Cynthia and Sujit discuss a couple of things they are working on including training for the AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals exam and using Azure Files for remote software development.

Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode318.mp3

Transcript: https://eus2.videoindexer.ai/accounts/e0eee289-7730-4999-978b-eb7f63be8cb5/videos/0c405a46ce/

Resources: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/paths/azure-fundamentals/

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/files/storage-how-to-use-files-linux

Other updates:

Because Azure Resource Manager now has all the infrastructure as a service (IaaS) capabilities of Azure Service Management and new advancements, we’ll retire classic IaaS VMs on March 1, 2023.
If you use IaaS resources from ASM, please complete your migration by March 1, 2023. We encourage you to make the switch sooner to take advantage of these feature enhancements in Azure Resource Manager:
• Enables deploying complex applications through templates.
• Includes scalable, parallel deployment for virtual machines into availability sets.
• Provides lifecycle management of compute, network and storage independently.
• Enables security by default with the enforcement of virtual machines in a virtual network.
How does this affect me?
Beginning today, customers who are not currently using classic IaaS VMs, will not be able to create new classic VMs.
Beginning March 1, 2023, customers who are using classic IaaS VMs will no longer be able to start any classic IaaS VMs using ASM. Any remaining VMs in a running or stopped-allocated state will be moved to a stopped-deallocated state.
The following Azure services and functionality will NOT be impacted by this retirement: Cloud Services, storage accounts NOT used by classic VMs, and virtual networks (VNets) NOT used by classic VMs.
What actions should I take?
To avoid service disruption, migrate your IaaS resources from classic IaaS VMs to Resource Manager by March 1, 2023. We recommend migrating sooner to start using the feature enhancements in Resource Manager.

From <https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/we-re-retiring-azure-classic-vms-on-march-1-2023/>

ExpressRoute Global Reach: Building your own cloud-based global backbone
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/expressroute-global-reach-building-your-own-cloud-based-global-backbone/

Azure Cost Management + Billing updates – February 2020
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-cost-management-billing-updates-february-2020/

Azure Skills Evangelist and Cloud Solutions Architect, Daniel Baker, comes back on the show and this time he is very passionate about the resources, tips and tricks for getting skilled in Azure.

Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode251.mp3

Azure Learn - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/learn/azure

Azure Labs - https://www.microsoft.com/handsonlabs 

Azure Interactives - http://azureinteractives.azurewebsites.net 

Microsoft YouTube -  https://www.youtube.com/user/MSCloudOS 

Citadel - https://azurecitadel.github.io 

Azuredan – http://www.azuredan.co.uk 

Pluralsight - https://www.pluralsight.com 

Other updates:

You can now choose which sets of user accounts should be synchronized into a managed domain. You do this by selecting groups in Azure Active Directory whose members should be synchronized to the managed domain. The current experience is PowerShell based.

We’ve improved the sync performance in multiple stages. For large benchmark customers, we’ve been able to bring initial sync down to a few days.
Further, the virtual machine SKU on which Azure AD DS is hosted scales automatically based on the number of objects in the directory. This enables larger customers to get better sync performance—for both initial and ongoing sync from Azure AD.

Accessibility and array support with Azure Blockchain Workbench 1.4.0
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/accessibility-and-array-support-with-azure-blockchain-workbench-1-4-0/

Sweet updates about Truffle on Azure
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/sweet-updates-about-truffle-on-azure/

Improved governance experience with Ethereum Proof-of-Authority 1.2
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/improved-governance-experience-with-ethereum-proof-of-authority-1-2/

Azure IoT Reference Architecture 2.1 release
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-iot-reference-architecture-2-1-release/

Azure Cognitive Services available in new regions
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
New regions are now available for Azure Cognitive Services. The Content Moderator, Computer Vision, Face, Translator Text, and Language Understanding (LUIS) Services are now generally available in US Government regions.

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/cognitive-services/content-moderator/

Azure Digital Twins | Public Preview disclosure

Azure Digital Twins is the first of its kind cloud service that virtually represents the physical world across people, places and devices, and will enter public preview in mid-October. Azure Digital Twins significantly reduces time and complexity for building next generation IoT solutions by automating endpoint actions based on incoming telemetry and using predefined templates that are attuned to specific industries. Azure Digital Twins enables customers to build solutions that analyze how space is used and then optimize it to better serve your needs at every level.
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-iot-reference-architecture-2-1-release/ 

Cale and Sujit chat with Mark Grimes, a long-time MCT (Microsoft Certified Trainer) and MCS consultant on the new certification exams for Azure. Who are they meant for, how to prepare and what are the advantages of these certifications? We get answers from the pros. Cale is also involved with teaching courses for these exams so he weighs in as well.

Media file: http://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode70.mp3

Mark has put together a consolidated set of links for more information on the 70-533 exam: 

aka.ms/certification/70-533

https://www.microsoft.com/learning/en-us/exam-70-534.aspx

https://www.microsoft.com/learning/en-us/exam-70-532.aspx

Other Links:

http://azure.microsoft.com/blog/2015/03/24/announcing-azure-app-service

A blog post by PM Lichun Li describing causes of common VM/web/worker instance allocation failures and suggesting possible remediation steps.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/rds/archive/2015/03/17/how-to-create-a-remoteapp-template-image-in-azure.aspx