Deploying, managing, and supporting Windows 10 on ARM in the enterprise

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Windows 10 on ARM devices carry the same productivity as the Windows 10 operating system you know and love. We’ve been working closely with OEM partners and Surface to bring Windows 10 on ARM benefits to the world—from form factor evolution with thin and light designs to increased battery capabilities, LTE connectivity, and integrated eSIM support to name a few.


Over the last few years, we’ve continued to innovate with ARM. From a software perspective, we have tailored Windows to take advantage of the ARM processors’ unique capabilities and provide a strong PC experience. For example,



  • Windows takes advantage of the ARM processor to provide longer battery life when browsing the web with Microsoft Edge, watching videos, and providing an “Instant On” experience when pressing the power button.

  • Windows intelligently switches between Wi-Fi and LTE connectivity, including handling roaming data on LTE to avoid bill shock.

  • All of Windows, the apps included in Windows, and Office, are optimized for running on Windows on ARM. Visual Studio supports the full development and coding experience to optimize apps for Windows on ARM.


In my post today, I hope to help you better understand the Windows 10 on ARM platform and how it might support your enterprise ecosystem.


Application ecosystem


Enterprise application compatibility is an important achievement for the Windows 10 on ARM platform. The application ecosystem supports a native ARM32 and ARM64 application system as well as both an x86 and forthcoming x64 emulation subsystems to include Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps from the Microsoft Store along with traditional Windows apps. Apps with a dependency on the full .NET Desktop CLR runtime will run in x86 emulation. An x64 emulation in preview for Windows 10 on ARM PCs to the Windows Insider Program was unveiled in December 2020 and expanded capabilities are in the works.


Productivity


Office has been optimized for ARM64 to take advantage of the improved performance of these devices. Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise, coupled with a native ARM64 version of the Microsoft Teams client, can enable your enterprise to quickly adopt Windows 10 on ARM and achieve increased productivity.


Browser


While most browsers run natively on Windows 10 on ARM, the new Microsoft Edge offers a first-class solution to improve performance with native ARM64 support beginning in Windows 10, version 20H2. This also translates into increased mobility life for browser-intensive work.


Mobility


Windows 10 on ARM devices are thinner and provide an increased battery life (especially when running native applications), making it easy for you and your end users to take a device anywhere with you and power the entire workday. Windows 10 on ARM devices achieve this by taking advantage of reduced power consumption in ARM64-compatible processors and System-on-a-Chip (SoC) design.


Deployment


Designed as part of a cloud-first ecosystem, we recommend that you leverage rapid deployment technologies like Windows Autopilot to deploy and provision corporate devices running Windows 10 on ARM. The processes to use Windows Autopilot on Windows 10 on ARM are the same as x86 and x64 platforms of Windows 10.


Manageability


We know some customers may continue to want to use Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, so we added support for Windows 10 on ARM in Configuration Manager, version 2002.


Using Windows Autopilot to deploy and provision Windows 10 on ARM lets you take advantage of Microsoft Endpoint Manager to deploy configuration profiles, compliance policies, and deliver 32-bit and 64-bit applications, as well as applications that are not ARM-native. You can manage devices exclusively through the cloud using Microsoft Endpoint Manager or through co-management via Configuration Manager.


Windows 10 on ARM also mirrors the same support for the configuration service providers (CSPs), for each corresponding SKU, as the other platforms outlined in the configuration service provider reference.


Like other Windows 10 platforms, you can also auto-enroll ARM64 devices into MDM using Group Policy.


App deployment


When deploying apps, the Intune Management Extension (IME) for Microsoft Endpoint Manager is supported and runs as an emulated x86 agent. The extension is installed after enrollment similar to x86 and x64 Windows 10 platforms. Scripts run as x86, like PowerShell runs emulated as x86 when running on Windows 10 on ARM. You can see the app types supported on ARM64 devices to understand more about verifying installation on ARM64 devices.


Users can also leverage a native ARM64 version of the Company Portal to install applications made available to Windows 10 on ARM devices. To learn more about leveraging Microsoft Endpoint Manager to install applications via the Intune Management Extension, see Win32 app management in Microsoft Intune.


Windows servicing


Cloud-first devices can leverage Microsoft Endpoint Manager and manage Windows 10 software updates in Intune using Windows Update for Business policies.


You can also continue to use the Configuration Manager and Windows Software Update Services (WSUS) to keep your Windows 10 on ARM devices up to date. However, we recommend that you shift these workloads to the cloud by enabling co-management. You can read more about how to integrate with Windows Update for Business and co-management workloads to better understand their configuration.


Security platform and virtualization


Windows 10 on ARM works in conjunction with the Microsoft 365 security stack including the built-in Defender, as well as Microsoft Defender for Endpoint—formerly Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection. Secured-core PCs like Surface Pro X are secure by default. Currently, virtualization support is limited to provide support for virtualization-based security. However, full Hyper-V support is coming and is currently available for testing in Windows Insider Preview Builds.


Application compatibility


Microsoft is committed to ensuring customers have a great compatibility experience with Windows 10 on ARM64 devices like the Surface Pro X.


App Assure now assists with Windows 10 on ARM64 PCs if you run into any compatibility issues or blockers once you begin testing your enterprise applications on Windows 10 on ARM.


