Interested? Create your first PowerShell function in Azure<\/a> now.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Launched in preview last year, Azure Front Door Service (AFD)<\/a> is a scalable and secure entry point for fast delivery of your global applications. AFD currently provides global coverage in over 35 countries across 65 metros and provides a 99.99% availability SLA. Other features include:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Back in September 2018 Microsoft announced Azure DevOps. In April 2019 we were greeted with the news that Azure DevOps is now available in the UK<\/a>. New customers can now create an Azure DevOps organisation in the UK Azure geography by selecting it in the drop-down, and existing customers can request a move of their Azure DevOps organisation by contacting Microsoft Support.<\/p>\n Azure DevOps now available in the UK. Source: Microsoft<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Azure AD Password Protection allows you to eliminate easily guessed passwords and customise lockout settings for your environment. In April Microsoft announced that Azure AD Password Protection is now generally available<\/a>!<\/p>\n To help users avoid choosing weak and vulnerable passwords, Microsoft have updated the banned password algorithm. Using the global banned password list that Microsoft updates and the custom list you define, Azure AD Password Protection now blocks a wider range of easily guessable passwords.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Security has always been critically important to Microsoft, so it came as no surprise during Hannover Messe 2019 that they had the following security announcements<\/a> to make:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Regulatory compliance dashboard in Azure Security Center. Source: <\/em>Microsoft<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Last month Microsoft announced that the Azure Functions Premium Plan is now in preview<\/a>. The plan enables a suite of long requested scaling and connectivity options without compromising on event-based scale. With the Premium Plan you can use pre-warmed instances to run your app with no delay after being idle, you can run on more powerful instances, and you can connect to VNETs, all while automatically scaling in response to load.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Comparison chart \u2013 Consumption Plan vs. Premium Plan. Source: <\/em>Microsoft<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Sound good? Get started with the Premium Plan<\/a>, or learn how to switch functions between Consumption and Premium plans<\/a>.<\/p>\n Be more cost effective with reduced container size, and benefit from faster startup times with new, cache-based images with Windows Server 2019 Container support<\/a>. As of right now the support is only available in Azure\u2019s West US, East US, West Europe, North Europe, East Asia, and East Australia regions but stay tuned, we don\u2019t imagine the UK will have to wait for too long!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Do you have an idea that could improve and empower the lives of everyone in a more accessible way? Or perhaps you have an idea that would help create a sustainable balance between modern society and the environment? Even if it\u2019s just the kernel of an idea, it\u2019s a concept worth exploring with the AI for Good: Developer Challenge!<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a developer, a data scientist, a student of AI, or even just passionate about AI and machine learning, Microsoft are encouraging you to take part in the\u00a0AI for Good: Developer Challenge\u00a0<\/a>and improve the world by sharing your ideas.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hybrid storage performance comes to Azure<\/a><\/p>\n Secure your cluster using pod security policies in AKS<\/a><\/p>\n Azure Cost Management now generally available for pay-as-you-go customers<\/a><\/p>\n Microsoft reports 73% annual increase in Azure revenue<\/a><\/p>\n Price reductions for Azure Container Instances now available<\/a><\/p>\n Get certified as a Microsoft Azure Architect for just $19<\/a><\/p>\n Microsoft doubles size of UK Azure regions, increasing compute capacity by >1500%<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color=”#e05206″ height=”5px” _builder_version=”3.10.1″ background_color=”#e05206″ max_width=”85%” module_alignment=”center” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ custom_padding=”0|0px|54px|0px|false|false” prev_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.48″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text module_id=”AmazonWebServices” _builder_version=”3.19.18″ text_font=”Roboto|300|||||||” header_text_align=”center” header_text_color=”#00a9e0″ header_2_text_color=”#e05206″ header_3_text_color=”#e05206″ header_4_text_color=”#e05206″]<\/p>\n Customers who need to run Amazon EC2 workloads on\u00a0AWS Snowball Edge<\/a>\u00a0devices can now attach multiple persistent block storage volumes to their Amazon EC2 instances. With both block and object storage options on Snowball Edge, you have flexibility to deploy a wider set of applications in rugged, temporary or mobile environments that have limited or no network connectivity.