Tag Archives: microsoft
Partner Blog | What’s new for Microsoft Partners: January 2024 edition
Written by Andrew Smith, General Manager, Partner Program Management
AI and other emerging technologies continue to revolutionize our industry, pushing the boundaries of what is possible and surfacing new customer priorities. As you strategize for the year ahead, membership in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program connects you to tools, resources, and potential collaborators to advance your business in the direction of your goals. Stay up to date on the latest program offerings with this summary of the top stories from the past few months:
Continue reading here
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Partner Blog | What’s new for Microsoft Partners: January 2024 edition
Written by Andrew Smith, General Manager, Partner Program Management
AI and other emerging technologies continue to revolutionize our industry, pushing the boundaries of what is possible and surfacing new customer priorities. As you strategize for the year ahead, membership in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program connects you to tools, resources, and potential collaborators to advance your business in the direction of your goals. Stay up to date on the latest program offerings with this summary of the top stories from the past few months:
Continue reading here
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Partner Blog | What’s new for Microsoft Partners: January 2024 edition
Written by Andrew Smith, General Manager, Partner Program Management
AI and other emerging technologies continue to revolutionize our industry, pushing the boundaries of what is possible and surfacing new customer priorities. As you strategize for the year ahead, membership in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program connects you to tools, resources, and potential collaborators to advance your business in the direction of your goals. Stay up to date on the latest program offerings with this summary of the top stories from the past few months:
Continue reading here
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Partner Blog | What’s new for Microsoft Partners: January 2024 edition
Written by Andrew Smith, General Manager, Partner Program Management
AI and other emerging technologies continue to revolutionize our industry, pushing the boundaries of what is possible and surfacing new customer priorities. As you strategize for the year ahead, membership in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program connects you to tools, resources, and potential collaborators to advance your business in the direction of your goals. Stay up to date on the latest program offerings with this summary of the top stories from the past few months:
Continue reading here
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Configuration Manager technical preview version 2401
Automated diagnostic Dashboard for Software Update Issues
A new dashboard is added to the console under monitoring workspace which shows the diagnosis of the software update issues in your environment. You can fix software update issues based on CM troubleshooting documentation.
Introducing Centralized Search box: Effortlessly Find What You Need in the Console!
Users can now use the global search box in CM console which streamlines the search experience and centralizes access to information. This enhances the overall usability, productivity and effectiveness of CM. Users no longer need to navigate through multiple nodes or sections/ folders to find information they require, saving valuable time and effort.
Microsoft Azure Active Directory rebranded to Microsoft Entra ID
Starting Configuration Manager version 2403, Microsoft Azure Active Directory is renamed to Microsoft Entra ID within Configuration Manager.
Enhancement in Deploying Software Packages with Dynamic Variables
With the introduction of retry count in UI administrators while deploying the “Install Software Package” via Dynamic variable with “Continue on error” unchecked to clients, won’t be notified with task sequence failures even if package versions on the distribution point are updated.
Enabling Auto-Image Patching for CMG Virtual Machine Scale Set
With this version of CM Configuration Manager Cloud Management Gateway (CMG) Virtual Machine Scale introduces enabling of Auto-Image Patching for seamless and automated updates to ensure your environment stays current and secure with this efficient solution.
Window 11 Readiness dashboard to support Windows 23H2
With this version of Configuration Manager, the Windows 11 readiness dashboard will show charts for Windows 23H2.
HTTPS or Enhanced HTTP should be enabled for client communication from this version of Configuration Manager
HTTP-only communication is deprecated, and support is removed from this version of Configuration Manager. Please enable HTTPS or Enhanced HTTP for client communication.
Upgrade to CM 2403 is blocked if CMG V1 is running as a cloud service (classic)
The option to upgrade Configuration Manager 2403 is blocked if you’re running cloud management gateway V1 (CMG) as a cloud service (classic).All CMG deployments should use a virtual machine scale set.
Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 operating system site system roles aren’t supported from this version of Configuration Manager
Starting 2403, Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 operating system site system roles aren’t supported in any CB releases.
Improvements to Bitlocker
This release includes the following improvements to Bitlocker:
Based on your feedback, this feature ensures proper verification of key escrow and prevents message drops. We now validate whether the key is successfully escrowed to the database, and only on successful escrow we add the key protector.
This feature prevents a potential data loss scenario where BitLocker is protecting the volumes with keys that are never backed up to the database, in any failures to escrow happens.
Update 2401 for Technical Preview Branch is available in the Microsoft Configuration Manager Technical Preview console. For new installations, the 2401 baseline version of Microsoft Configuration Manager Technical Preview Branch is available on the link: CM2401TP-Baseline or from Eval center
Technical Preview Branch releases give you an opportunity to try out new Configuration Manager features in a test environment before they are made generally available.
We would love to hear your thoughts about the latest Technical Preview! Send us feedback directly from the console.
Thanks,
The Configuration Manager team
Configuration Manager Resources:
Documentation for Configuration Manager Technical Previews
Try the Configuration Manager Technical Preview Branch
Documentation for Configuration Manager
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Configuration Manager technical preview version 2401
Automated diagnostic Dashboard for Software Update Issues
A new dashboard is added to the console under monitoring workspace which shows the diagnosis of the software update issues in your environment. You can fix software update issues based on CM troubleshooting documentation.
Introducing Centralized Search box: Effortlessly Find What You Need in the Console!
Users can now use the global search box in CM console which streamlines the search experience and centralizes access to information. This enhances the overall usability, productivity and effectiveness of CM. Users no longer need to navigate through multiple nodes or sections/ folders to find information they require, saving valuable time and effort.
Microsoft Azure Active Directory rebranded to Microsoft Entra ID
Starting Configuration Manager version 2403, Microsoft Azure Active Directory is renamed to Microsoft Entra ID within Configuration Manager.
Enhancement in Deploying Software Packages with Dynamic Variables
With the introduction of retry count in UI administrators while deploying the “Install Software Package” via Dynamic variable with “Continue on error” unchecked to clients, won’t be notified with task sequence failures even if package versions on the distribution point are updated.
