Month: September 2024
List Duplicates in One Cell Based on Values in Another Cell
I have a list of assets that I am trying to list those who don’t have access to each in column F. If everyone has access, then return a blank.
I’ve tried different formulas but messed around with each to create a few iterations. The three main formulas I attempted to use were:
=IF(E2>1, TEXTJOIN(“; “,TRUE,FILTER(Owner, A2=ID)), “”)=IF(FILTER(EditAccess, A2=ID)=”Has Access”, “”, TEXTJOIN(“; “,TRUE,FILTER(Owner, A2=ID))=IFS(AND(FILTER(EditAccess, A2=ID)=”Has Access”, E2>1), FILTER(Owner, A2=ID)))
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Clean up of data will be made using Power Query after this equation is figured out.
I have a list of assets that I am trying to list those who don’t have access to each in column F. If everyone has access, then return a blank. I’ve tried different formulas but messed around with each to create a few iterations. The three main formulas I attempted to use were:=IF(E2>1, TEXTJOIN(“; “,TRUE,FILTER(Owner, A2=ID)), “”)=IF(FILTER(EditAccess, A2=ID)=”Has Access”, “”, TEXTJOIN(“; “,TRUE,FILTER(Owner, A2=ID))=IFS(AND(FILTER(EditAccess, A2=ID)=”Has Access”, E2>1), FILTER(Owner, A2=ID))) Any help would be greatly appreciated. Clean up of data will be made using Power Query after this equation is figured out. Read More
Summary of frustration with Planner
The recent webinar had many frustrated comments made, this is my view of the root of many of the issues:
Historically,
Ms Project , Outlook, and SharePoint all had Tasks. They all had the same underlying robust data structure, and Project could sync with SharePoint Tasks, SharePoint tasks could sync with the Outlook client Tasks. You could view and work with Tasks in any place. You knew what a task was.
Other than individual visibility, now you have Outlook Tasks that won’t talk to planner, ToDos that aren’t planner Tasks , MS Project Tasks that apparently you can upload to Planner(?) but not Sync. Outlook Tasks can be individually assigned to someone else but not managed in Planner. SharePoint Tasks (being deprecated?) can still be synced with Outlook, but these aren’t visible in Planner/ToDo. Onenote Tasks can be assigned as Tasks but not managed in planner.
Then we have Loop Tasks for Teams that aren’t part of planner, nor owned by a team.
Working with planner, one can’t even copy a task without 4 operations, one task at a time. Previously one could copy a task and paste it as many times as needed. There doesn’t seem to be a drag of anything to a planner Task.
‘Goals’ have been added , which look like Buckets – haven’t tried those. Multiplan seems to have disappeared
The goal of the new Planner was to be able to see all your Tasks in one place. Great for individuals, so much work and confusion for a team / manager. Case in point; a manager cannot ‘out of the box’ look at all Planner Tasks assigned to a resource in one place. (Without restricting oneself to one massive Plan)
I’ll have to keep plugging, it’s all so scattered though. 😞
The recent webinar had many frustrated comments made, this is my view of the root of many of the issues: Historically, Ms Project , Outlook, and SharePoint all had Tasks. They all had the same underlying robust data structure, and Project could sync with SharePoint Tasks, SharePoint tasks could sync with the Outlook client Tasks. You could view and work with Tasks in any place. You knew what a task was. Other than individual visibility, now you have Outlook Tasks that won’t talk to planner, ToDos that aren’t planner Tasks , MS Project Tasks that apparently you can upload to Planner(?) but not Sync. Outlook Tasks can be individually assigned to someone else but not managed in Planner. SharePoint Tasks (being deprecated?) can still be synced with Outlook, but these aren’t visible in Planner/ToDo. Onenote Tasks can be assigned as Tasks but not managed in planner. Then we have Loop Tasks for Teams that aren’t part of planner, nor owned by a team. Working with planner, one can’t even copy a task without 4 operations, one task at a time. Previously one could copy a task and paste it as many times as needed. There doesn’t seem to be a drag of anything to a planner Task. ‘Goals’ have been added , which look like Buckets – haven’t tried those. Multiplan seems to have disappeared The goal of the new Planner was to be able to see all your Tasks in one place. Great for individuals, so much work and confusion for a team / manager. Case in point; a manager cannot ‘out of the box’ look at all Planner Tasks assigned to a resource in one place. (Without restricting oneself to one massive Plan) I’ll have to keep plugging, it’s all so scattered though. 😞 Read More
issue with Windows updates
I am having issues with installing windows insider updates on my pc, I need help with installing the updates.
