Category: Azure – July 2023

Mastering the Azure Assess Cost Optimization Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide

How-To use Azure Cost Optimization Workbook

Getting Started with the Azure Cost Optimization Workbook

Overview

The Azure cost optimization Workbook is a powerful tool that leverages various data sources and queries to provide valuable insights and recommendations for cost optimization. By using data from services such as Azure Advisor, Azure Resource Graph, Azure Monitor Logs, and Azure Cost Management, the workbook helps users identify opportunities to optimize their Azure resources for high availability, security, performance, and cost. Moreover, through interactive visualizations, charts, tables, filters, export options, and quick-fix actions, the workbook presents the data as user-friendly and actionable. This makes it an indispensable asset for cloud professionals seeking to maximize cost efficiency.

How does the Azure Cost Optimization Workbook work?

The Azure Assess cost optimization Workbook uses various data sources and queries to provide insights and recommendations for cost optimization. Some of the data sources and queries used by the workbook are:

  • Azure Advisor: This free service analyzes your Azure configuration and usage data and provides personalized recommendations to help you optimize your resources for high availability, security, performance, and cost.
  • Azure Resource Graph: This service lets you explore your Azure resources using a powerful query language. The workbook uses Resource Graph queries to identify idle or underutilized resources, such as virtual machines in a stopped state, web apps without auto scale, etc.
  • Azure Monitor Logs: This service collects and analyzes data from your cloud resources. The workbook uses Log Analytics queries to provide insights into resource utilization and performance metrics, such as CPU usage, memory usage, network traffic, etc.
  • Azure Cost Management: This service helps you monitor, allocate, and optimize your cloud spending. The workbook uses Cost Management queries to provide insights into your spending trends, budgets, alerts, etc.

Visualizations and Controls

To use the Azure cost optimization Workbook, you need access to Azure Monitor Workbooks and Azure Advisor. Furthermore, you also need the appropriate permissions to view and modify the resources you want to optimize. To get started, follow these steps:

  • Charts: These are graphical representations of data that help you see patterns, trends, outliers, etc. The workbook uses various charts, such as line charts, bar charts, pie charts, etc., to display spending trends, resource utilization metrics, recommendation impact estimates, etc.
  • Tables: These are tabular data representations that help you see details, compare values, sort data, etc. The workbook uses tables to display data such as resource details, recommendation details, quick-fix actions, etc.
  • Filters: These controls help you narrow down the data to a specific subset based on certain criteria, such as subscription, resource group, tag, etc. The workbook uses filters to help you focus on a specific workload or scope you want to optimize.
  • Export: This control allows you to export the data or the workbook to a file format you can share with others or use for further analysis. The workbook allows you to export the data to CSV or Excel formats or export the workbook to JSON format.
  • Quick Fix: This control allows you to apply the recommended optimization directly from the workbook page, without navigating to another portal or service. The workbook provides quick-fix actions for some recommendations, such as resizing or shutting down virtual machines, enabling cluster autoscaler for AKS, etc.

How can you use the Azure Cost optimization Workbook?

To use the Azure cost optimization Workbook, you need access to Azure Monitor Workbooks and Azure Advisor. You also need the appropriate permissions to view and modify the resources you want to optimize. To get started, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to the Workbooks gallery in Azure Advisor.
  2. Open Cost Optimization (Preview) workbook template.
  3. Choose the subscription and resource group that you want to optimize.
  4. Explore the different tabs and sections of the workbook and review the insights and recommendations.
  5. Apply the filters, export options, and quick-fix actions as needed.
  6. Customize or extend the workbook template as desired.

Conclusion

The Azure cost optimization Workbook is a versatile and essential resource for any cloud professional looking to optimize their Azure costs effectively. Consequently, you can leverage data from various sources and employing user-friendly visualizations and controls. The workbook provides actionable insights and recommendations. This enable users to make data-driven decisions and apply cost-saving measures directly from the workbook. Ultimately, whether resizing virtual machines, adjusting resource utilization, or implementing Azure Cost Management strategies, the workbook simplifies the optimization process, making it easier to enhance cloud efficiency and achieve cost-effective solutions. Learn more about Azure Assess Cost Optimization workbook and its advantages.

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August 2, 2023 Azure - July 2023, Azure - What's New No comments yet
Cutting Azure Costs Made Easy: Navigating the Azure Assess Cost Optimization Workbook

Assess Cost Optimization Workbook: Key Benefits

Azure Assess Cost Optimization Workbook: A Guide for Cloud Professionals

Overview

If you want to optimize your Azure costs, consider the Azure Assess Cost Optimization Workbook. It’s a new workbook template now available in Azure Advisor. It provides insights and recommendations to help you reduce your Azure environment’s cost. In this blog post, we’ll explain its purpose, advantages, operation, and how to enhance your cloud efficiency using it.

