Category: Microsoft
Category Archives: Microsoft
Access 2016 Error after 22H2 update
Hello,
Has anyone else been experiencing the issue where Access prompts that it cant use “file path”.accdb; file already in use? This is preventing multiuser experience of shared (split) database stored on network file share. The issue started occurring after the update to 22H2 (for me, mid-April).
A similar instance occurred at the end of 2021 that was documented here: Error in Access when opening a database on a network file share – Microsoft Support
I have been looking for any updates by MS for this and have not been able to find anything that hints at a possible solution in the works. Thank you for any tips or info that can be provided.
-Matt
Hello,Has anyone else been experiencing the issue where Access prompts that it cant use “file path”.accdb; file already in use? This is preventing multiuser experience of shared (split) database stored on network file share. The issue started occurring after the update to 22H2 (for me, mid-April).A similar instance occurred at the end of 2021 that was documented here: Error in Access when opening a database on a network file share – Microsoft SupportI have been looking for any updates by MS for this and have not been able to find anything that hints at a possible solution in the works. Thank you for any tips or info that can be provided. -Matt Read More
Show/Hide Certain Rows Based on Picklist Selection
Hi all! I’m looking for help creating a code to show/hide specific rows when certain options are selected. I looked at some previous responses but couldn’t figure out how to adapt it for my needs.
In my spreadsheet, there’s a multiple choice drop down picklist in cell B12 with picklist options titled Claim 1-8. I’m looking to show/hide rows 16-23, which correspond to the claim 1-8 numbering in the B12 drop down. For example- if claims 1 and 6 are selected in cell B12, I want to show Row 16 and 21, and hide all others.
Would love any help or advice!
Hi all! I’m looking for help creating a code to show/hide specific rows when certain options are selected. I looked at some previous responses but couldn’t figure out how to adapt it for my needs. In my spreadsheet, there’s a multiple choice drop down picklist in cell B12 with picklist options titled Claim 1-8. I’m looking to show/hide rows 16-23, which correspond to the claim 1-8 numbering in the B12 drop down. For example- if claims 1 and 6 are selected in cell B12, I want to show Row 16 and 21, and hide all others. Would love any help or advice! Read More
Contact Details from E-Mails Signature to Outlook Contacts
Hello,
I am new here, so “hi”;)
I have a lot of new contacts that I am corresponding with outside of my organization. Currently, I manually copy and paste each piece of information from the person’s signature (email, phone numbers, website, address, etc.) into the contact form. This takes forever.
Is there a faster way without using an add-on?
I vaguely remember that in Outlook 2016 you could drag and drop the information, but that doesn’t seem to work anymore in 365 (iOs).
Can anyone shed some light on this, please?
Thank you so much in advance, Julia
Hello, I am new here, so “hi”;) I have a lot of new contacts that I am corresponding with outside of my organization. Currently, I manually copy and paste each piece of information from the person’s signature (email, phone numbers, website, address, etc.) into the contact form. This takes forever.Is there a faster way without using an add-on?I vaguely remember that in Outlook 2016 you could drag and drop the information, but that doesn’t seem to work anymore in 365 (iOs). Can anyone shed some light on this, please? Thank you so much in advance, Julia Read More
ADF – Data Flow Error for Excel source
Hi Community,
I am getting an error when trying to run my adf pipeline and data flow. My data flow reads from an excel source, where the sheet has 1,048,576 records (max excel sheet can have).
For some reason, I get an error, and after trial and error method, noticed that the data flow runs perfectly when reading data sample around 998,997th record, but throws the below error, if I sample more or disable the data sampling.
Job failed due to reason: Failed to read data from excel file: abfss://<blob container>/<filename>.xlsx with error message: For input string: “1e6” – java.lang.NumberFormatException: For input string: “1e6”
I checked the excel file manually, but the records seem to be perfectly okay. Is this a limitation, or any insights might be appreciated.
Hi Community, I am getting an error when trying to run my adf pipeline and data flow. My data flow reads from an excel source, where the sheet has 1,048,576 records (max excel sheet can have). For some reason, I get an error, and after trial and error method, noticed that the data flow runs perfectly when reading data sample around 998,997th record, but throws the below error, if I sample more or disable the data sampling.Job failed due to reason: Failed to read data from excel file: abfss://<blob container>/<filename>.xlsx with error message: For input string: “1e6” – java.lang.NumberFormatException: For input string: “1e6” I checked the excel file manually, but the records seem to be perfectly okay. Is this a limitation, or any insights might be appreciated. Read More
Announcing Batch delete in Service Bus- Public Preview
Azure Service Bus is a fully managed enterprise message broker with message queues and publish-subscribe topics. Sometimes, you may want to delete messages from your queues and subscriptions in a more programmatic manner, for example, to clear out old or unwanted messages from your entities.
We are excited to announce the public preview of Batch Delete, a new feature that lets you delete messages in bulk from your Service Bus entities. Batch delete helps you to delete multiple messages from a messaging entity in one operation, instead of deleting them one by one. Since deletion is done at service side, you don’t need to receive the messages before deleting them.
To learn more about Batch Delete, visit aka.ms/batchdelete
We are sure you will find the Batch Delete feature a significant improvement in Azure Service Bus and encourage you to explore this new addition.
Know more:
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Announcing Large Message Support for Azure Event Hubs- Public Preview
We are pleased to announce the public preview of large message support (up to 20 MB) in Azure Event Hubs. Azure Event Hubs is a cloud native data streaming service that can stream millions of events per second, with low latency, from any source to any destination. Event Hubs is compatible with Apache Kafka, and it enables you to run existing Kafka workloads without any code changes.