Enabling Auto-Image Patching for CMG Virtual Machine Scale Set
With this version of CM Configuration Manager Cloud Management Gateway (CMG) Virtual Machine Scale introduces enabling of Auto-Image Patching for seamless and automated updates to ensure your environment stays current and secure with this efficient solution.
Window 11 Readiness dashboard to support Windows 23H2
With this version of Configuration Manager, the Windows 11 readiness dashboard will show charts for Windows 23H2.
HTTPS or Enhanced HTTP should be enabled for client communication from this version of Configuration Manager
HTTP-only communication is deprecated, and support is removed from this version of Configuration Manager. Please enable HTTPS or Enhanced HTTP for client communication.
Upgrade to CM 2403 is blocked if CMG V1 is running as a cloud service (classic)
The option to upgrade Configuration Manager 2403 is blocked if you’re running cloud management gateway V1 (CMG) as a cloud service (classic).All CMG deployments should use a virtual machine scale set.
Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 operating system site system roles aren’t supported from this version of Configuration Manager
Starting 2403, Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 operating system site system roles aren’t supported in any CB releases.
Improvements to Bitlocker
This release includes the following improvements to Bitlocker:
Based on your feedback, this feature ensures proper verification of key escrow and prevents message drops. We now validate whether the key is successfully escrowed to the database, and only on successful escrow we add the key protector.
This feature prevents a potential data loss scenario where BitLocker is protecting the volumes with keys that are never backed up to the database, in any failures to escrow happens.
Update 2401 for Technical Preview Branch is available in the Microsoft Configuration Manager Technical Preview console. For new installations, the 2401 baseline version of Microsoft Configuration Manager Technical Preview Branch is available on the link: CM2401TP-Baseline or from Eval center
Technical Preview Branch releases give you an opportunity to try out new Configuration Manager features in a test environment before they are made generally available.
We would love to hear your thoughts about the latest Technical Preview! Send us feedback directly from the console.
Thanks,
The Configuration Manager team
Configuration Manager Resources:
Documentation for Configuration Manager Technical Previews
Try the Configuration Manager Technical Preview Branch
Documentation for Configuration Manager
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Partner Blog | What’s new for Microsoft Partners: January 2024 edition
Written by Andrew Smith, General Manager, Partner Program Management
AI and other emerging technologies continue to revolutionize our industry, pushing the boundaries of what is possible and surfacing new customer priorities. As you strategize for the year ahead, membership in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program connects you to tools, resources, and potential collaborators to advance your business in the direction of your goals. Stay up to date on the latest program offerings with this summary of the top stories from the past few months:
Continue reading here
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Partner Blog | What’s new for Microsoft Partners: January 2024 edition
Written by Andrew Smith, General Manager, Partner Program Management
AI and other emerging technologies continue to revolutionize our industry, pushing the boundaries of what is possible and surfacing new customer priorities. As you strategize for the year ahead, membership in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program connects you to tools, resources, and potential collaborators to advance your business in the direction of your goals. Stay up to date on the latest program offerings with this summary of the top stories from the past few months:
Continue reading here
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Partner Blog | What’s new for Microsoft Partners: January 2024 edition
Written by Andrew Smith, General Manager, Partner Program Management
AI and other emerging technologies continue to revolutionize our industry, pushing the boundaries of what is possible and surfacing new customer priorities. As you strategize for the year ahead, membership in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program connects you to tools, resources, and potential collaborators to advance your business in the direction of your goals. Stay up to date on the latest program offerings with this summary of the top stories from the past few months:
Continue reading here
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Partner Blog | What’s new for Microsoft Partners: January 2024 edition
Written by Andrew Smith, General Manager, Partner Program Management
AI and other emerging technologies continue to revolutionize our industry, pushing the boundaries of what is possible and surfacing new customer priorities. As you strategize for the year ahead, membership in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program connects you to tools, resources, and potential collaborators to advance your business in the direction of your goals. Stay up to date on the latest program offerings with this summary of the top stories from the past few months:
Continue reading here
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Customer review: AnnounceBot connects teams by celebrating birthday and work anniversary events
AnnounceBot Automated and Personalized Greetings, a solution published to Microsoft AppSource, helps companies celebrate special occasions like birthdays, work anniversaries, and welcoming new hires. With minimal setup and no calendars or manual work, AnnounceBot increases engagement, collaboration, and retention.
Microsoft interviewed Stephen Cornell, Service Director, Protected Trust, to learn what he had to say about the app.
What do you like best about AnnounceBot?
We absolutely love how easy AnnounceBot is to use! It is user-friendly, and setting it up was quick. Before using AnnounceBot, social media was our only way to track birthdays, which means some folks got left out. And work anniversaries were out of the picture. Since we started using AnnounceBot, we have never missed a birthday or work anniversary. It’s all automatic now.
How has AnnounceBot helped your organization?
Keeping the team engaged became challenging when we transitioned into working remotely. AnnounceBot helped us rebuild team connections by providing a centralized system to celebrate special events. Now, everyone engages in birthday and work anniversary posts, makes jokes, and tells stories about times we were all together in an office. It is a small gesture that has made a big difference in our company culture.
How is customer service and support?
I wanted to know how to check birthdays that are getting tracked. The support team responded within an hour and provided the information I needed.
Any recommendations or insights for other users considering AnnounceBot?
My suggestion would be to set it up in a small team first, just to get the hang of it. Test it out there before you go big and use it for the whole organization.
On a scale from 1 to 5 (5 being the highest), what is your overall rating for this AnnounceBot?
I would give AnnounceBot a 4.5 only because I think they should support Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) integration to make birthdate and joining date collection even smoother.
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
How to create linked servers from SQL managed instance using Entra Authentication (part 1)
Lately, we have seen some customers interested on the options available to use linked servers from Managed Instance and using Entra Authentication (formerly Azure Active Directory). It is certainly possible to create Linked Servers on SQL Managed instance (SQL MI) to connect to other PaaS databases such as other SQL MIs, Azure SQL Databases or Synapse databases using Entra Authentication.
