by Contributed | May 11, 2021 | Technology
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
The Microsoft Teams Community has not been more exciting! In-person events and gatherings are close to being a reality and in some parts of the world have already begun. More and more user groups and community events are popping up, the activity in the Tech Community has never been stronger, and there’s all kinds of chatter around the many recent feature updates.
Here’s a few updates I’d like to share from the last month.
We would like to congratulate Theresa Lubelski who has been named the April Microsoft Teams Community Start Award winner. As Women in Teams Community kicked off earlier this year, we knew it’d take a village to make things run smooth, to host a vibrant online community, and monthly gatherings. Theresa jumped in with both feet in getting the community off the ground and has worked to make sure those in the community can collaborate with one another and have the opportunity to participate. She has brought her depth of SharePoint and has been a vital member of the planning team. Follow Theresa on Twitter @SharePointMadam or find her on LinkedIn. If you are interested in being part of the Women in Teams Community, we invite you to join us! The next monthly gathering is June 8th.
Anyone can nominate an individual for the Microsoft Teams Community Star Award.
There are some fantastic Community Events happening in the coming months, both virtual and in-person. You can find a list of regional and worldwide User Group and Events in the Microsoft Technical Community Event Listings. If you have your own UG or Event to share, please add it!
I hope you’ll join me May 12th at Teams Nation, a 100% free, 100% community based monthly meeting and community conference focused on Microsoft Teams, its underlying technologies and extensibility options. Its aim is to bring together Microsoft, Community Leaders and the Tech Community to share technical knowledge, provide opportunities for speaking and create a network of Teams enthusiasts the world over. @Allie Thompson and I will be speaking on ‘Solving the #MVPBuzz Mystery and how you can have a bigger impact on community’. There’s a packed schedule covering just about everything Microsoft Teams – check it out!
If you’re up for sunshine and a bit of travel, you can join us at the M365 Conference in Orlando! If you prefer to stay in the comfort of your home, you can do that too. M365 Conference is a hybrid event which means you can travel or not – but you won’t miss out on the great content delivered across all M365 technologies. This event is a precursor to the main event taking place late this year in Las Vegas.
Originally there were some in-person events scheduled this summer which have since pushed out to fall and I can’t WAIT to be a part of them. You won’t want to miss:
European SharePoint, O365 & Azure Conference – virtual in June, 2021
CommsVerse in UK – September, 2021
TeamsFest / SharePointFest in Washington DC – September, 2021
Thrive Conference in Slovenia – October, 2021
European Collaboration Summit – November, 2021
M365 Conference – Las Vegas, NV – December 2021
Finally, we’re always looking for bloggers like YOU to contribute to this space! If you’d like to share your knowledge in blog format with this community, please submit your topic!
What community activities are you participating in? What community support do you need? Let us know!
Until next month – Be well!
#CommunityRocks!
Laurie Pottmeyer
Community Lead, Microsoft Teams Engineering
@lauriepottmeyer
by Contributed | May 10, 2021 | Technology
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
Initial Update: Tuesday, 11 May 2021 02:30 UTC
We are aware of issues within Application Insights in Central US region and are actively investigating. Some customers may experience intermittent data latency, data gaps and incorrect alert activation.
- Work Around: None
- Next Update: Before 05/11 04:30 UTC
We are working hard to resolve this issue and apologize for any inconvenience.
-Anupama
by Contributed | May 10, 2021 | Technology
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
The 24th cumulative update release for SQL Server 2017 RTM is now available for download at the Microsoft Downloads site. Please note that registration is no longer required to download Cumulative updates.
To learn more about the release or servicing model, please visit:
Starting with SQL Server 2017, we adopted a new modern servicing model. Please refer to our blog for more details on Modern Servicing Model for SQL Server
by Contributed | May 10, 2021 | Technology
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
The Parse transformation in Azure Data Factory and Synapse Analytics data flows allows data engineers to write ETL data transformations that take embedded documents inside of string fields and parse them as their native types. For example, you can set parsing rules in the Parse transformation to handle JSON and delimited text strings and transform those fields into complex types. Now, we’ve updated Parse to also understand XML as a source type in your incoming string data.
In this example, I have a text delimited CSV data source. Since this is a simple text file, the embedded XML document in the column labeled “xml” is read as a string, so I am unable to treat it like a hierarchical structure. However, by adding the Parse transformation, I can select XML as my incoming embedded type and define the structure “customers” as the new column that is now hierarchical:
by Contributed | May 10, 2021 | Technology
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
If you are like me, you are probably excited with how fast Azure Sentinel has grown. This means more capabilities, functions and integrations to work with. So with all that power, how do I build a SOC and operationalize my Security Operations to keep up? At long last, there is a new Workbook to help you do just that… I have spent over a decade helping to build SOCs and together at Microsoft my team of GBB’s, built a SOC Process Framework Workbook that combines SOC industry standards and best practices and applied them to Azure Sentinel.
