Windows Server

As always, Microsoft is seeking ways to evolve with the growing needs of our partners. Recent updates to some specialization requirements are just one way we’re working toward that goal. In the coming months, we will be adjusting the certification requirements for the Analytics, Data Warehouse Migration, and Migrate Enterprise Applications specializations, as well as for the Azure Expert Managed Services Provider (MSP) offering. For the Analytics and Data Warehouse Migration specializations requirements, the Azure Data Engineer Associate certification will be replaced with the Fabric Data Engineer Associate certification. Start working toward getting your team skilled with the Fabric Data Engineer Associate certificate to meet the updated requirements when they go live. For the Migrate Enterprise Apps specialization and the Azure Expert MSP offering requirements, the Azure Data Engineer Associate certification is being removed without replacement. To ensure you meet the new program requirements when they go live, please make sure you have enough certified individuals in relevant certifications. The number of required certified individuals across each of the four programs will remain the same. View the full article

What does it take to forge impactful partnerships and achieve excellent outcomes in the tech industry? In this IAMCP Profiles in Partnership episode, Anthony Carrano and Rudy Rodriguez sit down with Natasha Reynolds, Head of Partnerships at SOCO. Natasha dives deep into the nuances of building robust partnerships and the importance of each party staying in their designated swim lanes to drive success. Throughout this episode, Anthony, Rudy, and Natasha explore: The Power of Strategic Partnerships: Natasha shares how SOCO leverages P2P partnerships to create mutually beneficial scenarios for clients and partners. Discover her insights on why building strong, trust-based relationships is essential and how focusing on each partner's strengths leads to better outcomes. A Case Study in Action: Natasha details a compelling case study where SOCO partnered with an MSSP to help a wildlife hospital migrate its database to the cloud using Microsoft Power Platform. Learn about the challenges faced, the collaborative strategies employed, and the significant improvements in operational efficiency and reporting that resulted from this project. The Role of IAMCP in Driving Success: Natasha highlights how IAMCP has supported SOCO in promoting diversity and inclusion within the tech sector. Hear how the resources and frameworks provided by IAMCP have been instrumental in advancing SOCO’s internal initiatives and overall business growth. Advice for Effective Partnering: Natasha offers valuable advice for companies looking to build successful partnerships. She emphasizes the importance of understanding each partner’s capabilities, identifying gaps, and strategically leveraging collective strengths to achieve outstanding results. Listen to full episode here! This episode provides actionable insights into successful partnership strategies and the critical role of collaboration in achieving client success. Natasha’s experiences and advice will inspire you to refine your approach to partnerships and harness the full potential of your professional relationships. Listener Links / Resources International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners Partners: Connect with Natasha Reynolds on LinkedIn Learn more about SOCO SOCO LinkedIn Show Hosts: Anthony Carrano LinkedIn, Managing Partner at Dunamis Marketing Rudy Rodriguez LinkedIn, Managing Partner at Dunamis Marketing **Be sure to join our IAMCP discussion board to join the conservation and subscribe to the IAMCP label on this blog to get notifications of all upcoming episodes and announcements.** View the full article

Do you have questions about deploying and using Teams for your frontline workers? Are you looking for ways to simplify everyday management and boost productivity? We’re the engineering team behind Microsoft Teams for Frontline, and we’re here to support you every step of the way. Our mission is to empower your workforce with tools that streamline communication and enhance operational efficiency. Join us during our Weekly Office Hours for real-time answers, best practices, and expert guidance on making the most of Teams for your frontline teams. Who is this for? This session is perfect for IT admins, managers, and anyone responsible for deploying or managing Microsoft Teams for their frontline workers. Whether you're: Deploying Teams for the first time or scaling deployments for your frontline workers Maximizing productivity with Teams tools and apps Integrating Teams into daily processes to create seamless workflows Optimizing existing setups to reduce complexity and improve efficiency What to Expect Real-Time Guidance: Ask us anything about managing and using Teams for your frontline workers. Best Practices & Tips: Learn how to streamline deployment, scale effectively, and integrate Teams into everyday processes. Productivity Insights: Discover new ways to enhance individual and team productivity with Teams. Feature Updates: Stay informed about new features and share your frontline scenarios with us. Office Hours Details: 📅 Date: Every Wednesday 🕒 Time: 9:00 am - 9:30 am PST 📍 Location: Online (Teams Meeting) 🔗 Join Here: Teams Frontline Customer Office Hours Bring your questions, challenges, and scenarios - we're here to help! View the full article

**Event Date & Time: April 29, 2025, 10:00 - 11:00 AM PST ** Learn how to effectively plan, build, and deploy generative AI solutions. Join us at Microsoft ISV AI Envisioning Day: Get the Framework to Develop AI Solutions webinar. The course is designed to empower ISVs with the tools and frameworks needed to create a development plan for your preidentified AI use cases. What's in store: Framework Deep Dive: Understand the Capability Envisioning framework—a strategic approach to accelerate AI solution development. Considerations for development plan: Explore the technical and business considerations for creating AI solutions and discover tools designed to help you build transformative generative AI applications. Expert Insights: Learn from leading AI professionals at Microsoft who will share their experiences and best practices. Interactive Q&A: Engage with our experts and get your AI queries answered in real-time. Exclusive Resources: Access a wealth of materials to help you design and develop top-notch AI solutions. After attending, you’ll have practical knowledge on how to apply the framework to create your development plan and build your AI solution. How to Register Register now for the Microsoft ISV AI Envisioning Day: Get the Framework to Develop AI Solutions session. The session will be delivered in English. We look forward to seeing you at the Microsoft ISV AI Envisioning Day: Get the Framework to Develop AI Solutions webinar and helping you unlock the full potential of AI for your business! View the full article

