Month: January 2026

🔹 Feature: Azure Front Door CAPTCHA 🔹What It Does: Azure Front Door CAPTCHA adds an extra layer of security to your web applications by validating users through interactive challenges, helping prevent automated attacks and bots. What is it giving you: ✅ Enhances security with CAPTCHA challenges to block malicious bots ✅ Reduces risks of automated attacks like credential stuffing and DDoS ✅ Seamless integration with Azure Front Door’s Web Application Firewall (WAF) ✅ Customizable challenge settings to fit specific security needs ✅ Improved user experience with minimal disruption for legitimate users More info: 🌐https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/azurenetworksecurityblog/securing-web-applications-with-azure-front-door-waf-captcha/4416502  

When you enable Application Insights on your Azure App Service, you gain powerful monitoring capabilities. However, two additional diagnostic tools—Snapshot Debugger and Profiler—can silently impact your application’s performance if left enabled without careful consideration. I heard that the best method is to disable the Debugger and Profiler using Azure Portal. Using CLI you can invoke: # Disable Profiler and Code Optimizations az webapp config appsettings set –resource-group $(ResourceGroupName) –name $(AppService2Name) –settings APPINSIGHTS_PROFILERFEATURE_VERSION=disabled # Disable Snapshot Debugger az webapp config appsettings set –resource-group $(ResourceGroupName) –name $(AppService2Name) –settings APPINSIGHTS_SNAPSHOTFEATURE_VERSION=disabled # Disable Diagnostic Extension az webapp config appsettings set –resource-group $(ResourceGroupName) –name $(AppService2Name) –settings DiagnosticServices_EXTENSION_VERSION=disabled    

🔹 Feature: Frontier Program 🔹What It Does: The Frontier Program bridges the gap between customers and Microsoft’s latest AI innovations. It’s designed to offer direct engagement with cutting-edge technology, empowering users to collaborate in shaping the future of AI.   ✅ Hands-On Experience: Customers with Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses, enabled by their IT Admins, can dive into breakthrough features. ✅ Direct Feedback Loop: Share valuable insights directly with Microsoft’s product teams. ✅ Co-Creation Opportunity: Be a part of developing and refining AI technologies, not just adopting them. ✅ Early Access: Get ahead with firsthand experience of emerging AI capabilities.   More info: 🌐 https://adoption.microsoft.com/en-us/copilot/frontier-program/  

🔹Feature: Dev Tunnels 🔹What It Does: Dev Tunnels make it simple to securely expose your local services like http RDP and others to the internet for testing and development, without needing to deploy to a remote server. What is it giving you: ✅ Secure Connections: Authorization during Dev Tunnel user login ensures you can connect only to your tunnel. ✅ Flexible Access: Use –allow-anonymous to permit public access when needed. ✅ Policy Control: Group policies help prevent unauthorized tunnel creation within your organization. ✅ Versatile Protocol Support: Expose not just HTTP, but also local SSH, RDP, or any other local port. A client is required on the client side. ✅ Cross-Platform Compatibility: Available on Linux, Windows, and MacOS for broad development support.   🌐 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/developer/dev-tunnels/overview

🔹 Feature: Azure VMware Solution Interactive Demos 🔹 What It Does: Azure VMware Solution Interactive Demos provide hands-on experiences that showcase how to efficiently run VMware workloads natively on Azure.   What It Gives You: ✅Deployment and Day-2 Operations ✅HCX Migration ✅Modernize workloads with Azure services ✅Capabilities of Arc-enabled AVS ✅Secure outbound internet connectivity ✅Expand storage with external storage (Azure NetApp Files) ✅AVS + Azure OpenAl Service ✅VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) ✅Expand storage with Elastic SAN   More info: 🌐 https://aka.ms/AVSDemos

🔹 Feature: Microsoft 365 Backup 🔹 What It Does: Safeguards your Office 365 data including Exchange, OneDrive, and SharePoint. What It Gives You: ✅ Comprehensive Protection: Ensures all your critical data is securely backed up. ✅ Granular Restore Options: Restore specific files or entire datasets with precision. ✅ Policy-Based Management: Simplify backup configurations ✅ Seamless Integration: Works smoothly within your Microsoft 365 environment no third party solutions. ✅ DORA/NIST: Comply with regulatory requirements 🌐 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/backup/?view=o365-worldwide