A special thanks to my team members who helped me on this project. (Clive Watson, Beth Bischoff, Chuck Enstall, Josh Heizman, Matthew Littleton) Each one of you brought a wealth of knowledge and a unique perspective. A heart felt Thank you to you all!!
Deploying the Workbook
It is recommended that you have a working instance of Azure Sentinel get the full benefit of the SOC Process Framework Workbook, but the workbook will deploy regardless of your available log sources. Follow the steps below to enable the workbook:
Requirements: Azure Sentinel Workspace and Security Reader rights.
1) From the Azure portal, navigate to Azure Sentinel.
2) Select Workbooks > Templates.
3) Search SOC Process Framework and select Save to add to My Workbooks.
NOTE: If the workbook is not yet available in your Azure Sentinel Workbook Templates, you can pull down a copy by going to my GitHub repo: https://github.com/rinure-msft/Azure-Sentinel/blob/master/Workbooks/SOCProcessFramework.json and simply open a New Workbook and paste in the Gallery Code.
If you need steps on manually deploying the workbook after copying the code from GitHub, I suggest following the instructions from this article that has them outlined: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/visualize/workbooks-automate.
There are 14 Processes and 36 Procedures broken into detail to help deliver a comprehensive start to operationalizing Azure Sentinel and applying a SOC methodology.
Working Example of SOC Process Framework Workbook
This workbook is built so that SOC practices can deploy this workbook and edit the following Parameters:
– [CUSTOMER] Simply replace with your customer SOC Name.
– Upload Diagrams and or Docs under the Technology sections.
– Make any necessary changes to fit the way your SOC operates and use this workbook as your Central SOC Operational Process and Procedures Knowledge Base.
This workbook has a TON of features (too many to mention) so go grab this workbook and find out how easy it is to build your SOC processes around Azure Sentinel, XDR, Azure Security Center, or any of our Security tools.
SOC Process Framework – Analytical Processes
There are a couple of other artifacts that are complimentary to this workbook that were uploaded recently! Here they are:
– Get-SOCActions Playbook – Azure-Sentinel/Playbooks/Get-SOCActions at master · rinure-msft/Azure-Sentinel (github.com)
– SocRA Watchlist – https://github.com/rinure-msft/Azure-Sentinel/blob/master/docs/SOCAnalystActionsByAlert.csv
The Get-SOCActions Playbook with “SocRA” Watchlist gives SOCs the ability to onboard SOC Actions for their Analysts to follow that snap to the SOC Process Framework Workbook. As they onboard Use-Cases and apply triage steps, this playbook can then be run to add those steps to the Incident for an Analyst to follow to closure.
I am positive this workbook will help you build a successful SOC framework needed to mature your SOC around Azure Sentinel.
Happy SOC Building!
by Contributed | May 10, 2021 | Technology
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
Hello everyone, Chris Vetter Customer Engineer at Microsoft. I am writing to talk about creating OneDrive for Business profiles with Microsoft Endpoint Manager Configuration Manager (MEMCM). Let us start with the why. Since more businesses are allowing remote work these days what better way to allow your workforce to access their files from any device when their files are synchronized with OneDrive for Business. This can also lower the dependency on the company provided devices and provide less data loss in the case of faulty hard drives or if a machine needs a refreshed image. By using OneDrive for Business Profiles, we also automatically synchronize the content of the known folders unlike when we use folder redirection. Why should we do this with MEMCM when we can just set it with Group Policy? Two reasons number one: If you are like most organizations your On-Premises Active Directory environment already has plenty GPO (Group Policy Objects) settings being applied which can cause things like long logon times and waiting for all the Group Policies to process and refresh. Number two: The path to fully Azure Active Directory joined environment is to move away from group policy and apply these settings with Microsoft Endpoint Manager being that is one dependency a lot of environments have on staying hybrid joined is that Azure Active Directory does not have group policy like On-Premises Active Directory. So let us begin!!
Create OneDrive for Business Profile
This feature was introduced into Configuration Manager with Current Branch 1902 so if you are not on at least CB (Current Branch). 1902 (You are in an unsupported state since 1902 is no longer supported) you will need to upgrade to the latest version of MEMCM Current Branch. See my blog post on how to do this here.