At the time of writing, we support 2 specific use cases. Here you will find the official article. These scenarios are the following.
SQL Managed Instance linked server with managed identity Microsoft Entra authentication.
SQL Managed Instance linked server with pass-through Microsoft Entra authentication.
Let’s explore the first option in this article. We will explore the other scenario in a future one.
I will use a SQL managed instance named “azuresqlmi2” and an Azure SQL Server named “lacsql”
Using Managed Identity. Here are the steps on the official documentation.
One of the prerequisites that we will need is to create a managed identity on our source SQL Managed Instance. So, we can go to the SQL MI blade on the Azure portal and activate the system managed identity. You can also perform this step with Azure PowerShell or Azure CLI.
In my scenario, I will create a linked server to an Azure SQL Database.
Another prerequisite is that I will need to allow outbound traffic on my SQL MI’s network security group (NSG). I will use the Azure SQL service tag to simplify this task. You can read more about service tags here.
Another prerequisite is to ensure that the SQL MI has configured an Entra Admin.
First, I created a contained user on the Azure SQL database that points to the managed identity of the SQL MI managed identity. I chose a contained user that makes my DB more portable in case I need to move it to a different server. In my case the user database is named “epdb2”.
CREATE USER [azuresqlmi2] FROM EXTERNAL PROVIDER;
The next step is to execute the sp_addlinkedserver store procedure to create the linked server. One of the critical arguments for this SP is the “provstr” parameter. This is basically the connection string to our SQL Database. In this case I will add the Database keyword to the connection string to make a direct connection to the Azure SQL database and not to the Azure SQL (logical) server. As we are mostly interested in querying data for a particular database. In my case the DB is named “epdb2”.
EXEC master.dbo.sp_addlinkedserver
@server = N’MSILinkedServer’,
@srvproduct = N”,
@Provider = N’MSOLEDBSQL’,
@provstr = N’Server=lacsql.database.windows.net,1433;Database=epdb2;Authentication=ActiveDirectoryMSI;’;
The name of my linked server is “MSILinkedServer” and it is using the OLEDB provider. Notice how I also specified the Authentication keyword and set its value to “ActiveDirectoryMSI”.
The next step is to create a mapping of a login on the SQL Managed Instance (source) and the user account I created on my SQL Database (target). We do this by executing the store procedure sp_addlinkedsrvlogin. The documentation states that “Consider optionally using @locallogin = NULL to allow all local logins”.
I was interested to explore more on how that option works. I decided to first test this option setting a specific login “lu***@microsoft.com” that existed on my SQL MI which has a membership on the sysadmin server role. “Useself” is a parameter that has to be set to false when using managed identity authentication.
EXEC master.dbo.sp_addlinkedsrvlogin
@rmtsrvname = N’MSILinkedServer’,
@useself = N’False’,
@locallogin = N’lu***@microsoft.com’;
The next thing was to test the linked server. So, I connected to my SQL MI login as the account lu***@microsoft.com and tested the linked server.
Then I decided to log into the SQL MI using a different account and I tried to use the linked server. I received the following error when using a SQL authentication account named “miadmin”.
Why did we receive an error?
Remember that when we ran the sp_addlinkedsrvlogin stored procedure we did a hard coded mapping of lu***@microsoft.com as the local login. Then I decided to recreate the linked server but this time as the documentation mentions I will set the locallogin parameter to NULL to allow all local logins to use the linked server.
EXEC master.dbo.sp_addlinkedsrvlogin
@rmtsrvname = N’MSILinkedServer’,
@useself = N’False’,
@locallogin = NULL;
I logged into my SQL MI using the SQL authentication account that I used previously and this time the query execution was successful.
I executed the query below on my Azure SQL Database to identify the session id that was created to run the remote the remote query.
SELECT
s.session_id,
auth_scheme,
client_net_address,
login_time,
[host_name],
client_interface_name,
nt_domain AS [TenantID],
nt_user_name AS [ApplicationId],
login_time,
connection_id
FROM
sys.dm_exec_connections AS c
INNER JOIN sys.dm_exec_sessions AS s ON c.session_id = s.session_id
WHERE
program_name = ‘Microsoft SQL Server’
AND
auth_scheme != ‘SQL’
On the next installment of this short series, we will explore more about how to use the pass-through Microsoft Entra authentication.
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Partner Spotlight: Harnessing the Power of AI to Unlock Growth, with AffableBPM
As part of the Microsoft #BuildFor2030 Initiative, in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, we’re continuing to highlight solutions that are enabling broader societal impact, and our partners’ journeys growing their business on the marketplace. In this edition, I sat down with AffableBPM Founder and CEO Rajashree Varma to learn more about their story and partner journey. AffableBPM is a winner of the “Rising B2B Startup” award by Women in Cloud (WIC), and Rajashree has also been recognized as a WICxTop100 Founder.
About Gena: Gena Goh is the Partner Advisory & Inclusive Growth Senior Strategy Lead with the Global Partner Solutions business at Microsoft. She focuses on developing strategies that elevate the voice of partner and enable partners to innovate and build solutions toward a more inclusive economy, including leading the Microsoft #BuildFor2030 Initiative. Gena is also a professionally trained co-active coach and enjoys helping people and organizations chart new paths to purpose and impact.
About Rajashree: Raj is a serial entrepreneur with 20+ years of deep passion for technology and business leadership who brings proven track record of success in all aspects of business formation, innovative solutions, sales, strategic channels, operation, finance, management, fund raising, acquisition and exit strategies.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
[GG]: Tell us about AffableBPM and its mission. What inspired the founding?
[RV]: AffableBPM is an AI-enabled SaaS solution that automates manual processes for healthcare back-offices, that increases efficiency, minimizes compliance risks, and improves decision-making with unified data in the cloud. We help to reduce the huge cost involved in back office administrative processes, delivering faster ROI for our customers, and ultimately influencing the cost of patient care in the USA We are a HIPAA compliant solution on Microsoft Azure, that provides secure digital transformation to our customers.