🔹 Feature: SQL Managed Instance Next-Gen 🔹 What It Does: Enhances performance, scalability, and cost-efficiency for your SQL workloads in Azure. What is it giving you: ✅ Improved compute and storage scalability for demanding workloads. ✅ Enhanced security with built-in advanced features. ✅ Better cost management with optimized resource utilization. ✅ Seamless integration with Azure ecosystem for smoother operations. 🌐 More info: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/azuresqlblog/introducing-azure-sql-managed-instance-next-gen-gp/4092647

🔹 Feature: VM Applications🔹What It Does: Simplifies the deployment, management, and updating of applications across your virtual machines not only in Azure. What is it giving you: ✅ Effortless Software Distribution – Seamlessly deploy apps at scale across multiple VMs.✅ Supports Azure Arc – Manage applications on both Azure and on-premises environments with Azure Arc integration.✅ Streamlined Application Management – Simplify version control and application lifecycle management.✅ Consistent Deployment – Ensure uniform application deployment across your infrastructure. 🌐 More info: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/vm-applications  

🔹 Feature: Microsoft Learn AI Skills Navigator – A New Way to Learn Now, exciting news from #MSIgnite conferences or just before! ? What is it giving you: ✅ AI-generated podcasts – just ask for a 5-minute podcast to learn while driving to work. ✅ Choose from diverse formats that fit your learning style—videos, labs, guides, and more. ✅ Instantly turn training into podcasts or summaries for faster, more flexible, and inclusive learning. ✅ Learn your way, on your time, with expert-led training combined with real-time AI support. ✅ Personalized AI-generated multimodal learning plans crafted to meet your unique needs. ✅ Skilling sessions designed to deepen your understanding and practical application. ✅ Live-like training available anytime with agentic support for a real-time learning experience. ✅ Instantly convert complex material into flexible learning modules, summaries, or podcasts for quick absorption. More info: 🌐 https://aiskillsnavigator.microsoft.com

🔹 Feature: Python in Excel ? Video: https://youtu.be/Egos00xPEF4 🔹What It Does: Seamlessly integrates Python capabilities directly into Excel, allowing advanced data analysis, visualization, and automation within familiar Excel workflows. What is it giving you: ✅ Works in Cloud: No need instal Python locally ✅ Basic licenses enough: Office E3 or Buissness Office licenses are OK ✅ Safe: Python in Excel comes with a standard set of Python libraries provided by Anaconda through a secure distribution. ✅ Advanced Data Analysis: Run complex calculations and statistical models using Python libraries like pandas and NumPy directly in Excel. ✅ Powerful Visualizations: Create dynamic charts and graphs with libraries like Matplotlib and Seaborn for enhanced data storytelling. ✅ Automation Efficiency: Automate repetitive tasks, data manipulation, and reporting effortlessly within your spreadsheets. ✅ Seamless Integration: No need for external tools—work with Python and Excel side by side in the same environment. ✅ Enhanced Productivity: Boost your data handling capabilities without leaving the Excel interface you already know. 🌐 For more info: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/get-started-with-python-in-excel-a33fbcbe-065b-41d3-82cf-23d05397f53d

🔹 Feature: Query Hint Recommendation Tool 🔹What It Does: An extension to SQL Server Management Studio to optimize your queries efficiently. What is it giving you: ✅ Establishes Baseline Performance Ensure your queries are measured against consistent performance metrics. ✅ Identifies Helpful Hints Based on Actual Elapsed Time Focus on real execution time metrics, not just optimizer estimated costs. ✅ Reports the Status of All Hints Explored Keep track of which hints were tested and their impact on performance. ✅ Efficiency Boost Skip irrelevant hints effortlessly. Time-out suboptimal plans to avoid resource drain. 🌐 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/ssms/query-hint-tool/hint-tool-overview  

🔹 Feature: The SharePoint + Copilot Advantage – Metadata Understanding 🔹What It Does: Metadata is the descriptive information attached to files (think tags, categories, dates, and custom labels). It transforms a basic document library into a dynamic, searchable knowledge base. What It’s Giving You: ✅ Enhanced Search Precision: By enriching SharePoint content with metadata, organizations create clear boundaries, making information retrieval faster and more accurate. ✅ Reliable AI Outputs: Metadata acts as an anchor, helping Copilot and agents deliver consistent, business-ready answers while maintaining creative flexibility. ✅ Improved Business Decisions: Structured, metadata-rich environments enable AI to provide precise insights, crucial when business accuracy matters. ✅ Optimized Knowledge Management: Metadata transforms scattered information into organized, easily accessible business knowledge. While Large Language Models (LLMs) remain probabilistic at their core, metadata helps refine AI’s precision, especially in business-critical scenarios. 🌐 Learn more: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/spblog/sharepoint-showcase-how-metadata-and-the-knowledge-agent-elevate-microsoft-365-c/4464079  