From the Assets and Compliance tab expand the Compliance Settings Folder and click on the OneDrive for Business Profiles Node. From the ribbon select Create OneDrive for Business Profile,
On the General Tab we name our Profile and give it a brief description then we select next, this brings up the Supported Platforms Tab Select any Operating systems you will be supporting in your environment then select next.
The next tab is the Known Folder Move Settings. You can select what will work best for your environment or create multiple Profiles with different settings if you have dissimilar needs for different users. You will also need to add your tenant ID for your M365 subscription which can be found by following this link,
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/onedrive/find-your-office-365-tenant-id
Here is a brief explanation of the settings on this tab:
- Prompt users to move Windows known folders to OneDrive: With this option, the user sees a wizard to move their files. If they choose to postpone or decline moving their folders, OneDrive periodically reminds them.
- Silently move Windows known folders to OneDrive: When this policy applies to the device, the OneDrive client automatically redirects the known folders to OneDrive for Business.
- Show notification to users after folders have been redirected: If you enable this option, the OneDrive client notifies the user after it moves their folders.
- Prevent Users from redirecting their Windows known folders back to their PC: This disables the option for users to be able to move their folders back to being local on the device.
Select next to get to the Summary Tab then next again to begin the creation process. When you are finished select close.
Next, we will select our newly created Profile and deploy it to our desired device collection.
When the Deployment Wizard opens select your Device Collection you wish to target as well as if want an alert generated for non-compliance and the schedule in which you want this profile to evaluate.
From the Windows Client this looks like a Configuration Baseline in the Configuration Manager control panel applet.
The experience in my lab was delivered on the next log on and I saw my known folders were now redirected to my OneDrive section in File Explorer.
Disclaimer
All screenshots and folder paths are from a non-production lab environment and can/will vary per environment. All processes and directions are of my own opinion and not of Microsoft and are from my years of experience with the configuration manager product in multiple customer environments.
Resources
OneDrive for Business Profiles – Configuration Manager | Microsoft Docs
by Jenna Restuccia | May 10, 2021 | Business, Knowledge Base, Uncategorized
American Sign Language (ASL) is the primary non-written language of Deaf people in the U.S. and many of Western Canada. ASL is an expressive and non-syntactic verbal language conveyed by facial movement and gestures with the hands and face. Data shows that over 33 million Americans use ASL to communicate with each other and a wide range of friends, family, and professionals. Many colleges and universities offer ASL courses and programs. They are provided primarily to individuals who wish to learn or improve their communication skills to serve their communities better and be of greater value in their personal, professional, and social lives.
There are many reasons that one would want to learn ASL. Some individuals have learned the language by observing spoken speech in Sign Language, while others have learned it from receiving hand signals from a caregiver or a book of signs. Many people take American Sign Language classes to become certified CNAs (Certified Nursing Assistant). Others sign up for audiotapes and videos of ASL expressions and gestures to memorize. Several people learn American Sign Language simply because they love the language and wish to improve their communication skills.
The National Association of Special Education Programs (NASEP) estimates that approximately 1.6 million Americans communicate in ASL. Of those individuals, about half are certified to administer American Sign Language at home or in a school/community setting. Sign language is becoming more popular throughout the United States as people learn the language or take ASL classes for personal or community benefit. There are many benefits to learning ASL:
One of the most obvious benefits of learning American Sign Language is that it is a hands-on skill that anyone can perform with any level of fluency. Compared to other common languages such as English and Spanish, learning American Sign Language has a higher retention rate because almost anyone can perform it. Individuals of all ages and from all walks of life can learn how to sign. Sign language users do not necessarily speak but rather make facial expressions, emotions, and body motions that look like words or sentences. Sign language users can communicate verbally with each other using only hand motions.
In addition to ASL visual elements, learners also benefit from speaking the language. Many studies show that reading books containing written speech improves reading comprehension skills, similarly, achieved by reading audiobooks. However, in today’s world, more individuals are reading text on the Internet. Because of this, many individuals are now able to perform “word by word” communication via the computer. Learning American Sign Language provides individuals the ability to read and understand spoken languages and allows them to communicate on a deeper level that only the spoken language can provide.
One of the main reasons people begin learning ASL is that they plan to take an American Sign Language exam, such as training from the American deaf exposure program. The information courses in ASL include a fundamental understanding of the language, posture statements, and vocabulary exercises. The position statement is essential in spoken languages, and it instructs individuals on how to position themselves physically to hold a conversation in an everyday setting. A posture statement is also helpful because it demonstrates how people who speak ASL stand in relation to one another, which is vital for an American Sign Language test.
by Contributed | May 10, 2021 | Technology
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
Guest blog by Antoinette Davis, Training Manager & Curriculum Developer for the Technology Career Program at TechBridge, Inc.
