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Windows Defender is blocking true performance of my AMD Ryzen 5950x unacceptable.

Tailsrules723 — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 23:52:59 GMT

I was using PBO Tuner to fine tune my processor yesterday and now Windows Defender blocked it for no reason and its not letting me restore the file.If anybody can help me with this i would appreciate it.

Microsoft Security Operations Analyst Blueprint Survey Opportunity

LibertyMunson — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 23:44:00 GMT

Greetings!

Microsoft is considering updating a credential for Microsoft Security Operations Analyst, and we need your input through our exam blueprinting survey.

The blueprint determines how many questions each skill in the exam will be assigned. Please complete the online survey by January 6, 2026. Please also feel free to forward the survey to any colleagues you consider subject matter experts for this certification.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact John Sowles at josowles@microsoft.com or Don Tanedo at dtanedo@microsoft.com.

Microsoft Security Operations Analyst blueprint survey link:

https://microsoftlearning.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3eXv88iTMTckTVI

Thank you!

Troubleshooting Replication Performance Issues

VinaySarangam — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 23:10:34 GMT

This Document helps to troubleshoot or Resolve Replication performance related issues.

Get information about “Topology Big Picture”:-

Before you dive into solving any issue, you need to fully understand the type of environment you have as there might have been changes you are unaware of. An easy way to do that is to run ReplScripts/Replication Topology Script.sql at master · ReplTalk/ReplScripts which gives output like below.

Review the output for details about publishers, publications, and subscriptions.

1. Check for replication issues using tracer tokens:-

Purpose of tracer tokens:-

Latency measurement:- Measure the time it takes for data to travel from the publisher → distributor → subscriber.

Connection validation:- Validate whether replication connections between components are functioning correctly.

Troubleshooting: Identify bottlenecks or delays in the replication process.

Using Measure latency & validate connections (Transactional) - SQL Server | Microsoft Learn, We can identify whether the issue is from Publisher to Distributor or Distributor to Subscriber.

Below image says how data flows from Publisher to Subscriber through Distributor After applying initial Snapshot.

As mentioned in the below image

If the latency is in between publisher -> Distributor then the issue might be in either

- LogReader-Reader Thread

- LogReader-Writer Thread

If the latency is in between Distributor -> Subscriber then the issue might be in either

- Distribution-Reader Thread

- Distribution-Writer Thread

2. Performance Statistics Tools:-

Performance statistics were added to the mslogreader_history table and the msdistribution_history table on the distribution database in Microsoft SQL Server. You can use these statistics to see the recent performance history of the Replication Log Reader and Replication Distribution agents.

Every five minutes, the performance statistics for the Log Reader and Distribution agents are recorded in the history tables. By default, only the data for the last 48 hours is retained. A cleanup process removes the data that is older than 48 hours. The default value can be changed by executing the sp_changedistributiondb stored procedure and specifying a new value for the history_retention parameter.

The following is a sample performance output from the history table for the Log Reader Agent:

- <stats state="1" work="9" idle="295"> <reader fetch="8" wait="0"/> <writer write="9" wait="0"/> <sincelaststats elapsedtime="304" work="9" cmds="52596" cmdspersec="5753.000000"> <reader fetch="8" wait="0"/> <writer write="9" wait="0"/> </sincelaststats> </stats>

There are three state events that can be recorded:

Here’s the Markdown representation of your table:

State	Description
1	Normal events that describe both the reader and writer thread performance
2	Raised events that occur when an agent's reader thread waits longer than the agent's `-messageinterval` time. (By default, the time is 60 seconds.) If you notice State 2 events that are recorded for an agent, this indicates that the agent is taking a long time to write changes to the destination
3	Raised events that are generated only by the Log Reader Agent when the writer thread waits longer than the `-messageinterval` time. If you notice State 3 events that are recorded for the Log Reader Agent, this indicates that the agent is taking a long time to scan the replicated changes from the transaction log

2.1. Log Reader Agent Reader Thread :- The following performance statistics demonstrate a situation in which there is latency in the replication topology and in which the bottleneck is the Log Reader Agent reader thread. The Log Reader Agent reader thread scans the published database transaction log for commands to deliver to the distribution database(<Distribution server>..MSlogreader_history.Comments)

</sincelaststats>

</stats>

The sincelaststats writer wait statistic of 288 seconds appears high. This is the time that the writer thread waits for the reader thread to supply buffers to apply. The Log Reader Agent reader thread executes the sp_replcmds stored procedure. If you notice high writer wait threads in the Log Reader Agent performance statistics, you should investigate the performance of the Log Reader Agent execution against the publication server(Which means Logreader Agent Reader Thread) and database and then investigate the execution time of the sp_replcmds stored procedure.

2.2. Distribution Agent Reader Thread:-The following performance statistics demonstrate a situation in which there is latency in the replication topology and in which the bottleneck is the Distribution Agent reader thread. This thread queries the distribution database (< Distribution server >..MSdistribution_history.Comments table) for commands to apply at the subscriber

</sincelaststats>

</stats>

The sincelaststats writer wait time (212 seconds) appears high. This is the time that the writer thread waits for the reader thread to supply buffers that the writer thread can apply at the subscriber database. The Distribution Agent reader thread executes the sp_MSget_repl_commands stored procedure.