I am having issues with installing windows insider updates on my pc, I need help with installing the updates. Read More
New user ignores stop inherit permissions
Whenever I change a users permissions to the parent folder of a large group of folders, if there are child folders set to NOT inherit permissions, the user who I just gave parent folder access, also gains access to the folders I set to not inherit.
Shouldn’t the user not have access to those folders until I specifically add them? I thought that was the whole point for not inheriting permissions?
Whenever I change a users permissions to the parent folder of a large group of folders, if there are child folders set to NOT inherit permissions, the user who I just gave parent folder access, also gains access to the folders I set to not inherit. Shouldn’t the user not have access to those folders until I specifically add them? I thought that was the whole point for not inheriting permissions? Read More
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Implementing Governance for your Azure Cloud Using Azure Policy
What is Azure Policy?
Azure Policy is a service that allows you to create, assign, and manage policies that govern your Azure resources. Policies are rules that define the desired state and configuration of your resources, such as the location, size, tags, and properties. Policies can also audit the compliance status of your resources and report any violations.
With Azure Policy, you can ensure that your resources follow the best practices and standards that you define for your organization. You can also use Azure Policy to implement cost management, security, and regulatory compliance for your cloud environment.
How does Azure Policy work?
Azure Policy works by evaluating your resources against the policies that you assign to them. You can assign policies at different levels of scope, such as the management group, subscription, resource group, or resource level. You can also create policy initiatives, which are collections of policies that work together to achieve a specific goal.
When you assign a policy, you can choose to apply it in audit mode or enforce mode. Audit mode will only monitor and report the compliance status of your resources, while enforce mode will prevent any non-compliant actions from taking place. For example, you can create a policy that restricts the allowed locations for your resources, and assign it in enforce mode. This will prevent any users from creating or moving resources to locations that are not allowed by the policy.
Azure Policy evaluates your resources periodically and whenever there is a change in the resource or the policy. You can view the compliance status of your resources and policies in the Azure portal, or use the Azure Policy APIs to integrate with other tools and services. You can also use Azure Policy to remediate any non-compliant resources by applying the desired configuration automatically or manually.
Why is Azure Policy useful for cloud governance?
Azure Policy is a powerful tool for cloud governance, because it enables you to define and enforce the rules and standards that you want your resources to follow. With Azure Policy, you can:
– Achieve consistency and compliance across your cloud environment, by ensuring that your resources are configured according to your policies.
– Reduce costs and optimize resource utilization, by limiting the types and sizes of resources that can be created or used.
– Enhance security and reduce risks, by restricting access and actions that can be performed on your resources.
– Meet regulatory and legal requirements, by complying with the policies that align with the industry standards and frameworks that apply to your organization.
Azure Policy is one of the key components of the Azure governance methodology, which provides a comprehensive approach to managing your cloud resources. By using Azure Policy, along with other services such as Azure Management Groups, Azure Blueprints, and Azure Resource Graph, you can achieve effective and efficient cloud governance for your organization.
Common Azure Policies
Enforce tag and its value: This policy enforces a required tag and its value to a resource group or a subscription.
Allowed locations: This policy enables you to restrict the locations that your organization can specify when deploying resources.
Audit VMs that do not use managed disks: This policy audits any virtual machines that are not configured with managed disks, which are the recommended disk storage offering for virtual machines in Azure.
Allowed resource types: This policy enables you to specify the resource types that your organization can deploy. For example, you can allow only virtual machines and storage accounts, and deny all other resource types.