I love leveraging technology to solve business problems. I come with my Microsoft experience and background, and also previously owned a consulting business focused on Microsoft stack and Cosell. Following its acquisition by Xoriant, we grew the Microsoft Cosell business into a double-digit multi-million-dollar venture. I then co-founded this company with Linda Roberson and Linda brings with her extensive executive experience in healthcare. Together, we contribute complementary skills to AffableBPM.
[GG]: Can you tell us a bit about the application(s) you have available on the marketplace? How does it work?
[RV]: AffableBPM provides two versions, AffableBPM Enterprise and AffableBPM Express, catering to organizations of all sizes for streamlined business process automation. AffableBPM Enterprise is designed for larger enterprises requiring customizable workflows, while AffableBPM Express is ideal for small businesses seeking to automate specific workflows. Additionally, AffableBPM offers AI-enabled plugins to enhance accuracy in data entry for documents like contracts and invoices, ultimately boosting efficiency.
These offerings are conveniently accessible on the Microsoft Azure Marketplace as transactable offers. By choosing Microsoft’s marketplace for AffableBPM purchases, customers gain access to a trusted platform that seamlessly integrates with AffableBPM’s offerings. This ensures security, compliance, and efficient licensing and billing capabilities. Opting for Microsoft’s marketplace not only expands AffableBPM’s global reach but also provides you with straightforward options to manage subscriptions, licenses, and payments effortlessly.
[GG]: How has Microsoft supported you along your marketplace journey through ISV Success?
[RV]: ISV Success helped us understand various options available to publish our solutions on marketplace. The benefits provided like Azure credits and development tool licenses came handy in conducting POC on various Azure Services we had planned to evaluate. Overall, the support received through tools and consultations helped us expedite publishing our solutions to the marketplace. Adding AI makes the workflow automation even more efficient and productive to really help our clients. It can speed up our growth as well as our clients. We achieve this by using tools like Azure Form Recognizer, Copilot, and ChatGPT in our solution. That brings power of AI to our healthcare customers. Being in ISV Success has given us technical guidance from Microsoft experts, enabling us to effectively use AI technologies. This support has been crucial in resolving any challenges during our development and in building an AI-enabled team for us.
[GG]: What was your experience publishing a transactable app on the marketplace and what benefits did it bring?
[RV]: Initially, setting up transactable offers, particularly through the marketplace, seemed overwhelming. However, with valuable assistance from Microsoft ISV Success consultants, we successfully streamlined the technical integration process. This involved utilizing accelerators such as Mona, the Marketplace Onboarding Accelerator. Mona is designed to facilitate the rapid onboarding of transactable SaaS solutions to Azure Marketplace and AppSource for ISV partners. Mona incorporates lightweight, reusable code modules deployed in our Azure subscription, along with low/no-code integration templates featuring Azure Logic Apps. The transactable offer significantly improved the management of billing for our SaaS customers. Additionally, the provided APIs played a crucial role in automating the provisioning process by capturing changes in subscription status and add-ons. This collaborative effort ensured a smoother and more efficient set-up for our transactable offers.
[GG]: What Microsoft cloud products did you use in your app development, and how did you decide to use those products?
[RV]: AffableBPM’s SaaS solution, developed on the complete Microsoft stack, allows us to leverage cross-cloud products, ensuring a customer-centric approach and address diverse customer use-cases. We utilize Azure services such as Azure App Service, Azure Virtual Machine, Azure Application Gateway, Azure AI services (Document Intelligence), Azure Logic Apps, Azure BCDR, Azure HIPAA Blueprint and Power BI. To assess the cloud products available, we conducted Proof of Concepts. The ISV Success teams offered valuable technical consultations, enabling us to grasp best practices and pitfalls of these products. This guidance helped us identify the most suitable options for our business use case. We are further in evaluation to assess integration with Microsoft Teams and Dynamics 365. By leveraging the Microsoft stack, we don’t have to do everything on our own and can go to market faster. Partnering with a hyperscaler like Microsoft is a great way to boost sales, leveraging their credibility to expand our business.
[GG]: AffableBPM was recognized as a Women in Cloud WICxTop 100 Founder and your support for ESG efforts. Can you share how you’re aligning your business and solutions with the UN SDGs?
[RV]: We’re a proud member of Women in Cloud and appreciate its recognition as a WICxTop100 Founder and Rising B2B Startup. Our company is committed to bring scalability and reliability to corporates to support long-term resource efficiency and sustainability of business processes in support of the UN SDGs. AffableBPM can help make an impact on several areas of UN SDGs aligned to sustainability and industry innovation, such as Goal 9: Industry Innovation and Infrastructure (Goal 9.4: increasing resource-use efficiency and sustainable industrial processes).
AffableBPM offers healthcare back-offices an opportunity to optimize their processes digitally, eliminating inefficiencies and reducing the carbon footprint by storing the data in a centralized location on the cloud. Our solution facilitates digital hosting of documents, seamless remote collaboration, and rapid contractual processes, all contributing to enhanced resource efficiency and reduction of waste.
Beyond digitalization of manual back-office processes, AffableBPM ensures a HIPAA compliant environment, and delivers prompt ROI using its AI enabled capabilities. Currently, the platform manages contracts worth over multibillion USD, drawing insights, saving costs, and elevating ROI, which supports reducing the cost of patient care.
Additionally, we believe that AI could be just the ticket to accelerate digital transformation in healthcare. Enabling AI in our core SaaS solution brings higher efficiency and productivity to our customers in the healthcare Industry to free up their valuable time to focus on providing patient care instead of manual administrative processes. While AffableBPM is currently serving many esteemed nonprofit healthcare providers and educational institutes, it has applicability across multiple industries, due to its flexible architecture for automating backend office operations.
[GG]: Indeed, we’re excited for how AI can help accelerate digital transformation across industries. How is AffableBPM leveraging or planning to leverage AI in app development to enhance the value of your product?