To minimize any potential issues, I encourage you to learn more about how x86 emulation works on ARM as current support for x86 applications and forthcoming support for x64 applications expand Windows 10 on ARM’s application compatibility. You can test x64 emulation today using the latest Windows Insider Preview builds.


Troubleshooting


Sysinternals tools can be used for deep analysis, debugging, and troubleshooting the ARM64 platform. Many of these tools have been ported over to the ARM64 platform and can be downloaded directly from the Sysinternals website.


For more information


We invite you to dive deeper into deploying, managing and servicing Surface Pro X and to check out the Microsoft Ignite session about using Surface Pro X in the modern workplace as it specifically describes the deployment of Windows 10 on ARM devices.

Experiencing Data Access Issue in West Europe for Log Analytics – 02/08 – Investigating

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Initial Update: Monday, 08 February 2021 17:05 UTC

We are aware of issues within Log Analytics and are actively investigating. Some customers may experience data access issue in Azure Portal and issues with delayed or missed Log Search Alerts in West Europe Region.
  • Next Update: Before 02/08 21:30 UTC
We are working hard to resolve this issue and apologize for any inconvenience.
-Jayadev

Azure Marketplace new offers – Volume 113

Azure Marketplace new offers – Volume 113

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.











We continue to expand the Azure Marketplace ecosystem. For this volume, 99 new offers successfully met the onboarding criteria and went live. See details of the new offers below:

























































































































































































































































































































































































































Applications


additivHybridWealthManager-omnichannel.png

additiv Hybrid Wealth Manager – omnichannel: Built on Microsoft Azure, this wealth PaaS by additiv allows financial institutions to deploy client advisory, servicing, and expert tools in wealth and asset management for the digitalization of new and existing business segments.


Agrobrain.png

Agrobrain: This app by Exponential Technologies is an integration and convergence tool for the early detection and control of phytosanitary, phenological, and crop status risks. Agrobrain is available only in Spanish.


AlarmAnalysis.png

Alarm Analysis: Developed by Intelligent Plant for operators of large modern industrial facilities, Alarm Analysis links to alarm collectors and warns operators about situations that need their attention, including identifying bad actors.


AlfrescoContentServices.png

Alfresco Content Services: This offering by Tenthline allows customers to deploy Alfresco enterprise content management (ECM) solutions on Microsoft Azure. Tenthline’s connector for Azure Blob Storage ensures that Alfresco ECM products work in a fast and efficient way.


AppdomeMobileSecuritySuite.png

Appdome Mobile Security Suite: With Appdome, developers can protect their mobile apps, connections, data, and users against mobile threats, hacking attempts, mobile fraud, account takeovers, ransomware, identity theft, and other back-end network attacks.


Authomize.png

Authomize: Using a proprietary prescriptive analytics engine, Authomize enables organizations to automatically manage and secure access authorizations across their complex cloud environment and deliver data-driven recommendations.


BadgerNetSoftware.png

BadgerNet Software: Created and managed by Clevermed, BadgerNet is a patient data management service on Microsoft Azure that supports perinatal and pediatric pathways, including maternity, neonatal, transport, and pediatric care.


BoxusingMicrosoftAzure.png

Box using Microsoft Azure: Box is a content management platform on Microsoft Azure. Access, share, and edit your content from any location, on any device. Automate and streamline key business processes.


Cinegia.png

Cinegia: With Cinegia by Goya Soluciones Informaticas, you can easily and quickly manage the work of your technicians, including the status of projects or hours worked. This solution is available only in Spanish.


ConexAPI.png

ConexAPI: With seamless access to Canadian audience data and itsMicrosoft Azure-powered API, NLogic can provide a clearer picture of your targeting and advertising initiatives and manage all your audience data integration needs.


CryptocomChainTestnetNode.png

Crypto.com Chain Testnet Node: Crypto.com Chain is a next-generation public blockchain that enables transactions worldwide between people and businesses. Crypto.com’s testnet node, named Croseid, lets you set up a validator or a full blockchain node. 


CumulusProExpenseClaimsapp.png

CumulusPro Expense Claims app: This app enables employees to initiate the expense claims process by capturing receipts from any smartphone or tablet device. Once the claims are submitted, finance teams and managers can instantly review them while adhering to HR policies.


CumulusProInvoiceProcessingapp.png

CumulusPro Invoice Processing app: Offered as a cloud-based pay-as-you-go service, this workflow solution speeds up your accounts payable process by minimizing repetitive, time-consuming tasks and eliminating paper from your invoice processing activities.


CumulusProProofofDeliverysolution.png

CumulusPro Proof of Delivery solution: This pay-as-you-go service helps supply chain management operators intelligently capture and validate large volumes of delivery notes against master delivery schedules.


DeviceOnDisplay.png

DeviceOn/Display: This Internet of Things (IoT) solution by Advantech focuses on device remote monitoring and supports display function adjustment by central control or handheld devices.


Devicie.png

Devicie: Devicie makes Microsoft Intune migration and adoption fast, easy, and secure. As Devicie is cloud-based, onboarding and deployment are automated, removing the technical constraints and costs associated with onsite IT support.


Dynamics365SFDCIntegratorSaaS.png

D365-SFDC Integrator (SaaS): Onactuate Consulting offers its D365-SFDC Integrator, an easy-to-use, configurable, and scalable interface solution that connects Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance + Operations (on-premises) and Salesforce.com.