If you notice high writer wait times in the Distribution Agent performance statistics, you should investigate the performance of the Distribution Agent execution against the distribution server and database. In particular, you should investigate the execution time of the sp_MSget_repl_commands stored procedure.

2.3. Distribution Agent Writer Thread:- The following performance statistics demonstrate a situation in which there is latency in the replication topology and in which the bottleneck is the Distribution Agent reader thread. This thread queries the distribution database (< Distribution server >..MSdistribution_history.Comments table) for commands to apply at the subscriber.

Notes:- The state is 2, and the output is somewhat different from State 1 statistics. State 2 state data indicates that the reader thread had to wait longer than the Distribution Agent's configured -messageinterval value. By default, the -messageinterval value is 60 seconds.

If the -messageinterval value is increased, you may again receive State 1 statistics that resemble the following:

Note:- The sincelaststats fetch wait time of 505 seconds is very high.

If you notice high reader wait times in the Distribution Agent performance statistics, you should investigate the performance of the Distribution Agent execution against the subscriber server and database. Use the profiler trace tool to investigate the performance of the execution of the replication stored procedures. Usually the stored procedures are named as follows:

sp_MSupd_<ownertablename>
sp_MSins_<ownertablename>
sp_MSdel_<ownertablename>

Additionally, to determine whether the bottleneck is hardware-based or system-based, use the performance monitor to monitor system performance. For example, use the performance monitor to monitor the Physical Disk counters.

Kindly refer below link to know more about Replication Performance Tools: Statistics for Log Reader and Distribution agents - SQL Server | Microsoft Learn

In some scenarios, we will not be able to get the required information from above mentioned history tables. In such scenarios we need to generate Replication Verbose Logs as mentioned in the link: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/replication/troubleshoot-tran-repl-errors?view=sql-server-ver17#enable-verbose-logging-on-any-agent

3. Other Issues and Resolutions:-

Issue1:- In the environment where we have many publications some are moving forward and some are not moving forward, some are moving slowly.

Observations1:-

From the distributor verbose log, we observe the following error message: “2025-03-05 12:54:20.538 The concurrent snapshot for publication '<PublicationName>' is not available because it has not been fully generated or the Log Reader Agent is not running to activate it. If generation of the concurrent snapshot was interrupted”
This is coming from the procedure “sys.sp_MSsubscription_status”. This happens because the status of the subscription 3 ("initiated") and the sync_type is automatic. The log reader must read when the snapshot agent started and ended from the log, after this, it will then update the MSsubscription table.

Resolution1:-The problem was there is a large volume of data for the log reader to process. It must be allowed to move forward and read through the log to completion after waiting some time.

Issue 2:- In transactional replication to replicate data to a client's Azure SQL VM in their Tenant/Subscription. The data is slow to complete it's push during peak times.

Observations 2:- We cannot find an issue with our Distributor VM (This VM) and their VM doesn't have an apparant issue.

Resolution 2:- Root Cause here is you have two publications that are pushing large amounts of data during the late night. One of these tables, on the Subscriber side, is very large. Most of the space is taken up by indexes. (More than 50%). It has roughly 13+ billion rows. When we push data to this table and other large tables it is causing excessive reads, causing multi-threading and is resulting in the latency which won't allow the Distributor to apply the transactions in a timely fashion.
-- Removing Duplicate or unused Indexes

-- Archiving Data

-- Index Rebuild

-- Creating Missing Indexes

-- Updating Statistics

-- Table Partition

Issue 3:- Lag from the Pub/Dist to the Subscribers.

Observations 3:-

--> In SQL Server error log, there is a SQL service reboot. Distribution database taking long time to do recovery, after that seems the jobs start to have query timeout

-->During the troubleshooting, we noticed blocking issues. And we confirmed the block header was the Log Reader agent session. The log reader agent session was not stuck or hung. It’s just because it’s handling a huge transaction and it was taking that long time. And caused the blocking.

Resolutions 3:- Below mentioned agent profile properties are modified and executed update statistics, which helped improve the Log Reader agent performance.

- MaxCmdsInTran 10000 ,

- ReadBatchSize 5000 ,

-LogScanTreshhold = 750000

Issue 4:- Merge job is continuously running, and we see blow message in replication monitor "Waiting 60 Second(s) Before Polling For Further Changes."

Resolutions 4:- We reproduced the same issue in the internal lab and confirmed that using the parameter – Continuous display this message. ( if this parameter is added agent never stops and continuously checks for changes)

-Continuous:-Specifies whether the agent attempts to poll replicated transactions continually. If specified, the agent polls replicated transactions from the source at polling intervals, even if there are no transactions pending.

Reference : https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/replication/agents/replication-merge-agent?view=sql-server-ver16#arguments

--> After removing this parameter, we did not receive the message

--> Additionally, we need to use – QueryTimeout parameter , so that we can keep a tab on the long running queries.