The introduction of large message support is a significant enhancement to our service. Typically, data in streaming scenarios is lightweight, often less than 1 MB, and characterized by high throughput. However, there are instances when messages cannot be divided into smaller segments or chunks.
With the new support for large messages, Event Hubs self-serve scalable Dedicated clusters can now accommodate events up to 20 MB in size at no additional cost. This capability allows Azure Event Hubs to handle a wide range of message sizes, ensuring uninterrupted business operations.
How to enable large message support for Event Hubs
Large message streaming is only supported in Event Hubs self-serve scalable dedicated clusters built out of latest infrastructure. For more details, visit aka.ms/largemessagesupportforeh
Being able to stream large messages or events requires no client code changes apart from the change in message or event itself. You could continue sending/receiving messages using any existing event hubs SDK / Kafka API to stream large messages to event hub.
We’re all ears for your feedback. To Know more, visit:
Apache Ka fka on Azure Event Hubs
Thank you for your continued support. Happy Streaming!
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Announcing Video Translation & Speech Translation API Enhancements
Today, we are excited to share two major updates to the Azure AI Speech Translation product suite – Video Translation and an enhanced Realtime Speech Translation API.
Video Translation (Batch)
Today, we are announcing the availability of Video Translation, a groundbreaking service designed to transform the way businesses localize their video content, in preview. With the rising demand for accessible and engaging video content across global markets, Video Translation offers a seamless solution to overcome language barriers. This launch includes an Azure Speech for customers to try out with their own video assets, with turn-key capabilities such as:
Dialogue extraction and translated subtitles generation
GPT reformulation with improved translation quality and automatic time alignment
Prebuilt neural voices with content editing for precise alignment and translation preference manually
Using the personal voice capability (will be available with limited access restrictions)
The corresponding Video Translation API is also coming soon, please fill in the form here to be considered for API early access.
Customer Scenarios for Video Translation
Video translation unlocks business values for a wide range of business scenarios with the authorized video content such as :
TV shows, movies & documentary: film studios and production companies can translate movies and TV shows for international distribution, reaching a broader audience and maximizing revenue potential.
Education & training materials video: educational institutions and/or training programs can translate and dub learning video materials to provide accurate and timely information to audiences worldwide.
Advertising & marketing video: businesses can localize their advertising and marketing videos to resonate with target audiences in different markets, enhancing brand awareness and customer engagement.
Language coverage for Video Translation
Video Translation supports the language pairs in the table below:
Source language
Target language
Hindi
English
Spanish
English
Chinese
English
Korean
English
English
Hindi
English
Spanish
English
Chinese
English
Italian
English
German
English
Russian
We also plan to quickly expand our language coverage in future releases.
Multilingual Speech Translation (Realtime)
In addition to Video Translation, we are also excited to announce automatic multilingual speech translation as a major enhancement to our Realtime Speech Translation API. This launch contains a new range of features that enable a higher level of translation capabilities that were previously not possible:
The biggest change is that there is no longer a need for the user to set an input language. The API now gives users the ability to receive audio in a wide range of languages, without specifying beforehand which language is being spoken. This will enable them to translate audio in scenarios where they may not know what language is being received, such as a contact center servicing a diverse global client base. We are very excited to introduce this feature, as it will open up a whole new world of possibilities for multilingual use cases.
In addition to receiving the translated audio, the user can also be told what language is being spoken in the input audio through Language Identification (LID) Support. While the model still operates end-to-end with the ability to handle multiple languages, the user can still receive a list of each of the languages that were spoken during the session. This can be useful for documentation purposes or scenarios where there are multiple speakers, like a multilingual meeting.
The Speech Translation service is now also capable of handling language switches within the same session. We allow users the ability to receive input audio in multiple languages, and have them all translated and output into a target language. There is no need to set an input language and no need to make a new API call when the language changes, the same session can automatically handle language changes and output the translation of desired language. This will be useful for users who have multiple native languages that they often switch between, or a multilingual meeting in a business or educational environment, and it is a very exciting feature that will create new levels of translation capabilities.
Customer Scenarios for Realtime Speech Translation
The following are some new customer scenarios that Multilingual Speech Translation enables that previously were not possible:
Translation in your daily life: Imagine you are walking down a diverse city such as New York, and a foreigner comes up to you. They start asking you about something in their own language, but not only do you not know what they are saying, you don’t even know what language they are speaking. With our API integrated into a solution such as a translator mobile app, not only will you be told what language the user is speaking, you will also receive a full translation of it in text (and audio if you choose), allowing you to freely communicate with this person as if there was no language barrier at all.
Live translated caption for videos: Let’s say you are dabbling in French cuisine and would like to follow through a video of a chef making Boeuf bourguignon – all in French (which you do not speak). Using a translator mobile app powered by Azure’s Speech Translation API, you can now play the video and get streaming translated captions, as if the chef is teaching you in real time!
Multilingual meeting: A unique use case that really showcases the power of the new multilingual model is a meeting which include native speakers of many languages. Suppose a situation such as a diplomatic meeting, in which there are delegates from many countries conversing with each other. If they are each enabled with our API, they can all freely speak to each other and have a natural conversation without having to worry about a language barrier at all. The API can automatically handle language switches and still translate to the target language. This allows for seamless conversation even with speakers of multiple languages all being in the same room.
As you can see from the above scenarios, Multilingual Speech Translation opens the door to new possibilities that previously would’ve been tedious, incredibly inefficient, or downright impossible.