EazyML.png

EazyML: EazyML is a transparent machine learning platform by Datanomers that extracts intelligence from textual data and explains itself at every step. EazyML defines how it’s processing your data and explains the key reasons for its prediction.


Edvysor.png

Edvysor: Providing access to global best business practices, Edvysor is applied intelligence software built by consultants at B.E.T. It gives guidance on strategic planning and tactical implementation, making business management easier.


eMClient.png

eM Client: It is a full-featured desktop email client, integrating email, calendar, tasks, contacts, notes, and chat in a user-friendly app. eM Client is optimized to fully synchronize with Microsoft 365, Outlook, Exchange, or any email service.


EnghouseTeamsContactCenterCommunicationsCenter.png

Enghouse Teams Contact Center Communications Center: Boost your team’s performance with Enghouse’s contact center built on Microsoft Teams. Use your Microsoft Dynamics 365 customer data to identify and connect customers to the best agent.


EphesoftTransactforCustomerOnboardingKYC.png

Ephesoft Transact for Customer Onboarding (KYC): The flow of documents for new banking or financial services customers can be endless. Ephesoft targets this key pain point of processing and extracting data from prospective customers’ key documents.


FaceView.png

FaceView: Advantech’s solution provides fast, high-precision, and scalable facial recognition in real time for Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) applications in retail, hospitality, and public safety fields, facilitating a better understanding of their customers.


FeedbackCloud.png

Feedback Cloud: This omnichannel feedback management solution by OneDirect seamlessly integrates online and offline touchpoints, allowing brand managers and executives to track and measure customer feedback to build brand loyalty.


FinacleDigitalBankingSuiteonAzure.png

Finacle Digital Banking Suite on Azure: This banking solution by Infosys helps financial institutions drive truly digital transformation to achieve frictionless customer experience, larger ecosystem play, insight-driven interactions, and ubiquitous automation.


FinancialRiskProfiler.png

Financial Risk Profiler: Build a risk profiler for your loan applicants with Datanomers’ AI platform, using big data, natural language processing, and machine learning. It is easy to use without bank IT efforts and easy to deploy and scale in the cloud.


FirstHive-IntelligentCustomerDataPlatform.png

FirstHive – Intelligent Customer Data Platform: By bringing data together from every customer touchpoint, FirstHive provides marketing organizations with a suite of tools that enable them to execute highly personalized campaigns with exponentially higher ROIs.


GeoShield.png

GeoShield: Powered by Microsoft Azure, GeoShield by Cybertech is a real-time crime center. It enables officers to remotely see what’s going on in their cities by connecting multiple information sources, such as agency and law enforcement data and live video streams.


GestaltPnID.png

Gestalt PnID: This user-friendly high-resolution graphics tool by Intelligent Plant allows you to draw schematics of industrial plant operations by adding real-time animations and providing different views of equipment process values and indicators.


GestaltTrend.png

Gestalt Trend: This data visualization tool allows you to switch between multiple views of traditional line trends, parallel coordinate plots, fast Fourier transform analyses, histograms, limits, XY scatter plots, cross-correlation graphs, and calm waters.


HARMONIXSmartManufacturingPlanning.png

HARMONIX Smart Manufacturing Planning: HARMONIX from Imagineer Technologies analyzes data transactions from your manufacturing planning systems and reschedules your production jobs and material consumption requirements to achieve higher yield and material movement.


HelloLampPost.png

Hello Lamp Post: Using QR Codes and interactive chat, Hello Lamp Post is a platform to bring city infrastructure and objects to life, engaging citizen feedback through playful chat. Hello Lamp Post encourages people to look at their city with fresh eyes.


hokifish.png

hokifish: hokifish is a SaaS solution for storing and sharing files of any size with employees, partners, or customers. It addresses stakeholders in the public and private sectors who need to safely store and share their assets.


IgnitionbyInductiveAutomation.png

Ignition by Inductive Automation: Ignition is a powerful, integrated development environment with everything you need to create virtually any kind of industrial application, including SCADA, IIoT, MES, and more, all on one platform.


Indikatore.png

Indikatore: Indikatore’s supply chain solution solves problems with stock shortages and high inventory levels for your entire supply chain. This app is available only in Portuguese.


IndutionRFID.png

Indution RFID: Developed by Compline, Indution facilitates the adoption of RFID technology in your business by automating inventory and inventory control operations. This app is available only in Portuguese.


IntelliWiki.png

IntelliWiki: IntelliWiki provides a collaborative rich-text editing interface to create, edit, and save documents for your organization. The product is ideal for meeting notes, documentation, or similar shared knowledge repositories.


ipSCAPECloudContactCenter.png

ipSCAPE Cloud Contact Center: ipSCAPE’s contact center solution is a cloud-based business communication and customer experience technology that is feature rich and highly scalable and offers powerful integration capabilities.


KlaxoonTeamsIntegrationIPcosell.png

Klaxoon Teams Integration (IP cosell): With Klaxoon’s collaborative tools, you can run efficient meetings, workshops, or training sessions and stay in sync with your team directly from Microsoft Teams. Boost participation, make information more visual, and facilitate decision-making.


LineLocate.png

Line Locate: Line Locate, an Azure-based SaaS solution, enables utility organizations to modernize end-to-end request management workflows and provides real-time integration with popular work order management (WOM) systems. It connects with local 811 service, automates ticket management, and more.