Audit insecure SSL protocols: This policy audits the usage of SSL protocols that are considered insecure, such as SSLv2 and SSLv3, and recommends using TLS protocols instead.
What if I don’t see a policy I need to define my rules? In that case you may create a custom policy.
How to create a custom Azure policy?
To create a custom Azure policy, you need to define a policy definition and a policy assignment.
A policy definition is a JSON file that specifies the logic and effect of the policy.
A policy definition consists of the following elements:
Metadata: information about the policy, such as name, description, category, and mode.
Parameters: optional inputs that can be used to customize the policy.
Policy rule: the core logic of the policy, which defines the conditions and actions to evaluate the resources.
A policy assignment is the link between a policy definition and a scope, which can be a subscription, a resource group, or a resource.
A policy assignment can also specify parameters, exclusions, and enforcement modes for the policy.
To create a custom Azure policy, you can use one of the following methods:
Azure portal: a graphical user interface that allows you to create and manage policies.
Azure PowerShell: a command-line tool that allows you to create and manage policies using scripts.
Azure CLI: a cross-platform command-line tool that allows you to create and manage policies using commands.
Azure Resource Manager templates: a declarative way of defining and deploying policies using JSON files.
Example of a custom Azure policy
In this example, we will create a custom Azure policy that denies the creation of public IP addresses in a resource group.
We will use the Azure portal to create the policy definition and the policy assignment.
Here are the steps to follow:
Sign in to the Azure portal and navigate to the Policy service.
Click on Definitions and then click on + Policy definition.
Enter a name, description, and category for the policy definition.
Copy and paste the following JSON code in the Policy rule section:
{
“if”: {
“allOf”: [
{
“field”: “type”,
“equals”: “Microsoft.Network/publicIPAddresses”
},
{
“field”: “Microsoft.Network/publicIPAddresses/publicIPAllocationMethod”,
“equals”: “Dynamic”
}
]
},
“then”: {
“effect”: “deny”
}
}
This policy rule denies the creation of public IP addresses with dynamic allocation method.
Click on Save to create the policy definition.
Click on Assignments and then click on + Assign policy.
Select the scope of the policy assignment, which is the resource group where you want to apply the policy.
Select the policy definition that you just created from the list of available policies.
Enter a name and description for the policy assignment.
Click on Review + create and then click on Create to create the policy assignment.
The policy is now assigned to the resource group and will evaluate any new or existing resources in that scope.
You can view the compliance status and details of the policy assignment in the Policy service.
Example of creating a Policy for non-compliant resources
Below is the procedure of creating a policy for identifying non-compliance resources for auditing purposes, however in certain situations you may want to enforce Azure Policy as described in the link below
Tutorial: Build policies to enforce compliance – Azure Policy | Microsoft Learn
Create a Policy assignment
In the search bar, type Policy and navigate to Assignment
Select Assign Policy from the Policy Assignments pane.
Under Available Definitions, select the appropriate policy
Choose the correct scope for the policy (such as subscription or resource group, as an example). You also get to decide which resources are excluded from applying the policy in the Exclusions window.
Decide whether you want to Enforce this policy (Under Policy Enforcement – leave as Enabled or if not – Disable which will still allow for compliance assessment reports which is our case for now, as we only need to know which network interfaces have public IPs assigned)
d) Click Next – specify a managed identity under Remediation (not needed in our case),
move to Non-Compliant message
Complete the process by clicking Review + create > Create
View non-compliant resources
In the Policy search bar type the name of the policy
Click View Compliance
Observe non-compliant resources
Based on the requirements, you may need to enforce the policy and remediate.
Follow for more blogs where options for remediations will be covered.