What is the Azure Assess Cost Optimization Workbook?

The Azure Assess Cost Optimization Workbook is a template in Azure Monitor Workbooks. It gives an overview of your cost posture and identifies cost optimization opportunities. Aligned with the WAF Cost Optimization pillar, part of the Well-Architected Framework for Azure, it offers best practices and guidance for cost-effective solutions.

The workbook has various tabs focusing on specific areas like compute, storage, and networking, with recommendations such as:

  • Resizing or shutting down underutilized instances to optimize virtual machine spend.
  • Saving money with reserved virtual machine instances instead of pay-as-you-go costs.
  • Adjusting agent nodes based on resource demand by enabling cluster autoscaler for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).
  • Saving on Windows Server and SQL Server licenses with Azure Hybrid Benefit.
  • Using Azure Spot VMs for workloads that can handle interruptions or evictions.
  • Adjusting pods in a deployment based on CPU utilization with Horizontal Pod Autoscaler for AKS, and more!

The workbook also offers filters, export options, and quick-fix actions, making it easier to focus on specific workloads, share insights, and apply optimizations from the workbook page.

What are the Advantages of Assess Cost Optimization Workbook?

The Workbook has several advantages over other tools or methods for cost optimization:

  • It acts as a centralized hub, integrating commonly used tools like Azure Advisor, Azure Cost Management, and Azure Policy, helping you achieve utilization and efficiency goals.
  • You can customize and extend the workbook template, creating queries and visualizations through the Azure Monitor Workbooks platform.
  • The workbook uses the latest data from your Azure environment and reflects current pricing and offers from Azure, ensuring accurate insights.
  • It provides actionable insights and recommendations, enabling you to apply them directly from the workbook page, streamlining the optimization process for quick cost-saving actions.

Conclusion

The Azure Assess Cost Optimization Workbook is an invaluable tool for cloud professionals seeking to maximize cost efficiency and optimize their Azure environment. By using this workbook, you gain valuable insights, make data-driven decisions, and take concrete steps towards reducing your Azure costs effectively. Learn How to use Azure Cost Optimization Workbook.

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August 2, 2023 Azure - July 2023, Azure - What's New No comments yet
Meta's Llama 2 in Azure AI: Automating Tasks with Artificial Intelligence

Meta’s Llama 2 in Azure AI: Accelerating AI Projects

Meta’s Llama 2 in Azure AI: Seamless Integration and Deployment

Introduction

Meta’s Llama 2 in Azure AI: Meta and Microsoft announced in July 2023 that Llama 2 is now available in Azure AI. This announcement means that developers can now use Llama 2, a large language model (LLM) trained on a massive dataset of text and code, to build and deploy generative AI-powered tools and experiences on Azure. Llama 2, being open source, allows anyone to access and use it for free. Additionally, Llama 2’s capabilities include generating text, translating languages, writing various creative content, and providing informative answers to questions.

Benefits of Using Meta’s Llama 2 in Azure AI

There are a number of benefits to using Llama 2 in Azure AI. These benefits include:

  • Accuracy: Very accurate in its responses. It can generate text that is grammatically correct and semantically meaningful.
  • Creativity: Very creative as it can generate text that is original and engaging.
  • Scalability: It is scalable. It can be used to generate text for a variety of tasks, from simple chatbots to complex creative applications.
  • Cost-effectiveness: Cost-effective. It is free to use and can be deployed on a variety of platforms.
  • Fine-tuning: It can be fine-tuned to improve its performance on specific tasks.
  • Differentiable: It is differentiable, meaning it can be used to train machine learning models.
  • Extensible: Extensible, which means that it can be customized to meet the specific needs of developers.

How to Deploy Llama 2 in Azure AI

There are a few different ways you can deploy Llama 2 in Azure AI. Firstly, you can use the Hugging Face Transformers library. This library provides a number of tools that make using Llama 2 easy. Another option for deploying Llama 2 is to utilize the Azure AI model catalog. In this case, the catalog offers a pre-trained version of Llama 2 that you can deploy on Azure.

To deploy Llama 2 using the Hugging Face Transformers library, you must install the library and then load the Llama 2 model. Once you load the model, you can use it to generate text, translate languages, or write different kinds of creative content.

To deploy Llama 2 using the Azure AI model catalog, you will need to create an Azure account and then subscribe to the Azure AI service. Once you subscribe to the service, you can search for the Llama 2 model and seamlessly deploy it to your Azure environment.