Language Support for Multilingual Speech Translation
At the time of Public Preview, Multilingual Speech Translation will be offered with input languages. This means these are the languages the API will automatically detect and switch between from the input. The output (target) language can still be any of the languages supported by the Azure Speech Translation Service. The 40 input languages are as follows (along with language code):
Arabic (ar), Basque (eu), Bosnian (bs), Bulgarian (bg), Chinese Simplified (zh), Chinese Traditional (zhh), Czech (cs), Danish (da), Dutch (nl), English (en), Estonian (et), Finnish (fi), French (fr), Galician (gl), German (de), Greek (el), Hindi (hi), Hungarian (hu), Indonesian (id), Italian (it), Japanese (ja), Korean (ko), Latvian (lv), Lithuanian (lt), Macedonian (mk), Norwegian (nb), Polish (pl), Portuguese (pt), Romanian (ro), Russian (ru), Serbian (sr), Slovak (sk), Slovenian (sl), Spanish (es), Swedish (sv), Thai (th), Turkish (tr), Ukrainian (uk), Vietnamese (vi), and Welsh (cy).
In the upcoming version, we plan to support all input languages that are supported by Speech Translation. Language and locale support will be continuously updated and expanded to make our model more accessible to all.
Getting Started
Get started with the Video Translation by uploading your own video today.
Get started with implementing Multilingual Speech Translation into your products by using our Quickstart Guide.
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Safely bring AI chat to all using Microsoft Copilot with commercial data protection, plus new video
Starting your organization’s AI transformation may seem challenging when users want to use AI tools now and IT teams want to ensure data security. AI is spreading surprisingly quickly, with 75% of knowledge workers reporting that they use AI at work.¹ But if your users are leveraging unsanctioned AI tools, it puts sensitive business data at risk—once it goes into an AI model, there is no getting it back. And if you block AI services to prioritize security, you risk falling behind other organizations who are moving full speed ahead with AI.
You can give users the AI tools they want today while also protecting sensitive data with Microsoft Copilot with commercial data protection. Best of all, it’s available at no additional cost if you’re on an eligible Microsoft 365 or Office 365 subscription, and it’s easy to roll out using the Copilot adoption kit.
We know all the AI options out there might be confusing, so we have a new Copilot explainer video available as part of Microsoft Build to help provide greater clarity about how users can be more creative at work and save time using AI. You can watch the new Copilot explainer video at aka.ms/Copilot/BuildVideo.
Bring AI-powered web chat to your users today
Rolling out Copilot is easy. When an eligible user signs in with their work or school account (Entra ID), Copilot automatically adds commercial data protection. This means prompts and responses are not saved, no one at Microsoft has eyes-on access, and data is not used to train the underlying large language model. You can learn more about managing Copilot on Microsoft Learn.
Give your employees a productivity and creativity boost with Copilot
People have a lot on their plate at work, and Copilot with commercial data protection uses advanced AI models like GPT-4 and DALL-E 3 to provide powerful AI tools to help tackle tasks of all sizes.
With AI in their toolkit, users are already recognizing gains at work with 90% reporting that AI helps them to save time,² and 84% reporting that it helps them be more creative.³ They’re using it to do things like:
Answer complex questions sourced with the latest information available on the web so they can spend less time searching and asking peers and more time getting things done.
Summarize content like an article or PDF into a set of bullet points to save time reading long documents.
Create custom images that can be used for presentations, blogs, and more to bring the creative vision in their head to life.
You and your users can sign in and try Copilot today at copilot.microsoft.com.
Pair Copilot with Microsoft Edge for added security capabilities
Users get additional security features when they access Copilot through the Microsoft Edge sidebar, including capabilities like native support for Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies that add protections to prevent sensitive content from being summarized, copied, pasted, or captured by screenshot.
Plus, Edge offers controls for managing Copilot and third-party AI services with Edge management service and new user features such as real-time translation of videos using AI and AI-powered Workspaces. Learn more about Microsoft Edge and new announcements at Build.
Kickstart your AI journey with the Copilot adoption kit
If you’re ready to train your users on how to make the most of AI at work, use the customizable resources in the Copilot adoption kit. Available in nine languages, this kit includes ready-made resources such as a training presentation, company-wide communications, tip sheets, and more. The kit can help you unlock the full potential of AI for your users and accelerate your AI transformation.
¹, ², ³: 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report (Microsoft, LinkedIn)
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Partner Blog | Accelerate business growth with AI: your guide to Copilot extensions with Teams
By: Srini Raghavan, Vice President, Microsoft Teams Ecosystem
Microsoft Copilot is changing the way we work, communicate, and collaborate. According to a 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report, 75% of knowledge workers around the world now use generative AI at work. AI development continues to accelerate, and as Satya Nadella has shared, “we believe in a future where there will be a copilot for everyone and everything you do.”
We want to build the best AI ecosystem with Microsoft Copilot, something you’ll be hearing much more about this week at Build and in my upcoming session. We’re looking to you to create amazing experiences for your users that customize and enhance Copilot with your data, systems, and workflows. You can also build your own copilot that works as a standalone app, works with Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams, and more.
New capabilities in our pro- and low-code tools announced at today’s event will enable you to build copilots and publish them as Copilot extensions that reach users on Copilot and on Teams. You’ll be able to reach more users, drive contextual discovery of your apps and data, and deliver higher quality user experiences. You can also benefit from faster time to market, improved ROI, and best-in-class policies around security and data governance.
Continue reading here
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Azure Messaging and Streaming update – May 2024
Azure Messaging Update – May 2024
This update covers features being released at the Microsoft Build 2024 conference for the Azure Service Bus, Azure Event Hubs and Azure Event Grid services.
Azure Event Hubs Updates
Event Hubs has several new features including one of the most requested features we have heard from our customers.