Disclaimer
The sample scripts are not supported under any Microsoft standard support program or service. The sample scripts are provided AS IS without warranty of any kind. Microsoft further disclaims all implied warranties including, without limitation, any implied warranties of merchantability or of fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk arising out of the use or performance of the sample scripts and documentation remains with you. In no event shall Microsoft, its authors, or anyone else involved in the creation, production, or delivery of the scripts be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or other pecuniary loss) arising out of the use of or inability to use the sample scripts or documentation, even if Microsoft has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Now in preview: Hotpatch for Windows Server 2025
You asked and we delivered: Standard and Datacenter edition server hotpatching – security updates without reboots – is ready for your evaluation in Windows Server 2025 Azure Arc-enabled Hotpatch public preview. This feature will be a game changer; simpler change control, shorter patch windows, easier orchestration… and you may finally get to see your family on the weekends.
Hotpatches
Hotpatches are OS security updates that don’t require a reboot. It works by patching the in-memory code of running processes without the need to restart the process. This gives you benefits like:
Lower workload impact with fewer reboots. Instead of 12 mandatory reboots a year on “Patch Tuesday”, you’ll now only have quarterly scheduled reboots (with the rare possibility of reboots being required in a nominal Hotpatch month).
Fewer binaries mean updates download and install faster while consuming fewer disk and CPU resources.
Easier patch orchestration and change control.
Integrated with the optional Azure Update Manager.
Hotpatch has been available for a few years in Windows Server 2022 Datacenter: Azure Edition, this is tried and true technology. The real change is how and where you get those security updates. Hotpatching will be available as an option through the power of Azure Arc. Azure Arc enables management and allows the Windows Server internal licensing service for Hotpatch to run so that Hotpatch updates are delivered to customers.
Trying it out
Thanks to Azure Arc, enabling hotpatches for your Windows Server 2025 Datacenter and Standard edition evaluation machines takes only a few clicks. Simply enroll through the built in Azure Arc agent setup included in Windows Server 2025 evaluation, enable the hotpatch preview, and you’re in business.
Changing the game
Hotpatching has been around for years in Windows Server 2022 Azure Edition, but always required running a VM in Azure or on Azure Stack HCI. When Windows Server 2025 becomes generally available, you will be able to run the edition you want, where you want – whether on-prem, in Azure, or elsewhere. You’ll have an option to hotpatch Windows Server 2025 physical servers or virtual machines, and those VMs can run on Hyper-V, VMware, or anywhere else that supports Microsoft’s protection-focused Virtualization Based Security standard.
We think Windows Server 2025 hotpatching will change the game for organizations. Start your evaluation today!
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
How to preview: Azure Arc-connected Hotpatching for Windows Server 2025
As you may recall we had recently announced a public preview of Hotpatching on Windows Server 2025 VMs in Azure. With this latest preview we are moving towards fulfilling a top request by customers who want this capability for their on-premise machines. You will be able to benefit from the reduced reboots of your Windows Server 2025 machines with this optional Hotpatching capability. This capability was earlier limited to Windows Server 2022 Azure Edition VMs in Azure. The preview provides an opportunity for you to try this new capability to see how it will work in the upcoming Windows Server 2025 and provide feedback.
What is Hotpatching?
Hotpatching is a way to install OS security updates on machines without the need of a reboot after installation. It works by patching the in-memory code of running processes without the need to restart the process. We first shipped this feature in Windows Server 2022 Azure Edition.
Better protection, as the Hotpatch update packages are scoped to Windows security updates that install faster without rebooting.
Reduces the time exposed to security risks and change windows, and easier patch orchestration with Azure Update Manager.
Fewer binaries mean updates download and install faster, consume fewer disk and CPU resources.
Lower workload impact with fewer reboots.
What is part of the preview?
With this preview you can connect your Windows Server 2025 Datacenter Evaluation edition machines to Azure Arc and subscribe to Hotpatching. [See steps below].
Connect to Azure Arc your Windows Server 2025 Datacenter Evaluation machines
Subscribe/ unsubscribe Hotpatching service via the Azure Arc portal
Manage deployment of Hotpatch updates natively on Azure via Azure Update Manager.
Getting Started
To get started follow the steps below. For any feedback or questions contact us on hotpatchfeedback@microsoft.com
Step
Instructions
Create VM using WS 2025 Datacenter from Evaluation center
Set up the VM using Windows Server 2025 Preview
Download the ISO image from the Evaluation center. You may have to fill in a form and provide your email address.
