Experiencing Data Access issue in Azure Portal for Many Data Types – 09/12 – Resolved

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

Final Update: Sunday, 12 September 2021 07:30 UTC

We’ve confirmed that all systems are back to normal with no customer impact as of 09/12, 07:15 UTC. Our logs show the incident started on 09/12, 06:23 UTC and that during the 52 minutes that it took to resolve the issue some customers may have experienced delayed or missed Log Search Alerts and Data Access in East US region.
  • Root Cause: The failure was due to issue with one of our dependent service.
  • Incident Timeline: 52 minutes – 09/12, 06:23 UTC through 09/12, 07:15 UTC
We understand that customers rely on Application Insights as a critical service and apologize for any impact this incident caused.

-Mohini

Initial Update: Sunday, 12 September 2021 06:58 UTC

We are aware of issues within Application Insights and are actively investigating. Some customers may experience delayed or missed Log Search Alerts and Data Access in East US region.
  • Work Around: None
  • Next Update: Before 09/12 11:00 UTC
We are working hard to resolve this issue and apologize for any inconvenience.
-Mohini

Introduction to OpenXR Explorer

Introduction to OpenXR Explorer

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

Screenshot of the OpenXR Explorer application.Screenshot of the OpenXR Explorer application.


If you’re a Unity or Unreal developer that’s building an experience atop OpenXR, or a lower level developer that might be interacting with OpenXR directly, then OpenXR Explorer is a tool that may be of interest to you! There are numerous OpenXR runtimes out there, and OpenXR Explorer can help you find your way around each of these separately maintained implementations.


 


OpenXR Runtimes


 


OpenXR is unfortunately not a singular library that simply handles all XR headsets, instead it’s a common API that many different companies agree upon and implement. There are currently 5 conformant OpenXR runtimes available on Windows alone! These runtimes do have to pass a conformance test that assures a base level of consistent behavior, and this means that a well designed OpenXR application should run on any OpenXR runtime it encounters on its target platforms!


 


In reality, this is easier said than done, especially once you consider extensions. Right now, much of the really interesting XR behavior is present in the form of optional OpenXR extensions. For example, XR_MSFT_spatial_anchor is a MSFT extension that’s currently only implemented in Microsoft OpenXR runtimes like Windows Mixed Reality! In time, extensions like these may graduate to KHR extensions, officially recognized by Khronos as a common, yet still optional extension. You can read about how extensions are adopted into the standard over in the spec.


 


For the thorough developer, this means a lot of testing. And for the developer working directly with OpenXR, understanding what differences to expect can help with designing your code. OpenXR Explorer helps you peek at information provided by each runtime, see the extensions it implements, as well as inspect some common properties and enumerations that can be queried. In addition to this, OpenXR Explorer provides some functionality for easily changing active runtimes, by a visual user interface, or via command line.


 


Runtime Switching


 


Each OpenXR runtime has its own way of setting itself as active! This is generally fine for normal users, but as a developer, it can be nice to have some options. On Windows, the active runtime is indicated using a registry key, and while you could modify this directly yourself, OpenXR Explorer provides a simple way to do this with just a click!


 


User changing runtime using the OpenXR Explorer GUIUser changing runtime using the OpenXR Explorer GUI


Alternatively, you can use xrsetruntime.exe via the Command Prompt directly. Runtime switching is performed with a separate executable to prevent the main OpenXR Explorer application from requiring admin access to the computer when modifying the OpenXR registry key.


 

# To list all available OpenXR runtimes
xrsetruntime.exe --list

# From a Command Prompt with Admin permissions
xrsetruntime.exe -WMR

 


 


Extensions and Properties


 


A quick glance at a runtime’s extension support can tell you a lot about what to expect! For example, the Windows Mixed Reality runtime on Windows currently supports the XR_KHR_D3D11_enable and XR_KHR_D3D12_enable extensions, but not XR_KHR_opengl_enable, XR_KHR_vulkan_enable, or XR_KHR_vulkan_enable2. This would be an important thing to know about for a certain subset of developers!


 


OpenXR Explorer's extension view, with links to the specOpenXR Explorer’s extension view, with links to the spec


OpenXR Explorer can also attempt to spin up an instance of the runtime and query OpenXR for any easily accessible properties it provides. Knowing what the recommended display resolution is, or what type of positioning/reference spaces the runtime supports can also be quite handy! In addition, OpenXR runtimes often list enumerations in order of preference, so it can be quite insightful to see, for example, what swapchain formats are listed towards the top of the enumeration list.


 


And for those interested in the gritty details about the information they’re seeing, the GUI provides quick links to the relevant portions of the OpenXR specification! The spec is an invaluable resource for the native developer, or those curious about the exact behavior indicated by a particular enumeration.


 


OpenXR explorer also provides a Command Line Interface that will allow you to gather all the same information via the Command Prompt! When provided command line arguments, OpenXR Explorer will skip the GUI, and just print out information.


 

# To list what arguments are available
openxr-explorer.exe -help

# To show the runtime's extension list, you can pass in either the name of the
# function, or the structure that contains the data.
openxr-explorer.exe -xrEnumerateInstanceExtensionProperties
# Or
openxr-explorer.exe -XrExtensionProperties

 


 


Try it out!