ManufacturoeBox.png

Manufacturo eBox: This comprehensive equipment monitoring solution can be deployed in a few days to track performance, quality, availability, tasks, and alerts on any machine on your shop floor.


MinitProcessMining.png

Minit Process Mining: As a process mining solution, Minit automates analysis of business processes and caters to every level of data analysis skills, from novice to expert, while helping you make better data-backed decisions.


Model9CloudDataManager.png

Model9 Cloud Data Manager: Model9 modernizes mainframe data management and business intelligence in enterprises by moving mainframe data directly to Microsoft Azure and enabling secure integration with advanced analytics tools.


ModernManagedCloudforAzure.png

Modern Managed Cloud for Azure: Solita CloudBlox is a modular managed service offering on Microsoft Azure. It helps organizations better manage cloud capacity, costs, security, operations, and development in the public cloud.


MorfixSearch.png

Morfix Search: Morfix Search is a morphological plug-in for Hebrew and Arabic that seamlessly integrates with databases and enterprise search engines, including Elastic Search, Solr, Microsoft SQL, Lucene, SharePoint, and more.


OnActuateFieldForceManagerSaaS.png

OnActuate Field Force Manager (SaaS): Field Force Manager from OnActuate Consulting is a mobile field service management solution designed to increase communication between your field service workforce and improve how they interact and serve your customers.


OnboardbyHRCloud.png

Onboard by HR Cloud: Onboard delivers the onboarding experience that today’s employees expect, including automated workflows and personalized portals that feature welcome messages, forms, videos, instructional content, and important documents.


OpenTextExceedTurboX.png

OpenText Exceed TurboX: Exceed TurboX provides secure, fast remote access to UNIX, Linux, and Windows applications to help keep critical tasks operating. Exceed TurboX allows users to access graphically demanding software solutions where responsiveness and session resilience are key, with nothing more than a laptop and a browser.


OpMode.png

OpMode: OpMode provides engineers with a quick and easy way to run a machine learning algorithm on operational data from compressors, gas turbines, valves, and other plant systems. OpMode performs principal component analysis (PCA) to identify failing or under-performing equipment.


OptezoRPA-as-a-Service.png

Optezo RPA as a Service: Optezo helps companies quickly realize the value of enterprise automation using robotic process automation (RPA) hosted on Microsoft Azure. Optezo offers RPA as a service including support, licensing, and hosting.


ParallelsRemoteApplicationServerRAS.png

Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS): Remote Application Server (RAS) from Parallels Inc. is an all-in-one virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution that enables access to applications, desktops, and data from any device. You can implement RAS VDI on-premises and/or on Azure for scalable workloads and granular security.


PlainStaff.png

PlainStaff: PlainStaff makes your HR processes easy and secure. You can use it to track the working hours of your team; collect, manage, and report on hours spent on projects; and manage and share staff absences.


PRANAPOS.png

PRANAPOS: Prana is cloud-based software for point-of-sale and inventory management targeted for retail and food and beverage businesses of all sizes. Maintain your point-of-sale devices, inventory, reports, and more.


PSCORE.png

PSCORE: PSCORE from Motorola Solutions is a customized and purpose-built first responder solution to support public safety field work. The app expedites information capture for paperless reporting and provides real-time access to databases.


QMexEnterpriseQualityManagementSystem.png

QMex | Enterprise Quality Management System: QMex is a modular platform designed for managing GxP processes. It can be integrated into corporate applications to help comply with FDA CFR 21 Part 11 requirements and other legal requirements.


Qualitycontrolapp.png

Quality control app: Available only in Spanish, GREGAL’s quality control app is designed for agricultural companies. The app integrates with ERP systems for optimal management of products packaged for sale.


QuantumDocument.png

Quantum Document: Available in Italian, Quantum Document provides a cloud-based archive for lawyers, associated law firms, law offices, and advocates. The all-in-one platform allows you to managed data in a coherent and functional way.


QVALON-SaaSplatformtomanageoperations.png

QVALON – SaaS platform to manage operations: QVALON provides a SaaS platform for managing operational processes, standards, and staff. Understand your business through field inspections by using a mobile app, powerful analytics, and QVALON’s task management engine.


REDHOUSE-CENTRALVISION.png

REDHOUSE-CENTRALVISION: CENTRALVISION customizes online learning management to enable community learning for everyone, anywhere. Design engaging interactive learning content using animation, simulation, and AR/VR technologies.


RISKROBOTCreditRiskModelAutomation.png

RISKROBOT: Credit Risk Model Automation: RISKROBOT by SPIN Analytics uses AI to combine expert judgement with classical risk modelling and ML techniques on big data, producing accurate predictive analytics for making credit decisions and managing risk.


StudilySaas.png

Studi.ly Saas: Studi.ly from inLogic improves the assignment, homework, and study plan processes for schools. This app for Microsoft Teams lets you create study plans, attach curriculums, receive assignments, and provide feedback and grades.


SYMPAQeTX.png

SYMPAQ eTX: SYMPAQ eTimesheet and eXpense (eTX) is a web-based reporting solution that provides federal government contractor staff members with the internal controls to enforce DCAA’s timekeeping regulations. The system can be accessed from mobile or desktop devices.


SyncierMarketplacePrivateAreaSaaS.png

Syncier Marketplace Private Area SaaS: Syncier’s Marketplace Private Area enables you to kickstart your API strategy. Based on the Syncier Marketplace, it enables you to create, manage, and exchange API services in your own organization.