**Event Date & Time: April 29, 2025, 1:00 - 2:00 PM UTC+0 UK ** Learn how to effectively plan, build, and deploy generative AI solutions. Join us at Microsoft ISV AI Envisioning Day: Get the Framework to Develop AI Solutions webinar. The course is designed to empower ISVs with the tools and frameworks needed to create a development plan for your preidentified AI use cases. What's in store: Framework Deep Dive: Understand the Capability Envisioning framework—a strategic approach to accelerate AI solution development. Considerations for development plan: Explore the technical and business considerations for creating AI solutions and discover tools designed to help you build transformative generative AI applications. Expert Insights: Learn from leading AI professionals at Microsoft who will share their experiences and best practices. Interactive Q&A: Engage with our experts and get your AI queries answered in real-time. Exclusive Resources: Access a wealth of materials to help you design and develop top-notch AI solutions. After attending, you’ll have practical knowledge on how to apply the framework to create your development plan and build your AI solution. How to Register Register now for the Microsoft ISV AI Envisioning Day: Get the Framework to Develop AI Solutions session. The session will be delivered in English. We look forward to seeing you at the Microsoft ISV AI Envisioning Day: Get the Framework to Develop AI Solutions webinar and helping you unlock the full potential of AI for your business! View the full article

**Event Date & Time: April 28, 2025, 12:00 - 1:00 PM UTC+8 Singapore ** Learn how to effectively plan, build, and deploy generative AI solutions. Join us at Microsoft ISV AI Envisioning Day: Get the Framework to Develop AI Solutions webinar. The course is designed to empower ISVs with the tools and frameworks needed to create a development plan for your preidentified AI use cases. What's in store: Framework Deep Dive: Understand the Capability Envisioning framework—a strategic approach to accelerate AI solution development. Considerations for development plan: Explore the technical and business considerations for creating AI solutions and discover tools designed to help you build transformative generative AI applications. Expert Insights: Learn from leading AI professionals at Microsoft who will share their experiences and best practices. Interactive Q&A: Engage with our experts and get your AI queries answered in real-time. Exclusive Resources: Access a wealth of materials to help you design and develop top-notch AI solutions. After attending, you’ll have practical knowledge on how to apply the framework to create your development plan and build your AI solution. How to Register Register now for the Microsoft ISV AI Envisioning Day: Get the Framework to Develop AI Solutions session. The session will be delivered in English. We look forward to seeing you at the Microsoft ISV AI Envisioning Day: Get the Framework to Develop AI Solutions webinar and helping you unlock the full potential of AI for your business! View the full article

**Event Date & Time: April 1, 2025, 12:00 - 1:00 PM UTC+8 Singapore** Join us at Microsoft ISV AI Envisioning Day: Identify and Prioritize Use Cases for AI Solutions to explore exciting AI business opportunities and learn how to craft a comprehensive development plan for your AI solutions. This session empowers businesses to drive growth by introducing an envisioning framework to help you identify and prioritize the most impactful AI use cases for solution development. What to Expect During the Business Envisioning webinar, we will walk you through a comprehensive framework that will enable you to create a development plan for building AI applications. The session will cover: Business Envisioning: Understand how to identify and prioritize business use cases for AI solutions. Learn the importance of aligning AI initiatives with your business goals to maximize value. The Business, User Experience, and Technology Prioritization Framework: The business, experience, technology (BXT) framework enables ISVs to evaluate the potential of their use cases. See how this exercise helps ISVs structure the details of each use case to better evaluate their viability. Use Case Prioritization: Employ the BXT rankings as an agile method to evaluate and differentiate the value and learning opportunities of each use case being considered and then implement prioritization accordingly. Why Attend? By attending the Business Envisioning webinar, you will: Gain Valuable Insights: Learn from Microsoft experts about the latest trends and best practices in AI application development. Network with Peers: Connect with other ISVs and share experiences, challenges, and solutions. Accelerate Your AI Journey: Get practical advice and actionable steps to kickstart your AI projects and bring them to market faster. How to Register Register now for the Microsoft ISV AI Envisioning Day: Identify and Prioritize Use Cases for AI Solutions session. The session will be delivered in English. We look forward to seeing you at the Microsoft ISV AI Envisioning Day: Identify and Prioritize Use Cases for AI Solutions webinar and helping you unlock the full potential of AI for your business! View the full article

**Event Date & Time: April 1, 2025, 1:00 - 2:00 PM UTC+0 UK ** Join us at Microsoft ISV AI Envisioning Day: Identify and Prioritize Use Cases for AI Solutions to explore exciting AI business opportunities and learn how to craft a comprehensive development plan for your AI solutions. This session empowers businesses to drive growth by introducing an envisioning framework to help you identify and prioritize the most impactful AI use cases for solution development. What to Expect During the Business Envisioning webinar, we will walk you through a comprehensive framework that will enable you to create a development plan for building AI applications. The session will cover: Business Envisioning: Understand how to identify and prioritize business use cases for AI solutions. Learn the importance of aligning AI initiatives with your business goals to maximize value. The Business, User Experience, and Technology Prioritization Framework: The business, experience, technology (BXT) framework enables ISVs to evaluate the potential of their use cases. See how this exercise helps ISVs structure the details of each use case to better evaluate their viability. Use Case Prioritization: Employ the BXT rankings as an agile method to evaluate and differentiate the value and learning opportunities of each use case being considered, and then implement prioritization accordingly. Why Attend? By attending the Business Envisioning webinar, you will: Gain Valuable Insights: Learn from Microsoft experts about the latest trends and best practices in AI application development. Network with Peers: Connect with other ISVs and share experiences, challenges, and solutions. Accelerate Your AI Journey: Get practical advice and actionable steps to kickstart your AI projects and bring them to market faster. How to Register Register now for the Microsoft ISV AI Envisioning Day: Identify and Prioritize Use Cases for AI Solutions session. The session will be delivered in English. We look forward to seeing you at the Microsoft ISV AI Envisioning Day: Identify and Prioritize Use Cases for AI Solutions webinar and helping you unlock the full potential of AI for your business! View the full article

