#Data
Azure Cosmos DB—Save up to 33 percent on multi-master accounts
Customers creating new Azure Cosmos DB accounts can now get discounted pricing up to 33 percent off for accounts enabling multi-region writes (multi-master).
Azure Cosmos DB—Limit of 25 collections per database
Azure Cosmos DB accounts using shared database throughput are now limited to 25 collections per database.
Azure Cosmos DB logical partition size increased to 20 GB
Azure Cosmos DB has increased the size of logical partitions for customers to 20 GB, doubling the size from 10 GB.
Azure Private Link for Azure Database for MariaDB is now generally available
Azure Private Link support for Azure Database for MariaDB is now generally available.
Private Link for Azure Database for PostgreSQL Single Server is now available
Azure Private Link support for Azure Database for PostgreSQL Single Server is now generally available.
Azure Private Link for Azure Database for MySQL is now available
Azure Private Link support for Azure Database for MySQL is now generally available.
Azure SQL Database default configurations are changing
Azure SQL Database now has the latest Gen 5 hardware in place to ensure optimal service performance. As a result, the default database configurations and the default elastic pool configurations are being changed for all new Azure SQL databases.
Azure SQL Database managed instance now enforces TLS 1.2 on outbound connections
In January 2020 Microsoft enforced TLS 1.2 for intra-service traffic in all Azure services. For Azure SQL Database managed instance, this resulted in TLS 1.2 being enforced on outbound connections used for replication and linked server connections to SQL Server.
#Monitoring
Azure Application Insights now available in US Gov Arizona
Azure Monitor Application Insights is now generally available in the US Government Arizona region. Additionally, the Application Insights web availability monitoring capability is now available in the Azure Government Cloud regions.
Azure Monitor Application Insights now supports Python
Azure Monitor now supports distributed tracing, metric collection, and logging of Python applications through integration with OpenCensus.
#IoT
Azure Sphere 20.03 update now available for compatibility testing
The Azure Sphere 20.03 release is now available via the retail evaluation feed, which is meant for backwards compatibility testing. Use it to verify production-signed applications against the new release before it’s deployed broadly via the retail feed.
#DevOps
Azure Cognitive Services—Brazilian Portuguese added to neural Text to Speech
Francisca, our new Brazilian Portuguese (pt-BR) voice, has been added to neural Text to Speech. Francisca features the same human-like natural prosody of the other neural Text to Speech voices on Azure.
#Analytics
Azure Data Explorer deployment into Azure Virtual Networks now generally available
Deployment of an Azure Data Explorer into a virtual network is now generally available. Use this feature to isolate the network traffic and limit the attack surface for Azure Data Explorer and their corresponding communications.
#IaaS
Private Endpoints for Azure Storage are now Generally Available
Private Endpoints provide secure connectivity to Azure Storage from a Azure virtual network (VNet). On-premises networks can also securely connect to a storage account using a private endpoint when that network is to a VNet using Express Route or VPN. Private Endpoints for Azure Storage are now generally available in all Azure public regions.
Azure Site Recovery update rollup 45—March 2020
This update provides fixes and download links for the latest versions of these Azure Site Recovery components:
Site Recovery unified setup and Site Recovery mobility agent (both are version 9.32.5487.1) for Windows Server, CentOS and Ubuntu machines. This is used for Azure virtual machine (VM) replication and replication of on-premises VMware virtual machines and physical servers to Azure.
Virtual Network NAT now generally available
Azure Virtual Network NAT (network address translation) simplifies outbound-only Internet connectivity for virtual networks. NAT can be configured for one or more subnets of a virtual network and provides on-demand connectivity for virtual machines.
#CloudSecurity
Web Application Firewall with Azure Front Door service now supports exclusion lists
Web Application Firewall exclusion lists allow you to omit certain request attributes from a rule evaluation. Use them to fine tune Web Application Firewall policies for your applications.
Azure Security Center—Improved just-in-time experience.
The features, operation and UI for Azure Security Center’s just-in-time tools that secure your management ports have been enhanced as follows:
Justification field—When requesting access to a virtual machine (VM) through the just-in-time page of the Azure portal, a new optional field is available to enter a justification for the request. Information entered into this field can be tracked in the activity log.
Azure Monitor Source Map Integration with Azure Blob Storage Enables Faster Debugging
Azure Monitor Application Insights is making it easier for developers to debug their JavaScript errors.
Azure Monitor Application Insights now supports Python
Azure Monitor now supports distributed tracing, metric collection, and logging of Python applications through integration with OpenCensus.
#Automation
Public Preview for Azure Automation is now available in the US Gov Arizona region
You can use Azure Automation to create, monitor, deploy and maintain resources in your Azure, on-premises and third-party cloud environments, by using highly scalable and reliable process automation and state configuration engines.
#PowerBI
Azure Stream Analytics managed identity authentication to Power BI is now available
Managed identity authentication for output to Power BI is now generally available in Azure Stream Analytics.
Upgrade the TLS version of your Power BI application to TLS 1.2
Support for transport layer security (TLS) 1.0 and 1.1 for Power BI will end in June 2020. Upgrade the TLS version of your Power BI application to TLS 1.2 before then.
Export Power BI reports to PDF, PPTX or PNG files using REST API
Power BI now has an additional set of capabilities that allow you to export a Power BI report by using a REST call to the following file formats—PDF, PPTX (PowerPoint) and PNG.
Blogs:
Power BI Developer community March 2020 update
This blog post covers the latest updates for Power BI embedded analytics and Power BI visuals platform.
Authored by Sarvesh Pandey, Ping Fung Yin and Onkar Vichare