[RV]: We are excited to be developing multiple product features leveraging AI services:
AffableBPM Data Importer: This feature utilizes the Document Intelligence module in Azure AI services, automating metadata recognition in documents such as invoices and insurance policies. By leveraging the Document Intelligence module, the solution ensures accurate extraction of key information, reducing errors, and streamlining processes. It also seamlessly integrates with Lexmark printers and is certified for co-selling with Lexmark.
Guardian Chatbot Copilot for Help Docs: The company is exploring the use of Azure OpenAI Copilot with generative AI and prompt flow to develop an integrated help chatbot. In collaboration with Microsoft ISV Services, this chatbot aims to streamline access to relevant product-related help and currently, a Proof of Concept (POC) is underway.
AffableBPM Data Simplifyer: Developing a generative AI for data format matching, we leverage Azure NLP to further simplify data, particularly in standardizing claim data. Future plans involve converting or obtaining HL7 data for mapping into Azure Health Data Services, ensuring adherence to standard formats like FHIR.
AffableBPM Process Mining: In alignment with our AI strategy, we utilize Power Automate process mining to uncover relationships between different customer-created business process workflows. This approach aims to extract higher business-centric analytics, bridging the gap between independently operating workflows for enhanced business insights.
[GG]: Collaboration across the industry and Microsoft partner ecosystem is so valuable in addressing customer needs. Can you share more about your business partnerships? How are these partnerships beneficial to accelerating app adoption?
[RV]: Within the Microsoft ecosystem, Lexmark is a significant player, and AffableBPM has established a strategic partnership with Lexmark to integrate the AffableBPM Data Importer solution into their smart multi-function printers. In such instances, we are considering the implementation of Multi-Party-Offer (MPO) to facilitate transactions through the Azure Marketplace. Furthermore, AffableBPM collaborates with non-Microsoft Managed Service Providers (MSP) or resellers who actively refer leads to us. These referrals contribute to MPO deals via the marketplace, expanding our reach beyond Microsoft affiliations. This approach ensures a diverse network of partnerships and transactions, enhancing the accessibility and adoption of the AffableBPM solution in various business ecosystems.
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Scan Microsoft Fabric Items in Microsoft Purview
Previously we have announced the Public preview for Microsoft Fabric Items in Microsoft Purview and starting from December 13th 2023, scanning Fabric tenants registered with the Fabric data source in Microsoft Purview will capture metadata and lineage from Fabric items including Power BI. The new feature is available in all Microsoft Purview public cloud regions.
There are no additional configuration steps needed to enable scanning Fabric items besides Power BI for existing scans. To create a new scan, the experience of registering a Fabric tenant and setting up the scan is similar to the Power BI tenant and shared among all Fabric items. You can start by registering your Fabric tenant by following the guidance Connect to your Microsoft Fabric tenant in the same tenant as Microsoft Purview (Preview) or Connect to your Microsoft Fabric tenant from Microsoft Purview in a different tenant (Preview).
Supported Fabric items in scan
Experiences
Fabric items available in scan
Real-Time Analytics
KQL Database
KQL Queryset
Data Science
Experiment
ML Model
Data Factory
Data pipeline
Dataflow Gen2
Data Engineering
Lakehouse
Notebook
Spark Job Definition
SQL analytics endpoint
Data Warehouse
Warehouse
Power BI
Dashboard
Dataflow
Datamart
Semantic model (Dataset)
Report
Paginated report
Known limitations
For all Fabric items besides Power BI:
Only item-level metadata and lineage will be captured, scanning metadata and lineage of sub-level items like Lakehouse tables or files isn’t supported.
Scanning with a self-hosted integration runtime isn’t supported.
Additional Resources:
Learn more about how to get lineage from Microsoft Fabric items into Microsoft Purview
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Generally Available: VMware Cloud Director Availability for Azure VMware solution with Run commands
Generally Available: VMware Cloud Director Availability for Azure VMware solution with Run commands
Today we are announcing the general availability for VMware Cloud Director Availability, a Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) solution on Azure VMware Solution.
An added benefit is the simplicity it brings to the deployment. Customers can effortlessly deploy and configure VMware Cloud Director Availability in the Azure VMware Solution cloud site using Run commands, streamlining the process with full automation, and eliminating the need for manual intervention.
VMware Cloud Director Availability can be used to migrate and protect virtual machines, vApps and templates to and from Azure VMware Solution Cloud Director Service site. Azure VMware solution integrates with the classic Data Engine of VMware Cloud Director Availability. This Host-based replication engine not only supports migration but also caters to Disaster Recovery scenarios, making it a comprehensive solution for various use cases.
This blog delves into key aspects of VMware Cloud Director Availability integration with Azure VMware Solution and its role in enhancing disaster recovery and workload migration.
Architecture of VMware Cloud Director Availability in Azure VMware Solution
The VMware Cloud Director Availability installation in Azure VMware Solution cloud site consists of one Replication management appliance (Manager), one Tunnel Appliance, and two Replicator Appliances. You can deploy additional replicator virtual machines by using Run command for adding replicator.
Replication Manager is responsible for communication with VMware Cloud Director, identifying resources like Organization Virtual Datacenter, storage policies, datastores, and networks. It also plays a pivotal role in determining eligible vApps/VMs and facilitating UI/API interfaces.
Cloud Replicator is responsible for transferring replication data to/from ESXi hosts in the cloud.
Tunnel appliance serving as the single-entry point for managing traffic. It handles both data and management traffic and forwards it respectively to cloud replicators and manager.
The On-Premises Cloud Director Replication Appliance is deployed in the tenant’s on-premises data center, this appliance establishes a pairing relation with VMware Cloud Director Availability in the cloud. It enables the protection and migration of VMs between on-premises and the cloud.
Below is an architecture diagram showing the On-Premises Cloud Director Replication Appliance paired with VMware Cloud Director Availability instance in Azure VMware Solution. For simplicity, two replicator appliance instances on the Azure VMware Solution site are depicted as a unified entity.
Figure showing VMware Cloud Director Availability appliances deployed in cloud and on-premises site.
Run commands for VMware Cloud Director Availability
Run commands in Azure VMware Solution let you perform operations that would normally require elevated privileges through a collection of PowerShell cmdlets.
