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Code scanning, a pipeline-based tool available in GitHub Advanced Security, is designed to detect code vulnerabilities and bugs within the source code of ADO (Azure DevOps) repositories. Utilizing CodeQL as a static analysis tool, it performs query analysis and variant analysis. When vulnerabilities are found, it generates security alerts. CodeQL CodeQL is a powerful static analysis tool used for showing vulnerabilities and bugs in source code. It enables developers to write custom queries that analyze codebases, searching for specific patterns and potential security issues. By converting code into a database format, CodeQL allows for sophisticated, database…

RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) is one of the most promising uses for large language models. Instead of asking an LLM a question and hoping the answer lies somewhere in its weights, we instead first query a knowledge base for anything relevant to the question, and then feed both those results and the original question to the LLM. We have many RAG solutions out there for asking questions on unstructured documents, like PDFs and Word Documents. Our most popular Azure solution for this scenario includes a data ingestion process to extract the text from the documents, chunk them up into appropriate sizes, and store them in an Azure AI Search index. When your RAG is on…

Azure Chaos Studio supports new fault for Azure Event Hubs. Azure Chaos Studio is a managed service that uses chaos engineering to help you measure, understand, and improve your cloud application and service resilience. Chaos engineering is a methodology by which you inject real-world faults into your application to run controlled fault injection experiments. Azure Chaos Studio has added a new fault action for Azure Event Hubs called Change Event Hub State. This fault action lets users disable entities within a targeted Azure Event Hubs namespace either partially or fully to test messaging infrastructure for maintenance or failure scenarios for an application dep…

We continually work to improve performance and mitigate Azure Functions cold starts - the extra time it takes for a function that hasn’t been used recently to respond to an event. We understand that no matter when your functions were last called, you want fast executions and little lag time. In this article: How we measure cold start and the work done to improve it in the Azure Functions platform. What you can do to optimize your functions to improve your app’s cold start performance. Provide your feedback on Azure Functions cold start. [HEADING=1]How we measure Azure Functions cold start[/HEADING] In measuring Azure Functions performance, we prioriti…

Native logical replication is a built-in feature which was introduced in PostgreSQL 10. It is aimed to replicate data between tables in two separate Postgres databases using a replication identity, usually a primary key. It follows a publisher and subscriber model where there can be one or more publishers or subscribers. The publisher and subscriber databases can be on the same Azure Database for Postgres - flexible server or on two different servers. The typical use-cases for logical replication are: Sending incremental changes in a single database or a subset of a database to subscribers as they occur. Sending the change to subscribers could also help in eve…

You can attach the Visual Studio debugger to any .Net process running on Azure App Service. This allows you to debug the deployed web app as though it's running locally. For more information about how to attach Visual Studio debugger for a web app deployed to Azure App Services please refer to: Remote Debug ASP.NET Core on Azure App Service (Windows) Troubleshoot with Visual Studio - Azure App Service | Microsoft Learn Over the past few years, we have received feedback from our customers regarding the opening of ports on local machines to use remote debugging with App Service. This often requires multilevel approvals and leads to configurational & …

The rapid growth of SaaS apps makes it challenging to gain visibility across the apps used in an organization’s environment. SaaS apps are often used without the awareness of IT departments, a phenomenon known as Shadow IT. Moreover, the swift adoption of generative AI apps introduces an additional layer of security complexity and risks. Organizations need effective app security solutions more than ever to ensure that employees only access approved and safe apps. A key aspect of combating Shadow IT is ensuring comprehensive visibility into all the apps used in an organization’s environment, which includes the identification of all SaaS apps used by employees, regar…

Summary: Regulated companies impose stringent requirements on data governance to prevent data exfiltration. As a Cloud Architect, ensuring the safe and efficient exit of data from our network to external destinations is paramount. This document aims to provide a comprehensive guide to the strategies, best practices, and tools we employ at various customers to maintain robust security measures. What Azure services allow data egress? Virtual Network subnets or VMs without UDR or BGP Control - traffic can leave the default outbound access IP which is not controllable or managed by the customer. Private VNETs will be available with secure by default enabled schedu…

Updates to Copilot Dashboard Configurable minimum aggregation threshold The Copilot Dashboard allows users to filter analysis to a desired group, while hiding results if the selected group does not meet a minimum group size for user privacy. To enable customers with more control in specifying the desired privacy threshold, Viva Insights admins can now configure the minimum group size. The default minimum group size is set at 10 and can be lowered to a minimum of 5. Copilot assisted hours breakdown by app and activity Copilot assisted hours enables users to estimate the amount of time employees were assisted using Copilot. Users can now …