TeradataVantageonAzure.png

Teradata Vantage on Azure: Teradata’s Vantage provides secure, scalable, as-a-service environments for enterprise analytics on Microsoft Azure. Vantage offers full integration with tools, languages, analytic engines, and data sources.


Thola-Onlineeventplatform.png

Thola – Online event platform: With the Thola virtual event platform, you can host digital events where speakers, workshops, presentations, and more can be streamed live or pre-recorded content can be displayed to your attendees. Thola connects up to thousands of people using Microsoft Teams.


TMISforAzureIoTEdge.png

TMIS for Azure IoT Edge: Trend Micro IoT Security (TMIS) for Azure IoT Edge is a security container that monitors and protects Azure IoT Edge and other containers from potential risks. TMIS performs reputation checks to detect and block malicious traffic.


TopicalAppsforBusiness-ProcessManagement.png

TopicalApps for Business-Process Management: TopicalApps is a software platform for managing business processes and workflows to improve safety, quality, and service.


TryaneAnalyticsforYammer.png

Tryane Analytics for Yammer: With Tryane’s advanced analytics, you increase the ROI of your internal communication on your Yammer Enterprise Network. Tryane lets you boost engagement, discover who viewed posts, empower community managers, and benchmark performance.


WorkmatesbyHRCloud.png

Workmates by HR Cloud: Workmates is a platform for employee communications, engagement, rewards, and recognition. Workmates delivers peer-to-peer recognition that will transform your company culture and create a new sense of community.


XplentyDataIntegrationPlatform.png

Xplenty Data Integration Platform: Xplenty’s ETL and ELT platform lets you quickly and easily prepare your data using a simple data integration cloud service. Xplenty’s interface enables data integration, processing, and preparation without installing, deploying, or maintaining software.


ZyLABOneLegalHold.png

ZyLAB One Legal Hold: ZyLAB ONE Legal Hold helps you ease the burden of legal holds in a defensible way and improves your ability to identify critical data. ZyLAB One Legal Hold improves compliance and reduces time spent managing legal holds.



Consulting services


10-DayCISSecurityControlsAssessment.png

10-Day CIS Security Controls Assessment: Barikat will interview your technical staff about current controls and processes, then provide recommendations for Center for Internet Security (CIS) Controls. CIS Controls define a comprehensive set of cybersecurity best practices.


AIPrototypeBuilding-10DayImplementation.png

AI Prototype Building – 10-Day Implementation: Start building a prototype of your AI solution with Dataroots and get a fast deployment framework on Microsoft Azure. The deliverable is a tangible end-to-end AI prototype using Microsoft Azure Cloud Services.


AIStrategyWorkshop-5Days.png

AI Strategy Workshop – 5 Days: Dataroots will help transform AI ideas and concepts into an actionable roadmap and implementation plan. Learn how the different Microsoft Azure Cloud Services contribute to an efficient AI solution environment.


AzureActiveDirectoryB2C-5-WeekImplementation.png

Azure Active Directory B2C – 5-Week Implementation: Arinco will show you how to manage customer, consumer, and citizen access to your business-to-consumer (B2C) applications with Azure Active Directory B2C to gain a better, more secure end-user experience.


AzureArc3-DayPOC.png

Azure Arc 3-Day Proof of Concept: Azure Arc enables you to project your on-premises and multi-cloud resources into Azure Resource Manager. FyrSoft experts are offering this engagement to help unify your cloud virtual machines into a single management platform.


AzureExpressRouteImplementation3-HourBriefing.png

Azure ExpressRoute Implementation: 3-Hour Briefing: Chunghwa Telecom offers a free briefing for customers in Taiwan who want to connect to Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute for secure private connection service, better reliability, and a stable low-latency connection.


AzureIntegrationServices3-DayAssessment.png

Azure Integration Services: 3-Day Assessment: Whether it is third-party software solutions or Microsoft business applications that you are looking to integrate, Efima will prepare an in-depth estimate and delivery plan for your integration needs using Microsoft Azure capabilities.


AzureMigration5-HourAssessment.png

Azure Migration: 1-Week Assessment: Considering moving to Microsoft Azure? Sign up for a free one-week assessment of your current environment and goals. Cloudforce will provide a high-level overview of the migration benefits and a strategic migration plan.


AzureModernDataWarehouse10-DayAssessment.png

Azure Modern Data Warehouse: 10-Day Assessment: My Data Works Partners (MDW) will provide you with a clear overview of modern data warehousing in Microsoft Azure and include best practices on how to load and prepare data for analysis in the cloud.


AzureReadiness1-WeekAssessment.png

Azure Readiness 1-Week Assessment: Do you already have a significant investment in Microsoft technologies and want to move these workloads to Microsoft Azure? This eacs assessment will help you understand licensing, total cost of ownership, and how to modernize your IT ecosystem.


AzureVMwareSolution4-WeekAssessment.png

Azure VMware Solution: 4-Week Assessment: Migrating virtual machines from a private datacenter to the public cloud can be a financial and operational challenge. Claranet’s VMware and Microsoft Azure experts will help migrate your virtual machines to Azure.


CloudSecurityHealthCheck5-DayAssessment.png

Cloud Security HealthCheck: 5-Day Assessment: CloudNation offers this technical assessment to organizations that use the Microsoft Azure infrastructure, providing clarity on potential security risks and configuring their infrastructure according to best practices.