 


You can download the latest Windows or Linux builds of OpenXR Explorer here. It’s also open source under the MIT license, and you can find the code as well as additional instructions here! We hope you’ll find this tool useful along your OpenXR journey, and welcome any feedback or contributions :)

Test your apps on Windows Server 2022 with Test Base for Microsoft 365

Test your apps on Windows Server 2022 with Test Base for Microsoft 365

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

Are you looking to validate your applications on Microsoft’s latest Windows Server release? Test Base for Microsoft 365 can help you validate your apps and workloads against the new Windows Server 2022 product.


On Test Base for Microsoft 365, you can have your applications validated against upcoming Windows updates. So, if you are a software vendor or test engineer looking to confirm the compatibility of your applications with upcoming security update releases for Windows Server 2022 or its Server Core version, simply upload your application to our Azure cloud test environment and start testing today!


Not sure how to get started? Check out the step-by-step guide below to find out how to opt in your app for testing.


Not yet using Test Base for Microsoft 365? Sign up today to start using our service.


Upload an application for testing against Windows Server 2022


To get started with validating your applications against pre-release security updates for Windows Server 2022 operating systems on Test Base for Microsoft 365, log on to our self-service onboarding portal.


From the left-side navigation menu, select Upload new package under Package catalog and fill out the Test details:



  1. Select Security updates as the OS update type:

    Selecting the OS update type in the Test Base for Microsoft 365 serviceSelecting the OS update type in the Test Base for Microsoft 365 service









    Note: We do not support feature update testing for Windows Server at this time.




  2. Under OS versions to test, select Windows Server 2022 and/or the Server Core version. You can also select other applicable Windows Server OS versions or a combination of server and client OS versions.









    Note: If you select to test your application against both server and client products, please make sure that the app is compatible and can run seamlessly on both.



    Selecting the OS versions for which testing should occurSelecting the OS versions for which testing should occur

  3. Provide other required information, review the details provided, and upload your application package. After uploading, you can view package status on the Manage packages menu tab.

  4. To view test results and app insights from the validation of your application against pre-release security updates for Windows Server 2022, go to the Test summary page or the Security update results page.

    Locating test summaries and security update test results in Test Base for Microsoft 365Locating test summaries and security update test results in Test Base for Microsoft 365


We are continuously gathering and collaborating on feedback to prioritize and improve on the future for Test Base. Email us at testbasepreview@microsoft.com, we look forward to hearing your feedback and comments!


Join the Test Base community


If you are interested in onboarding your applications to Test Base, please sign up today.


We are actively engaging with application developers and enterprise customers now to add more value and help solve additional use cases. We would also like to invite you to come join us on the new Test Base for Microsoft 365 community on Tech Community so you can share your experiences and connect with others using the service.


 

COVID-19 is still impacting American families and businesses. Do you need financial assistance now?

COVID-19 is still impacting American families and businesses. Do you need financial assistance now?

This article was originally posted by the FTC. See the original article here.

While some aspects of American life have returned, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact this country, and it may be hard to figure out what help you can get now. There’s still aid available through the federal government, as well as your state, local, or tribal government. Some are automatic benefits and others require an application.

Automatic benefits:

  • Child Tax Credit. If you have kids, you may have already gotten money from the IRS because of the Child Tax Credit. The IRS has more information about whether you qualify and what to do if you want to unenroll from advanced payments.
  • Student Loans. Eligible federal student loan payments are on pause until January 31, 2022. You can still make payments on your principal balance or any interest you accrued before March 13, 2020, but until the pause is over, eligible loans are set to a 0% interest rate.

Benefits to apply for:

If someone contacts you out of the blue offering help and asks for your financial or personal information, that’s a sure sign of a scam. And know that the government won’t ask you to pay anything to get COVID-related financial help. If you spot a scam, report it to your state attorney general’s office and the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Brought to you by Dr. Ware, Microsoft Office 365 Silver Partner, Charleston SC.

Finance and Operations authentication upgraded to OpenIDConnect

Finance and Operations authentication upgraded to OpenIDConnect

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

For our customers using the client for Finance and Operations apps, we’re retiring the out-of-support WS-Federation authentication protocol, and replacing it with the industry standard OpenIdConnect OAuth security protocol. OpenIdConnect OAuth security protocol supports modern authentication, which includes multi-factor authentication and conditional access policy.

This upgrade, which will not result in any downtime or require customers to make changes to their system, was released in July 2021. It is available starting from in product version 10.0.20, platform version 7.0.6060.0 or later. The upgrade applies to all environment types except Dev Box, customer-hosted and IaaS environments.

For more information, see Authentication for Finance and Operations app upgraded to OWIN OpenIDConnect in the release plans.

Next steps

This feature is automatically enabled for customers who are on version 10.0.20 or later. If you aren’t on this version and want to upgrade, see the instructions to Self-service upgrade to the latest version.

The post Finance and Operations authentication upgraded to OpenIDConnect appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Brought to you by Dr. Ware, Microsoft Office 365 Silver Partner, Charleston SC.