On Hyper-V or other platform create a Gen 2 VM and use the option to create the VM using ISO.
For installation media point to the ISO downloaded from Evaluation center.
For detailed steps read the articles below:
Create a virtual machine in Hyper-V | Microsoft Learn
Create a virtual machine with Hyper-V on Windows 11 | Microsoft Learn
If you are using VMware as your virtualization platform then on the Select a guest OS page, select Enable Windows Virtualization Based Security. More details here.
Enable Virtualization Based Security
Run below command in elevated command prompt. Reboot needed post registry setting
Reg add “HKLMSYSTEMControlSet001ControlDeviceGuard” /v “EnableVirtualizationBasedSecurity” /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
To check if VBS is running post reboot, open “System Information” on your machine.
****If you are using VMware and VBS is still not running, follow the documentation here: Enable Virtualization-based Security on a Virtual Machine (vmware.com)
Install KB5040435 (7B Security update)
Download and install July security update or use Azure Update Manager. This is needed for you to observe that September Security update will not need a reboot.
Connect the VM to Azure Arc
Connect the VM to Azure Arc: Quickstart – Connect hybrid machine with Azure Arc-enabled servers – Azure Arc | Microsoft Learn
You will need to run the script from the Azure Arc portal on your machine (Powershell)
Admin Opt In +Hotpatch Subscription
Now go to and enable Hotpatching.
On the top of the page click on Azure Arc
Click on Machines on the left panel
You will now see the Azure Arc connected machine you set up in the list. Click on that.
This will take you to the server management page where you will see Hotpatch card towards the bottom.
Clicking on that tile will have a fly-in page on the side that will allow you to select Hotpatching. Check the box and click the Confirm button at the bottom. Behind the scenes the Azure Arc connected server will be configured to receive Hotpatches.
It will take about 10 minutes for the operation to complete. If you refresh the page while the operation is going on the Hotpatch tile will show “Pending” Status. After the operation for enrollment is confirmed the Hotpatch tile shows that the service is Enabled.
Note: if the Status is stuck on Pending then the chances are that the Azure Arc agent has not been updated. To update Arc Agent run the below command in PowerShell on the machine:
[Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072;
Invoke-WebRequest -UseBasicParsing -Uri “https://aka.ms/azcmagent-windows” -TimeoutSec 30 -OutFile “$env:TEMPinstall_windows_azcmagent.ps1”;
& “$env:TEMPinstall_windows_azcmagent.ps1”;
The Azure Arc attached machine is now ready to receive Hotpatches.
Scan and install 9B Hotpatch
Now, when you perform a Windows Update Scan you are offered a Hotpatch [see image below]. If you notice that you are not offered a Hotpatch then Pause the update and send us the Update logs. To get update logs run the command in PowerShell Get-WindowsUpdateLog
Below is a screenshot where Windows Hotpatch update for September is completed and does not need a reboot.
You can also use SConfig to download and install the Hotpatch update, if you are offered other updates that you are not interested in installing.
Scan and install 9B Hotpatch using Azure Update Manager
Using Azure Update Manager, you can identify all machines that are eligible for Hotpatches, and plan installation of Hotpatches on a schedule.
For Hotpatches being non-intrusive on availability, you can create faster schedules and update your services immediately after release, with less planning to maintain reliability of your machines at-scale.
Here’s how to manage Hotpatches using Azure Update Manager:
1. Verify that the Hotpatch subscription is available or has already been enabled from the Updates tab of your Arc Server:
The change option above allows you to enable or cancel the Hotpatch subscription on-demand.
2. You can scan and view the 9B update offered to this machine by performing an assessment.
3. You can choose to include the specific 9B update and when to install it on your Arc server by creating a user-defined schedule or one-time update. You can install it immediately after it is available, allowing your machine to get secure faster.
