
Tech Roundup - April 2022
Your monthly digest of what shipped across Azure, GitHub, and Azure DevOps in April 2022.
Azure Updates
- Generally available: EB v5 VMs (memory-optimised workloads), Java 17 and Tomcat 10 on App Service, App Service networking on the Basic tier, Azure Archive Storage in Switzerland North
- Azure Container Apps: managed identity preview (with current limitations around ACR pull and KEDA scaling rules), VS Code and Visual Studio extensions in preview, metrics and alerting in preview
- Azure Static Web Apps: private endpoints now GA with a 99.95% SLA; stable URLs for preview environments now in public preview
- Azure Cosmos DB: autoscale entry point reduced to 100 RU/s (down from 400); MongoDB unique index reindexing in preview
- Azure Monitor + Managed Grafana: integration in preview — build rich dashboards without managing the backend infrastructure
- Microsoft Purview (formerly Azure Purview): scope expanded beyond Azure to cover all data platforms
- Microsoft sustainability: new reporting on data centre water and energy usage — relevant for manufacturing and utilities workloads
GitHub Updates
- Secret scanning: detects and revokes leaked passwords; organisation-level custom patterns; JD Cloud added as a scanning partner
- Security best practices: five actions developers can take — enable CodeQL, use Dependabot, protect branches, audit GitHub Actions permissions, and scope the
GITHUB_TOKEN - Discussions: organisation-level discussions (great for innersourcing), polls, and Slack/Teams integrations
- Codespaces: multi-repository and monorepo support now available
- Accessibility: protanopia, deuteranopia, and tritanopia colour-blind themes in beta
- Required deployments: merge a PR only after a successful deployment to a preview environment
Azure DevOps
- Opt-in auditing for AAD-connected organisations (rolling out in settings)
- Bicep validation in pull requests
- Community posts covering Jira-to-Azure DevOps migration, wiki automation, and DACPac deployments
Cloud With Chris
- Talks delivered to Azure Youth Group Sweden (static sites on Azure) and Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors
- Tool Up Tuesday series diving into Go language fundamentals, project structure, and a working Dapr API
- Upcoming: Azure Thames Valley in-person meetup (May 2022), Microsoft Build UK co-hosted with April Edwards
- Preview: a Go-based, Dapr-powered microservices event management platform running on Azure Container Apps — covering redirect links, speaker management, and multi-tenant scheduling
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