-QueryTimeOut query_time_out_seconds

Is the number of seconds before the query times out. The default is 300 seconds. The Merge Agent also uses the value of QueryTimeout to determine how long to wait for generation of a partitioned snapshot when this value is greater than 1800.

Issue 5:- Data Replication is taking huge time

Observations 5:- We observed below observations that

VM has been constantly at 100% of its overall disk bandwidth during the last 24 hours prior to data collection
Data Limit: This VM has a data limit of 256 MBps. The server has multiple P30s capable of reaching 200 MB of throughput. Regardless of whether stripes are used, the disks are limited to the VM's maximum capacity.
Lazy Writes Per Second: Ideally, the value for Lazy Writes Per Second should be close to zero.
Page Life Expectancy (PLE): A higher PLE indicates better performance, as it means pages stay longer in the buffer pool (memory cache). This reduces the need to read data from the hard drive. Currently, the PLE value is very low.
Head Blockers: There are a significant number of blockings, mostly involving the cleanup job. The log reader agent was the head blocker in two instances, with an average duration of under 20 seconds.
Log Reader Agent: The log reader agent appears to be blocking some index operation jobs. It has an inactive status with open transactions due to continuous mode.
Large Batches of Transactions: When the Log Reader Agent processes a large number of commands or transactions, it can lead to delays in the replication process, potentially causing blocking as other processes wait for the agent to complete its work. The Log Reader Agent can cause blocking issues in SQL Server transactional replication primarily due to large batches of replicated transactions or a high percentage of non-replicated transactions within the transaction log, leading to increased latency and resource contention.
High Percentage of Non-Replicated Transactions: If a significant portion of the transaction log contains transactions that are not marked for replication, the Log Reader Agent needs to scan over these transactions, resulting in increased latency and potentially causing blocking.
Resource Constraints: If the server has insufficient resources (CPU, memory, disk I/O), the Log Reader Agent might be delayed, leading to blocking issues.

as previously discussed, the last two options above are the likelihood for the blocking.

Resolution 5:-

ETL Operation/to or from non-replicated:- As previously discussed, my top recommendation is to reach out to the Dev team to see if they can move their ETL operation to another database without replication. If a significant portion of the transaction log contains transactions that are not marked for replication, the Log Reader Agent needs to scan over these transactions, resulting in increased latency and potentially causing blocking.
Adjust ReadBatchSize:- Another option to reduce blocking might be to adjust the ReadBatchSize parameter. Although we have done this in the past, it is worth experimenting with different values until we find the optimal setting. Please note that a higher value might not always improve performance, especially for workloads with large transactions.
Upgrade VM SKU:- This server is constantly reaching its capacity. I recommend upgrading the VM SKU to better meet your workload capacity.
Blocking Concerns:- If blocking is the main concern, another option is to create a separate job that checks for blocking. If the log reader agent is identified as the head blocker, the job can restart the log reader agent as shown below.

Issue 6:- Replication Performance Issues

Resolution 6:- We found that the SQL Server and disk configuration is not configured as per best practices. After following best practices from Disk and SQL Configuration perspective. Issue got resolved. Kindly refer the below link for your reference: Checklist: Best practices & guidelines - SQL Server on Azure VMs | Microsoft Learn

Issue 7:- Log reader agent delay

Observations 7:-

After restarting log reader agent, it starts working again.
We switched the -ReadBatchSize between 500 and 5000 and compare the performance, now keep using 500 for log processing.
From log reader agent history, the transaction log is processing but there is much pending log. The processing seems to be slow. From the log reader agent history, get below statistics information.
Basically, In the publisher server, the logread process has a reader thread connecting to the publisher database to run SP_REPLCMDS. In the distributor server, the logread process has a writer thread connecting to the distribution database to write commands into distribution distribution.dbo.sp_MSadd_replcmds. The data reading from the publisher database should write to distribution. From below, we can see the ‘reader fetch’ is 2940s with 1s wait, which means the reader thread fetched data for 2940s and wait 1s in last calculating period. And the writer thread writing 99s with 2439s waiting.

<stats state="1" work="2539" idle="0" ><reader fetch="2940" wait="1"/><writer write="99" wait="2439"/><sincelaststats elapsedtime="526" work="526" cmds="407220" cmdspersec="772.000000"><reader fetch="526" wait="0"/><writer write="13" wait="513"/></sincelaststats><message>Normal events that describe both the reader and writer thread performance.</message></stats>

Here the writer thread long wait is actually waiting for data buffer reading in, so the slowness is in reading data stage.
Based on VM disk performance checking, LUN's which belongs to log file do not have latency
In log reader agent history, we noticed many messages like ‘Approximately xxx log records have been scanned in pass xx, 0 of which were marked for replication.’ These messages mean the log records scanned are not for replication so they are skipped. If there are too many unrelated log records , log reader agent will cost much time on scanning unrelated logs which will slow down the replication transaction sync.
There was authentication issue on log reader agent yesterday which blocks the log syncing for long time, so today after resuming it accumulates large number of transactions. The large pending set also need time to consume.