Open KUDU with powershell. List all processes Get-Process | Sort-Object {$_.Threads.Count} -Descending | Select-Object ProcessName, Id, @{n=’Threads’;e={$_.Threads.Count}}, @{n=’Memory_MB’;e={[math]::Round($_.WorkingSet64/1MB,2)}} | Format-Table -AutoSize Select the ID with more threads – not SCM one – you can confirm it in KUDU console go to c:devtoolssysinternals cd c:devtoolssysinternals check current logs: dir c:homelogfiles Create memory dump: ./procdump.exe -accepteula -ma 9888 c:homelogfiles it should end with:[12:16:21] Dump 1 initiated: c:homelogfilesw3wp.exe_260115_121621.dmp[12:16:34] Dump 1 writing: Estimated dump file size is 391 MB.[12:17:02] Dump 1 complete: 391 MB written in 41.3 seconds[12:17:03] Dump count reached.   Confirm that file is here: dir c:homelogfiles

🔹 Feature: Copilot Formula in Excel 🔹What It Does: Supercharges your Excel experience with AI-driven capabilities, making data tasks smarter and faster! ✅ Condense Information: Summarize long strings or cell ranges into concise insights. ✅ Generate Sample Data: Quickly create placeholder or demo data for prototypes. ✅ Classify Content: Assign categories or sentiment tags to text entries effortlessly. ✅ Generate Text: Craft simple text content based on your data. ✨ Great for: Enhancing productivity, streamlining data analysis, and boosting content creation without extra hassle. 🌐 Discover more: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/copilot-function-5849821b-755d-4030-a38b-9e20be0cbf62  

🔹 Highlight: SQL Migration Options ✅ SQL Server version upgrades including migrations to Azure → Use SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) What it gives you: • Familiar, built-in tooling for DBAs • Guided upgrade and compatibility checks • Minimal disruption for in-place or side-by-side upgrades ✅ Migrations to Azure SQL Database → Use Data Migration Service (DMS) What it gives you: • Simplified cloud migration with guided workflows • Online and offline migration support • Reduced downtime and built-in validation ✅ Heterogeneous migrations to SQL Server → Use SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) What it gives you: • Migration from Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and more • Schema conversion and data migration in one tool • Assessment reports to identify potential issues early Nice page for browsing type of migration: 🌐 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/data-migration/  

During uploading fresh repository to GIT especially to Azure Devops – you can see: This push was rejected because its size is greater than the 5120 MB limit for pushes in this repository. The idea is to split across the commits. Here is a script that can do it automatically based on file size. Invocation from directory of where you have repo: ..push-one-dir.ps1 -RepoUrl “https://dev.azure.com/organisation/SVN/_git/gitrepo”   [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)][int]$MaxBatchSizeMB = 4500, [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)][switch]$InitializeRepo = $false) # Ensure UTF-8 encoding for proper handling of Polish characters[Console]::OutputEncoding = [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8$PSDefaultParameterValues[‘Out-File:Encoding’] = ‘utf8’ # Start logging$timestamp = Get-Date -Format “yyyyMMdd_HHmmss”$repoName = Split-Path -Leaf (Get-Location)$logFile = “C:svnlogspush_${repoName}_${timestamp}.log” # Create logs directory if not existsif (-not (Test-Path “C:svnlogs”)) {New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path “C:svnlogs” | Out-Null} Start-Transcript -Path $logFile Write-Host “========================================” -ForegroundColor CyanWrite-Host “Starting push for: $repoName” -ForegroundColor CyanWrite-Host “Repository URL: $RepoUrl” -ForegroundColor CyanWrite-Host “Max batch size: $MaxBatchSizeMB MB” -ForegroundColor CyanWrite-Host “Log file: $logFile” -ForegroundColor CyanWrite-Host “Started at: $(Get-Date)” -ForegroundColor CyanWrite-Host “========================================” -ForegroundColor Cyan $maxBatchSizeBytes = $MaxBatchSizeMB * 1MB # Configure Git for Unicode supportWrite-Host “Configuring Git for Unicode support…” -ForegroundColor Yellowgit config core.quotePath falsegit config i18n.commitEncoding utf-8git config i18n.logOutputEncoding utf-8 # Initialize repo if requestedif ($InitializeRepo) {if (Test-Path .git) {Write-Host “Removing existing .git folder…” -ForegroundColor YellowRemove-Item -Recurse -Force .git} git … Upload to Azure Devops – This push was rejected because its size is greater than the 5120 MB limit for pushes in this repository.Read more