Microsoft has been busy springing up new updates for both Azure Architecture Center and Azure Security Center. OneDrive Sync receives Admin Reports capabilities now in public preview. Azure Hybrid benefits are further being extended for Linux and a corresponding Linux on Azure Microsoft Learn Module of the week is ready to be reviewed on this week's AzUpdate.
Azure Architecture Center Updates for April 2021
The Azure Architecture Center (AAC) helps you design, build, and operate solutions on Azure. The guidance is based on all aspects of building for the cloud, such as operations, security, reliability, performance, and cost optimization.
Microsoft has released three new documentation updates this week which would be of interest to IT Professionals:
- Azure Automation Update Management - A configuration component of Automation. Windows and Linux computers, both in Azure and on-premises, send assessment information about missing updates to the Log Analytics workspace. Azure Automation then uses that information to create a schedule for automatic deployment of the missing updates.
- Managing hybrid workloads using Windows Admin Center - This documentation shares how to design a hybrid Windows Admin Center solution to manage workloads that are hosted on-premises and in Microsoft Azure. The documentation covers both Windows Admin Center deployed to a virtual machine (VM) in Azure and Windows Admin Center deployed to a server (physical or virtual) on-premises.
- Azure Automation in a Hybrid environment - This documentation details how to extend automation to on-premises or other cloud providers. It describes the services that must be deployed in Azure to provide automated management and configuration across on-premises or other cloud providers. The same architecture can be applied on Azure virtual machines (VMs) that reside behind a firewall, with outbound connectivity over the 443 TCP port.
Azure Security Center: General Availability and Public Preview updates for April 2021
In April 2021, the following generally available updates and enhancements were made to Azure Security Center:
- Microsoft Defender for Endpoint integration with Azure Defender now supports Windows Server 2019 and Windows 10 Virtual Desktop (WVD)
- Container registry images that have been recently pulled are now rescanned weekly
- Three regulatory compliance standards added: Azure CIS 1.3.0, CMMC Level 3, and New Zealand ISM Restricted
- CMK recommendations moved to best practices security control
- 11 Azure Defender alerts deprecated
- Two recommendations from "Apply system updates" security control were deprecated
- Azure Defender for SQL on machine tile removed from Azure Defender dashboard
- 21 recommendations moved between security controls
The following public preview updates and enhancements made to Azure Security Center for April 2021 include:
- Refreshed resource health page
- Use Azure Defender for Kubernetes to protect hybrid and multi-cloud Kubernetes deployments
- Recommendations to enable Azure Defender for DNS and Resource Manager
- Four new recommendations related to guest configuration
Azure Hybrid Benefit for Linux with RI and VMSS Support now Generally Available
Microsoft recently announced Azure Hybrid Benefit for Linux, extending the ability to easily migrate RHEL and SLES servers to Azure beyond existing pay-as-you-go instances to include support for Azure Reserved Instance (RI) and virtual machine scale set (VMSS). While previous Bring-Your-Own-Subscription cloud migration options available to Red Hat and SUSE customers allowed them to use their pre-existing RHEL and SLES subscriptions in the cloud, Azure Hybrid Benefit for Linux improves upon this with several capabilities unique to Azure making enterprise Linux cloud migration even easier than before.
More informations surrounding the announcement can be found here: Azure Hybrid Benefit for Linux
OneDrive Sync Admin Reports now in Public Preview
Quickly resolve sync issues to help people stay productive.
OneDrive Sync Admin Reports in Microsoft 365 Apps admin center provides more visibility into who in your organization is running the OneDrive Sync client and any errors they might be experiencing. Having insights into what’s happening with OneDrive Sync across your organization can help you proactively reach out to educate people to resolve common issues and improve user experience to help increase OneDrive adoption.
More information can be found here: OneDrive Sync Admin Reports
Community Events
- Microsoft Build - Explore what’s next in tech and the future of hybrid work. Join us May 25-27, 2021 at Microsoft Build.
- Testing in Production - Producer Pierre and Sound Guy Steve are back to share thier livestream learnings
- Hello World - Special guests, content challenges, upcoming events, and daily updates
-
Microsoft Australia Security Skills Bootcamp (free, online) 17-21 May
MS Learn Module of the Week
Linux on Azure
This comprehensive learning path reviews deployment and management of Linux on Azure. Learn about cloud computing concepts, Linux IaaS and PaaS solutions and benefits and Azure cloud services. Discover how to migrate and extend your Linux-based workloads on Azure with improved scalability, security, and privacy.
This learning path should be explored alongside the Azure Fundamentals part 1: Describe core Azure concepts learning path. If you're new to cloud computing, consider taking the first learning path in the Azure Fundamentals 6-part learning path series first.
Modules include:
- Discuss Azure fundamental concepts
- Introduction to Linux on Azure
- Introduction to Azure virtual machines
- Create a Linux virtual machine in Azure
- Describe core Azure architectural components
- and more ...
Learn more here: Linux on Azure
Let us know in the comments below if there are any news items you would like to see covered in the next show. Be sure to catch the next AzUpdate episode and join us in the live chat.
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