Resolution 7:- There is no disk latency on log drive, the log reader agent slowness is mainly due to too many non-replication transactions and large number of accumulating batches. Best practices to follow in this scenario is

Shrink log file before configuring replication
Configure Replication in off-peak hours

4. Enhance Transaction Replication performance:-

1. Design Level:-
a. Database Design:-

Minimize transaction size in your application design.
By default, transactional replication propagates changes according to transaction boundaries. If transactions are smaller, the Distribution agent is less likely to resend a transaction due to network issues. If the agent is required to resend a transaction, the amount of data sent is smaller.

b. Distributor Configuration:-

Configure the Distributor on a dedicated server.
You can reduce processing overhead on the Publisher by configuring a remote Distributor. For more information, see Configure Distribution.
Size the distribution database appropriately.
Test replication with a typical load for your system to determine how much space is required to store commands. Ensure the database is large enough to store commands without having to auto-grow frequently. For more information about changing the size of a database, see ALTER DATABASE (Transact-SQL).

c. Publication Design:-

Replicate stored procedure execution when making batch updates to published tables.
If you have batch updates that occasionally affect a large number of rows at the Subscriber, you should consider updating the published table using a stored procedure and publish the execution of the stored procedure. Instead of sending an update or delete for every row affected, the Distribution Agent executes the same procedure at the Subscriber with the same parameter values. For more information, see Publishing Stored Procedure Execution in Transactional Replication.
Spread articles across multiple publications.
If you cannot use the -SubscriptionStreams parameter, consider creating multiple publications. Spreading articles across these publications allows replication to apply changes in parallel to Subscribers.

d. Subscription Considerations:-

Use independent agents rather than shared agents if you have multiple publications on the same Publisher (this is the default for the New Publication Wizard).
Run agents continuously instead of on frequent schedules.
- SQL Server Management Studio: Specify Synchronization Schedules
Setting the agents to run continuously rather than creating frequent schedules (such as every minute) improves replication performance, because the agent does not have to start and stop. When you set the Distribution Agent to run continuously, changes are propagated with low latency to the other servers that are connected in the topology. For more information, see:

2. Agent Properties Level

a. Log Reader Agent:-
ReadBatchSize:-

Increase the value of the -ReadBatchSize parameter for the Log Reader Agent.
Description:-
The Log Reader Agent and Distribution Agent support batch sizes for transaction read and commit operations. Batch sizes default to 500 transactions. The Log Reader Agent reads the specific number of transactions from the log, whether or not they are marked for replication. When a large number of transactions are written to a publication database, but only a small subset of those are marked for replication, you should use the -ReadBatchSize parameter to increase the read batch size of the Log Reader Agent. This parameter does not apply to Oracle Publishers.

Workloads of smaller transactions (fewer than 500 commands) see an increase in how many commands are processed per second when ReadBatchSize is increased up to 5000.
For larger workloads (transactions with 500 to 1000 commands), increasing ReadBatchSize has little performance improvement. Increasing ReadBatchSize results in a greater number of transactions written to the distribution database in one roundtrip. This increases the time transactions and commands are visible to the Distribution Agent and introduces latency to the replication process.

PollingInterval:-

Decrease the value of the -PollingInterval parameter for the Log Reader Agent.
Description:-
The -PollingInterval parameter specifies how often the transaction log of a published database is queried for transactions to replicate. The default is 5 seconds. If you decrease this value, the log is polled more frequently, which can result in lower latency for the delivery of transactions from the publication database to the distribution database. However, you should balance the need for lower latency against the increased load on the server from polling more frequently.

MaxCmdsInTran:-

To resolve accidental, one-time bottlenecks use the –MaxCmdsInTran parameter for the Log Reader Agent.
Description:-
The –MaxCmdsInTran parameter specifies the maximum number of statements grouped into a transaction as the Log Reader writes commands to the distribution database. Using this parameter allows the Log Reader Agent and Distribution Agent to divide large transactions (consisting of many commands) at the Publisher into several smaller transactions when applying commands at the Subscriber. Specifying this parameter can reduce contention at the Distributor and reduce latency between the Publisher and Subscriber. Because the original transaction is applied in smaller units, the Subscriber can access rows of a large logical Publisher transaction prior to the end of the original transaction, breaking strict transactional atomicity. The default is 0, which preserves the transaction boundaries of the Publisher. This parameter does not apply to Oracle Publishers.