New features:
Event Hubs Emulator (Public Preview)
The Event Hubs Emulator is a containerized instance of Azure Event Hubs that can run on Windows or Linux for development or test purposes. This has been the most requested feature, and it is great to finally deliver it for customers. In this first delivery of the emulator, it only will support AMQP traffic.
Large Message size (Public Preview)
Namespaces in Azure Event Hubs Dedicated now can support messages as large as 20 MB.
The Kafka Compression feature is now generally available.
In addition to the exiting AVRO schema support, the Schema Registry has added support for 2 more schema types.
JSON Schema in Schema Registry (GA) – The JSON Schema support is now GA.
Protobuf in Schema Registry (Public Preview) – Protobuf support is now available in preview in the Schema Registry.
Azure Service Bus Update
Azure Service Bus new features.
Azure Service Bus now supports Batch Delete providing a more convenient way to manage your queues, including dead letter queues.
Azure Event Grid Updates
Azure Event Grid continues to evolve with the addition of new features to achieve MQTT compliance, simplify security for IoT and event-driven solutions, and facilitate seamless integrations.
MQTT features:
MQTT Last Will and Testament (LWT) (GA)
Enables MQTT clients to notify other MQTT clients of their abrupt disconnections. You can use LWT to ensure predictable and reliable flow of communication among MQTT clients during unexpected disconnections, which is valuable for scenarios where real-time communication, system reliability, and coordinated actions are critical.
OAuth 2.0 authentication for MQTT clients (Public Preview)
Allows MQTTv3.1.1 and MQTTv5 clients to authenticate and connect with the MQTT broker using JSON Web Tokens (JWT) issued by any third-party OpenID Connect (OIDC) identity provider. This authentication method provides a lightweight, secure, and flexible option for MQTT clients that are not provisioned in Azure.
Namespace features:
Custom domain names support (Public Preview)
Allows users to assign their own domain names to Event Grid namespace’s MQTT and HTTP endpoints, enhancing security and simplifying client configuration.
Push delivery to Azure Event Hubs (GA)
Allows users to configure event subscriptions on namespace topics to send messages to Azure Event Hubs for streaming purposes.
Push delivery to Webhooks (Public Preview)
Allows users to configure event subscriptions on namespace topics to send messages to your application’s public endpoint using a simple and reliable delivery mechanism.
CloudEvents 1.0 Binary Content Mode (GA)
Offers the ability to produce messages whose payload is encoded in any media type.
Shared Access Signature (SAS) tokens authentication (Public Preview)
Allows users to publish or receive (pull delivery) messages using a simple authentication mechanism.
Namespace Topic as a destination (GA)
Enables users to create an event subscription on a custom, system, domain, and partner topics (Event Grid Basic) that forwards events to namespace topics. Forwarding events to the namespace topic allows you to take advantage of its pull delivery support and flexibility in consumption.
Event sources:
Microsoft Graph API events (GA)
Enables users to react to resource changes in Microsoft Entra ID, Microsoft Teams, Outlook, SharePoint, etc. This feature is key for enterprise scenarios such as auditing, onboarding, and policy enforcement, to name a few.
Azure Resource Notifications health resources events to Azure Monitor alerts (Public Preview)
Enables near real-time notifications when your workload is impacted. With this feature, you can get a better understanding of any service issues that may be affecting your resources.
API Center system topic (Public Preview)
Enables you to receive real-time updates when an API definition is added or updated. This means you can keep track of your APIs and ensure they are always up to date, making it easier for stakeholders throughout your organization to discover, reuse, and govern APIs.
To learn about new features released in Azure Event Grid, see this announcement.
To learn more about each of the Messaging and Streaming services:
Azure Service Bus
Azure Event Hubs
Azure Event Grid
Azure Stream Analytics
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Azure WAF integration in Copilot for Security- Protect web applications using Gen AI
Today, we are launching the public preview of Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF) integration in Microsoft Copilot for Security. Azure WAF capabilities available in the standalone Copilot for Security experience are: Get Top Rules Triggered, Get Top Blocks By IP, Get SQLi Blocks By WAF, and Get XSS Blocks By WAF
Azure WAF network security analysts face many challenges. A lot of their time goes into research and understanding why certain WAF requests were blocked, which is a very time-consuming and manual task.
With the Azure WAF in Copilot for Security integration, security and IT teams can move faster, and focus on high value tasks. The Copilot summarizes data and generates in-depth contextual insights into the WAF threat landscape. This enables analysts to determine if the WAF policy is blocking a request it should not have blocked, or if their WAF policy needs to be fine-tuned. It results in time and cost savings since Copilot can reason over terabytes of data in a matter of minutes, not hours or days.
Another gain in productivity is simplifying the complex, analysts don’t have to write complex KQL queries. Instead, they can simply ask questions in natural language and Copilot for Security understands the context and generates the response. This results in time savings and unlocks new skills for junior analysts while Tier1 analysts can now complete more complex tasks focusing on strategic rather than tactical work.
Let’s take a closer look at what each of these new Azure WAF Skills in Copilot for Security do to help network security professionals investigate logs via natural language prompts.
Azure WAF Skills in Copilot for Security
The four WAF Skills available are:
Get Top Rules Triggered: Retrieve contextual details about WAF detections.
Get Top Blocks By IP: Retrieve the top malicious IPs in the environment along with related WAF rules and patterns triggering the attack.
Get SQLi Blocks By WAF: Explain why Azure WAF blocks SQL Injection (SQLi) attacks. Analyze Azure WAF diagnostic logs and connect related logs over a specific time period to generate a summary of the attack.
Get XSS Blocks By WAF: Explain why Azure WAF blocks Cross-site Scripting (XSS) attacks. Analyze Azure WAF diagnostic logs and connect related logs over a specific time period to generate a summary of the attack.
