Azure Updates: Spring Cloud; Resource Graph; Monitor for VMs; Service Map; SOTI; Talend

Microsoft signaled continued support for developers with the announcement of Azure Spring Cloud, a fully managed service operated together with Pivotal. Spring is a popular framework among Java developers, who typically use Spring Boot for minimal upfront configurations when getting started. The announcements fits with overall efforts to make it easier for customers to build with Python and Java.

Microsoft made alterations to the Azure Resource Graph API to see more change details related to create, update and delete actions and also deployed Azure Sphere version 19.09, available in the Retail feed. The new Sphere version supports more complex enterprise environments, for instance by letting "brownfield" guardian modules connect to congested Wi-Fi environments.

The Azure team highlighted some changes for Azure Data Factory. QPU autoscale allows automatic scaling and thus cost savings by scaling up and down based on demand and eliminating query replicas. Mapping Data Flows are generally available, using a serverless Spark-based model for what Microsoft describes as "code-free visual data transformation." Machine Learning pipelines can also be run in Data Factory pipelines.

The team is previewing updates to Azure Monitor for VMs ahead of general availability in mid-November. Existing customers will be promoted to upgrade while new customers will receive it by default. The key shift is a rehosting of VM performance datasets into the same InsightsMetrics tables as Monitor for containers, consolidating querying, reducing latency and increasing control over models.