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published the first version of its Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) in 2014. Ten years later NIST released the second iteration of CSF, entitled NIST CSF 2.0. Microsoft and its partners have supported organizations in implementing the original CSF guidance, going as far as building and enhancing an assessment in Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager since 2018. This blog and series will look to apply NIST CSF 2.0 to Microsoft 365 and discuss changes from the previous publication. It is somewhat improper to look at any particular CSF Functions in a vacuum or singular vantage point. NIST CSWP 29 (the primary docum…

Whether mobile or desktop, virtual or physical, in the office or out in the world, Microsoft Intune can help you secure access to your company resources and keep your workforce productive from a single pane of glass. While this is an awesome capability, it also brings some complexity with it. Customers have asked for a guide that spells out explicitly what they should do to get started with Intune. Here you'll find the resources you need before, during, and after your Intune deployment. [HEADING=1]“I want to…” focus on outcomes[/HEADING] Screenshot of the Microsoft Intune product and capabilities documentation website. The Intune hub page is divided up into vario…

We’re excited to announce that guidance for SAP Identity Management (IDM) customers planning to migrate their identity management scenarios to Microsoft Entra is now available. In a previous post, we discussed SAP ending maintenance for their identity management solution (SAP IDM) by 2030. We've since begun jointly developing documentation to help customers plan a seamless migration to the recommended alternative—Microsoft Entra ID. For many customers, it may be possible to get started immediately, leveraging the subscriptions that they already own with Microsoft 365 suites. Microsoft 365 enterprise suite licenses include Entra ID P1 features that will be the focus of thi…

In a previous blog post in 2023 we mentioned that two Common Criteria (CC) certifications of SQL Server 2022 were in progress. We are excited to announce that CC EAL2 certifications for SQL Server 2022 on Windows and Linux (including enabled by Azure Arc) have been issued! The certifications are compliant to the newly developed and recently certified DBMS cPP. After SQL’s first CC certification of version 2005 (Yukon), SQL Server 2022 is the 8th major release that has successfully completed this security attestation. To see an extract of the extensive CC history of SQL Server, please refer to the SQL Server security page (Click on “View our Common Criteria certifi…

Images are a key part of creating engaging content for communicating your nonprofit’s mission. Social media, presentations, training documentation, diagrams to communicate ideas, email, and more – you can enhance your content with visual storytelling. With AI, you don’t need to be a designer to create compelling images: Copilot can be your collaborator in creating visual stories and elements. Prompt ingredients for images are similar to how to prompt Copilot for content: Provide a description of what you’re trying to create “as if you were asking a helpful coworker”. Unlike content prompts, you can include lots of stylistic and visual details to build the image you…

Microsoft ISV Success for Business Applications offers platforms, resources, and support designed to help partners develop, publish, and market business apps. Learn more about an offer from Aptitude on Microsoft AppSource: [attachment=54141:name] Aptitude Fynapse for Dynamics 365 Finance: This next generation platform for CFOs and finance departments drives continuous compliance by providing full automation of finance and accounting processes while delivering real-time business insights. Its modular approach can be implemented faster and at a much lower cost than traditional solutions. Continue reading...

We are excited to see the continuous growth on the submissions of the SharePoint Framework (SPFx) solutions to the app source and on the usage of the SharePoint store for extending experiences for SharePoint and Microsoft Viva. Here are the top 10 most wide used ISVs based on the solution installations from the store and/or from Microsoft AppSource during May 2024. SharePoint Framework is extensibility model for Microsoft Viva, Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Microsoft 365 app and SharePoint. It enables the same code to be used easily across the Microsoft 365 with this widely adopted tooling which uses industry standard tech with easy and automatic SSO and hosting. Usage…

This post is a collaboration between Divya Swarnkar and Kent Weare We are excited to announce a new capability in Integration Environment that allows you to monitor Azure Integration Services, including Azure Logic Apps, Azure Service Bus, and Azure API Management (APIM), from a single pane of glass. This enhancement is designed to streamline your monitoring experience, providing a comprehensive view of your integration workflows and services. Here’s why this is important and how it will benefit you. [HEADING=2]Integration Environment and Grouping AIS Resources[/HEADING] The Integration Environment was launched with a vision to provide a dedicated landi…