Using the Get Top Rules Triggered Skill
This Copilot Skill summarizes in natural language the overall threat landscape in the WAF environment. The Skill reasons over terabytes of WAF logs and generates a list of top WAF rules triggered, detection logic information used for detections, malicious client IPs triggering the WAF rules. The list is ordered based on the number of times rules are hit and rules with the greatest number of hits are displayed at the top.
The screenshot below describes the response generated when a prompt is issued for top WAF rules in a regional WAF over the last one day.
The default timespan for any of the WAF Skills is 24 hours but prompts can be tailored specific to a request.
Using the top WAF rules triggered Skill, it is possible for analyst to get details on any of the WAF rule sets – Default Rule Set, Bot Rule Set, or Custom rule set.
The screenshot given below looks for details of the bot rules triggered.
Furthermore, it is possible to use this Skill to obtain details of a specific vulnerability. In the following example, an analyst is trying to see if any Remote Code Execution (RCE) is seen by WAF and receives details about an RCE including the Log4J CVE details. The analyst can use other Copilot for Security products such as Microsoft Defender for Threat Intelligence to obtain further details about the CVE.
Using the Get Top Blocks By IP Skill
This Skill generates a list of most frequently triggered offending IPs along with related WAF contextual information.
By using the response from this Skill, analysts can get a holistic picture of WAF rules triggered by the offending IPs and overall exposure of the WAF policy to the IPs.
Furthermore, the malicious IPs discovered by this WAF Skill can be searched in other Copilot for Security products such as the Microsoft Defender for Threat Intelligence to get other attack vectors associated with the IPs.
Using the Get SQLi Blocks By WAF Skill
This Skill provides contextual insights into WAF detections of SQL Injection (SQLi) attacks. This helps analysts understand the details of the SQLi attack such as WAF resources under attack, attack pattens such as query parameters triggering the attack.
Using the Get XSS Blocks By WAF Skill
This Skill provides contextual insights into WAF detections of cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. This helps analysts understand the details of the attack such as WAF resources under attack, attack pattens such as query parameters triggering the attack.
How to use Azure WAF integration in Copilot for Security
Copilot for Security is accessible to organizations as a pay-as-you-go consumption model. After the Security Compute Units (SCU) are provisioned and Azure WAF logs are present in Azure Log Analytics, the WAF Skills will be ready for use.
Select “sources” in the prompt bar and ensure the Azure Web Application Firewall plugin is enabled for use. Ensure the WAF Log Analytics workspace name, Log Analytics resource group name and Log Analytics subscription ID are configured.
With the Azure WAF in Copilot for Security integration, security and IT teams can move faster, upskill and transition into the age of AI. The integration announced today combine Microsoft’s expertise in security with Gen AI, packaged together to empower network security analysts to outpace adversaries with the speed and scale of AI.
Sowmya Mahadevaiah
Principal Product Manager, Azure Networking
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Building Intelligent Apps with Azure Cache for Redis, EntraID, Azure Functions, E1 SKU, and more!
We’re excited to announce the latest updates to Azure Cache for Redis that will improve your data management and application performance as we kickoff for Microsoft Build 2024. Coming soon, the Enterprise E1 SKU (Preview) will offer a lower entry price, Redis modules, and enterprise-grade features. The Azure Function Triggers and Bindings for Redis are now in general availability, simplifying your workflow with seamless integration. Microsoft EntraID in Azure Cache for Redis is now in GA, providing enhanced security management. And there’s more – we are also sharing added resources for developing intelligent applications using Azure Cache for Redis Enterprise, enabling you to build smarter, more responsive apps. Read the blog below to find out more about these amazing updates and how they can enhance your Azure Cache for Redis experience.
Building Intelligent Apps with Azure Cache for Redis
Developers can leverage the power and versatility of Azure Cache for Redis Enterprise to build and enhance intelligent apps. In this Azure .NET session, you will learn how to use various libraries and SDKs, such as semantic kernel, Redis OM for DotNet, and .NET 8 caching abstractions, to implement scenarios such as AI chatbots, vector similarity search, semantic caching, and more. Additionally, the scenarios can also be supported across various languages such as Java, Python, Node.js, and, Go. You will also see how to integrate Azure Cache for Redis with other Azure services, such as Cognitive Services and Azure Cosmos DB, to create responsive intelligent applications. Check out the video, documentation, and demo to discover how Azure Cache for Redis Enterprise can help you take your apps to the next level of intelligence and performance.
Enterprise E1 SKU (Preview)
The Azure Cache for Redis Enterprise tier will have a new E1 SKU available in preview soon. The E1 SKU reduces the cost to get started with Azure Cache for Redis Enterprise. This tier will continue to support all Redis modules, such as RediSearch, RedisBloom, RedisTimeSeries, and vector search for generative AI applications.
Azure Function Triggers and Bindings in Azure Cache for Redis (GA)
We are also happy to announce that the Azure Functions triggers and bindings in Azure Cache for Redis are now generally available. This feature allows you to easily build serverless applications that connect with your Azure Cache for Redis data, without writing repetitive code. You can use different triggers, such as pub/sub channels, lists, streams, and key space notifications, to run your functions based on events in your cache. You can also use input and output bindings to read and write data from and to your cache within your function code. The Azure Functions Triggers and Bindings for Redis support various languages, such as C#, Java, Node, Python, and PowerShell. They work with both premium and durable functions, and support for consumption functions is being rolled out now on a regional basis. To learn more about this feature and how to get started, check out the tutorial in our documentation, or read about how to use Functions to refresh expired keys in Redis
Read through cache using Azure Functions
Event based architectures with Azure Cache for Redis & Azure Functions triggers
Microsoft Entra ID for Authentication and Authorization (GA)
Lastly, we are pleased to announce the general availability of Microsoft Entra ID for Authentication and Authorization. Microsoft Entra ID allows you to assign permissions to your Entra ID identities, to control data access policies for your cache.