Conclusion

Llama 2 powers various tasks as a robust LLM. It accurately generates grammatically correct and semantically meaningful text, while also displaying impressive creativity and producing engaging content. With its scalability, cost-effectiveness, and extensibility, Llama 2 becomes an excellent choice for diverse projects.

Additionally, using Llama 2 in Azure AI brings forth the following advantages:

  • Access to Azure’s AI infrastructure: Azure AI provides various AI services, including compute, storage, and networking, enabling you to scale your applications and improve their performance.
  • Security and compliance: Llama 2 is designed to meet the highest security and compliance standards, instilling confidence that your data remains safe and secure.
  • Support: Azure AI offers a wide range of support options, including documentation, tutorials, and forums, which assist you in getting started with Llama 2 and effectively troubleshooting any encountered issues.

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July 24, 2023 Azure - July 2023, Azure - What's New No comments yet
Improved Performance and Accessibility: Introducing Always Serve for Azure Traffic Manager

Always Serve for Azure Traffic Manager: New Feature

Always Serve for Azure Traffic Manager: A New Feature Enhancing Availability

Overview

The Always Serve for Azure Traffic Manager (ATM) is a new feature that enables users to specify a specific endpoint for traffic serving, even if it is not the most optimal choice. This capability is valuable when consistent traffic from a particular location is necessary, such as government websites or financial institutions. Azure Traffic Manager, a cloud-based service, facilitates the distribution of traffic across multiple endpoints, including web servers, cloud services, and Azure VMs. It leverages various factors, such as latency, availability, and performance, to determine the optimal endpoint for serving a request.

Always Serve for Azure Traffic Manager: Benefits

Using Always Serve for ATM offers several advantages:

  • Improved availability: Ensures continuous availability of applications by directing traffic to a healthy endpoint consistently.
  • Reduced latency: Minimizes latency by always serving traffic from the nearest endpoint.
  • Increased control: Empowers users with more control over traffic routing to their endpoints.

How It’s Useful

Always Serve proves useful in various scenarios, including:

1. Government websites: Government websites require accessibility worldwide, even during network outages or disruptions. Always Serve guarantees these websites’ continuous availability to users.
2. Financial institutions: Financial institutions must ensure their websites are accessible to customers at all times, especially during peak load periods. Always Serve helps maintain constant availability, even during traffic spikes.
3. E-commerce websites: E-commerce platforms need to be reliably available to customers for completing purchases. Always Serve ensures these websites’ continuous accessibility, even if issues arise with one of the endpoints.

How to Use Always Serve for Azure Traffic Manager

To leverage Always Serve for ATM, follow these steps:

1. Create a new profile and specify the desired endpoint for traffic serving.
2. Optionally, set a priority for the endpoint to determine its usage when multiple endpoints are available.

Conclusion

Always Serve in Azure Traffic Manager introduces a new feature that enhances application availability and performance. This tool proves invaluable for organizations seeking to maintain constant website availability for their users.The Always Serve feature in Azure Traffic Manager improves application availability and performance, making it an essential tool for organizations that want to ensure their website is always accessible to users.

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July 24, 2023 Azure - July 2023, Azure - What's New No comments yet
Azure Machine Learning Compute Cluster

Azure Machine Learning Compute: Latest Updates

Azure Machine Learning Compute Cluster: Overview

Azure Machine Learning (ML) Compute Cluster is an integral cloud-based service within the Azure Machine Learning platform, delivering on-demand and scalable compute resources for machine learning workloads. Designed to offer a versatile and expandable environment, it accommodates both CPU and GPU-based tasks and supports parallel execution, thus optimizing model training time.

Key Features

The service boasts several key features, empowering users to efficiently manage and scale their machine learning workloads. Notably, it provides a variety of virtual machine sizes tailored to the specific requirements of individual workloads, while also supporting both Linux and Windows operating systems. Moreover, it seamlessly integrates with other Azure services like Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) and Azure Batch, streamlining workflows and enhancing overall productivity.

Key Benefits

The benefits are abundant. Its scalability and flexibility enable users to accommodate varying workloads with ease. The service significantly reduces model training time by executing machine learning tasks in parallel, leading to faster results and more streamlined development processes. The availability of virtual machine size options further enhances its versatility, ensuring an optimal fit for diverse workload needs.