Business rules engines offer a low-code environment that lets you build applications faster and easier, reducing dependencies on programming. Rules engine help to create and change business logic without having to write code or restart the applications that use them. Also, In a world of microservices that promotes decoupling, rules engines provide consistency, clarity, and compliance across different services and domains. Those are some of the benefits of using a Rules Engine. BizTalk Server includes a Business Rules Engine. We have incorporated the RETE runtime included in the product along with support of .net and XML facts into Azure Logic Apps. This means that …

The generative AI landscape is in a constant state of flux, with new developments emerging at a breakneck pace. In recent times along with LLMs we have also seen the rise of SLMs. From virtual assistants to chatbots, SLMs are revolutionizing how we interact with technology through conversation. As the backbone of many conversational models, SLMs enable natural language understanding and generation, leading to more engaging user experiences. The deployment of large language models (LLMs) and smaller language models (SLMs) on local infrastructure has emerged as a critical area of discussion due to several compelling factors. These factors include maintaining stringen…

Introduction Azure has some incredible services that we can use for all business sizes and even budgets. One of these amazing services we find is a highly discounted virtual machine called a spot instance. A spot instance in essence is a special kind of Virtual Machine that can at any time be evicted when capacity is required for the standard or default Virtual Machines. Why would I want to run it then? Because it is super cheap! How cheap? In some cases, up to 90% Off. Here are a few key points to consider: Cost Savings: Spot VMs can provide discounts of up to 90% compared to regular pricing, though typical savings are often in the range of 60-80%. Pricing…

[HEADING=1] [/HEADING] [HEADING=1] Announcing General Availability: Azure OpenAI and AI Search Connectors for Logic Apps [/HEADING] We are thrilled to announce the General Availability of the Azure OpenAI and AI Search connectors for Logic Apps. These new connectors integrate the power of Azure Open AI's natural language processing with Azure AI Search's intelligent search capabilities, enabling developers to build intelligent, AI-driven applications seamlessly. [HEADING=2]Innovate where you Integrate[/HEADING] Data is the cornerstone of any AI application, unique to each organization. Business processes, whether in the cloud or within a VNET, r…

[HEADING=1] [/HEADING] [HEADING=1] Preview the new Templates for Azure Logic Apps: Seeking Your Feedback on UI Wireframes [/HEADING] [HEADING=2] [/HEADING] [HEADING=2]Introduction[/HEADING] Azure Logic Apps continues to add powerful features that simplify complex integrations and automations. As we prepare to release support for templates, we are excited to share our UI wireframes with you. Your feedback is crucial in helping us refine and perfect this new feature. [HEADING=2]What Are Templates?[/HEADING] Templates in Azure Logic Apps are pre-built workflow solutions designed to address common integration scenarios. They cover a wide r…

Function App lets you leverage PowerShell gallery for managing dependencies. Your PowerShell modules defined in requirements.psd1 file will be downloaded automatically if you enable dependency management. However, if your Function App runs on Consumption plan and the size of dependent modules is too large, chances are the download would fail. During the installation, the modules would be unziped and saved in the "D:\local\Temp", which is the temp storage on the plan worker. Due to the 500 MB limit of temp storage on consumption plan, the installation would fail with not enough space error: [iCODE]System Log: { Log-Level: Warning; Log-Message: Save-Module('Microsoft…

[HEADING=1]Introducing an Enhanced Connections Explorer[/HEADING] We are pleased to introduce a new look and feel to our Connections explorer, designed to help you manage your list of data sources more efficiently. While maintaining the familiar functionality of the old experience, this updated interface features a modern design, improved performance and an enhanced way to manage and view your Favorites. We encourage you to turn on the new Connections pane to experience its smoother and more intuitive user experience - If you are managing a long list of connections in your ADX web UI, you'll notice a performance improvement as soon as you turn t…

Ensure high-accuracy, efficient vector search at massive scale with Azure Cosmos DB. Leveraging DiskANN, more IO traffic moves from memory to disk to maximize storage capacity and enable high-speed similarity searches across all data, reducing compute dependency. This technology, powering global services like Microsoft 365, is now integrated into Azure Cosmos DB, enabling developers to build scalable, high-performance applications with built-in vector search, real-time fraud detection, and robust multi-tenancy support. Join Kirill Gavrylyuk, VP for Azure Cosmos DB, as he shares how Azure Cosmos DB with DiskANN offers unparalleled speed, efficiency, and accuracy, ma…