Hello, Our team utilizes the Microsoft Bookings App to manage studies. We instruct team members to update their shared calendar in Outlook with their working hours which we then copy into the Bookings App. The issues is that the shared calendar times that we see are rarely aligned with the times entered by the clinicians (Especially when using the old vs. new Outlooks) , so we cannot trust the shared calendar as a viable source for their working hours. Has anyone experienced similar issues with shared calendars? View the full article

**Event Date & Time: April 1, 2025, 10:00 - 11:00 AM PST ** Join us at Microsoft ISV AI Envisioning Day: Identify and Prioritize Use Cases for AI Solutions to explore exciting AI business opportunities and learn how to craft a comprehensive development plan for your AI solutions. This session empowers businesses to drive growth by introducing an envisioning framework to help you identify and prioritize the most impactful AI use cases for solution development. What to Expect During the Business Envisioning webinar, we will walk you through a comprehensive framework that will enable you to create a development plan for building AI applications. The session will cover: Business Envisioning: Understand how to identify and prioritize business use cases for AI solutions. Learn the importance of aligning AI initiatives with your business goals to maximize value. The Business, User Experience, and Technology Prioritization Framework: The business, experience, technology (BXT) framework enables ISVs to evaluate the potential of their use cases. See how this exercise helps ISVs structure the details of each use case to better evaluate their viability. Use Case Prioritization: Employ the BXT rankings as an agile method to evaluate and differentiate the value and learning opportunities of each use case being considered, and then implement prioritization accordingly. Why Attend? By attending the Business Envisioning webinar, you will: Gain Valuable Insights: Learn from Microsoft experts about the latest trends and best practices in AI application development. Network with Peers: Connect with other ISVs and share experiences, challenges, and solutions. Accelerate Your AI Journey: Get practical advice and actionable steps to kickstart your AI projects and bring them to market faster. How to Register Register now for the Microsoft ISV AI Envisioning Day: Identify and Prioritize Use Cases for AI Solutions session. The session will be delivered in English. We look forward to seeing you at the Microsoft ISV AI Envisioning Day: Identify and Prioritize Use Cases for AI Solutions webinar and helping you unlock the full potential of AI for your business! View the full article

Microsoft is always looking for ways to evolve with the growing needs of our partners. Recent updates to some specialization requirements are just one way we’re working toward that goal. On March 4, we made adjustments to the performance, skilling, and certification requirements for the Infrastructure (Azure) specialization, Infra and Database Migration to Azure. To showcase your organization’s competency in implementing secure migrations for customers, more flexible performance requirements will now include Azure Consumed Revenue (ACR) from either Windows or Linux and either SQL or open-source database (OSDB). Current requirement: You need to meet both Windows and Linux ACR requirements.  Updated requirement: You need to meet either the Windows or Linux ACR requirement.  Current requirement: You need to meet both SQL and OSDB ACR requirements.  Updated requirement: You need to meet either the SQL or OSDB ACR requirement.  Additionally, as of March 4, the Azure Security Engineer Associate certification is now a requirement for the Infra and Database Migration specialization. Partners who wish to enroll, or remain enrolled, in the specialization will need to have a certain number of their employees pass the Azure Security Engineer Associate certification. Furthermore, the Azure Data Engineer Associate certificate will expire on March 31, 2025. If you completed it before retirement, you will be credited for holding the certification for one year after obtaining it. Moving forward, this certification is replaced by Azure Database Administrator Associate. Your organization must have at least four individuals pass the following certifications, and each certification listed below must be held by at least one individual:  DevOps Engineer Expert  Azure Administrator Associate  (New) Azure Security Engineer Associate  Azure Data Engineer Associate* or Azure Database Administrator Associate  *This certification will expire on March 31, 2025. If completed before retirement, it will remain valid for one year.   Customers want to know you have the skills they need for their cloud migrations—make sure you meet these new requirements before you apply for a specialization renewal. If you’re unsure about your organization's qualifications for the updated requirements, please check the Infra and Database Migration to Azure specialization page in Partner Center. If you meet the prior requirements at the time of the change and are negatively impacted, you will have a six-month grace period to work toward meeting the new requirements. During this time, an override status will be indicated in Partner Center.  As Microsoft marks our 50th anniversary, we want to extend our heartfelt gratitude to our valued partners and customers. Your unwavering support and collaboration have been instrumental in shaping our journey. View the full article

As an ISV, your software is only as strong as the processes behind it. In this session, we’ll dive into how DevSecOps practices can help you secure your software supply chain, ensuring your applications are safe from vulnerabilities, dependencies are trusted, and security is baked into every stage of development. Learn practical strategies to protect your code, automate compliance checks, and build customer trust by delivering secure, reliable software. Whether you’re scaling your SaaS offering or navigating regulatory challenges, this session is designed to address the unique needs and challenges faced by ISVs. Register hereView the full article