In Azure VMware Solution, providers now have the capability to execute VMware Cloud director Run commands for various actions, including the installation or deletion of a VMware Cloud Director Availability instance, taking, and deleting appliance snapshots, repairing the Replicator Appliance or the vCenter Server Lookup service, and resetting passwords for the service account or the root user of the appliances. Run command empowers administrators to perform a range of administrative actions seamlessly within the VMware Cloud Director Availability instance in Azure VMware Solution.
To learn how to use each run command, see VMware Cloud Director Availability Run command glossary
How to Install and configure VMware Cloud Director Availability in Azure VMware Solution
In Azure VMware Solution, providers can deploy and configure VMware Cloud Director Availability using Run commands. This approach gives them a fully automated way to deploy and configure VMware Cloud Director Availability appliances in the cloud site.
Below are high-level steps of the installation:
Ensure you have met all the prerequisites as documented.
Login to your Azure portal and navigate to Azure private cloud.
Under Run command, navigate to run command package “VMware.VCDA.AVS” to deploy VMware Cloud Director Availability.
Initialize the VMware Cloud Director Availability cloud site by using the Run command “Initialize-AVSSite”.
Wait for the command to complete successfully. You should see message “Operation completed successfully. “.
Install VMware Cloud Director Availability appliances using “Install-VCDAAVS.”
Fill all required parameters in the run command as shown in the example below.
For detailed information on each of the parameters follow the Installation guide.
Wait for Run command to complete successfully.
Upon successful completion of the Run command, VMware Cloud Director Availability is installed and configured in your Azure VMware Solution private cloud. This includes the setup of essential components such as the Replication Manager, Tunnel Appliance, and two Replicator Appliances.
It’s as simple as this!
Next, you can login to VMware Cloud Director Availability appliances admin UI using SSO authentication with your ‘cloudadmin@vsphere.local’ credentials provided under VMware credentials in Azure portal.
To set up site pairing and start replications, access VMware Cloud Director Availability endpoint and using your Cloud Director Service credentials.
Conclusion
The integration of VMware Cloud Director Availability in Azure VMware Solution through Azure Run commands represents a significant leap forward in the automation of disaster recovery and workload migration solutions. By following the outlined steps and adhering to the prerequisites, enterprise customers can harness the full potential of VMware Cloud Director Availability, bringing a new level of simplicity and efficiency to their cloud strategies.
Learn more
Deploy VMware Cloud Director Availability in Azure VMware Solution – Azure VMware Solution | Microsoft Learn
VMware Cloud Director Availability™ in Azure VMware® Solution
VMware Cloud Director Availability Run command glossary
VMware Cloud Director Availability | Disaster Recovery & Migration | DRaaS
VMware Cloud Director Availability documentation
Concepts – Run Command in Azure VMware Solution (Preview) – Azure VMware Solution | Microsoft Learn
Author Bio
Rosy Dutt, a seasoned Senior Technical Program Manager within Microsoft’s Azure VMware Solution product group, brings a wealth of expertise across enterprise, public cloud, and service provider domains. With a track record of driving digital innovation and mastering business complexities, she navigates the intricate landscape of enterprise and technology architectures. Holding double VCP certifications in data center virtualization and network virtualization, she excels as a Cloud Provider Specialist, demonstrating specialized proficiency in this domain.
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Using Azure API Management Circuit Breaker and Load balancing with Azure OpenAI Service
Load balance requests to multiple instances of the Azure OpenAI Service using the round-robin load balancing technique. This can help you distribute the load across different resources and regions and increase the availability and performance of your service.
Implement the circuit breaker pattern to protect your backend service from being overwhelmed by excessive requests. This can help you prevent cascading failures and improve the stability and resiliency of your service. You can configure the circuit breaker property in the backend resource, and define rules for tripping the circuit breaker, such as the number or percentage of failure conditions within a defined time interval and a range of status codes indicating failures.
Circuit breaker pattern
name: ‘aoai-backend-1
properties: {
url: ‘https://<openai endpoint>’
protocol: ‘http’
circuitBreaker: {
rules: [
{
failureCondition: {
count: 1
errorReasons: [
‘Server errors’
]
interval: ‘PT10S’
statusCodeRanges: [
{
min: 429
max: 429
}
]
}
name: ‘myBreakerRule’
tripDuration: ‘PT10S’
}
]
}
}
}
Load balance requests to multiple instances of the Azure OpenAI Service
name: ‘aoai-lb-pool’
properties: {
description: ‘Load balance openai instances’
type: ‘Pool’
protocol: ‘https’
url: ‘https://does-not-matter
pool: {
services: [
{
id: ‘/backends/aoai-backend-1’
}
{
id: ‘/backends/aoai-backend-2’
}
]
}
}
}
Limitations
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How to use Azure Open AI to Enhance Your Data Analysis in Power BI
Data is the new currency of the modern world, and to succeed in this competitive field, you need to master data concepts and tools.
This blog will show you how artificial intelligence (AI), especially Azure Open AI, can transform your data decision-making process within Power BI. Azure Open AI is a cloud-based AI service that uses pre-trained models to generate new content. You can pay for the service with tokens and benefit from features like cloud security and identity management.
Azure Open AI has many applications, including content generation, sentiment analysis, machine translations, and automation. Whether you are a business analyst, a researcher, or a data enthusiast, Azure Open AI can help you achieve your data goals. Join us as we dive into these fantastic possibilities in the next section.
1. Architecture
2. Azure Open AI creation
Creating Azure OpenAI involves a series of steps that build on the principles of Cloud Native architecture. Here’s a simplified guide on how to create Azure OpenAI:
Set up Azure Cloud: Start creating an Azure account if you haven’t already. Sign in to the Azure portal using your Azure account credentials.
Create a Resource: To deploy an Azure service, you must create a resource. A resource represents a service or component in Azure, such as a virtual machine, a storage account, or a database. Click on the “Create a resource” button in the Azure portal.
Select Azure OpenAI Service: You’ll see a list of available Azure services in the resource creation wizard. Choose Azure OpenAI Service by browsing the categories or searching the search bar.
