Upgrade to Azure Functions runtime v 4.x

Even though  the Azure Functions runtime 2.0 and 3.0 were retired on December 13th, 2022 , I recently still found some Azure Functions using these older runtimes.  See Azure Functions runtime versions overview which outlines the support for the different version.

Azure Functions that use runtime version 2.x or 3.x will continue to run but Microsoft is no longer providing updates or support for applications that use these versions. There a number of reasons why you should upgrade:

• Leverage the support for the latest programming languages such as .NET 6 and Node 16. Take the opportunity to upgrade your code to .NET 6 since  .NET 6 includes a lot of performance improvements
• To make sure that you keep getting security updates
• Be future proof and keep technical debt to a minimum (See Technical debt and Dynamics 365 solution architecture for my view on this)

What is the Azure Functions runtime?

For those not so familiar with Azure Functions, the Azure Functions runtime is the engine that powers Azure Functions to execute user-defined code (written in . It is responsible for loading the user's code, executing it in response to specific triggers, and scaling the execution as needed to handle the workload. The runtime is a key component of the Azure Functions service, and it allows developers to focus on writing and deploying their code, rather than worrying about the underlying infrastructure.

How to find the Azure Functions runtime version?

When you log in to the Azure Portal and go to the Function runtime settings tab on the configuration page of an Azure function, you will see which runtime version is in use. Instead of having to look at every individual function, you might also take a look at the Azure Resource Graph

Notes and links for the DP-900 Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals

As providing reporting and analytics capabilities in a Dynamics 365 solution is becoming increasingly important I decided to brush up my knowledge about available technologies and patterns in the data area. I think that taking a certification exam is a good way to get started on such a broad topic and it also allows you to set a clear goal. So end of last year, I finally took the DP-900: Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals exam. 

Whenever you want to attain a Microsoft certification, the first place to start is always the study guide which you can find on the certification home page.  Another interesting addition from Microsoft is the ability to take a practice assessment for DP-900 (link is listed on the certification home page - there is also a full list of all practice assessments for Microsoft Certifications. Listed below are some of the links and resources that I used - mainly on topics where I had less hands-on experience - so this is definitely not an exhaustive list.

YouTube videos playlists

• DP-900 Data Fundamentals Study Cram v2  by John Savill (@NTFAQGuy) / Twitter
• Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals [Exam DP-900] Full Course

Describe core data concepts

• Extract, transform and Load - ETL vs ELT (Microsoft Data Architecture Guide) 
• Explore job roles in the world of data: database admins, data engineers and data analysts
• Explore transactional data processing - ACID semantics

Describe capabilities of Azure storage

• Azure Storage redundancy
• Change feed support in Azure Blob Storage

Describe capabilities and features of Azure Cosmos DB

• Common Azure Cosmos DB use cases
• Identify Azure Cosmos DB APIs
• Introduction to Azure Cosmos DB for Apache Gremlin
• Manage an Azure Cosmos DB account using the Azure portal
• Frequently asked questions about different APIs in Azure Cosmos DB
• Achieve high availability with Azure Cosmos DB

Describe relational Azure Data services

• Features comparison: Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance
• Azure SQL Database security features
• Aggregate functions (Transact-SQL)
• SQL Tools overview: Azure Data Studio, SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) and mssql extension for VS Code and command line tools
• What is Azure Data Studio?
• Clustered and non-clustered indexes described

Describe common elements of large-scale analytics

• Introduction to Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2
• Introducing data virtualization with PolyBase

Describe data visualization in Microsoft Power BI

• Dashboards for business users of the Power BI service
• Add images, videos and more to your Power BI dashboard
• Pin a tile to a Power BI dashboard from Excel
• Intro to datasets across workspaces (Power BI)
• Power BI Report Builder - authoring paginated reports

Quick tip: use the new release planner for Dynamics 365 and Power Platform to track and planning upcoming changes

The new release planner for Dynamics 365 and Power Platform is awesome - check it out at https://aka.ms/releaseplanner . It allows you to track the features that are planned, coming soon or already available for trial. You have visibility across active release waves in a portal (built with Power pages) and you can personalize, filter and sort release plans when you sign in.