Note:-
MaxCmdsInTran was not designed to be always turned on. It exists to work around cases where someone accidentally performed a large number of DML operations in a single transaction (causing a delay in the distribution of commands until the entire transaction is in the distribution database, locks being held, etc.). If you routinely fall into this situation,review your applications and find ways to reduce the transaction size.
MaxCmdsInTran is not supported if the given publication database is enabled for both Change Data Capture and replication. Using MaxCmdsInTran in this configuration may lead to data loss in CDC change tables. It may also cause PK errors if the MaxCmdsInTran parameter is added and removed while replicating a large Transaction.

b. Distributor Agent:-

SubscriptionStreams:-

Increase the –SubscriptionStreams parameter for the Distribution Agent.
Description:-The –SubscriptionStreams parameter can greatly improve aggregate replication throughput. It allows multiple connections to a Subscriber to apply batches of changes in parallel, while maintaining many of the transactional characteristics present when using a single thread. If one of the connections fails to execute or commit, all connections will abort the current batch, and the agent will use a single stream to retry the failed batches. Before this retry phase completes, there can be temporary transactional inconsistencies at the Subscriber. After the failed batches are successfully committed, the Subscriber is brought back to a state of transactional consistency.
A value for this agent parameter can be specified using the @subscriptionstreams of sp_addsubscription (Transact-SQL).

Blocking Monitor Thread:-

Distribution Agent maintains a blocking monitor thread that detects blocking between sessions. If the blocking monitor thread detects blocking between the sessions, Distribution Agent switches to use one session to reapply the current batch of commands that could not be applied previously.
The blocking monitor thread can detect blocking between Distribution Agent sessions. However, the blocking monitor thread cannot detect blocking in the following situations:

One of the sessions where blocking occurs is not a Distribution Agent session.
A session deadlock freezes the activities of Distribution Agent.

In this situation, Distribution Agent coordinates all the sessions to commit together as soon as their commands are executed. A deadlock among the sessions occurs if the following conditions are true:

Blocking occurs between the Distribution Agent sessions and a session that is not a Distribution Agent session.
Distribution Agent is waiting for all the sessions to complete executing their commands before Distribution Agent coordinates all the sessions to commit together.

CommitBatchSize:-

Increase the value of the -CommitBatchSize parameter for the Distribution Agent.
Description:-
Committing a set of transactions has a fixed overhead; by committing a larger number of transactions less frequently, the overhead is spread across a larger volume of data. Increasing CommitBatchSize (up to 200) can improve performance as more transactions are committed to the subscriber. However, the benefit of increasing this parameter drops off as the cost of applying changes is gated by other factors, such as the maximum I/O of the disk that contains the log. Additionally, there is a trade-off to be considered: any failure that causes the Distribution Agent to start over must roll back and reapply a larger number of transactions. For unreliable networks, a lower value can result in fewer failures and a smaller number of transactions to roll back and reapply if a failure occurs.

Refer the below link for details:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/replication/administration/enhance-transactional-replication-performance?view=sql-server-ver15

This week's Fabric Engineering Connection calls - Holiday Cheer Edition

StephanieChimeziri — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 21:40:25 GMT

🎉 Holiday Cheer Alert! 🎶 Ready to jingle all the way with the Fabric Partner Community? Join us for our Fabric Engineering Connection - Holiday Cheer Edition!

The festivities kick off with a “Name That Tune: Holiday Edition” game—where your competitive spirit could win you fabulous prizes! Bring your brightest “Ho Ho Ho,” your silliest sparkle, and get ready to sleigh the season with us. 🎅✨

Stick around for inspiring presentations from our guest speakers:

🦌Nellie Gustafsson, Principal PM Manager, with updates on Data Science, AI, and Data Agents (Americas & EMEA call only)
🦌Shireen Bahadur, Senior Program Manager, and Ajay Jagannathan, Principal Group PM Manager, sharing “What’s New in Database Mirroring”

📅 Americas & EMEA: Wednesday, December 17, 8–9 am PT
📅 APAC: Thursday, December 18, 1–2 am UTC

Show starts on the hour—enthusiasm mandatory, jingle optional! 🔔 To join, become a member of the Fabric Partner Community Teams Channel (if you are not already): https://lnkd.in/g_PRdfjt

Let’s deck the halls, spread some cheer, and make this celebration one to remember!

APAC Fabric Engineering Connection - Holiday Cheer Edition

StephanieChimeziri — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 21:38:48 GMT

Americas & EMEA Fabric Engineering Connection - Holiday Cheer Edition

StephanieChimeziri — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 21:37:02 GMT

Announcing Windows Admin Center for Arm-based Copilot+ PCs

Ben_Schultz — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 21:26:58 GMT

Great news for IT pros managing the next generation of Windows devices! Windows Admin Center now supports Arm-based Copilot+ PCs, bringing the powerful, browser-based management experience you rely on to Microsoft's most advanced AI-powered devices. Copilot+ PCs are next-generation Windows devices designed with built-in AI capabilities, delivering faster performance, enhanced productivity, and intelligent experiences powered by Windows and Microsoft Copilot.

Whether you're managing hybrid Active Directory environments, configuring servers and clusters, or administering client infrastructure, you can now do it all seamlessly from your Copilot+ PC. This means no more workarounds. Enjoy the same centralized, secure administration you expect, now optimized for the energy-efficient, AI-accelerated Arm architecture. The Windows Admin Center experiences are the same you know and love, including installation, overview experiences and the same tool set you are familiar with!

As enterprises embrace Copilot+ PCs for their blend of performance, mobility, and AI capabilities, having full management parity with x64 devices is critical. Organizations evaluating large-scale deployments have been waiting for this moment, and now IT admins can confidently manage their entire Windows ecosystem—servers, clusters, and desktops—directly from Arm devices without sacrificing functionality.