Configure the Resource: Once you’ve selected Azure OpenAI Service, you’ll be taken to a configuration page where you can specify the settings for the resource. Fill in the required information, such as resource name, region, pricing tier, and other relevant settings.
Review and Create: After configuring the resource, review the settings to ensure they are correct. Once satisfied, click the “Review + Create” button.
Validation and Deployment: Azure will validate the configuration settings and check for potential issues. If everything is in order, click the “Create” button to initiate the deployment process.
Monitor the Deployment: Azure will start provisioning the resources based on your configuration. You can monitor the deployment progress in the Azure portal. The deployment may take a few minutes to complete, depending on the service.
Access and Manage the Deployed Service: Once the deployment is finished, you can access and manage the deployed service through the Azure portal. You can view its properties, make changes to its configuration, monitor its performance, and perform other administrative tasks as needed.
3. Azure OpenAI Service Building Blocks
The Azure OpenAI Service Building Blocks are the core components and tools for creating and managing generative AI solutions. They include:
Visual Interfaces: Azure OpenAI Studio and Playground offer user-friendly interfaces for testing, customizing, and deploying AI models without coding.
Development Interfaces: APIs and SDKs enable the integration of Azure OpenAI’s advanced capabilities into any application.
Management Features: Deployments, Content Filters, Models, Data Files, and Quotas, which provide users with control over various aspects of their AI implementations.
In this blog, we will focus on using the Visual Interfaces of the Azure OpenAI Service, namely Azure OpenAI Studio and Playground, which offer user-friendly interfaces for testing, customizing, and deploying AI models without coding.
3.1. Azure OpenAI Studio and Playground
Azure OpenAI Playgrounds are applications within the service that let users interact and customize various AI models, including chat-based models like ChatGPT, non-chat language models, and image generation models. These interfaces simplify generative AI models, especially for non-technical users.
You can access each Playground (and their related management features) from the left panel of the Studio or visit them directly by following URLs linked in the following sections.
3.2. Chat Playground
The Chat Playground is a feature within the Azure OpenAI Studio. It provides an interactive interface for users to test and configure the behavior of the chat-based AI models.
The main components of the Chat Playground include:
Assistant Setup: This area allows users to configure the chatbot’s behavior. Users can choose from templates or create their custom system messages.
Chat Session: The main interaction point between the user and the chatbot. Users can type their queries here, and the chatbot responds accordingly.
Deploy to: This option allows users to deploy their chatbot to a specific platform or environment. Azure OpenAI Studio enables direct deployments of both Azure Web Apps
and Power Virtual Agents.
Configuration: This area provides options to access deployment and session settings. Users can also clear the chat history and manage parameters related to the chatbot’s deployment.
This Playground is handy for developing and refining chatbot applications, as it allows users to test and adjust the chatbot’s performance and responses iteratively.
3.3. Deployments
Deployments provide endpoints to the Azure OpenAI base models, or your fine-tuned models, configured with settings to meet your needs, including the content moderation model, version handling, and deployment size. You can view your deployments from this page, edit them, and create new ones.
4. Retrieve key and endpoint.
You need an endpoint and a key to make a call successfully against Azure OpenAI.
Variable name
Value
ENDPOINT
This value can be found in the Keys & Endpoint section when examining your resource from the Azure portal. Alternatively, you can find the value in the Azure OpenAI Studio > Playground > Code View. An example endpoint is https://xxxxxxxxxx.openai.azure.com/.
5. Python script
We can copy the Python code from the Playground to use our model API in our Python code (JSON and CURL are also available). This code will import the required library and export our parameter settings.
We will also create a Power BI report and use Azure Open AI to generate insights from the data. Before we begin, we need to complete some steps:
Install Python and enable Python in Power BI:
First, install Python if you have not done so already. Please visit the official website (https://www.python.org/downloads/) to download it. We recommend versions 3.9 and 3.10.
Once Python has been installed, enable Python scripting in Power BI. To do so, open Power BI Desktop. Then, click File > Options and go to Settings > Options > Python scripting. Select the checkbox and click OK.
Next, set the Python path in Power BI. Go to File > Options and Settings > Options > Python scripting. Here, click Detect. This selects the Python installation path automatically. You can do this manually by clicking the ellipsis (…) and selecting the Python executable file.
Restart Power BI Desktop for the changes you made to take effect.
Install the SDK with a package manager such as pip:
Pip install openai
2. Now, we need to create a dataset to analyze. Follow these steps:
1. Import your data and choose Transform Data
2. You can check the column quality to see if there is something wrong with data quality or empty cells, which can lead to false insight
3. Add Run Python script to the Applied Steps section.
4. Now, we can run the code in the next section directly into Power BI.
1. To start, import the necessary Python libraries
# Import Libraries
import os
import openai
# Set OpenAI API for Azure
openai.api_type = “azure”
openai.api_base = “https://xxxxxxxxxx.openai.azure.com/”
openai.api_version = “2023-07-01-preview”
openai.api_key = “xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx”
# Loop through each row in Renamed Columns & concatenate the data into a single string. Pass resulting string to the API
for index, row in Renamed_Columns.iterrows():
messages = [
{
“role”: “system”,
“content”: “For each company, I will give you the followwing information: Company, Price to Earnings, Price to Book, Return to Equity%, Debt to Equity, Current Ratio, Gross Margin%. Then, I will analyze the ratios and write a brief summary using the company name “
},
{
“role”: “user”,
“content”: ”.join([str(col) for col in row])
}
]
# Make a chat completion Request for the API
chat = openai.ChatCompletion.create(
engine = “GPT-35-turbo”,
messages = messages,
temperature = 0.7,
max_tokens = 800,
top_p = 0.95,
frequency_penalty = 0,
presence_penalty = 0
)
# Process the response from API
reply = chat.choices[0].message.content
# Write the response Back to the Report
Renamed_Columns.at[index, “reslt”] = reply
This script runs a Python code that iterates over the Power BI table rows and builds a prompt for ChatGPT using the report data. The prompt is sent to ChatGPT, and the API response is returned to the Power BI DataFrame and table for each row (company).