As ISVs innovate with AI, staying ahead of threats is crucial. This session focuses on advanced techniques for detecting and monitoring security risks in AI-driven applications. Learn how to safeguard your solutions with real-time threat intelligence, anomaly detection, and proactive incident response strategies. Tailored for ISVs, this session provides practical insights to protect your AI products, maintain customer trust, and ensure resilience in an evolving threat landscape. Register hereView the full article

Are you an IT professional, a business or technical decision-maker, or stakeholder involved with managing Microsoft 365 environments? If so, you need quick and reliable access to setup and deployment information. Now you have that access at your fingertips with Microsoft 365 Setup Expert. Read below for more details or check out the full blog post here. What is Microsoft 365 Setup Expert? Microsoft 365 Setup Expert is an innovative, AI-powered solution that helps IT, BDMS, TDMs, and related stakeholders streamline their Microsoft 365 setup and deployment workloads. Developed by FastTrack engineers, this tool responds to queries with the information you need to make informed decisions about product purchases, licensing, deployment, and troubleshooting. Advantages of Using Setup Expert Setup Expert delivers essential insights for navigating Microsoft 365 setup workflows with confidence, regardless of your job role or credentials. Key Features Prepurchase guidance: Evaluate different Microsoft 365 solutions, compare licensing options, and get recommendations for compliance, remote work, and security scenarios. Post-purchase support: Plan product rollouts, deploy advanced features, troubleshoot issues, and scale deployments based on organizational needs. Reliable information: Sourced from official Microsoft channels, ensuring accuracy and relevance. Role-based responses: Tailored insights for both technical and non-technical users. Real-World Applications Whether you're planning a new deployment or managing an existing environment, Microsoft 365 Setup Expert can help you: Simplify and expedite deployments Reduce reliance on credentialed admins Foster collaboration across roles Streamline procurement decisions Learn more about Microsoft 365 Setup Expert Dive deeper into how Setup Expert can transform your setup processes in the full blog post at the Setup site. Find Setup Expert at setup.cloud.microsoft and start leading your organization through smarter, faster, and more collaborative deployments today! View the full article

Announcement: The Small and Medium Businesses Community will be archived on April 4th, 2025. All blogs and content will be moved over to the Microsoft 365 Community. For new conversations around small and medium businesses, please be sure to use the SMB tag, which can now be found in every product community. Check out the Copilot SMB discussion space for any questions about Copilot, the Microsoft Teams SMB discussion space, and join the Partner Community for Partner related news. Thank you for being a part of the SMB Community, and we look forward to continuing to support you throughout the Tech Community. View the full article

Hello, Is there a way to have excel format a date from numbers into a full text spelling? e.g. 05/01/2025 input and the format converts it to May First, Two Thousand Twenty-Five Thank you for your help. View the full article

Build your Model IQ! Join us for an 8-week power series where we cut through the noise and bring you the most relevant models, insights, and hands-on demos. Every Monday, we’ll round up the latest AI model news, do a deep dive into a key model, and help you stay ahead of the curve. Then join the community on the Azure AI Discord #model-mondays channel to continue these conversations. We'll wrap up the week with a Model Mondays watercooler chat every Friday where we'll revisit the news and demos - and give you a chance to ask questions or show-and-tell us your model-driven experiences. What’s in it for you? Stay updated – A 5-min news blast on the latest AI model breakthroughs Get hands-on – A 15-min deep dive into a must-know model each week Ask the experts – A live Q&A to answer your burning questions Season Kickoff: March 10 We'll kick off Season 1 this Monday, March 10. Join us to get the 5-minute roundup of news from the past week, and a 15-minute deep-dive where we go Hands-on With GitHub Models! Why put the spotlight on GitHub Models? Because the future of AI is open, accessible, and in your hands! We’ll show you how to explore, experiment, and leverage GitHub models with just a GitHub account. By the end of this episode you should have an intuitive sense for: What GitHub Models are, and why they matter. How to get started with your first GitHub Model. How to compare models for evaluating responses. How to go from catalog (explore) to code (develop) How to use Azure Inference API for easy model swap Register Here: https://aka.ms/model-mondays/rsvp Be a part of the conversation! Watch Live on Microsoft Reactor – RSVP Now Join the AI community – Discord Office Hours every Friday – Join Here Get exclusive resources – Explore the GitHub Repo Don’t fall behind—jump in and level up your AI game with Model Mondays! #ModelMondays View the full article

Hello. I have two services I offer on a shared booking. On the occasional booking, I want to manual adjust the number of available attendees from 6 down to a lower number. The default is set to 6 on the service page, and on the occasional service I manually adjust it down. I noticed on a booking an attendee canceled their appointment, but after that, the number of available seats went from the manually adjust 4 back to 6. 2 extra people booked before I caught it. How can I fix this? I don't want to keep creating new services for each specific situation, I just want the occasional service to be at a lower max attendee than the others. Much appreciated. View the full article

Issue: The virtual machine has been created, but login is not possible ? what could be reason ? Root cause: Multiple stale ip addresses were attached to the virtual machine possibly due to multiple recreation using same name, Solution: Recreate the virtual machine with unique name in another subnet. issue is resolved. View the full article