CompromisedAssessmentandThreatHunting6Weeks.png

Compromised Assessment & Threat Hunting: 6 Weeks: Phakamo Holdings provides a team of certified cybersecurity threat hunters using Microsoft Azure security solutions to detect threat activity in your environment and provide an Azure security maturity roadmap.


DataScienceonAzure10-weekImplementation.png

Data Science on Azure: 10-Week Implementation: Available only in French, Inventiv-IT’s offering will help you industrialize your data science models using Microsoft Azure machine learning and other Azure services as needed. Inventiv-IT will conduct meetings and workshops to understand your expectations and business challenges.


DevOps1-DayAssessment.png

DevOps: 1-Day Assessment: Teams that adopt DevOps culture, practices, and tools start performing better. AG Technology Solutions will conduct a free one-day assessment to discuss your DevOps needs and how they might be addressed with a Microsoft Azure-based solution.


Dynamics365ConsultingService.png

Dynamics 365 Consulting Service: IN4U provides consulting services for Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Apps deployments in multi-product and low-quantity production environments. This service is available only in Korean.


FujitsuWindowsVirtualDesktopWVD3-WeekProofofConcept.png

Fujitsu Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) 3-Week Proof of Concept: Fujitsu Services United Kingdom developed an approach to help you rapidly equip your employees with a workspace to perform their jobs from any location. Fujitsu will demonstrate the value of a Windows Virtual Desktop solution and help drive adoption.


GitHubAdvancedSecurity-4-WeekImplementation.png

GitHub Advanced Security – 4-Week Implementation: Accelerate your DevSecOps adoption with GitHub and GitHub Advanced Security. Cognizant will work with your developers to enable safer deployments to Microsoft Azure by automating vulnerability detection and scanning on every code commit.


HitachiSolutionsAzureMonitoring2-HourBriefing.png

Hitachi Solutions Azure Monitoring 2-Hour Briefing: During this free briefing from Hitachi Solutions, you’ll learn how Hitachi’s monitoring service and Microsoft Azure security services can help ensure the health and performance of your Azure and hybrid cloud environments.


JourneytoCloud10-WeekImplementation.png

Journey to Cloud: 10-Week Implementation: NTT Limited will engage with you to understand your needs and prepare a migration plan, based on its standardized framework, to take your organization to the cloud. NTT operates and optimizes your public cloud landscape so you can focus on your core business.


MediaMigration2-WeekWorkshop.png

Media Migration: 2-Week Workshop: Support Partners’ workshop allows media enterprises to fully assess their readiness to migrate their media production workflows to Microsoft Azure. A cross-functional team of engineers will provide a prioritized set of business outcomes, a migration plan, and more.


ModernDataPlatform6-WeekImplementation.png

Modern Data Platform: 6-Week Implementation: In as little as six weeks, Hitachi will ingest and transform your data, producing stunning reports and interactive dashboards built using Azure Synapse Analytics and Microsoft Power BI. This accelerator aligns with Microsoft’s roadmap for Microsoft Dynamics 365.


SapAnalytics-10-WeekImplementation.png

Sap Analytics – 10-Week Implementation: Celebal Technologies will implement SAP analytics using Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Power BI. Available for SAP HANA and SAP ECC, the offer covers several modules, including finance, sales, distribution, and more.


SAPonAzure-Assessmentmigrationstrategy-6Weeks.png

SAP on Azure – Assessment migration strategy – 6 Weeks: Aubay Italia S.p.A. will deliver a migration strategy and phased migration plan to move you to SAP on Microsoft Azure. Aubay uses incremental sprints, verifying progress with you on all phases.


SecureauthenticationwithFIDO22-DayWorkshop.png

Secure authentication with FIDO2 2-Day Workshop: In this two-day workshop, perinova IT-Management will develop a detailed strategy for you to implement password-less logins, multifactor authentication (MFA), and single sign-on (SSO).


UiPathAzureCloudMigration1-DayImplementation.png

UiPath Azure Cloud Migration: 1-Day Implementation: Avaelgo offers a complete cloud migration solution to move your on-premises UiPath Platform, including orchestrator, robots, and dependent components, to Microsoft Azure.


Unlockingthevalueofyourdata-3-HourWorkshop.png

Unlocking the value of your data – 3-Hour Workshop: This free workshop from AKQA is designed to help brands accelerate their technology architecture transformation, focusing on how to connect customer data across the marketing ecosystem with Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Dynamics 365.


WindowsVirtualDesktops.png

Windows Virtual Desktops: Stratum’s cloud experts will assess your current infrastructure and work with you to develop an Azure-based Microsoft Windows Virtual Desktop image. Once approved, Stratum will roll out this solution to all users with as little interruption as possible.



Preview Microsoft Endpoint Manager’s settings catalog to more easily customize and manage policy set

Preview Microsoft Endpoint Manager’s settings catalog to more easily customize and manage policy set

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Welcome to the settings catalog


A new feature in Microsoft Endpoint Manager called settings catalog will make it easier for you to customize, set, and manage device and user policy settings. This feature, in public preview with the January release, adds functionality for managing and deploying policies, make it easier to find specific settings, and simplify the multiple places where settings are exposed.