Using Microsoft Entra ID for authentication provides you with a secure and flexible way to manage your data access policies and allows you to use Microsoft Entra ID identities, such as service principals and managed identities, to authenticate to your cache. This eliminates the need to store and rotate access keys and simplifies the credential management process. It also enables you to assign permissions to your Microsoft Entra ID identities, and control which commands and keys they can access in your cache. This helps you enforce the principle of least privilege and protect your data from unauthorized access. Learn more about Microsoft Entra ID here and how to configure it for your Azure Cache for Redis here.
Resources
Azure Cache for Redis
Building .NET Based Intelligent Apps with Azure Cache for Redis
Making .NET intelligent apps smarter and consistent with Redis
ChatGPT + Enterprise data with Azure OpenAI and Azure Cognitive Search (.NET) Demo
Vector similarity search in Azure Cache for Redis
Enterprise E1 SKU (Preview)
Azure Function Trigger and Bindings in Azure Cache for Redis (GA)
How to Refresh Expired Keys in Redis using Azure Functions
Get started with Azure Functions triggers and bindings in Azure Cache for Redis
Create a write-behind cache by using Azure Functions and Azure Cache for Redis
Microsoft EntraID Authentication and Authorization (GA)
Microsoft EntraID documentation
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Azure Firewall integration in Copilot for Security: protect networks at machine speed with Gen AI
Azure Firewall is a cloud-native and intelligent network firewall security service that provides best of breed threat protection for your cloud workloads running in Azure. It’s a fully stateful firewall as a service with built-in high availability and unrestricted cloud scalability. In this blog we will be focusing on the newly announced Azure Firewall integration in Copilot for Security.
How Copilot for Security works with the Azure Firewall plugin
The Azure Firewall integration in Copilot for Security helps analysts perform detailed investigations of the malicious traffic intercepted by the IDPS feature of their firewalls across their entire fleet using natural language questions in the Copilot for Security standalone experience.
The Azure Firewall plugin enabled in the Copilot for Security standalone experience
These capabilities were announced at RSA. Take a look at this blog to learn more about the user journey and value that Copilot can deliver: Bringing generative AI to Azure network security with new Microsoft Copilot integrations.
There are four primary capabilities now in public preview which are outlined below.
Get top IDPS signature hits
This capability retrieves the top IDPS signature hits for an Azure Firewall. It helps the user get information about the traffic intercepted by the IDPS feature by simply asking natural language questions instead of the user having to construct KQL queries manually.
Get details on an IDPS signature
This capability enriches the threat profile of an IDPS signature beyond the information found in logs. It helps the user get additional details about an IDPS signature instead of requiring them to manually source this information. The Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence plugin is another source that Copilot may use to provide threat intelligence for IDPS signatures.
Search across firewalls for an IDPS signature
This capability looks for a given IDPS signature across your tenant, subscription or resource group. It helps users perform a fleet-wide search (over any scope) for a threat across all their Firewalls instead of searching for the threat manually.
Secure your environment using IDPS
This capability generates recommendations to secure your environment using Azure Firewall’s IDPS feature. It helps users get information from documentation about using Azure Firewall’s IDPS feature to secure their environment instead of having to look up this information manually. Copilot for Security may also use the Ask Microsoft Documentation capability to provide this information.
Get started
Learn more in our documentation about these capabilities and how to access them in Microsoft Copilot for Security today!
Abhinav Sriram,
Product Manager
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Deploy and Scale Spring Batch in the Cloud – with Adaptive Cost Control
You can now use Azure Spring Apps to effectively run Spring Batch applications with adaptive cost control. You only pay when batch jobs are running, and you can simply lift and shift your Spring Batch jobs with no code change.
Spring Batch is a framework for processing large amounts of data in Java applications. It provides reusable functions for logging, transaction management, job statistics, job restart, skipping errors, and resource management. It also supports high-performance tasks through optimization and partitioning. Introduced in March 2008, Spring Batch is popular among Java developers and is part of the Spring portfolio. It is widely used in modern enterprise systems to handle complex batch processing tasks efficiently.
Running Spring Batch jobs in the cloud presents several challenges:
Scalability: Ensuring batch jobs can scale efficiently to handle large volumes of data.
Cost Management: Controlling costs by only paying for resources when jobs are running.
Job Lifecycle Management: Managing the lifecycle of batch jobs, including scheduling, monitoring, and restarting jobs if they fail.
Infrastructure Management: Handling the underlying infrastructure, such as servers and storage, required to run batch jobs.
Security: Securing the batch jobs and the data they process.
Monitoring: Setting up effective monitoring and logging for job performance and errors.
Again, you can now use Azure Spring Apps to effectively run Spring Batch applications with adaptive cost control:
You only pay when batch jobs are running.
You can simply lift and shift your Spring Batch jobs with no code change.
We are announcing the public preview of Jobs in Azure Spring Apps to enable you to deploy and scale Spring Batch applications without worrying about job scalability, cost control, lifecycle, infrastructure, security, and monitoring. This makes it easier to handle large-scale data processing efficiently, leveraging the flexibility and scalability of the cloud.
Introduction to Jobs in Azure Spring Apps
Jobs in Azure Spring Apps are tasks with a finite lifespan — they start, perform processing, and exit upon completion. Each job execution typically handles a single unit of work and can run from minutes to hours, with multiple executions running simultaneously. Examples include batch processes that run on demand and scheduled tasks — a great fit for scenarios such as data processing, machine learning, building intelligence for AI applications, and any scenario where on-demand processing is required. This capability enables developers to efficiently manage and scale tasks within their applications, ensuring optimized performance and resource usage in a cloud environment.