<\/p>\n Have a read of the full AWS announcement here<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Last month AWS announced that AMD EPYC-powered T3a instances are now available<\/a>. Built on the AWS Nitro System these instances promise to deliver \u2018burstable, cost-effective performance\u2019 and are a great fit for workloads that don\u2019t need high sustained compute power but experience temporary spikes in usage.<\/p>\n T3a instance specifications. Source: AWS<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In April AWS introduced us to Amazon S3 Batch Operations<\/a>. The new feature can be used to easily process hundreds, millions, or billions of S3 objects in a simple and straightforward fashion. You can copy objects to another bucket, set tags or access control lists, initiate a restore from Glacier, or invoke an AWS Lambda<\/a> function on each one.<\/p>\n Get started on running a batch job<\/a> now.<\/p>\n Elastic Fabric Adapter for tightly-coupled HPC workloads now available<\/a><\/p>\n AWS re:Inforce 2019 \u2013 AWS\u2019 first ever conference focused exclusively on cloud security<\/a><\/p>\n 97% off AWS Solutions Architect Certification Bundle<\/a><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider _builder_version=”3.17.6″ background_color=”#e05206″ color=”#e05206″ height=”4px” \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.19.18″ text_font_size=”17px” header_4_text_color=”#e05206″ header_3_text_color=”#e05206″ module_id=”Chat”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you enjoyed the latest edition of CloudStack{d} pop your details into the form below and we’ll send you future editions<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″]<\/p>\n \n[123-contact-form i1243466]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_divider _builder_version=”3.12.2″ background_color=”#e05206″ color=”#e05206″ height=”4px” \/][et_pb_team_member _builder_version=”3.17.6″ name=”Izzi Fuller” position=”Digital Marketer” linkedin_url=”https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/isobel-fuller-5070b880\/” image_url=”http:\/\/content.n4stack.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Izzi-Fuller_GW.png” saved_tabs=”all” global_module=”54024″]<\/p>\n Izzi heads up the N4Stack Marketing function and loves getting stuck into writing – whether its a blog, collateral or website content.<\/p>\n She took a leap into the world of Data, DevOps and Cloud\u00a0after previously working with SaaS in the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare prior to that.<\/p>\n Get to know more about Izzi here<\/a>.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_team_member][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I'M INTERESTED IN AZURE I'M INTERESTED IN AWS \u00a0 MICROSOFT AZURE THE TIME HAS COME FOR SERVERLESS AUTOMATION IN AZURE FUNCTIONS In April Microsoft announced the preview release of PowerShell support in Azure Functions following numerous customer requests. In doing so Microsoft have made it possible to automate operational tasks and take advantage of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":55445,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":" \u00a0<\/em><\/p> For the first time ever, Microsoft\u2019s Azure revenue has exceeded AWS revenue after jumping a whopping 89 percent in the last financial quarter! In terms of market share however, AWS is still very much in the lead, commanding 33% of public cloud market with Azure following in 2nd<\/sup> place with 13%.<\/p> After receiving feedback<\/a> that the current Azure exams are \u2018too broad, covering a range of skills that very few individuals, even experts in the area, would have\u2019 Microsoft have taken it upon themselves to take another look at their certifications. The result? They\u2019ll be assessing the skills you actually need to be successful \u2013 we think that\u2019s an excellent idea!<\/p> Microsoft are even offering an 80% discount on their Azure Administrator beta exams for the first 300 people who register! 3\u20262\u20261\u2026go!<\/p> Microsoft\u2019s Azure Dev Spaces<\/a> is now in public review. The cloud-native development experience can be used with Azure Kubernetes Services<\/a> (AKS) and is designed to help developers work with cloud native code \u2013 making it easier to make the jump into container development.<\/p> To get started click here<\/a>.