 


1.PNG


 


“We heard your feedback on complexities around device configuration, especially around authoring custom OMA URI-based policies for Windows devices,” said Dilip Radhakrishnan, Group Program Manager for Microsoft Endpoint Manager. “We developed the settings catalog feature in response to help simplify the policy creation experience. Settings catalog is like a shopping cart experience, where you can browse the catalog of all available policy settings and create a custom policy from scratch that meets your business needs.”


 


The simplified workflow offers two entry points to creating a policy. The first option is to leverage one of the existing policy templates that ships with our service (for example: Kiosks, Templates for resource access like VPN/WiFI configurations). The second option is settings catalog. You will soon see this change reflected in Endpoint Security and Baselines features as we simplify policy configurations throughout the admin center.


 


2.PNG


 


To get started with this feature in preview, refer to the settings catalog documentation:  Create a policy using settings catalog in Microsoft Intune – Azure | Microsoft Docs


 


Using the catalog


We are introducing some new features within the settings catalog that will help with the issues we hear most often.


 


Adding settings


When you create a new policy from the settings catalog, no settings are initially configured and the policy contains only the settings you specify. The Settings Picker will allow you to search or browse to select any settings available in the settings catalog for configuration in your policy. These settings are generated directly from Windows Configuration Service Providers (CSP) and the settings experience in the catalog is dynamically generated based on the type of setting and its metadata. This new technology also enables us to quickly add new Windows settings and reduce the need to deploy custom policy. We will be adding more settings as the public preview continues, as well as adopting these settings throughout the Microsoft Endpoint Manager, so stay tuned.


 


3.PNG


 


Removing policy settings


We have heard the feedback asking for the ability to specify settings as not configured. In the settings catalog, any setting not in your policy will be considered not configured Removing a setting from an existing settings catalog policy will not only remove that setting from the policy, but also remove the previously set enforcement from assigned devices on next device check-in.


 


4gif.gif


 


Filtering policy settings


It can be challenging to determine which settings will apply to the various Windows devices in your environment. Narrow down the settings to add to your policy from the wide array available by using the new settings catalog filter. At the time of preview, the filter will cover Windows 10 OS editions. This means you can set the filter for Windows Enterprise and see all settings applicable to Windows devices running that edition of Windows 10.


 


kuchinski_4-1612567841033.png


 


Setting device scope and user scope


In Windows 10, settings can apply at the user level, the device level, or have the option for either. Sometimes, this is determined by the Mobile Device Management provider.  With the settings catalog, all settings are device scope unless noted as user, to allow admins to choose. User scope settings will be delineated by (User) after the settings name.


 


6.png


 


Standardizing tooltips and setting values


We have added tooltip text and setting values based directly on settings documentation from Windows. This will clarify the impact of using certain settings and help you understand exactly what each setting will do when configured.


7.png


kuchinski_6-1612567841050.png


 


 


 


Monitoring policy with the overview page and reporting


In addressing the feedback around reporting and monitoring, the settings catalog will introduce a new look and feel for the overview page tailored specifically for device configuration policies. This view will provide a quick glance at the status of your new settings catalog policy and properties all in one place.


 


The updated design simplifies the overview page into one summary chart where you can view the state of targeted devices. The data within the summary operates on near real-time and refreshes automatically. The summary allows drill down into the detailed report, which offers consistent data on devices and users.


 


8.png


 


The detailed Device status report provides updated controls to search across the records, sort on every column, filter based on deployment status, and export faster to a .csv file. Report features include upgraded pagination controls, and the ability to add additional device property columns. You can find additional reporting with the same upgraded controls for settings catalog policies in the new troubleshooting focused Assignment Failures report as well as the Device Configuration node under Monitor when selecting an individual device from the All Devices list. For more information on Device Configuration reporting improvements: Introducing New Policy Reports & more in Microsoft Endpoint Manager Reporting – Microsoft Tech Community


 


9.png


 


Note that in the preview timeframe, settings catalog reporting will not contain pending status for policy that is assigned to users or devices that have not yet checked in. 


 


FAQ


Q: Where did the profile types list go?


A: All existing Profile Types have moved to the Templates list. This change will have no impact on previously created policies, and you can still create, edit, and assign these policies the same way you do today. While we plan to improve the templates in the future, we are not changing your existing policies, so feel free to continue using the policies you are used to under the new Templates section.


 


 


Q: Why build a settings catalog?


A: The settings catalog is the first step on our journey to standardize our settings throughout Microsoft Endpoint Manager. As we build out the library, we want to provide the catalog to view or deploy policy from all of the available settings and reduce the reliance on custom policy (OMA-URI based).


 


 


Q: Can the settings catalog be used with existing configurations?


A: Absolutely, the catalog policies will all be added to the all-up policy a device receives during check-in. Conflict detection will behave the same way it does today if there are policies with conflicting values configured the same setting.


 


 


Q: If I set a setting to not configured, do I need to remove it from the policy too?


A: We have added an undo button to quickly add a setting back that has been set to not configured. Once the policy is saved, the next time it is edited, the settings that were set to not configured will no longer show in the policy editor. If needed, they can be added back via the settings picker. Removing the setting via the picker directly will set it to not configured and remove it from the editor page immediately.


 


 


Q: What platforms will have the settings catalog?


A: At public preview, the settings catalog will be available for Windows 10 and later as well as MacOS to configure and deploy Microsoft Edge settings.