4. Verify whether the 9B update has been installed and the reboot status of the machine by viewing history.
These steps provide a streamlined way to plan installation of Hotpatches on your Arc machine.
Hotpatch Preview FAQ:
Are there any prerequisites for subscribing to Hotpatching?
There are some prerequisites:
Windows Server 2025 Datacenter evaluation
Virtualization Based Security should be enabled and running on your machine
July Security update installed
Machines should be Azure Arc connected
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Azure Monitor & MELT: A Comprehensive Approach to Cloud Observability
Maintaining the performance and reliability of your applications and infrastructure is critical. Whether you’re a growing company, a large enterprise, or running hybrid environments, comprehensive observability is essential for ensuring your systems operate smoothly.
Azure Monitor, Microsoft’s fully managed observability platform, offers a robust solution to help organizations achieve full-stack observability across their applications, infrastructure, and services. In this post, we’ll explore how Azure Monitor leverages the MELT framework (Metrics, Events, Logs, and Traces) to provide deep insights, proactive monitoring, and automated issue resolution. Alongside, we’ll introduce practical workflows to illustrate how these concepts translate into efficient, automated operations.
Why MELT Matters for Cloud Observability
Organizations of all sizes face the challenge of maintaining and scaling complex IT systems, where visibility into the health and performance of both applications and infrastructure is critical. The MELT framework breaks down observability into four key pillars:
Metrics: Quantitative data showing resource and system performance, such as CPU, memory, and network usage.
Events: Notifications about significant changes in the environment, like scaling, resource updates, or system restarts.
Logs: Detailed records of operations and errors, which can be analyzed to troubleshoot issues and understand root causes.
Traces: End-to-end tracking of requests as they move through distributed systems, helping to pinpoint performance bottlenecks.
Together, these components provide a holistic view of your systems, enabling proactive issue detection, performance optimization, and improved reliability.
How Azure Monitor Implements MELT
Azure Monitor is built to collect, analyze, and act on telemetry data across all MELT categories. It provides the visibility needed to maintain operational excellence at any scale, allowing organizations to prevent, detect, and resolve issues before they impact end users.
1. Metrics: Real-Time Performance Insights
Azure Monitor automatically gathers metrics from all Azure resources, offering real-time insights into CPU usage, memory consumption, and network traffic. Metrics Explorer allows you to visualize this data over time, identify trends, and address performance issues proactively.
For example, if a virtual machine’s CPU usage spikes consistently, Azure Monitor enables you to set up alerts and trigger automated scaling actions to ensure optimal performance.
Here’s how this works in practice with an auto-scaling workflow:
This workflow shows how Azure Monitor can automate scaling to optimize performance during high load conditions and scale down when demand decreases.
2. Events: Tracking Changes in Your Environment
Azure Activity Logs, part of Azure Monitor, capture significant events within your environment, such as resource provisioning, scaling actions, or configuration updates. These events are vital for understanding changes and correlating them with performance fluctuations.
For instance, if an application experiences latency after a new deployment, Activity Logs can show exactly what changes were made and when, allowing you to quickly isolate potential causes of the issue.
3. Logs: Deep Analysis with Log Analytics
Logs provide detailed insights into operational events and errors, enabling thorough troubleshooting and root cause analysis. Azure Monitor’s Log Analytics allows you to query logs using Kusto Query Language (KQL), making it easy to filter and aggregate large datasets.
A typical scenario is correlating logs with metrics to diagnose application issues. For example, if users report slow page loads, you can query the logs to identify backend errors or slow database queries that coincide with high CPU usage.
Here’s a workflow for detecting and resolving application errors using logs:
This workflow automates the detection of recurring application errors and can trigger actions such as restarting services, ensuring minimal downtime and quick resolution.
4. Traces: Monitoring Distributed Applications
In distributed systems and microservices architectures, traces are essential for tracking the flow of requests across services. Azure Monitor integrates with Application Insights, enabling distributed tracing to monitor the performance and health of multi-service applications.
For example, if a customer request is taking too long to process, Application Insights can trace that request through different services, helping you identify which service is causing delays or failures.