As a nonprofit, our mission is to break the cycle of generational poverty through the innovative use of technology to transform nonprofits and community impact. Our vision is to measurably alleviate poverty within communities in the United States.
My journey to education has been an interesting one as most of my background is solely in Web Development. I have always had a passion for sharing my knowledge with others, and being a part of their journey to becoming better developers. My deep dive into education, and understanding how I can make a difference in this space, began in June 2020. During this short amount of time I have had the opportunity to lead delivering AZ 900 at TCP with a current pass rate of 85%. My work does not stop here though! I am always looking for ways to better the experience for our students.
I have to stop and say thank you to my amazing team at TechBridge and my mentor, Sheena Allen, for always pushing me to be better. Because of their leadership, I have the confidence and drive to be the instructor I need to be for my students! They expect greatness from me and I expect the same from ALL students of TCP!
TechBridge was granted access to the MSLE program via Microsoft Accelerate: Atlanta; Microsoft’s initiative to help communities close the digital skills gap. With this partnership TCP added Azure Fundamentals to our curriculum in June 2020. It has shown to be a great entry level point for most of our Cloud courses. Here is what some of my students have to say about the AZ 900 course:
“I am so grateful for my wonderful support network that I found through TechBridge, Inc. & Antoinette Davis for introducing me to cloud, as it has opened up a new world for me.” – Zenaida Johnson
“I came into the Technology Career Program with little to no knowledge about technology. Having Toni as an instructor helped blaze a path towards my first certification, Microsoft Azure Fundamentals. She was a stern but fair leader. Our feedback on her teaching style was taken into consideration, followed by immediate action. She did not allow us to come to her with surface level inquiries outside of class time. You had to show proof that you dug deep within yourself and the plethora of resources provided before asking for one on one help. She had high expectations of the class and constantly reminded us that success was the only option. Success is what my peers and I have achieved under her leadership.” Christa Davoll
“Toni was my instructor for Azure Fundamentals. During my matriculation through the Technology Careers Program Toni displayed an unrivaled knowledge of the source material which allowed her to present it in an easily digestible format. Under her tutelage I went from not understanding what exactly a “cloud” was to passing my proctored exam on the first try. Without the leadership & guidance from Toni I’m not sure I would have obtained the same results and I will forever be grateful for all that she did for our class.” – Curtis Guyton
Microsoft Learn for Educators gave me the tools and training material I needed to successfully teach our Azure Fundamentals course. Our students feel prepared to enter the job market using their certificates and knowledge gained during our cohort. Our success thus far can be attributed to:
- Up-to-date information and resources provided by MSLE
- High quality reading material and hands on labs through the Microsoft Learn platform
- Freedom to customize curriculum to meet the needs of our learners (Some programs do not allow this)
- Continuous support from the MSLE team
Breaking Barriers For Our Students
Because of the mission of our non-profit, the perfect candidate for our program does not look like your typical college or “tech” student. Their ages range from 18 – 50+ and the amount of tech experience varies in every class. Most have never dealt with a computer before. Others have never heard of the cloud. For a lot of them, TCP is the first step to getting familiar with technology, and this makes our job as instructors…. interesting. The way I would talk to one of my colleagues about how the terms Virtual Machine and a server are connected, is TOTALLY different than the way I would have to teach it to one of our students.
The first step to creating success for our students is meeting them exactly where they are. Addressing the gaps in their understanding of the basics before we dig into AZ 900 content. Our AZ 900 course is normally taught in 45 hours with the first 9 hours or so being an introduction to common tech practices and the cloud in general. When I review different resources, the first question I have to ask myself is, “What terminology do I already understand because of my years of experience in this industry?” Once I am able to answer that, I have a pretty good idea of where to start. The course is taught at a very fast pace, but everyone leaves with a good understanding of all topics.
On day one we cover what an on premise solution looks like for someone with a need for a private server. They build an on premise ( private cloud ) solution, giving them insights to building complete solutions, cost, security for assets purchased, etc. I always get really weird looks when I assign this assignment! Once the students get the assignment done, and I explain how what they built in class can be done in Azure, the light bulbs start going off. We spend the next couple of days talking about the different components of their on premise solution, then we move on to Azure content starting with basic Cloud Concepts.
Thorough content and quality labs give our students an understanding of the why and how of Azure. Simple questions like: “Why do I need a VM?” & “Now that I know why, how do I spin up that resource?” is how I recommend my students approach learning the material. The goal is employment for all, and having this mindset when it comes to learning is how we get it done.
