Willie Ahlers, Principal Architect, joins Cale, Cynthia and Russell to discuss the challenges and processes to get value from AI projects and make them successful in a live environment.

Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode505.mp3

YouTube: https://youtu.be/1GsuH-YylP0

• MAIVA - Microsoft AI Value Accelerator Playbook
• Data Science Toolkit - a collection of proven ML and AI implementation accelerators

Other updates:

• Public Preview: Expanded GenAI Gateway capabilities in Azure API Management
• Azure AI Model Inference API
• Public Preview: Low-Code RAG ingestion with built-in document parsing and chunking in Logic Apps Standard
• Public Preview – Templates Support in Azure Logic Apps Standard
• Public Preview – Out of box monitoring dashboards for Logic Apps Standard
• Generally Available: Java on Azure Container Apps
• Generally Available: Azure Application Gateway v2 Basic SKU
• Introducing o1: OpenAI’s new reasoning model series for developers and enterprises on Azure
• Advanced Container Networking Services: Enhancing security and observability in AKS

Sadaf Khan joins Evan and Russell to explain and talk about Service Reliability Engineering in the Azure engineering group.

Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode504.mp3

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNGdTnb1W90&t=1684s

• Public Preview: Customer managed planned failover for Azure Storage
• Public Preview: Instance Mix on Virtual Machine Scale Sets
• Generally Available: Workspaces in Azure API Management
• Generally Available: Azure NetApp Files storage with cool access for all service levels
• Generally Available: Larger Enterprise tier cache instances for Azure Cache for Redis
• Generally Available: Azure Red Hat OpenShift Now Supports Clusters Up to 250 Nodes

Key Topics:

• Azure Reliability SRE: Evan introduced the episode's focus on Azure reliability SRE and mentioned a special guest, Sadaf, who would provide insights on the topic. 0:19
• Azure Storage Public Preview Feature: Russell discussed a new public preview feature for Azure storage that allows customers to manage planned failovers, enhancing the service's reliability. 1:10
• Virtual Machine Scale Set Update: Russell highlighted an update to virtual machine scale sets that allows mixing different instances, improving flexibility and scalability. 1:38
• Azure API Management Workspace: Russell introduced a new feature in Azure API management that enables teams to have more autonomy in managing and publishing APIs. 2:08
• NetApp Files Storage Update: Russell mentioned the general availability of cool access for NetApp files storage, allowing for more cost-effective data storage based on access patterns. 2:40
• Redis Cache Update: Russell discussed a new tier for Redis Cache that supports larger enterprises with increased memory and compute capabilities. 3:02
• Azure Red Hat Openshift Update: Russell shared an update on Azure Red Hat Openshift, which now supports up to 250 nodes, significantly increasing scalability. 3:29
• SRE Role and Impact: Sadaf explained the role of SRE in improving service reliability and quality, detailing their engagement model with various Azure services. 4:52
• SRE Engagement and Resistance: Sadaf shared insights on the initial resistance faced from service teams during SRE engagements and how trust is built over time to allow for more impactful changes. 7:49
• SRE's Approach to Service Improvement: Sadaf outlined the SRE team's structured approach to service improvement, focusing on fundamentals, service health, operational efficiency, and scalability. 10:51
• AI Initiatives in SRE: Sadaf discussed the SRE team's initiatives in leveraging AI to analyze incident data and generate insights, aiming to reduce the cognitive load on engineers. 30:27

In this episode of the Azure Podcast, Cale, Evan, and Sujit engage in a comprehensive discussion about the Secure Future Initiative at Microsoft. They explore how this initiative influences our use of Azure and why it's beneficial for customers to consider implementing similar strategies in their own Azure environments.

Media file: https://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode503.mp3

YouTube: https://youtu.be/TyvkKhdRR5k

Resources:

https://www.microsoft.com/en/microsoft-cloud/resources/secure-future-initiative#tabx6a6ce2c0327741938ac10b008d5cff64

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/well-architected/security/design-patterns

SFI Updates

Other resources:

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/Volume-enhancements

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/Dedicated-log-analytics-tables-in-Application-Gateway

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/ANF-Double-Encryption-at-rest

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/FIPS-mutability-support-in-AKS

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/CNI-Powered-by-Cilium-Azure-CNI-Overlay-support-AKS

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/New-features-in-AKS-extension-for-Visual-Studio-Code

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/Enable-multifactor-authentication-for-your-tenant-by-15-October-2024 (also below)

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/generally-available-azure-chaos-studio-supports-a-new-network-isolation-fault-for-virtual-machines

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/v2/High-Scale-mode-Container-Insights