With Azure Sentinel, enterprises worldwide can now keep pace with the exponential growth in security data, improve security outcomes without adding analyst resources, and reduce hardware and operational costs. Some of the capabilities you can expect to see are:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Collect and analyse nearly limitless volume of security data<\/li>\n
- Apply analytics, including Machine Learning, to detect threats<\/li>\n
- Expedite threat hunting, incident investigation, and response<\/li>\n
- Build on the expertise of Microsoft and community members<\/li>\n
- Support managed Security Services Providers and complex customer instances<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/content.n4stack.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Azure-Sentinel-1024x623.png\")
<\/p>\nAn overview of Azure Sentinel. Source: Microsoft<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
WINDOWS VIRTUAL DESKTOP NOW GENERALLY AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE<\/h4>\n
Back in March we were treated to the preview of Windows Virtual Desktop<\/a>. In September Microsoft announced<\/a> the worldwide general availability of the service. Windows Virtual Desktop is the only service that delivers simplified management, a multi-session Windows 10 experience, optimisations for Office 365 ProPlus, and support for Windows Server Remote Desktop Services (RDS) desktops and apps.<\/p>\n
With Windows Virtual Desktop, you can deploy and scale your Windows desktops and apps on Azure in minutes. So, what are you waiting for? Get started with Windows Virtual Desktop<\/a> today.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
AZURE FILES PREMIUM TIER GETS ZONE REDUNDANT STORAGE (ZRS)<\/h4>\n
Azure Files premium tier with ZRS replication<\/a> is now generally available and enables highly-performant, highly-available file services, that are built on solid-state drives (SSD). The service should be considered for managed file services where performance and regional availability are critical for the business. ZRS provides high availability by synchronously writing three replicas of your data across three different Azure Availability Zones<\/a>, protecting your data from cluster, datacentre, or entire zone outage.\u00a0Zonal redundancy enables you to read and write data even if one of the availability zones is unavailable.<\/p>\n
Currently, the ZRS option for Azure Files premium tier is available in West Europe with regional coverage due to be expanded gradually.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/h4>\n
ANNOUNCING AZURE PRIVATE LINK<\/h4>\n
Azure Private Link<\/a>, a secure and scalable way for Azure customers to consume Azure Services, Microsoft Partner Services or their own services privately from their Azure Virtual Network (VNet), is now available in preview. Some of the key highlights of Azure Private Link are:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Private on-premises access<\/li>\n
- Data exfiltration protection<\/li>\n
- Simple to set up<\/li>\n
- Overlapping address space<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The preview is currently available in a limited set of regions<\/a> but will be expanding to more regions in the near future. You can read the full announcement here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/content.n4stack.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Azure-Private-Link-1024x433.png\")
<\/p>\nSource: Microsoft<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
STAY ON TOP OF PERSONALISED RECOMMENDATIONS WITH AZURE ADVISOR ALERTS<\/h4>\n
Microsoft appreciates how busy we all are, and how easy it is to miss remediating your Azure Advisor recommendations. In a bid to help us keep on top of best practices Advisor now offers user-configurable alerts<\/a>\u00a0so you can get automatically notified as soon as your best practice recommendations become available.\u00a0You can choose from a wide range of notification options and can configure these alerts to be triggered based on:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Recommendation category \u2013 high availability, performance, or cost.<\/li>\n
- Business impact \u2013 high, medium, or low.<\/li>\n
- Recommendation type \u2013 for example, right-size or shutdown underutilised VMs, enable VM backup, or use availability sets to improve fault tolerance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Sound good? Get started with Azure Advisor alerts now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
AZURE HPC CACHE: REDUCING LATENCY BETWEEN AZURE AND ON-PREMISES STORAGE<\/h4>\n
In September Microsoft announced the preview of their Azure HPC Cache\u00a0<\/a>service, a new Azure offering that empowers organisations to run large, complex high-performance computing (HPC) workloads in Azure. Azure HPC Cache reduces latency for applications where data may be tethered to existing datacentre infrastructure because of dataset sizes and operational scale.<\/p>\n
Scale your HPC pipeline using data stored on-premises or in Azure. Azure HPC Cache delivers the performant data access you need to be able to run your most demanding, file-based HPC workloads in Azure, without moving petabytes of data, writing new code, or modifying existing applications.<\/p>\n
Read the full announcement here.<\/a><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/content.n4stack.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Azure-HPC-Cache-benefits-1024x150.png\")
<\/p>\nBenefits of Azure HPC Cache. Source: Microsoft<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
MONGODB ATLAS LAUNCHES ON AZURE MARKETPLACE<\/h4>\n
MongoDB Atlas has expanded its relationship with Microsoft<\/a> and is now available on Azure Marketplace, making it easier for Azure customers to purchase and use MongoDB Atlas. The cost of MongoDB Atlas will be integrated into your Azure bill, resulting in a single, simple payment.<\/p>\n
You can get started with MongoDB Atlas on Azure free tier here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/h4>\n
IN OTHER NEWS:<\/h4>\n
Microsoft Azure available from new cloud regions in Germany<\/a><\/p>\n
Announcing Azure Storage Explorer 1.10.0<\/a><\/p>\n
Introducing cost-effective increment snapshots of Azure Managed Disks in preview<\/a><\/p>\n
Retirement date for Scheduler extended to December 31st 2019<\/a><\/p>\n
Satellite connectivity expands reach of Azure ExpressRoute across the globe<\/a><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u00a0<\/h3>\n
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\u00a0MICROSOFT AZURE\u00a0\u00a0AZURE SENTINEL NOW GENERALLY AVAILABLEMicrosoft Azure Sentinel, a cloud-native SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) that provides intelligent security analytics at cloud scale for enterprises of all sizes and workloads, was first launched back in February. In September Azure Sentinel moved out of public preview and became generally available.With Azure Sentinel, enterprises worldwide can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":55879,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"
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>
\u00a0<\/em><\/p>
MICROSOFT<\/strong> EXCEEDS AMAZON\u2019S CLOUD REVENUE<\/strong><\/h2>
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>
AZURE CERTIFICATIONS RECONSIDERED<\/strong><\/h2>
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 ADDS KUBERNETES TOOLS TO AZURE<\/strong><\/h2>
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>
AZURE SQL DATA WAREHOUSE GETS A SPEED BOOST<\/strong><\/h2>
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>
MICROSOFT INTEGRATES AZURE SECURITY CENTER INTO SUBSCRIPTION EXPERIENCE<\/strong><\/h2>
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>
AZURE SERVICE FABRIC MESH NOW AVAILABLE AS PUBLIC PREVIEW<\/strong><\/h2>
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>
AZURE COSMOS DB GETS AN UPGRADE<\/strong><\/h2>
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>
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>
\u00a0<\/em><\/p>
AMAZON INTRODUCES EC2 INSTANCES TO THEIR AWS SNOWBALL EDGE SYSTEM<\/strong><\/h2>
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>
2,600 PERSONAL DATA FILES EXPOSED DUE TO OPEN AWS S3 BUCKET<\/strong><\/h2>
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>
AWS ANNOUNCES THREE NEW INSTANCES\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>