Here’s how distributed tracing can help you identify bottlenecks:
This workflow highlights how Application Insights enables you to follow the request flow, identify performance bottlenecks, and take action to improve the application’s responsiveness.
Building an Effective MELT Strategy with Azure Monitor
To ensure that your observability strategy is comprehensive and scalable, here’s how to leverage Azure Monitor’s MELT capabilities:
1. Centralized Telemetry Collection
Collect all telemetry (metrics, logs, events, and traces) into Azure Monitor from your applications and infrastructure. This centralization ensures that you can correlate data across your entire stack, offering a unified view of your system’s health.
2. Actionable Alerts
Set up customized alerts to trigger when critical thresholds are reached. For instance, you might set alerts based on high CPU usage, low memory availability, or specific error messages found in logs.
Here’s an example of proactive security monitoring using logs:
This workflow demonstrates how Azure Monitor can detect suspicious activity, such as repeated failed login attempts, and automatically trigger security responses to mitigate threats.
3. Automation for Scalability
Automating responses to alerts is critical for ensuring smooth operations. Azure Monitor integrates with Azure Automation and Logic Apps to trigger automated workflows, such as scaling resources during high demand or restarting services when errors are detected.
4. Real-Time Dashboards and Reporting
Create dashboards to visualize real-time metrics and logs, and integrate data with Power BI for deeper analysis. Dashboards give your teams a live view of system performance, helping them stay proactive in managing operations.
Here’s a cost-management workflow using metrics:
This workflow ensures that you can automatically scale down underutilized resources to reduce costs while maintaining performance.
Why Azure Monitor is the Right Choice for Any Organization
Organizations of all sizes benefit from a comprehensive observability solution like Azure Monitor. Here’s why it’s the right fit:
Cost Efficiency: Centralizing observability with Azure Monitor helps manage costs by consolidating tools and enabling automated responses to resource inefficiencies.
Seamless Integration: Azure Monitor integrates deeply with the Azure ecosystem, as well as external systems, providing a complete view of both cloud and hybrid environments.
Scalability: Azure Monitor is designed to handle high volumes of telemetry data, making it ideal for organizations with growing and complex infrastructures.
Get Started with Azure Monitor
Azure Monitor provides a full-featured observability solution that is adaptable to any scale, giving you the insights needed to optimize performance, reduce costs, and improve reliability.
For more details on how to implement Azure Monitor, check out the official Azure Monitor documentation and explore the below resources:
Learn Live – Azure Monitoring
FastTrack for Azure Season 1 Ep10: Azure Monitoring
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Using Copilot in Excel for my photography hobby
Hi everyone, over the last few weeks we have had a series of posts to show you some of the things that are possible to do with Copilot in Excel.
I have a list of pictures that I took with information about each one. I’m used to focal lengths being listed as the 35mm equivalent and my camera is using a crop sensor which would change the number.
I ask Copilot:
These pictures were taken on a Fuji XT2, please add a column for the 35mm equivalent focal length
Looking at B2:H46, here’s 1 formula column to review and insert in Column I:
Converts the focal length of each image to its 35mm equivalent by extracting the focal length value, converting it to an integer, and then multiplying by 1.5 (conversion factor).
=INT(INDEX(TEXTSPLIT([@[Focal Iength]], ” “,, TRUE), 1, 1)) * 1.5
After previewing the results, I click on the insert column button and the formula is added to the table:
Over the coming weeks I will continue to share more examples of what you can do with Copilot in Excel.
Thanks for reading,
Microsoft Excel Team
*Disclaimer: If you try these types of prompts and they do not work as expected, it is most likely due to our gradual feature rollout process. Please try again in a few weeks.
Hi everyone, over the last few weeks we have had a series of posts to show you some of the things that are possible to do with Copilot in Excel.
I have a list of pictures that I took with information about each one. I’m used to focal lengths being listed as the 35mm equivalent and my camera is using a crop sensor which would change the number.
Table of Picture including columns for (file) Name, Date, Type, Size, Focal length, Fstop, and Exposure time.