 

How to save ADX cost with the new Predictive Autoscale

How to save ADX cost with the new Predictive Autoscale

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

ADX offers customers 3 ways to manage their cluster’s instances count: 


 


3Options.PNG


While in the Manual Scale/Custom Autoscale the customer should be involved in controlling the cluster size, in Optimized Autoscale, the customer enjoys better cost-optimization with minimal effort – just needs to set up lower and upper bounds for the cluster instances count and ADX will optimize its instances count between these bounds. 


 


Until now the Optimized Autoscale was implemented using a Reactive model with smart rules on a variety of metrics, it is called “Reactive” since it acts in reaction to historical data, for example, if the CPU load was high during the last hour, it scales out. 


 


Lately, ADX built a new Predictive Autoscale model that tackles few issues of the Reactive model to perform better. Below we explore these issues and how the Predictive model resolves them. 


 


After scaling a cluster, a process of data reorganization (of the data shards) starts to optimize the cached data on all nodes. This process might last up to 2 hours. The cluster performance might be degraded during this time as query data might not yet be in the clusters cache, also the reorganization itself loads the CPU. 


 


The conclusion from this is that clusters should not scale frequently. Optimally: 



  • Scale-out should occur 2 hours ahead of load increase – to finish the data reorganization before the load increase. 



  • Scale-in should occur right after the load decrease – to optimize cost. 


Unfortunately, the Reactive Autoscale model acts based on data from the past, so it always acts with a delay: 



  • Scale-out is performed after detecting the high load with about 1 hour delay and is going to increase the load even more for 2 hours as explained. Notice that in cases of high load for short times it would not be effective at all. 

  • Scale-in is performed with about 3 hours delay, thus missing an opportunity to save money for the customer in these 3 hours of low load. 

  • Reactive Autoscale potentially have frequent scales operations, which should be avoided as explained above. 


Let us look on the accumulated CPU metric of a typical cluster over 3 weeks:


conssumed_cpu.PNG


We noticed that in many clusters the metric follows a seasonal pattern - might be weekly (less load on the weekend), daily (night vs daily business hours) or other seasonality’s due to recurring automatic workflows. So, we leveraged ADX Time Series Analysis capabilities, to predict the next day metrics, and schedule scale operations for the next day based on this forecast, considering the data reorganization process. 


 


Continuing with the above example, let’s review the forecastof its CPU: 


Forecast.PNG


In the blue line, you can see the actual accumulated CPU, and in the orange line its forecasting. To the right, you can see that the actual CPU is flat for the future, but the prediction follows the same historical pattern. 


 


Let us zoom in on our forecast (the orange line above appears hear in blue) for January 30th:


Scale_out.PNG


When we identify increase in cluster load, in the time stamp marked by the red line, we look for the maximum load in subsequent hours, which is marked by the yellow line, and schedule a scale-out operation to the number of instances that will handle this maximum-load. Doing so, we avoid consecutive scale-out operations. Also, we schedule the operations to occur 2 hours before the load-increase, as marked by the green line, so the cluster will be ready for the load increase after it has already finished the data reorganization.  


 


Scale_in.PNG


When we identify decrease in cluster load, like in the red line, we avoid consecutive scale-in/scale-out operations by:



  • Scheduling the scale-in operation only if we see that the low load will last long enoughas seen by the yellow arrowed segment

  • Determining the target instances count of the scale-in operation by the maximum load of subsequent hours, which is marked by the orange line.


Furthermore, we avoid consecutive scale-in operations by scheduling only one scale-in operation for the consecutive hours. Note that we schedule the scale-in operation to occur right on time when the load drops, as marked by the green line (compared to the Reactive model, that acts in about 3 hours delay). 


 


The Predictive model might not always forecast accurately (e.g. when the CPU does not have a pattern or when there is a change of the CPU pattern), so we created a general hybrid solution that integrates both the Reactive model and the Predictive model in the following way: 


For each cluster:



  • Every 12 hours, we forecast the metrics for the next day based on 3 weeks data.  

  • We add a confidence measurement to the forecast. 

  • Based on the forecast, we plan scale operations for the next 12 hours. 


Every hour: 



  • For each of the clusters whose confidence is above a threshold, we run a light validation function to verify the forecast still holds. 

  • The clusters that have high confidence and passed the validation will be scaled by the Predictive model scheduled operations, while the rest will fall back to the Reactive model until next forecast.


Planning_Execution.PNG


 


Here is an example cluster manifesting the improvement when changing from the Reactive model to the Predictive model: 


Success_story.PNG


 


In the blue line, you can see the cluster CPU, and in the red line the instances count of the cluster. 



  • To the left of the green line, the Reactive Autoscale was active – the instances count was on average 25 machines and the scale operations are not aligned with the data because of the delayed response. 

  • To the right of the green line, the Predictive Autoscale is active - most of the time the cluster has 10 instances and only for predicted times of high loads it scales out to 25 instances. Note that the scale operations are aligned with the data – scale-out occurs around 2 hours before the load increase, making sure the cluster is ready for the high load ahead of time, and scale-in takes place just in time when the high load ends. 


Overall, in this case the new Predictive Autoscale saved about 50% of the cluster cost while even improving the performance compared to the Reactive model. 


 


To summarize, ADX built a new innovative Predictive Autoscale model, based on ML and Time Series Analysis, that guarantees the best performance while optimizing cluster cost. This Predictive Autoscale is currently in a private preview, to be generally available in the next few months. Meanwhile, you are welcome to contact us to join this preview and start saving $$$.