“As a former TCP student turned instructor, understanding how to effectively solve problems was a huge part of doing well in the cohort and how I deliver content now. I cannot recall the amount of errors I’ve encountered or have been clueless about how to initially solve a problem. In talking about some of her previous experience, Toni would say “I may not know the answer now, but I know where to find the answers.” I have taken on a lot of this confidence myself and stress to others how much this attitude is important in gaining success”. – Kharee Smith
Our Plans For The Future
The courses we deliver depend on what’s needed in the job market. I am constantly meeting with my team to understand the needs of our market so I can give my input on content needs and probability of success for our students. We have interest in teaching more Administrator, Developer, DevOps, and AI courses. I am personally looking forward to learning more about the Developer and DevOps tracks. Being a student first allows me to take in the content from a different perspective. Developing a curriculum for TCP students based on my own experience allows me to make our classes a little more personable. I think our students appreciate the fact that their instructor took the course before they did. We try our best to always be open to sharing how we were able to successfully pass the exam.
Our next Cloud course will begin this summer and I am super excited to continue impacting the lives of our community. The students will be challenged to learn AZ 900 Azure Fundamentals and AZ 104 Azure Administrator in 12 weeks. The goal is an 85% pass rate on both exams and employment! Want to know how they finish up? Connect with me on LinkedIn to keep up with their journey! I encourage you to sign up for Microsoft Learn for Educators (MSLE) program here.
by Contributed | May 10, 2021 | Technology
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
The Azure SQL and Cloud Advocacy teams at Microsoft are interested to learn how students and faculty use and perceive database technologies such as Azure SQL. The user research surveys below were created to offer school staff and students the opportunity to provide us with relevant feedback and help shape the future of data products at Microsoft:
To learn more about Azure SQL / SQL Server, below is a set of helpful resources:
Plan and implement a high availability and disaster recovery environment
Migrate SQL workloads to Azure Managed Instances
Migrate SQL workloads to Azure SQL Databases
Explore Azure Synapse serverless SQL pools capabilities
Create metadata objects in Azure Synapse serverless SQL pools
Build data analytics solutions using Azure Synapse serverless SQL pools
Migrate on-premises MySQL databases to Azure Database for MySQL
Query data in the lake using Azure Synapse serverless SQL pools
Secure data and manage users in Azure Synapse serverless SQL pools
Migrate SQL workloads to Azure virtual machines
Configure automatic deployment for Azure SQL Database
Migrate SQL workloads to Azure
Introduction to Azure SQL Edge
Getting started on Azure SQL
Azure SQL documentation – Azure SQL | Microsoft Docs
Webinar and Virtual Events
Azure SQL Fundamentals – Episode 1 – Introduction to Azure SQL
Azure SQL Fundamentals – Episode 2 – Deploy and configure servers, instances, and…
Azure SQL Fundamentals – Episode 3 – Secure your data with Azure SQL
Azure SQL Fundamentals – Episode 4 – Deliver consistent performance with Azure SQL
Azure SQL Fundamentals – Episode 5 – Deploy highly available solutions by using Azure SQL
Azure SQL Fundamentals – Episode 6 – Putting it all together with Azure SQL
by Contributed | May 10, 2021 | Technology
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
IoT Hub support for Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) and Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) is now generally available for service APIs. This means you can secure your service connections to IoT Hub with much more flexibility and granularity than before.
Existing shared access policy users, including users with Owner and Contributor roles on an IoT hub, are not affected. For better security and ease of use, we encourage everyone to switch to using Azure AD whenever possible.
Granular access control to service APIs
For example, you have a service the needs read access to device identities and device twins. Before, you must give this service access to your IoT hub by using shared access policy to include both the registryRead and the serviceConnect permissions. This works fine, but your service now also has permission to send direct methods and update twin desired properties (as part of serviceConnect). The unnecessary additional privileges can be used by an attacker to mess with your devices, if the credentials are compromised.
For additional security, the industry best practice is to follow the principle of least privilege. With Azure AD and RBAC support, you can grant granular permissions to achieve this. If you want your service to be able to read twins, and nothing else, assign its service principal or managed identity a role with Microsoft.Devices/IotHubs/twin/read permission. And that’s it! This service cannot update twin or send direct methods. You’ve achieved least privilege.
Getting started
To get started, grant your users, groups, service principals or managed identities roles with the new permission. The built-in roles, permissions, and links to samples are published on our documentation page Control access to IoT Hub with Azure AD.
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