Ready to experience the future of Windows management? Read about our 2511 release and download Windows Admin Center 2511 for Arm-based Copilot+ PCs today! We'd love to hear your feedback as you try this new capability!

NOW AVAILABLE: Nonprofit data solutions in Microsoft Fabric – Event Recording & Demo

Leslie_Robbins — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 22:18:09 GMT

Thank you to everyone who joined us on December 9 for our sessions on Nonprofit Data Solutions in Microsoft Fabric. We’re excited to announce that the event recording and presentation are now live—and you can watch them alongside the Microsoft Fabric Demo.

🚀 Watch demo overview on the Nonprofit data solutions in Microsoft Fabric solution.

🎥 Listen to recording and review presentation to learn more how Microsoft Fabric empowers nonprofits to:

✅ Accelerate impact with unified, AI-ready data
✅ Unlock insights for stronger fundraising and mission success
✅ Expand opportunities in the $48B+ data & analytics market

💡 Why It Matters

Fabric provides secure, scalable infrastructure, advanced analytics, and AI-driven capabilities to unify data, automate processes, and deliver measurable mission impact.

📚 Go-to-Market Resources for Nonprofit Partners

Use the following tools/resources, located on the Nonprofit Partner Readiness site under solution play readiness materials Cloud & AI Platform tab's Unify your data platform section to accelerate adoption and position yourself as a trusted advisor:

Core Resources:

Campaign-in-a-Box Resources:

Together, we can help nonprofits overcome data silos, automate processes, and unlock actionable insights—leading to stronger donor engagement, smarter fundraising strategies, and greater mission success.

Copilot Your Holidays: Episode 3 - Focus Time, Year-End Reviews, and Travel Planning!

samhitaraman — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 20:36:11 GMT

The holiday season is here, and Copilot can help you make the most of it. In Episode 3 of our Copilot Your Holidays series, Samhita, Maria, and Saurabh dive into practical ways to reclaim your time—clearing your calendar, crafting thoughtful performance reviews, and even planning the perfect moment to head to the airport.

Prompts We Used:

Calendar Time

Check my calendar and list 6–8 open 30–45-minute slots over the next 10 business days, between 9 AM and 4 PM in my time zone, so I can prepare for my end of year review. Leave 15 minutes buffer before/after other meetings. Return in this format: • Tue Nov 18, 10:30–11:00 AM CT.

Year-End Review

(Copy and paste into Researcher)

List my key goals and the measurable outcomes achieved during [review period] For each goal, describe:
- The specific impact you made (quantitative results, improvements, or milestones)
- How you collaborated with others, drove cross-team initiatives, or supported organizational priorities.
- Any innovative approaches, process improvements, or customer-focused actions.
- Examples of modeling company values (e.g., inclusion, accountability, customer obsession).
- How your actions contributed to broader team or company objective.

Travel Times

Tell me about TSA wait times at DFW + American Airlines average departure delays today and tomorrow. Summarize into a travel prep plan and suggest what time I should arrive.

Call to Action

Try these prompts today in Copilot Chat (free) or M365 Copilot (licensed). Share your favorite Copilot-generated holiday ideas with us in the comments!

Title Plan Update – December 12, 2025

AshleeLyman — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 20:20:34 GMT

December 12, 2025 Title Plan Now Available

Access the latest Instructor-Led Training (ILT) updates anytime at http://aka.ms/Courseware_Title_Plan to ensure you're always working from the most current version.

📌 Reminder: To help you stay informed more quickly and consistently, we’ve moved to a weekly publishing cadence for the title plan. This means each update may include fewer changes but ensures you’re always up to date.

Best New Outlook Features Released in 2025 — A Practical Wrap-Up

Teresa_Cyrus — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 19:39:42 GMT

Over the course of 2025, Microsoft delivered a significant number of updates to New Outlook for Windows. For many users who tried New Outlook early and stepped back, the experience today is materially different.

I’ve published a recap video that walks through the most impactful New Outlook features released in 2025, focusing on what actually changed, what gaps were closed, and how the product is evolving as Microsoft continues the transition away from Classic Outlook.

This video is not a deep dive or step-by-step tutorial. It’s a practical end-of-year review covering:

Why Microsoft moved to New Outlook and the current opt-out timelines
Account management improvements (account display names, shared mailboxes, drag-and-drop workflows)
PST export becoming usable directly in New Outlook
Mail experience enhancements (favorites, folder colors, categories, bulk actions, templates, mail merge, newsletter)
Calendar layout changes redesigned to accommodate Copilot
People / Contacts usability fixes and cleanup
Copilot in Outlook: standard vs premium capabilities and real workflow differences

This isn’t positioned as “New Outlook is finished” or “Classic is gone tomorrow.”
It’s an honest look at where New Outlook landed by the end of 2025 and what it now supports compared to earlier releases.

