with Advance Hun…

[HEADING=1] [/HEADING] [HEADING=1]Introduction[/HEADING] Container binary drift refers to the phenomenon where a running container deviates from its original image over time. This can happen due to various reasons, such as manual updates, automated processes, or security vulnerabilities. Essentially, the container starts to differ from the static snapshot it was created from, leading to potential inconsistencies and security risks. When thinking of container image drifts, it is important to understand the following: Security Risks: Image drift can introduce security risks, as the container may run software or processes that were not part of the original…

[HEADING=1]Introduction[/HEADING] In this article I will guide you on how to build a Generative AI application in Microsoft Fabric. This guide will walk you through implementing a RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) system in Microsoft Fabric using Azure OpenAI and Microsoft Fabric Eventhouse as your vector store. [HEADING=1]Why MS Fabric Eventhouse?[/HEADING] Fabric Eventhouse is built using the Kusto Engine that delivers top-notch performance for similarity search at high scale. If you are looking to build a RAG application with a large number of embeddings vectors, look no more, using MS Fabric you can leverage the processing power for building the Ve…

Fabric Product Team present: Exploring Direct Lake mode Live Webinar Wednesday, September 4 4:30-5:30 PM ET Register Here Continue reading...

[ATTACH type=full" alt="API keys management]62679[/ATTACH]API keys management This is the first part in a series of security practices on Azure You want enterprise-grade security but don't know where to start. You've heard terms like Entra ID and Managed identity or maybe even Service principal but where do you go from here? Let's start here with this series on security. That's a pretty scary statement, that means services are being misused most likely, data is actively being stolen and so on. Let's try to understand why the concept of API keys is a problematic one and how we can move away from it. [HEADING=1]What's the problem with using API keys?[/HEADIN…

Today's guest blog is from Microsoft Education Product Manager, Samantha Fisher We are so excited to announce that Speaker Progress, our newest Learning Accelerator, is now rolled out worldwide! Speaker Progress helps students develop confidence in their presentation skills and reduces anxiety by providing AI-powered real-time coaching and feedback on their public speaking skills like their pace, pitch, filler words, and more. Speaker Progress can also save educators time and create more opportunities for independent practice for in class presentations. We know that communication skills are fundamental future ready skills that help prepare students for the w…