With the vast amount of material around for Azure and the speed in which its capabilities evolve, it can be tricky to keep up. My aim is to filter some of this out and provide a monthly summary of news and updates for Data Platform and Analytics related Azure services.
Updates
Azure UK regions now generally available- https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/updates/general-availability-uk/
The Azure UK regions, UK South and UK West are now generally available. With UK South in London and UK West in Cardiff this will enable so many UK business with their digital transformations and journey to the cloud.
New Premium SQL Database performance level P15 - azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/updates/general-availability-new-azure-sql-database-premium-performance-level-p15/
The new P15 tier is twice as powerful as the P11 tier and offers 4000 Database Transaction Units for incredibly high performance and up to 1TB of storage (DTUs)
Azure Data Warehouse now General availability in more regions including North Europe - https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/updates/general-availability-azure-sql-data-warehouse-now-in-more-regions/
Azure SQL Data Warehouse is now generally available in additional regions—North Europe, Japan East, Brazil South, and Australia Southeast. At the time of writing this SQL Data Warehouse is available in 22 Azure regions
Azure Automation over proxy - https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/updates/azure-automation-hybrid-runbook-workers-now-support-proxy-environments/
The Hybrid Runbook Worker now supports proxy environments expanding security options when running Azure Automation on premises and on other Cloud Platforms!
Azure Automation over proxy - https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/updates/azure-automation-hybrid-runbook-workers-now-support-proxy-environments/
The Hybrid Runbook Worker now supports proxy environments expanding security options when running Azure Automation on premises and on other Cloud Platforms!
Useful training materials and references
Microsoft Virtual Academy - https://mva.microsoft.com/product-training/microsoft-azure#!lang=1033
Channel 9 - https://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Architecting-Microsoft-Azure-Solutions
Great Architecture Exam Prep - https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/keithmayer/2015/01/11/early-experts-study-guide-for-microsoft-specialist-certification-exam-70-534-architecting-microsoft-azure-solutions/
Azure Architect Reference - https://github.com/richorama/AzureArchitectureReference
Build Azure - http://buildazure.com/2015/06/09/microsoft-azure-architecture-blueprints-free-visio-symbols/
Code examples - https://github.com/Azure
Cloud Comparison sheet - https://endjincdn.blob.core.windows.net/assets/endjin-cloud-platform-comparison.pdf
Helpful Tools
These tools help me working with Azure day to day.
Resource Explorer - https://resources.azure.com/
Azure Powershell - https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/documentation/articles/powershell-install-configure/
Azure Storage Explorer - http://storageexplorer.com/