For those managing transitions or advising users:

Which Classic Outlook features are still blockers for you?
Have the 2025 updates changed your adoption stance?
Are there specific workflows you still cannot move yet?

Interested in hearing real-world perspectives from admins, trainers, and power users as we move closer to broader default adoption.

#traccreations4e-p25 12/11/2025

Small Business

miraci — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 19:23:49 GMT

Hello Surya Narayana, first thank you for responding to my question.

I still have a problem with the formulas. The original formula still returns the wrong entry

such as (JAN-00), the second formula returns an entry (#VALUE!) I've tried to change the

date format in every way but, the result is the same.

Thank you

Verified skills, real impact: Microsoft Credentials help you get AI-ready

Elisa Graceffo — Sat, 13 Dec 2025 00:55:04 GMT

AI has rapidly evolved from trendy buzzword to critical business tool.

Across industries and roles, this powerful technology is transforming how we work. From marketing and human resources to finance and operations, teams are using AI to create, analyze, and collaborate in ways we couldn’t even imagine a few years ago. And it’s not just for developers or IT pros anymore. AI is fast becoming part of daily workflows for nearly everyone.

Forward-thinking organizations aren’t waiting—they’re embedding AI into every business function. And in this new era of human-AI collaboration, the ability to build, validate, and apply AI skills is what sets individuals and companies apart.

Why verified skills matter more than ever

Let’s face it: knowing about AI is no longer enough.

A survey from Resume Genius found that 81% of hiring managers prioritize AI skills ¹. This is a significant shift, and the standard has clearly moved from an individual simply being familiar with AI to actually proving that they can effectively put it to work.

That’s where Microsoft Credentials—Microsoft Certifications and Microsoft Applied Skills—come in. Certifications are ideal for validating comprehensive expertise and broader skill sets in given roles or technologies. Applied Skills are scenario-based micro-credentials that demonstrate the ability to accomplish specific job tasks. They focus on narrower skill sets, often a single crucial skill, and they’re earned through an on-demand, lab-based assessment. Together, these credentials give individuals a clear, trusted way to showcase their skills while providing organizations confidence in the capabilities of their teams.

EPAM’s story: Turning credentials into competitive advantage

EPAM Systems, a global leader in digital engineering, has seen firsthand how Microsoft Credentials strengthen AI readiness and improve project results. The company’s experience shows how verified skills can make a real difference for career growth and client success. EPAM Director of Technology Solutions Alexander Lipkin explains:

We rely on Applied Skills credentials and other certifications to validate the skills required for the project or role—tailored to customer requirements—and match it with our talent pool around the world, giving our clients the talent they need to succeed.

For more details, read EPAM fast-tracks AI readiness and project outcomes with Microsoft Applied Skills.

Expanding the Microsoft Credentials portfolio

For over 30 years, Microsoft Credentials have set the benchmark for skills validation. Today, we’re taking them even further.

The evolution of Microsoft Credentials

At Microsoft Ignite, we announced the Microsoft Credentials portfolio expansion and launched AI Skills Navigator, an agentic learning space that brings together AI-powered skilling experiences and credentials, helping individuals build career skills and organizations worldwide accelerate their business.

The portfolio now goes beyond technical roles to include credentials for business professionals, team leaders, and early-in-career talent—helping more people prove their proficiency with AI technologies like Microsoft 365 Copilot and AI-powered agents.

We’ve also streamlined the format of our new Applied Skills Credentials. They’re faster to earn, fit naturally into busy schedules, and let individuals apply their new skills even more quickly.

New business-focused credentials

For business users and leaders looking to use AI to make smarter decisions and improve daily work, these credentials validate practical, in-role skills:

Microsoft Applied Skills: Generate reports with AI research agents. Gather, analyze, and produce data-driven reports by using Researcher in Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Microsoft Applied Skills: Streamline business workflows with AI chat. Manage meetings, draft content, and improve collaboration with Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat.
Microsoft Certified: AI Business Professional Certification (beta). Automate tasks, streamline processes, and enable AI in everyday work with Copilot Chat. (General availability in January 2026.)
Microsoft Certified: AI Transformation Leader Certification (beta). Define the business value of AI, integrate AI tools, and lead AI adoption. (General availability in January 2026.)

New technical credentials

For IT pros, engineers, and developers building secure, scalable AI solutions, these credentials validate relevant expertise:

Microsoft Applied Skills: Enhance agents with autonomous capabilities. Design, configure, and deploy autonomous agents in Microsoft Copilot Studio.
Microsoft Applied Skills: Secure AI solutions in the cloud. Safeguard AI applications in Microsoft Foundry, and manage compliance using Microsoft Defender for Cloud.
Microsoft 365 Certified: Copilot and Agent Administration Fundamentals Certification (beta). Configure, secure, and govern Copilot and agents to help keep your organization productive and compliant. (General availability in January 2026.)
Microsoft Certified: Agentic AI Business Solutions Architect Certification (beta). Lead the transformation of enterprise operations by envisioning and implementing AI-powered architecture. (General availability in January 2026.)
Microsoft Applied Skills: Build a generative AI chat app (coming soon). Use generative AI in practical, real-world scenarios.
Microsoft Applied Skills: Create an AI agent (coming soon). Create, configure, and orchestrate agents for business impact.