At the Migrate to Innovate Summit, you’ll learn how Azure provides an optimized platform to fully embrace AI while addressing your most pressing business priorities by maximizing ROI, performance, and resilience. This event will focus on how to migrate and modernize your infrastructure, data and applications to Azure to help position your organization for innovation, efficiency, growth, and long-term success. For organizations looking to build competitive advantage through AI, building the cloud foundation needed to support the innovation is critical. However, we also hear that organizations are trying to balance the need to embrace the latest innovations with the need to meet current business challenges. Whether it’s optimizing costs, safeguarding against security threats, or controlling IT sprawl as business expands, there are a lot of different priorities competing for your focus, time, and resources. Your opportunity to migrate, modernize & lead in this AI era is now.  Register now Join the Migrate to Innovate Summit and learn how to securely migrate and modernize to be AI-ready. This is your opportunity to gain insights from experts that let you stay agile, innovate for the future, and maintain a competitive edge by building a cloud foundation for migration and modernization. You will hear from product experts in deep-dive product sessions covering Windows Server, SQL Server, Linux, VMware, AI, security, and a range of modernization-related capabilities. You can see the agenda of the event below The event session highlights include: Keynote address— Join Microsoft executives Jeremy Winter, Chief Product Officer and Corporate Vice President for Azure Core, Omar Khan, Vice President Azure Infrastructure Product Marketing and Cyril Belikoff, Vice President, Commercial Cloud & AI, to understand the challenges customers face in cloud adoption while managing cost, security and tool proliferation and how Migration and Modernization is the path to achieving their business outcomes. Hear customers discuss why they chose to make the move to Azure, and how migration has provided them with the business outcomes they need for success and build competitive advantage. Learn how our partnerships with leading technology partners like Intel help customers build AI-ready cloud foundation Breakout tracks – you would have the option of picking from any of two tracks running simultaneously, with the ability to switch between tracks when needed. Each track has multiple sessions addressing key customer challenges. Migrate & Modernize Windows Server & SQL Server track Secure and Scale for GenAI apps  with Cloud Migration and Modernization – Learn challenges with building GenAI apps on-premises and how Azure is optimized to help you migrate and modernize your Windows Server, SQL Server workloads Migrate and Modernize Windows Server, SQL Server, and .NET- Learn how to enhance and boost the performance, scalability and security of your Windows Server, SQL Server and .NET workloads, and be AI-ready by migrating and modernizing to Microsoft Azure. Future-proof your VMware workloads with Azure VMware Solution - Discover the fastest path to Azure for VMware workloads without refactoring or reengineering. We’ll cover networking best practices, deploying to a private cloud SDDC, and modernizing to fully leverage the Azure platform. Get started with your migration using key guidance, offerings, and tools—Learn how you can get started with your migration and modernization journey for Windows server, SQL server and .Net workloads. Migrate & Modernize your Linux estate track Build an AI-ready foundation with Linux on Azure- Hear about migration journey of adopting Linux on Azure, highlighting key drivers like flexibility, security, cost-effectiveness, and AI readiness. Learn how Azure's advanced tools and management solutions not only streamline migration but also set the stage for long-term innovation, scalability, and modernization, ensuring a competitive edge in a rapidly evolving landscape. AI-Ready Applications with Java and PostgreSQL on Azure - Learn how you can Migrate and Modernize your Linux, PostgreSQL and Java workloads to Azure. Product experts will share the best practices, demos to help you with the next steps. Get started with your migration using key guidance, offerings, and tools—Discover resources, guidance, and tools that will help you plan and implement your migration solutions for Linux, PostgreSQL and Java workloads. Learn benefits of migrating to Azure Register for the event to understand how to get your organization on the path to modernization and hear about the real business outcomes that customers achieve when they migrate and modernize Windows Server, SQL Server and Linux workloads to Azure. Register for the Migrate to Innovate Summitto watch the event. View the full article

We’re proud to collaborate with visionary partners who are shaping the future of innovation. Microsoft’s Innovators In Action series spotlights tech entrepreneurs who are members of a Microsoft Partner-led Organization and are driving transformation and business impact. They are leveraging Microsoft’s ecosystem for growth. Want to be featured? Join this community and ask to share your story! This week we are featuring: Ectron Discover how Ectron excels in data collection, aggregation, and analytics both on the edge and in the cloud. Learn about their capabilities in monitoring equipment, personnel, and product quality, and how they seamlessly integrate data with ERP and BI systems. Hear about their journey through an accelerator program, the support they received, and the impact of funding from the Microsoft Capital Fund on their growth and project management. Listen to full episode here! Stay tuned for more inspiring spotlights in our #InnovatorsInAction series. Join the conversation by following our Inclusive Growth discussion board! View the full article