I ask Copilot:
These pictures were taken on a Fuji XT2, please add a column for the 35mm equivalent focal length
Copilot in Excel pane with the above prompt and the suggested formula column formula to be applied that is described below.
Looking at B2:H46, here’s 1 formula column to review and insert in Column I:
Converts the focal length of each image to its 35mm equivalent by extracting the focal length value, converting it to an integer, and then multiplying by 1.5 (conversion factor).
=INT(INDEX(TEXTSPLIT([@[Focal Iength]], ” “,, TRUE), 1, 1)) * 1.5
After previewing the results, I click on the insert column button and the formula is added to the table:
Table of Picture including columns for (file) Name, Date, Type, Size, Focal length, Fstop, Exposure time, and new 35mm equivalent Focal length.
Over the coming weeks I will continue to share more examples of what you can do with Copilot in Excel.
Thanks for reading,
Microsoft Excel Team
*Disclaimer: If you try these types of prompts and they do not work as expected, it is most likely due to our gradual feature rollout process. Please try again in a few weeks. Read More
CoinW Referral Code: 2740809 (Claim Sign-up Bonus $1000)
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ExchangeCoinWCoinW Referral Code2740809Trading Fee Discount 50%Welcome BonusUp to $100000 USDTDate2024-25
The CoinW referral code for 2024 is “2740809”. Use this code to get a 50% discount on trading fees. Additionally, new CoinW users who register with the “2740809” promo code can receive an exclusive reward of up to $1000 USDT.CoinW referral code: 2740809 (Claim Sign-up bonus $30,000) The CoinW referral code for 2024 is “2740809”. Use it to get a bonus of up to $30,000 USDT, a 50% discount on trading fees for the first month, and a $25 USDT promotion.ExchangeCoinWCoinW Referral Code2740809Trading Fee Discount 50%Welcome BonusUp to $100000 USDTDate2024-25 Read More
I got an email from outlook.com saying my current version will no longer work because of security???
I read the complete article and it never once explained why? It all just sounded like they want me to upgrade my Outlook for Windows 10.
Why would “Pop” not be as secure as “Exchange Svr.
I have Outlook and 3 email accounts. My primary one is from my local internet provider. My Hotmail I have had since its inception. My Gmail is mainly the way a work group I belong to uses to communicate. I have the hotmail and gmail automatically forward to my Outlook email address from my provider.
Writer of dictate sounded like a brand new marketing person who has no idea what the real world is. Can any explain why I need an OST vs PST?
I read the complete article and it never once explained why? It all just sounded like they want me to upgrade my Outlook for Windows 10.Why would “Pop” not be as secure as “Exchange Svr. I have Outlook and 3 email accounts. My primary one is from my local internet provider. My Hotmail I have had since its inception. My Gmail is mainly the way a work group I belong to uses to communicate. I have the hotmail and gmail automatically forward to my Outlook email address from my provider. Writer of dictate sounded like a brand new marketing person who has no idea what the real world is. Can any explain why I need an OST vs PST? Read More
Phemex Referral Code: J6JLA5 (Claim Sign-up Bonus $1000)
The Phemex referral code for 2024 is “J6JLA5“. Use this code to get a 50% discount on trading fees. Additionally, new Phemex users who register with the “J6JLA5” promo code can receive an exclusive reward of up to $1000 USDT.
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The Phemex referral code for 2024 is “J6JLA5”. Use this code to get a 50% discount on trading fees. Additionally, new Phemex users who register with the “J6JLA5” promo code can receive an exclusive reward of up to $1000 USDT.Phemex referral code: J6JLA5 (Claim Sign-up bonus $30,000) The Phemex referral code for 2024 is “J6JLA5”. Use it to get a bonus of up to $30,000 USDT, a 50% discount on trading fees for the first month, and a $25 USDT promotion.ExchangePhemexPhemex Referral CodeJ6JLA5Trading Fee Discount 50%Welcome BonusUp to $100000 USDTDate2024-25 Read More