2. Expanding the table means turning a column with tables inside it into multiple columns and rows. This can help you flatten your data and make it easier to analyze.
6. Build the report with Power BI
In the Power BI desktop, you can use the slicer visual to select the company and the table visual to view the generative insight of the data according to the field you choose.
Congratulations on completing this tutorial blog on How to use Azure Open AI to Enhance Your Data Analysis in Power BI; you have learned how to use Azure Open AI to enrich your data analysis in Power BI. You have discovered how Azure Open AI can create new content based on the dataset using a Python script. Azure Open AI is a versatile tool that can help you leverage your data and make smarter decisions. Whether you are a business analyst, a researcher, or a data enthusiast, Azure Open AI can help you gain data skills and insights. We hope you found this blog helpful and informative.
7. Ressources
Azure OpenAI Service fine-tuning gpt-3.5-turbo – Azure OpenAI | Microsoft Learn
Run Python scripts in Power BI Desktop – Power BI | Microsoft Learn
Visualization types in Power BI – Power BI | Microsoft Learn
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Customer review: AnnounceBot connects teams by celebrating birthday and work anniversary events
AnnounceBot Automated and Personalized Greetings, a solution published to Microsoft AppSource, helps companies celebrate special occasions like birthdays, work anniversaries, and welcoming new hires. With minimal setup and no calendars or manual work, AnnounceBot increases engagement, collaboration, and retention.
Microsoft interviewed Stephen Cornell, Service Director, Protected Trust, to learn what he had to say about the app.
What do you like best about AnnounceBot?
We absolutely love how easy AnnounceBot is to use! It is user-friendly, and setting it up was quick. Before using AnnounceBot, social media was our only way to track birthdays, which means some folks got left out. And work anniversaries were out of the picture. Since we started using AnnounceBot, we have never missed a birthday or work anniversary. It’s all automatic now.
How has AnnounceBot helped your organization?
Keeping the team engaged became challenging when we transitioned into working remotely. AnnounceBot helped us rebuild team connections by providing a centralized system to celebrate special events. Now, everyone engages in birthday and work anniversary posts, makes jokes, and tells stories about times we were all together in an office. It is a small gesture that has made a big difference in our company culture.
How is customer service and support?
I wanted to know how to check birthdays that are getting tracked. The support team responded within an hour and provided the information I needed.
Any recommendations or insights for other users considering AnnounceBot?
My suggestion would be to set it up in a small team first, just to get the hang of it. Test it out there before you go big and use it for the whole organization.
On a scale from 1 to 5 (5 being the highest), what is your overall rating for this AnnounceBot?
I would give AnnounceBot a 4.5 only because I think they should support Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) integration to make birthdate and joining date collection even smoother.
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Customer review: AnnounceBot connects teams by celebrating birthday and work anniversary events
AnnounceBot Automated and Personalized Greetings, a solution published to Microsoft AppSource, helps companies celebrate special occasions like birthdays, work anniversaries, and welcoming new hires. With minimal setup and no calendars or manual work, AnnounceBot increases engagement, collaboration, and retention.
Microsoft interviewed Stephen Cornell, Service Director, Protected Trust, to learn what he had to say about the app.
What do you like best about AnnounceBot?
We absolutely love how easy AnnounceBot is to use! It is user-friendly, and setting it up was quick. Before using AnnounceBot, social media was our only way to track birthdays, which means some folks got left out. And work anniversaries were out of the picture. Since we started using AnnounceBot, we have never missed a birthday or work anniversary. It’s all automatic now.
How has AnnounceBot helped your organization?
Keeping the team engaged became challenging when we transitioned into working remotely. AnnounceBot helped us rebuild team connections by providing a centralized system to celebrate special events. Now, everyone engages in birthday and work anniversary posts, makes jokes, and tells stories about times we were all together in an office. It is a small gesture that has made a big difference in our company culture.
How is customer service and support?
I wanted to know how to check birthdays that are getting tracked. The support team responded within an hour and provided the information I needed.
Any recommendations or insights for other users considering AnnounceBot?
My suggestion would be to set it up in a small team first, just to get the hang of it. Test it out there before you go big and use it for the whole organization.
On a scale from 1 to 5 (5 being the highest), what is your overall rating for this AnnounceBot?
I would give AnnounceBot a 4.5 only because I think they should support Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) integration to make birthdate and joining date collection even smoother.
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Customer review: AnnounceBot connects teams by celebrating birthday and work anniversary events
AnnounceBot Automated and Personalized Greetings, a solution published to Microsoft AppSource, helps companies celebrate special occasions like birthdays, work anniversaries, and welcoming new hires. With minimal setup and no calendars or manual work, AnnounceBot increases engagement, collaboration, and retention.
Microsoft interviewed Stephen Cornell, Service Director, Protected Trust, to learn what he had to say about the app.
What do you like best about AnnounceBot?
We absolutely love how easy AnnounceBot is to use! It is user-friendly, and setting it up was quick. Before using AnnounceBot, social media was our only way to track birthdays, which means some folks got left out. And work anniversaries were out of the picture. Since we started using AnnounceBot, we have never missed a birthday or work anniversary. It’s all automatic now.
How has AnnounceBot helped your organization?
Keeping the team engaged became challenging when we transitioned into working remotely. AnnounceBot helped us rebuild team connections by providing a centralized system to celebrate special events. Now, everyone engages in birthday and work anniversary posts, makes jokes, and tells stories about times we were all together in an office. It is a small gesture that has made a big difference in our company culture.
How is customer service and support?
I wanted to know how to check birthdays that are getting tracked. The support team responded within an hour and provided the information I needed.
Any recommendations or insights for other users considering AnnounceBot?
My suggestion would be to set it up in a small team first, just to get the hang of it. Test it out there before you go big and use it for the whole organization.
On a scale from 1 to 5 (5 being the highest), what is your overall rating for this AnnounceBot?
I would give AnnounceBot a 4.5 only because I think they should support Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) integration to make birthdate and joining date collection even smoother.
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More