Premium SSD v2 is available to Azure customers with a broad set of features and benefits. In this article we will highlight the options available to best use Premium SSD v2 disks for SAP workloads. Premium SSD v2 basics Different storage options are available depending on the requirements. Premium SSD v2 differs from the long-established Premium SSD by providing you with more options and modified pricing for each of these options. The main differences over Premium SSD are: Up to 1200 MB/s throughput, low latency, up to 80k IOPS and 64 TiB in size Any disk size from 1 GiB to 64 TiB in 1 GiB increments with per GiB pricing Throughput and IOPS configurable and adjustable online 125 MB/s and 3000 IOPS provided as baseline No disk bursting, no host caching and no Write Accelerator with Premium SSD v2 Cost based on selected size + IOPS + throughput While with Premium SSD you have set disk sizes or SKUs, which combine billed capacity with set throughput and IOPS limits, with Premium SSD v2 you can freely set each of the three parameters independently. You want a 20 GiB disk with 1000MB/s throughput and 20k IOPS? No problem. You want a 5 TiB disk with 200 MB/s and 3k IOPS? Just set the values and Azure will bill you accordingly. If you compare with Premium SSD, Premium SSD v2 will be cheaper if configured with identical size and throughput. This means for your SAP workloads, you can provide both faster overall performance and tune the storage parameters to match your requirements, while adding flexibility. See the Azure documentation for details on Premium SSD v2. One important aspect to consider is that current time Premium SSD v2 can only be attached to zonal VMs, that is VMs with a set zonal deployment. If your SAP landscape is deployed with regional VMs – with or without availability sets – this is not supported at publish time of this blog post. See the documentation details for updates. SAP use cases with Premium SSD v2 Where can you use Premium SSD v2 with your SAP workloads? In short, for all situations. Premium SSD v2 is certified for use with SAP workloads – SAP note 2015553 – and also noted in individual SAP certification for SAP HANA. It can be used for your application layer such as (A)SCS and application servers, your database servers and any infrastructure servers. Premium SSD v2 for SAP applications and infrastructure servers For SAP application layer and any generic infrastructure servers (such as DNS, saprouter, etc.), you can utilize Premium SSD v2 for all data disks. One expected benefit is that you can configure disk sizes with 1 GiB increments, no longer x2 increases in size. If you need an 80 GiB disk containing /usr/sap physical volume, you set and pay for 80 GiB. Set IOPS and throughput as needed, if more than baseline is required. Premium SSD v2 for SAP HANA For SAP HANA, Azure documentation provides a recommended starting configuration with Premium SSD v2. As this is a starting configuration, you might need to modify the parameters for size, throughput and IOPS to fit your needs. As there is no host caching available with Premium SSD v2, host (VM) caching setting for disk must be set to None. This also means that write accelerator caching for HANA log disk(s) is neither available nor should it be needed to meet SAP’s HANA I/O requirements. No host caching means no write accelerator, which in turn opens a very easy way to use E-series VMs for SAP HANA for smaller memory sizes with only this disk type. Premium SSD v2 performs with low latency for IO, which fulfil SAP HANA requirements. Premium SSD v2 for non-HANA databases Every supported SAP database vendor is fully supported and documentation is available with a recommended starting configuration and DB specifics, if any apply. You can right-size every filesystem of an SAP database, to the exact GiB required and without any fixed disk sizes. Same for IOPS and throughput requirements. Databases often have many different filesystems with different growth and performance requirements, such as archive logs, temporary tablespace locations, undo data , etc. depending on database deployed. Non-HANA databases with Premium SSD disks can greatly benefit in specific situations from available host caching type readOnly. Host caching can accelerate many I/O requests on these databases. Host caching is not available for Premium SSD v2, which can require you to adjust the needed disk IOPS or throughput sizing for some disks. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Analyze the workload, see the available Azure documentation for your database vendor and tune managed disk parameters. Azure provides numerous performance metrics on the used infrastructure, giving you a very transparent view into any existing bottlenecks. For a database centric view, create an Azure Monitor dashboard or workbook to view the VM and individual disk data. As an example, below is a workbook of a DB VM, with metrics for the VM and disk. For storage performance evaluation, look at the following metrics: VM IOPS and bandwidth consumed percentage for VM overall cached | uncached | disk overall Disk Disk read/write IOPS and throughput for multi-disk stripe sets, a single disk indicates same usage level of all members Several Premium SSD disks metrics include IOPS/bytes from the cache If you have SAP running in Azure already, it’s likely using Premium SSD and you can see caching usage. You can also leverage machine learning to analyse your disk performance. You can also use Copilot to troubleshoot your disk performance and display disk bottlenecks. As with any AI generated advice, consider if the findings are appropriate. Premium SSD v2 single disk vs striping For SAP workloads when using Premium SSD, to reach the necessary performance for database VMs, many customers deploy multiple disks and stripe over them using lvm or Windows storage spaces. Such stripe set combines the throughput and IOPS of individual disk members. With Premium SSD, without depending on bursting, the disk SKU sets the throughput and IOPS limits and can be insufficient on some filesystems. With Premium SSD v2, you have much higher limits for a single disk – 1200 MB/s throughput and upto 80k IOPS – and can specify the values independent of the disk size. The choice of using a single disk or split the aggregate performance requirements between multiple disks in a stripe sets is yours to make. With striping, you have to correctly set logical volume manager’s volume group settings on stripe size and count and keep all disks equal in size and performance. You do have the following advantages with this VM storage limits are increasing with every generation Premium SSD v2 gives each disk a baseline of 125 MB/s and 3000 IOPS As an example, consider the situation of wanting /hana/data filesystem to provide 2 TiB size, 1000 MB/s and 20000 IOPS. As option 1, you can deploy a single disk with required parameters. As option 2, using striping you: Deploy 4 disks, set up a volume group Each disk 500 GiB As baseline over the 4 disks, you have 12k IOPS and 500 MB/s in aggregate Add to each of the 4 disks an additional +2k IOPS, for a total of 5k and +375 MB/s for a total of 500MB/s, on each of the 4 disks. Giving you the required performance and size. The choice to-stripe-or-not is yours to make, as per your workload needs. Consider the support for Premium SSD v2 overall, how does this affect services like backup or disaster recovery and if using striped disks breaks such support. If striping, keep the number of disks in volume group to a sensible number. Common choice is four disks for data and two for log areas. Such disk counts should be sufficient even for large databases, for very large (>20TB sizes) do not use more than 8 disks for database data and 4 disks for data log areas or other disks, unless recommended by Microsoft. These are recommended maximum disk counts for any stripe set in Azure for SAP, which should only be exceeded in exceptional circumstances only. Start using Premium SSD v2 for SAP You want to use Premium SSD v2. Great. How do you best do it for SAP workloads? Decide first on your migration path from the three options available: With the first option (01) of building new VMs with Premium SSD v2, you are either new to Azure or want to build a new SAP environment for a clean start. Maybe using own automation pipeline to deploy Azure resources, such as SDAF. Once the new VMs are created, copy the SAP workloads through application means – backup/restore, system copy etc. This approach allows you to right-size your disk capacity and performance parameters from the start and set everything according to best practices, starting fresh with Premium SSD v2. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The second option (02), you already are using Premium SSD or other storage type in Azure and want to switch to Premium SSD v2. But you want to make some architectural changes. Maybe you want to resize disks smaller than currently. As you can online increase managed disks (see blog post for details), you can’t reduce size. Maybe you want a different storage setup. This approach uses the above steps and gives you the following benefits: OS and software configuration needs no changes Fix / Update on past storage architecture Right-size disks and disk count, often reducing storage size Copying the data from old to new disks is a downtime activity for databases. Consider temporarily upsizing the Azure VM, if limited by total VM storage throughput. Once copy is completed, the source disks should not be needed. Adapt your disk mounts, ensure all data was copied and unmount and eventually delete the source disks. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The third option (03) is to change the existing disks into Premium SSD v2. This option has its own benefits and drawbacks. While it is a downtime activity – you can’t convert a disk when it is attached to a running VM – you get to keep the same resource name and OS setup. At same time, as you convert existing disks, you can’t reduce the disk size in any case, neither can you reduce the disk count for multi-disk volume groups. Use the disk change option via any means – portal, API or CLI – you need to be aware of any additional limitations for Premium SSD v2. The key points, current at the time of publishing, are: Limit of 50 active conversions at same time per subscription and region Host (VM) caching needs to be disabled for the disk Conversion process is a background activity. You will have degraded performance for the duration of this background copy on the specific disk. CompletionPercetage property is available to check on status on each disk. A combination of options (02) and (03) is the creation of new Premium SSD v2 disks from snapshots. A snapshot of another disk is taken as source, be it a Standard or Premium HDD/SSD or another Premium SSD v2 disk. Then a new Premium SSD v2 disk is created, with the snapshot as the source instead of creating an empty disk. This method duplicates a disk of the same size without you needing to copy data within the OS. You can’t reduce the disk size or disk count. As a new disk is created, you have to make OS changes to unmount old and mount new disks. However, there is no data movement inside the VM/OS necessary, as the new disks contain all data from the source snapshot. The same limitations apply as noted for disk conversion in option (03). Logical sector sizes Premium SSD v2 and Ultra Disks introduced the option to specify logical sector sizes. The default value is 4096 bytes, or 4k, both disk types support 512e sector size as well. This is important for some older database versions, as they might require the use of 512e sector size. Examples are Oracle Database version 12.1 and lower and Db2 LUW versions lower than 11.5. See respective DB documentation for any details. A converted existing disk, whether from a snapshot or through disk type change, will result in a Premium SSD v2 disk with 512e sector size. This has, in our tests and experience, no measurable performance impact. For new Premium SSD v2 disks the recommendation is to use 4k logical sector size, where possible. Recommended migration to Premium SSD v2 Carefully consider which migration option fits best to your requirements and specifications. Customers which want to renew their SAP landscapes in Azure, such as VM Gen2 deployment, OS major version updates or using VMs without temporary storage will likely consider deploying new VMs with Premium SSD v2 and migrate the application data through backup/restore or DB replication. We expect many customers will want to adjust disk sizes or align disk striping with updated documentation recommendations. In such case, option (02) with new disks and copying data to new disks gives you the best choice. Especially for database VMs with large disks. For smaller VMs, application VMs and infrastructure servers with often just one or two managed disks, size changes are not necessary and thousands of small files might have to be moved. Here disk conversion options are likely the most suitable tool, to move to Premium SSD v2. Select the combination of migration options that works best for your business. Deploying new or converting to Premium SSD v2 disks will consume Azure quota for this resource type. By default, up to 100 TiB per region and per subscription is available. A second quota type for the number of Premium SSD v2 disks exists. The technical names for the relevant quotas are PremiumV2DiskCount and PremiumV2DiskSizeInGB. Check both quotas on your Azure subscription(s) and create a support request to raise, if necessary. Summary Premium SSD v2 has been available in Azure for some time and is fully supported for productive SAP systems. It opens new options with its increased performance, fine grained and uncoupled sizing for disk size, throughput and IOPS. Use of E-series for SAP HANA (observe SAP certified VM sizes) is simplified. Independent settings for size | IOPS | MBps on each disk. While OS disks are currently not supported, all managed data disks in an SAP system can use Premium SSD v2. Determine which deployment / migration scenario best applies to your use case. Clarify if existing limitations might block your deployment scenario. Host caching for disk access is not available with Premium SSD v2. This includes write accelerator. Write accelerator not necessary for SAP HANA with Premium SSD v2. Some workloads might benefit with read cache and require additional IOPS/throughput with Premium SSD v2. Monitor usage and limits on both individual disk and VM level for storage operations before using migrating. In general, do not combine different storage types on single VM. Such combinations – for example few disks Premium SSD and others using Premium SSD v2, or with Ultra Disk – should be limited to exceptional workloads only. Logical sector size 4k | 512e available – migrated disks will show 512e but expect no application performance impact. Old database versions might require 512e. Converting existing disks to Premium SSD v2 uses a background copy process for both disk change and create new disk from snapshot. Check completionPercent on disk, reduced performance while active. Check Azure quotas for Premium SSD v2 (#disks, overall size) and supported regions. Premium SSD v2 information and limitations Premium SSD v2 snapshot and limitations Disk caching on Azure SAP HANA and Premium SSD v2 SQL Server on Azure VMs Db2 on Azure VMs Oracle on Azure VMs SAP ASE on Azure VMs View the full article