Jobs in Azure Spring Apps enable you to run containerized, run-to-completion tasks within your environment. They will support three trigger types:
Manual: Triggered on demand by a user or application.
Schedule: Runs on a recurring schedule.
Event: Triggered by an event, like a message in a queue, and can be used for CI/CD pipeline build agents.
Currently, the public preview supports manual triggers. Our engineering team is actively working on adding support for scheduled and event-based triggers, which will be available soon. This ongoing development ensures that you can fully leverage the flexibility and power of Azure Spring Apps for all your batch processing needs.
Jobs share the same environment as your Spring applications, enabling shared resources like networking and storage. You can create and manage jobs, bind secrets with Azure Key Vault, secure communications, and monitor jobs, just like your Spring applications in Azure Spring Apps. You can combine Jobs and Apps to build powerful solutions.
Deploy Spring Batch Jobs in 3 Easy Steps
With these simple steps, you can quickly deploy and run your Spring Batch jobs on Azure Spring Apps.
Achieve Cost Efficiency and Simplicity with Adaptive Cost Control for Spring Batch Jobs
Let’s use an example to explain adaptive cost control. Suppose you have a Spring Batch job needing 8 vCPUs and 16 GB of memory. Normally, you’d use a larger virtual machine, like an Azure Virtual Machine D16v5, costing around $572 USD per month. Even if you run the job for only 2 hours a day, you still pay for the full month and handle maintenance for the OS, packages, JDK, and APM.
With Azure Spring Apps, you allocate 8 vCPUs and 16 GB for just the job’s runtime, say 60 hours a month. This costs around $45 USD per month, with all underlying infrastructure maintenance — OS, packages, JDK, and APM — handled for you. This reduces both infrastructure costs and the effort required by your developers and platform engineers. This approach is known as adaptive cost control.
Deploy Spring Batch Jobs and Share Your Feedback
Azure Spring Apps delivers simplicity and productivity, and you can leverage Spring experts to make your projects even more successful. You can easily deploy your Spring and polyglot applications – and now Spring Batch Jobs – to the cloud and get them up and running in no time. It’s a golden path to production that simplifies the deployment process and optimizes your resource usage. We’ll continue to innovate tools and optimize services for streamlining Spring app migration to cloud at scale and running those Spring apps efficiently and economically – Faster, Cheaper, and Better.
And the best part? We’re offering FREE monthly grants on all tiers – 50 vCPU hours and 100 GB hours per tier. This is the number of FREE hours you get BEFORE any usage is billed, giving you a chance to test out the service without any financial charges.
So why wait? Take advantage of our FREE monthly grants and deploy your first Spring Batch Job to Azure Spring Apps today!
Go to aka.ms/first-spring-batch-job !!
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
.NET8 MAUI Image “gif” animation Debug vs. Release
Has anyone figured out how to get a MAUI Image “gif” animation to work in Release mode?
Using Visual Studio 2022’s Android Device Manager, Emulator set to Tablet M-DPI 10.1in – API34, Android 14.0 – API 34, the MAUI Image animation in Debug mode works every single time! Awesome! However, when I switch the Build to Release mode and Deploy to the Emulator, the application responds just fine but I see a Image control presenting a FROZEN “gif” and I don’t know how to solve the problem.
I experience the same FROZEN “gif” problem if the Emulator is running Pixel 6 Pro Android 14 – API 34.
Using the Debug build, Pixel 6 Pro Android 14 – API 34 Emulator shows the Image control animating the “gif” perfectly!
However, switching Build to Release mode and Deploying to the Pixel 6 Pro Emulator, again I experience the application responding just fine, but the Image control presents a FROZEN “gif”.
Here’s my XAML definition for my Image element:
<Image
x:Name=”ClintHatGif”
Source=”clinteastwood.gif”
IsAnimationPlaying=”True”
Aspect=”AspectFit”
VerticalOptions=”Center”
HeightRequest=”180″ />
When I select my Project and visit “Manage NuGet Packages” and select the “Updates” tab, no updates appear. So, I think I’ve got the latest.
Maybe you know of a NuGet Package or a Build Release setting that solves the problem? I’m unsure how to proceed.
Thanks for reading this post.
Has anyone figured out how to get a MAUI Image “gif” animation to work in Release mode? Using Visual Studio 2022’s Android Device Manager, Emulator set to Tablet M-DPI 10.1in – API34, Android 14.0 – API 34, the MAUI Image animation in Debug mode works every single time! Awesome! However, when I switch the Build to Release mode and Deploy to the Emulator, the application responds just fine but I see a Image control presenting a FROZEN “gif” and I don’t know how to solve the problem. I experience the same FROZEN “gif” problem if the Emulator is running Pixel 6 Pro Android 14 – API 34.Using the Debug build, Pixel 6 Pro Android 14 – API 34 Emulator shows the Image control animating the “gif” perfectly! However, switching Build to Release mode and Deploying to the Pixel 6 Pro Emulator, again I experience the application responding just fine, but the Image control presents a FROZEN “gif”.Here’s my XAML definition for my Image element: <Image
x:Name=”ClintHatGif”
Source=”clinteastwood.gif”
IsAnimationPlaying=”True”
Aspect=”AspectFit”
VerticalOptions=”Center”
HeightRequest=”180″ /> When I select my Project and visit “Manage NuGet Packages” and select the “Updates” tab, no updates appear. So, I think I’ve got the latest. Maybe you know of a NuGet Package or a Build Release setting that solves the problem? I’m unsure how to proceed.Thanks for reading this post. Read More
FILTER and COUNTA function returning 1 even when no data is found
Hi,
I am using the formula below to track an unique count of Red Hat Enterprise OS which are in a specific migration wave. However, the formula is returning a count of “1” even though there are no Red Hat Enterprise OS’s in the wave in question. How can I modify this formula to provide an accurate unique count of Red Hat devices?