Quick tip: resolving no hosted parallelism has been purchased or granted in Azure DevOps

I recently setup a new free Azure DevOps organization but when I tried running my first pipeline - I got an exception "##[error]No hosted parallelism has been purchased or granted. To request a free parallelism grant, please fill out the following form https://aka.ms/azpipelines-parallelism-request".

It seems that Microsoft has made some changes in Azure Pipeline Grants for Private projects to prevent abuse as also outlined here Configure and pay for parallel jobs.

To be able to use the free Microsoft-hosted built agent, you will now need to fill in the form which was mentioned in the exception message - https://aka.ms/azpipelines-parallelism-request. Microsoft completed this request in 3 business days for me - which was in line with

Quick tip: update to Dataverse developer plan

Great update from Microsoft on the Dataverse developer plan - check out the new video from Power CAT team on Dataverse Environments for everyone - New Developer Plan - Power CAT Live on YouTube.

Interesting updates in the new developer plan:

• 3 developer environments available per user
• Don't take up storage capacity with a maximum of 2GB data.
• Premium connectors included for testing without additional licenses
• Possible to play around with ALM to get a to know solution management better.
• Automatic cleanup of inactive environments after 90 days.

If you don't have access to the PPAC, you will need to use https://make.preview.powerapps.com/ for the moment which shows the option to create new environments from within the environment selector.

Dynamics 365 and Power Platform monthly reading list March 2023

 Power Platform and Dynamics 365 release 2023 wave 1

• Test engine to support model-driven apps (Public Preview May 2023)
• Make solution export source code repository friendly (Public Preview March 2023)
• Dynamics 365 Wave 1 2023: Top 10 features that you need to know! by @LisaCrosbie 
• Power Platform Wave 1 2023:  Top 10 features that you need to know! by @LisaCrosbie
• Virtual tables creation wizard now in Public Preview
• The new look for model driven Power Apps is available now in preview
• 2023 Release Wave 1 YouTube Playlist 

Technical topics (Configuration, customization and extensibility)

• Zero to Hero 2022 - Power Platform Governance and ALM by @thevictordantas
• How does Power Automate flow cope when a lot of actions are executed? by @timopertila
• Using Azure Key Vault to store secrets for use in environment variables and flows
• Introduction to Pipelines for Power Platform (YouTube)  by @rezadorrani and Build your first pipeline with Power Platform pipelines by @laskewitz
• Setup pipelines in Power Platform (Microsoft Learn)
• Signing up for a developer plan for Power Virtual Agents
• Power Platform build tools and Azure DevOps
• Pipelines in Power Platform is Generally Available (GA)
• Azure App Service Patterns and Features for the Azure Well-Architected Framework
• Adding a filter for lookup columns made easier with advanced lookup
• Every Azure Synapse Analytics Engineer Needs to Know this Essential Dataverse Feature - Synapse Link (YouTube)
• Power BI Dynamics 365 Sales templates with Scott Sewell
• Dataverse Environments for everyone - new developer plan - Power CAT Live by @topness
• Connections and connection references explained by @BergmannBene
• Model-driven apps: how to use the side pane to show custom html by @temmy_raharjo
• Enable managed environments in Power Platform Admin Center by @priyesh_wngman7

Topics for Dynamics 365 Business Applications Platform consultants, project managers and power users

• Sales forecasting increase accuracy with AI predictive forecasting by @inogic
• Add voice mail to your call queue management
• Microsoft and Futurum research: Discover insights to create experiences that customers love
• Guidance on Sales Hub and custom model driven apps
• Create a Digital Contact Center in seconds with the Customer Service free trial