I am trying to update an existing up to send notifications. The plan is to use RSC permissions for it. I configured the manifest (v 1.19) with the following scopes: "authorization": { "permissions": { "resourceSpecific": [ { "name": "TeamsActivity.Send.Chat", "type": "Application" }, { "name": "TeamsActivity.Send.Group", "type": "Application" }, { "name": "TeamsActivity.Send.User", "type": "Application" } ] } },I then sideloaded it successfully with this configuration into a team and also into a chat. However when I try to install it into the personal scope directly I get the error in a dialog box: Something went wrong In the network tab of the web inspector I see that this call fails with 403: https://teams.microsoft.com/api/mt/emea/beta/users/apps/definitions/appPackage The body of the response says: {"errorCode":"WebApplicationInfoIdConflictOnSideloadingIntoTeam"} However, when I change the included permissions in the manifest to only TeamsActivity.Send.Group the app installs successfully into personal scope "authorization": { "permissions": { "resourceSpecific": [ { "name": "TeamsActivity.Send.Group", "type": "Application" } ] } }, So I guess it has nothing to do with an id conflict. I also made sure to remove all old instances of the sideloaded app before (which was never a problem so far). How can I use all three RSC scopes in my app manifest and still install the app into the personal scope. Or what could be wrong? Anything I could check to figure out why this is not working but only the TA.Send.Group scope? View the full article

