Hi there, and welcome back to Azure This week,
Lars is on a much-deserved vacation, so I will be covering for him. Lars,
you're very welcome.
This week, we're talking new region availability for Azure Data Factory,
Python 3.9 support for Azure Functions.
Azure Monitor Network Insights is now GA.
Azure Q2 revenue is up 50% and some certification updates from
special guest, Brian. Lots of goodies to cover, so let's get started.
[Inaudible].
Azure Data Factory is Azure's ETL service. As you may know,
ETL stands for extract transform and load.
And if you're familiar with SQL Server Integration Services,
SSIS for short data factory is pretty similar except it's in the cloud and can
work with both on-prem and cloud data.
Azure has recently announced that you can now provision data factory Azure
integration, runtime,
and SQL server integration services integration run time in China,
North and South India. So what does this all mean? Well,
more regions support and Azure data factory means we can place our ETL logic
closer to our data Lake and compute. So yay for lower lanes.
Now let's talk about my absolute all time favorite Azure service,
Azure functions.
Azure functions is Azure is serverless compute service and good news for all of
you Python fans out there. Python 3.9 support is now in public preview,
which means that you can go ahead and develop Python 3.9 function apps locally,
and even deploy them to all available. Azure Function plans.
Azure has also updated their Python functions, best practices guide,
which I will make sure to link in the show notes of this episode.
It provides information and examples on how to improve throughput performance of
Python apps and Azure functions. Now let's move on to some Azure Monitor news.
Azure monitor is the native monitoring solution built into every single Azure
service. It collects metrics and logs and can be used to create alerts,
monitor performance, troubleshoot issues,
and you can even create dashboards to better visualize all of this data.
Recently announced network insights is a centralized console for access to
health, state metrics, alerts and data from traffic and connectivity,
monitoring tools.
You can also access resource metrics without having to write queries or
workbooks,
which makes debugging simpler all these tools and all these features in one
place. Now let's talk money.
This bit of news is a short one, but I had to include it in here.
Microsoft reported on Tuesday that Azure revenue for Q2 is up 50%
plain and simple. So what does this mean for you perhaps?
There is no better time to learn Azure and maybe even think about getting
certified and speaking about getting certified.
Let's head over to Brian for some Azure certification updates.
Thanks Gwyn. And Hey, what's up gurus.
I'd like to talk with you about the changing landscape of Microsoft exams.
Recently, Microsoft announced that the data engineering associate exams,
the DP 200 and DP 201 would be retiring and combined into one new
exam. The DP 203 likewise, the AI 100.
It's going to be changed to the AI 102.
Often these changes can go missed leading to frustration and confusion,
but I'd like to do is to provide some quick guidance on what you can do to make
sure that you're prepared. And you know what you should do,
whether you're pursuing a data engineering certification or something else.
Look,
if you're preparing to take the DP 200 / 201 or the AI 100,
should you keep moving forward or stop the study?
The new exam at this point you have until June 30th to take and pass
both the 202 or 201 or the 100 to achieve your certification.
If you don't pass by then you won't receive the certification and you'll be
forced to take the new exam instead for the 202 or 201.
That means passing both exams.
The 203 requirements are quite a bit different in scope than the 200 or 201.
Likewise,
the AI 102 requirements are also quite a bit different than the AI 100.
Obviously the length of time it takes depends upon your study habits and
background, but I would suggest allowing at least two months per exam,
if you're studying fairly frequently,
this will give you some cushion and reduce anxiety as the exam dates approach.
So if you haven't passed anything yet and you haven't started the process of
preparing for the 200 201 by the start of April,
I would suggest working on the 203 instead.
And if you'd like to still aim for the AI 100,
I wouldn't recommend starting any later than may. First,
the DP 203 and the AI 102 will be available to take starting
February 23rd, but keep in mind that at this point,
it's a beta exam. That means there's little to no feedback from test takers,
which means you won't receive the results the day you take it or the day after,
or the day after that. In fact, it may be several months before you learn.
If you pass it or not. The 203 also requires a background in programming,
SQL Python Scala.
You'll also need to understand parallel processing and data architecture
patterns.
While those skills are a definite jump and requirements from the DP 200,
they are skills that would be essential.
If you plan on actually working as a data engineer,
the AI 102 will now require coding knowledge and experience with rest based API
APIs.
Remember to visit your certification page and look for the exam skills outline
on Microsoft.
This is the spot that will provide you the most up-to-date info on changes to
the exam that you're studying for make sure to compare those changes against the
course that you're taking. We always strive to keep every course current,
but there's often no notice to changes,
which can lead to a delay between a course update and an exam update.
Make sure to review that, to avoid any frustration on exam day,
whichever route you take,
keep in mind that the skills you learn and the knowledge that you gain will
absolutely help you with the DP 203 and provide you with the foundation for
your career in data engineering, same is true for the AI series.
So to wrap up, if you're already in the process of working on the 200, 201
or the 100, keep going.
If you haven't started by April work on the 203 instead,
and if you haven't started on the 100 by May work on the 102.
This is a guide, not a rule.
Finally look at the exam skills outlined regardless of what you do to make sure
that you're aligned with the exam requirements. You can do this,
keep going gurus and keep being awesome back over to you. When.
From January 19th to February 19th is ACG hearts Azure month.
A month, where we put focus on Azure training, Azure certification,
Azure your blog posts, Azure videos, Azure surprises,
including special ACG Azure swag. If you are into Azure,
this is the best time to follow us on Twitter and make sure you stay up to date
with all our content announcements and a chance for you to win that free swag.
Alrighty, that's it for this episode of Azure This Week, if you feel informed,
make sure to leave this video a thumbs up,
make sure to subscribe for more cloud content, keep being awesome Cloud Gurus.
I will see you in the next one.