=COUNTA(UNIQUE(FILTER(MasterServerToApp[Server], (MasterServerToApp[Wave] = B4) * ISNUMBER(SEARCH(“Red Hat Enterprise”, MasterServerToApp[OS Trim])))))
Below are two screenshots which prove there are “0” Red Hat Enterprise devices, however the dashboard still shows a value of “1”
Thanks,
Connor
Hi,I am using the formula below to track an unique count of Red Hat Enterprise OS which are in a specific migration wave. However, the formula is returning a count of “1” even though there are no Red Hat Enterprise OS’s in the wave in question. How can I modify this formula to provide an accurate unique count of Red Hat devices?=COUNTA(UNIQUE(FILTER(MasterServerToApp[Server], (MasterServerToApp[Wave] = B4) * ISNUMBER(SEARCH(“Red Hat Enterprise”, MasterServerToApp[OS Trim])))))Below are two screenshots which prove there are “0” Red Hat Enterprise devices, however the dashboard still shows a value of “1” Thanks,Connor Read More
Permanently deleted log analytics workspace in Azure and how to recover it ?
Have permanently deleted log analytics workspace in Azure environment and need to recover the deleted workspace.
Reason# Recreated a new log analytics workspace but when tried to check under conditional access –> Insights and reporting
receiving an error message as insufficient permission and highlighting the deleted log analytics workspace.
/subscriptions/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/rg-test-prod-uks-001/providers/Microsoft.OperationalInsights/workspaces/
Error code showing : 403 | Content : NewLogAnalyticsBlade
Any idea on how to recover the deleted one or how to fix this permission issue.
Impact: Not able to get audit logs from Conditional access policies to Log analytics workspace.
Thanks.
Have permanently deleted log analytics workspace in Azure environment and need to recover the deleted workspace.Reason# Recreated a new log analytics workspace but when tried to check under conditional access –> Insights and reportingreceiving an error message as insufficient permission and highlighting the deleted log analytics workspace. /subscriptions/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/rg-test-prod-uks-001/providers/Microsoft.OperationalInsights/workspaces/Error code showing : 403 | Content : NewLogAnalyticsBladeAny idea on how to recover the deleted one or how to fix this permission issue.Impact: Not able to get audit logs from Conditional access policies to Log analytics workspace.Thanks. Read More
Scheduling a meeting with many required attendees
I’m trying to book a 2 hour meeting across 3 time zones (EST,PST,Mountain) and although the scheduling assistant is helpful, its still really tedious.
Does anyone know of a plugin or helper app that can do that work for me? Find two hours and then I can create the meeting?
Thanks
I’m trying to book a 2 hour meeting across 3 time zones (EST,PST,Mountain) and although the scheduling assistant is helpful, its still really tedious. Does anyone know of a plugin or helper app that can do that work for me? Find two hours and then I can create the meeting? Thanks Read More
Join Our Post-Build AMA on Copilot for Microsoft 365 – May 23rd at 9 am PST
We are hosting a post-Build AMA event on Copilot for Microsoft 365 on Thursday, May 23rd, at 9 AM PDT / 12 PM EST. This session will focus on the announcements made at Microsoft Build 2024 about Copilot for Microsoft 365. Be sure to RSVP and join us in the Copilot for Microsoft 365 Tech Community
We are hosting a post-Build AMA event on Copilot for Microsoft 365 on Thursday, May 23rd, at 9 AM PDT / 12 PM EST. This session will focus on the announcements made at Microsoft Build 2024 about Copilot for Microsoft 365. Be sure to RSVP and join us in the Copilot for Microsoft 365 Tech Community Read More
NEW outlook will NOT play sound when notifications appear.
I have looked absolutely everywhere and tried soooo many workarounds and settings changes both in the NEW outlook, the WEB outlook, reverting back to the OLD outlook and back again, ENSURED my windows notification settings, battery settings, focus assist settings are all CORRECT, I have enabled notifications for outlook on windows, for all apps, I have went through ALL the old outlook settings, web and new (desktop) outlook notification settings and even my windows control center’s sound settings.
I receive sounds for EVERY other app I have notifications set except for outlook. very unhappy with the new outlook but am determined to continue using it as I am now comfortable with it. I am using an HP-Dragonfly 3 laptop with Windows 11. how difficult can it be to get the sound working properly? I work in tech and as I’ve said, I’ve gone through ALL the windows help forum discussions and many others outside of windows/outlook trying to find a solution.
Has anyone with this issue actually found a solution?
I have looked absolutely everywhere and tried soooo many workarounds and settings changes both in the NEW outlook, the WEB outlook, reverting back to the OLD outlook and back again, ENSURED my windows notification settings, battery settings, focus assist settings are all CORRECT, I have enabled notifications for outlook on windows, for all apps, I have went through ALL the old outlook settings, web and new (desktop) outlook notification settings and even my windows control center’s sound settings. I receive sounds for EVERY other app I have notifications set except for outlook. very unhappy with the new outlook but am determined to continue using it as I am now comfortable with it. I am using an HP-Dragonfly 3 laptop with Windows 11. how difficult can it be to get the sound working properly? I work in tech and as I’ve said, I’ve gone through ALL the windows help forum discussions and many others outside of windows/outlook trying to find a solution. Has anyone with this issue actually found a solution? Read More