Details: Made possible by a partnership between Microsoft and Everyone On This free introductory course teaches adults the basics of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its practical applications. The curriculum covers fundamental AI concepts, safe exploration of AI tools, career advancement with AI and creative AI applications. Participants will gain the skills and understanding needed to navigate and leverage AI technology in various aspects of their lives, including: Understand basic AI concepts and their impact on daily life Learn to use generative AI tools like ChatGPT safely and effectively Explore AI applications for career development and education Develop skills in AI-assisted design using Canva Gain awareness of AI's future potential and ethical considerations This 3-part course progresses from foundational knowledge to practical applications, with optional assignments to support learning. The content includes: Part 1: March 27, 2025, 4-6pm EST focuses on an introduction to AI, including a brief history and definition of AI, overview of machine learning, Generative AI, how to create content, ChatGPT, using prompts, comparing tools and recognizing bias. aka.ms/AI101-Part1 Part 2: April 10, 2025, 4-6pm EST focuses on career, education and graphic design, including using AI to build skills and explore career options, generating resumes, preparing for interviews, and using Canva design software tools and AI features. aka.ms/AI101-Part2 Part 3: Date Coming Soon focuses on a deep dive into Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft Designer with hands-on activities. *Each session requires separate registration—please be sure to sign up individually for each part you plan to attend Speakers (1) Carlos Galeana Instructor at Everyone On Carlos is a highly skilled technology trainer, instructional designer, video editor, and facilitator. He has conducted nationwide workshops on digital literacy, privacy and safety, and office tools. View the full article

Hi, Microsoft 365 Insiders! I’m Gokul Subramaniam, and I’m a Product Manager on the OneNote team. If you’re a OneNote fan, you’re aware of the many ways it can streamline and boost note-taking and content generation. But even the most experienced OneNote users among us might not be benefitting from all it has to offer, which is why we’ve singled out some of our favorite features that you may not be aware of – or wish existed but didn’t know they already did. Check them out, supercharge your productivity, and let us know what you think! Clip web content with Web Clipper With OneNote Web Clipper, you can easily capture and save online materials directly into your OneNote notebooks, saving you time manually copying information and allowing you to preserve the content in its original form. By simply adding the OneNote Web Clipper extension to your preferred browser, you can instantly begin clipping articles, recipes, YouTube videos, or other types of web pages, and neatly organize them into your notes for reference later. Save and showcase files with print to OneNote The print to OneNote feature enables you to send any type of file, including documents, spreadsheets, emails, drawings or diagrams, web pages, and PDFs, directly to a OneNote notebook as a printout. This can be particularly useful for students saving lecture notes, professionals archiving important reports or correspondences, and anyone else wanting to keep a digital copy of physical documents for easy access and annotation. Simply select Print on the file, and then choose OneNote (Desktop) or OneNote (Desktop) - Protected in the Printer list to add it as an image in your chosen notebook or page. Availability: This feature is only available to OneNote on Windows users. Recover lost or important edits with version history Made a mistake or written over crucial content in OneNote? You can restore previous versions of your notes, ensuring that all important information is not lost for good. Perhaps most crucially, this feature gives you peace of mind that should someone else have access to your notebook and make edits, you can still go back to earlier versions if you don’t like what they’ve added. Try it out the next time you want to track progress on a school essay, or revisit old versions of a work project, or revert back to an earlier draft. Under History, you can locate a version of your notebook based on timeframe or author, view all previous page versions, and delete certain versions you no longer need. Availability: This feature is only available to OneNote on Windows users. Store and revert deleted information with Recycle Bin The Recycle Bin in OneNote is a feature that temporarily stores deleted notes and sections, allowing users to recover content that’s valuable or has been accidentally removed. Items in the Recycle Bin can be restored to a specific location in your notebook or permanently deleted, providing an additional layer of security against unintentional data loss. For instance, you can bring back mistakenly deleted project plans, or pull out discarded meeting notes, from the last 60 days. Availability: This feature is only available to OneNote on Windows users. Feedback We want to hear from you about how these features and others can make working with OneNote more effective. If you have any requests or suggestions, select Help > Feedback. Learn about the Microsoft 365 Insider program and sign up for the Microsoft 365 Insider newsletter to get the latest information about Insider features in your inbox once a month! View the full article