<\/p> Microsoft recently announced<\/a> that Azure SQL Data Warehouse customers will benefit from \u2018at least 2x faster query performance from their workloads, cementing it as the fastest data warehouse in the cloud\u2019. In the announcement they explained the speed boost was made real by brand spanking new instant data movement capabilities<\/a> which makes the movement between data warehouse computer notes more efficient than ever before. Well, it\u2019s certainly peaked our interest!<\/p> Looking for visibility into the security of your cloud platform? Great news \u2013 Azure Security Center is now available in public preview and has been integrated into the subscription package so that customers can assess the security state of resources and ensure data is protected and not vulnerable to attacks.<\/p> Find out more here<\/a>.<\/p> In July Microsoft announced<\/a> the release of their Azure Service Fabric Mesh to public preview. The fully-managed service supports both Windows and Linux containers and is designed to enable developers to \u2018deploy and operate containerised applications without having to manage VMs, storage or networking configuration\u2019.<\/p> You can get started with it here<\/a>.<\/p> In May 2017, Microsoft announced its new database service, Azure Cosmos DB<\/a>, designed to deliver high performance for large scale applications. This month Microsoft announced that Cosmos DB is getting an upgrade. Introducing the new and improved Cosmos DB Explorer<\/a>, described by Microsoft as \u2018a full screen standalone web-based version of the Data Explorer many of you already use in Azure Portal for Cosmos DB\u2019.<\/p> \u00a0<\/strong><\/p> \u00a0<\/em><\/p> Following the success of AWS Greengrass<\/a> in 2017, Amazon has added more edge computing capabilities to its AWS services. Not only will this allow customers to analyse and move data at the site where its created, the introduction of their Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instances to their Snowball Edge<\/a> system, cuts down processing delays and reduces the amount of data customers need to store in the cloud.<\/p> Take a look at Amazon\u2019s announcement here<\/a>.<\/p> A political autodial company has come under fire after exposing the personal data of 2,600 voters in the US after failing to properly secure their AWS S3 bucket. Unfortunately, this is becoming a pretty common issue despite Amazon offering up a solution<\/a> in November 2017 with the introduction of five new encryption and security features, including dashboard warning lights.<\/p>AZURE FRONT DOOR SERVICE NOW GENERALLY AVAILABLE<\/h4>\n
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AZURE DEVOPS NOW AVAILABLE IN THE UK<\/h4>\n
![\"Azure](\"http:\/\/content.n4stack.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Azure-DevOps-UK.png\")
<\/h4>\nAZURE AD PASSWORD PROTECTION NOW GENERALLY AVAILABLE<\/h4>\n
MICROSOFT EXTENDS AZURE SECURITY CAPABILITIES<\/h4>\n
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![\"Regulatory](\"http:\/\/content.n4stack.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Regulatory-Compliance-Dashboard-Azure-Sec-Center-1024x576.png\")
<\/p>\nAZURE FUNCTIONS PREMIUM PLAN FOR ENTERPRISE SERVERLESS WORKLOADS<\/h4>\n
![\"Azure](\"http:\/\/content.n4stack.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Azure-Functions-Premium-Plan.jpg\")
<\/h4>\n\u00a0<\/h4>\n
WINDOWS SERVER 2019 SUPPORT NOW AVAILABLE FOR WINDOWS CONTAINERS<\/h4>\n
ARE YOU READY FOR THE AI FOR GOOD: DEVELOPER CHALLENGE?<\/h4>\n
IN OTHER NEWS:<\/h4>\n
AMAZON WEB SERVICES<\/h1>\n
\u00a0<\/h4>\n
AWS SNOWBALL EDGE ADDS BLOCK STORAGE FOR EDGE COMPUTING WORKLOADS<\/h4>\n
NOW AVAILABLE – AMD EPYC-POWERED AMAZON EC2 T3A INSTANCES<\/h4>\n
![\"EC2](\"http:\/\/content.n4stack.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/EC2-T3a-instances.jpg\")
<\/p>\nNEW FEATURE – AMAZON S3 BATCH OPERATIONS<\/h4>\n
\u00a0<\/h4>\n
IN OTHER NEWS:<\/h4>\n
Get CloudStack{d} straight to your inbox<\/h3>\n
MICROSOFT AZURE<\/strong><\/h1>
Microsoft has had a busy month releasing new tools and services into public review. They\u2019ve also improved their Azure certifications AND for the first time ever have exceeded Amazon\u2019s AWS cloud revenue! Well done to Microsoft Azure.<\/em><\/h4>
MICROSOFT<\/strong> EXCEEDS AMAZON\u2019S CLOUD REVENUE<\/strong><\/h2>
AZURE CERTIFICATIONS RECONSIDERED<\/strong><\/h2>
MICROSOFT ADDS KUBERNETES TOOLS TO AZURE<\/strong><\/h2>
AZURE SQL DATA WAREHOUSE GETS A SPEED BOOST<\/strong><\/h2>
MICROSOFT INTEGRATES AZURE SECURITY CENTER INTO SUBSCRIPTION EXPERIENCE<\/strong><\/h2>
AZURE SERVICE FABRIC MESH NOW AVAILABLE AS PUBLIC PREVIEW<\/strong><\/h2>
AZURE COSMOS DB GETS AN UPGRADE<\/strong><\/h2>
AMAZON WEB SERVICES<\/strong><\/h1>
July was a big month for Amazon Web Services. They introduced a couple of new instances and even found themselves some Greek gods!<\/em><\/h4>
AMAZON INTRODUCES EC2 INSTANCES TO THEIR AWS SNOWBALL EDGE SYSTEM<\/strong><\/h2>
2,600 PERSONAL DATA FILES EXPOSED DUE TO OPEN AWS S3 BUCKET<\/strong><\/h2>
AWS ANNOUNCES THREE NEW INSTANCES\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>