Azure Machine Learning Compute Cluster: Conclusion

In conclusion, it is a powerful and essential cloud-based resource for executing machine learning workloads. Its ability to provide on-demand scalability, support parallel processing, and offer a range of virtual machine sizes makes it an invaluable asset for data scientists and developers. By leveraging this service, users can expedite model training and achieve enhanced efficiency within their machine-learning projects. However, it is essential to acknowledge its cloud-based nature and ensure a reliable internet connection for seamless utilization. Embrace its capabilities and unlock the full potential of your machine-learning endeavors.

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July 20, 2023 Azure - July 2023, Azure - What's New No comments yet
Azure Event Grid for AKS

Event Grid Upgrade for AKS: Enhancements & Benefits

AKS Empowered: Unraveling the July 19, 2023 Event Grid Upgrade Enhancements

Event Grid Upgrade for AKS: Introduction

In the ever-evolving landscape of cloud computing and Kubernetes, Microsoft’s Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) has emerged as a popular choice for container orchestration. As businesses demand greater scalability, performance, and reliability, Azure continues to deliver cutting-edge updates to AKS. On July 19, 2023, Microsoft rolled out a significant upgrade to AKS’ Event Grid, with new enhancements promising to revolutionize event-driven application development. In this blog post, we’ll explore these upgrades, their benefits, and why AKS users should consider upgrading.

Event Grid Upgrade for AKS: New Enhancements

  • Custom Event Schemas: The July 2023 upgrade empowers AKS users to define and enforce custom event schemas in Event Grid, standardizing event structures precisely. Custom schemas enhance clarity, enabling seamless integration, reducing errors, and improving reliability.
  • Dead Lettering: The latest Event Grid upgrade introduces dead lettering support, storing failed events in a dedicated “dead letter” queue. This enables efficient debugging, faster issue resolution, and improved application stability.
  • Event Grid Explorer: Microsoft’s new Event Grid Explorer simplifies event monitoring and troubleshooting. It provides real-time insights into event flows, subscription statuses, and delivery performance, enhancing observability and reducing the learning curve.

Benefits of Upgrading

  • Enhanced Application Reliability: Upgrading allows enforcing custom event schemas and leveraging dead lettering, improving application reliability. Correctly structured events and graceful failure handling lead to more resilient applications.
  • Improved Development Productivity: The Event Grid Explorer enables quick analysis and issue diagnosis without external tools. Improved observability accelerates development and facilitates rapid responses to changing requirements.
  • Seamless Integration: Defining custom event schemas enhances collaboration and integration between teams. Adherence to defined schemas reduces friction and accelerates seamless application development.
  • Cost-Effective Error Handling: Dead lettering support automates error handling, storing failed events in a dedicated queue. This saves time, operational costs, and facilitates thorough error analysis.

Conclusion

The July 2023 upgrade elevates event-driven application development on Azure. Custom event schemas, dead lettering, and the Event Grid Explorer empower developers with powerful tools.

Upgrading to the latest AKS version offers benefits like enhanced application reliability, improved development productivity, seamless integration, and cost-effective error handling. Proper planning and testing can mitigate potential challenges.

Whether you’re a seasoned AKS user or starting your cloud journey, embracing the Event Grid upgrade fosters a resilient and agile application ecosystem on Microsoft Azure. Embrace the power of Event Grid to unlock the full potential of your AKS deployments today!

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July 20, 2023 Azure - July 2023, Azure - What's New No comments yet
Microsoft Dev Box

Microsoft Dev Box: A Cloud-Based Workstation

Microsoft Dev Box in Azure: A New Way to Develop and Test Your Applications

If you are a developer who wants to create, test, and deploy your applications faster and easier, you might be interested in the new Microsoft Dev Box in Azure. This fully managed development environment provides you with everything you need to build and run your applications in the cloud.

What is Microsoft Dev Box in Azure?

Microsoft Dev Box in Azure is a service that lets you create and use a virtual machine (VM) that is preconfigured with the tools and frameworks you need for your development projects. Additionally, you can choose from various templates that include different operating systems, languages, and frameworks, such as Windows, Linux, .NET, Java, Python, Node.js, and more. Furthermore, you have the flexibility to customize your VM with your own settings and preferences.

You can conveniently access your VM from any device and location using a web browser or a remote desktop client. Moreover, you have the capability to connect your VM to other Azure services, such as storage, databases, networking, and security. You can seamlessly develop and test your applications in a realistic and scalable environment without the need to worry about infrastructure or maintenance.

What are the benefits?

Microsoft Dev Box in Azure offers several benefits for developers who want to improve their productivity and efficiency. Some of these benefits are:

  • Save time and money by avoiding the hassle of setting up and managing your own development environment. Create a VM with a few clicks and start coding immediately.
  • Work from anywhere and on any device, as long as you have an internet connection. Collaborate with other developers by sharing your VM or using tools like Visual Studio Code Spaces and GitHub Codespaces.
  • Leverage the power and flexibility of Azure to build and test your applications in a secure and reliable cloud platform. Easily scale up or down your resources, integrate with other services, and deploy your applications to any Azure region or endpoint.
  • Learn new skills and technologies by exploring the different templates and options available for your VM. You can also access online tutorials, documentation, and support from Microsoft and the developer community.

Conclusion

Microsoft Dev Box in Azure is a great solution for developers who want to simplify their development workflow and take advantage of the cloud. It is now generally available for all Azure customers, so you can try it out today and see how it can help you create amazing applications faster and easier.

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July 14, 2023 Azure - July 2023, Azure - What's New No comments yet
Creating Azure Active Directory: Simplifying Identity Management in the Cloud

Microsoft Entra ID: The New Name for Azure AD

Microsoft Entra ID: What’s in a name?

Microsoft has recently announced that it will rebrand its popular cloud-based identity and access management service, Azure Active Directory, as Microsoft Entra ID. This change will take effect in early 2024, and will affect all existing and new customers of the service. But why did Microsoft decide to change the name of such a well-known and widely used product? And what does Entra ID mean?

In this article, we will explore the reasons behind this rebranding and how it reflects Microsoft’s vision and strategy for the future of identity and security in the cloud.

Why change the name?

Azure Active Directory, or AAD for short, was launched in 2010 as a cloud-based version of Microsoft’s on-premises Active Directory service. It provides identity and access management for Windows-based networks. AAD enables users to sign in and access applications and resources across Microsoft’s cloud platform, Azure, as well as third-party services that integrate with AAD. AAD also offers features such as multi-factor authentication, single sign-on, conditional access, identity protection, and more.

Over the years, AAD has become one of the world’s most popular and trusted cloud identity services, with over 400 million active users and over 30 billion authentication requests per day. AAD supports over 3,000 pre-integrated applications and is used by over 90% Fortune 500 companies.

However, Microsoft realized that the name Azure Active Directory no longer accurately reflects the scope and capabilities of the service. As Microsoft’s cloud platform evolved, so did AAD. It is not just a directory service for Azure anymore. AAD is a comprehensive identity platform that works across multiple clouds, hybrid environments, and devices. It is also not just an extension of Active Directory anymore. It is a modern and innovative service which leverages machine learning, artificial intelligence, and blockchain to provide secure and seamless identity experiences for users and organizations.

Therefore, Microsoft decided to rename AAD as Microsoft Entra ID, to better communicate its value proposition and differentiation in the market.

What does Entra ID mean?

Microsoft Entra ID is a combination of two words: Entra and ID. Entra is derived from the Latin “intrare”, meaning “to enter”. ID is an abbreviation for “identity”. Entra ID signifies Microsoft’s mission to enable users to enter any application or resource with their identity, regardless of where they are or what device they use.

Microsoft Entra ID also conveys Microsoft’s vision to empower users and organizations with intelligent and adaptive identity solutions that enhance security, productivity, and collaboration in the cloud era.

What are the benefits of Entra ID?

Microsoft Entra ID will offer the same features and functionality as AAD, but with a new name and logo that align with Microsoft’s brand identity and design language. Customers using AAD today will not need to change their configurations or integrations. They will simply see the new name and logo in their portals, documentation, and communications from Microsoft.

However, Microsoft Entra ID will also bring some new benefits to customers, such as:

  • A simplified and consistent naming scheme across Microsoft’s cloud services. For example, instead of Azure AD B2C (Business to Consumer), customers will see Microsoft Entra ID B2C. Instead of Azure AD B2B (Business to Business), customers will see Microsoft Entra ID B2B.
  • A unified and integrated identity experience across Microsoft’s cloud offerings. For example, customers using Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, or other Microsoft cloud services can manage their identities using Entra ID as a single-entry point.
  • A more flexible and extensible identity platform that can support new scenarios and use cases in the future. For example, customers can leverage Entra ID’s capabilities for decentralized identity using blockchain technology or for verifiable credentials using digital certificates.

Conclusion

Microsoft Entra ID is more than just a name change. It reflects Microsoft’s commitment to delivering innovative and secure identity solutions for the cloud era. By rebranding AAD as Entra ID, Microsoft aims to simplify its messaging, unify its identity offerings, and extend its platform for new opportunities and challenges.

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July 12, 2023 Azure - July 2023, Azure - What's New, Microsoft Azure No comments yet
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