Skilling up every role

Whether you're building an AI-ready workforce, streamlining operations, or preparing your team for what’s next, validating skills across your organization is more important than ever.

Microsoft Credentials help every role contribute with confidence. They turn readiness into real opportunity—giving individuals the recognition they deserve and helping organizations stay competitive in the AI era.

Discover how AI Skills Navigator helps you build a personalized learning path that guides your team toward earning Microsoft Credentials.

Let’s build the AI-ready future—together.

Resume Genius (2025). AI Impact on Hiring Survey: How Recruitment is Evolving https://resumegenius.com/blog/job-hunting/ai-impact-on-hiring

How to Access ChatGPT‑5.2 in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat

MichaelGannotti — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 19:06:23 GMT

Microsoft has started rolling out OpenAI’s GPT‑5.2 into Microsoft 365 Copilot—including Copilot Chat—so you can choose the newest model directly from the model selector.
GPT‑5.2 comes in two strengths: an efficient, everyday option (“Instant”) and a deeper reasoning option (“Thinking”), which is exactly why Microsoft also gives you Quick Response and Think Deeper styles for how much “thinking time” Copilot should spend.

Below is a practical, step-by-step guide to turning on GPT‑5.2 using the upper-right dropdown, plus a quick playbook for when to choose GPT‑5.2 Quick Response versus GPT‑5.2 Think Deeper.

1) What GPT‑5.2 in Copilot Chat Actually Means (In Plain English)

GPT‑5.2 is now available in Microsoft 365 Copilot via the model selector, which means you can explicitly pick it for a chat when you want the newest capabilities.
Microsoft describes GPT‑5.2 as combining GPT‑5.2 Thinking (best for complex problems and strategic insights) and GPT‑5.2 Instant (efficient for everyday writing, translation, and skill-building).
OpenAI also positions GPT‑5.2 as improved for professional work—like creating spreadsheets, building presentations, writing code, and handling complex multi-step projects—especially when you select the deeper “Thinking” variant.

2) Step-by-Step: Switch to GPT‑5.2 Using the Upper‑Right Dropdown

Good to know: UI labels can evolve during rollout, but Microsoft confirms GPT‑5.2 is selectable from the model selector/model menu in Copilot Chat.

Step 1 — Open Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat

Open Copilot Chat in the Microsoft 365 Copilot experience you use (web/app/in-app side pane).
If you’re in Copilot Chat already, you’re in the right place—model selection happens inside the chat experience.

Step 2 — Find the model selector in the upper‑right

In Copilot Chat, Microsoft has surfaced model controls at the top of the chat—Microsoft’s own support guidance previously referenced a top-right control (for example, “Try GPT‑5”).
As GPT‑5.2 rolls out, you’ll use the same general area to open the model selector dropdown (often showing the currently selected model).

Step 3 — Open the dropdown and select “GPT‑5.2”

Click the dropdown in the upper-right and choose GPT‑5.2 from the list.
Microsoft explicitly states: “GPT‑5.2 is accessible in the model selector in both Copilot Chat and Copilot Studio.”

Step 4 — Choose your response style: “Quick Response” or “Think Deeper”

Microsoft introduced a mode selector so users can pick how much reasoning Copilot applies: Auto, Quick response, or Think deeper.
“Quick response” is designed to answer right away, while “Think deeper” spends longer for better answers—often around ~10 seconds in consumer Copilot documentation.
When you pair these modes with GPT‑5.2, you’re effectively choosing between a fast path aligned with “Instant” tasks and a deeper path aligned with “Thinking” tasks.

Step 5 — Start prompting (your mode choice can persist)

Microsoft notes that your mode choices persist across chats and the feature is enabled by default as it rolls out.
So once you pick a mode you like, Copilot can remember it for future chats until you switch it again.

3) Why Two Modes? The Benefits of GPT‑5.2 “Quick Response”

GPT‑5.2 Quick Response = speed, clarity, and momentum

Microsoft describes Quick response as providing straightforward, instantaneous answers.
In the GPT‑5 mode selector language, Quick response is “Copilot answers right away,” which is ideal when you don’t need extended reasoning.
This aligns well with Microsoft’s description of GPT‑5.2 Instant as efficient for everyday writing, translation, and skill-building.

Use “Quick Response” when you want:

Fast drafting & rewrites (email polish, tone adjustments, short summaries).

Translation and short-form content where latency matters more than deep analysis.

Rapid Q&A and quick definitions to keep moving.

Example “Quick Response” prompts

“Rewrite this paragraph to be more concise and executive-friendly.”

“Translate this into Spanish and keep the tone professional.”

“Summarize this email thread in 5 bullets.”

Bottom line: Quick Response helps you maintain flow—especially when you’re iterating quickly.

4) The Benefits of GPT‑5.2 “Think Deeper”

GPT‑5.2 Think Deeper = better structure, fewer gaps, stronger reasoning

Microsoft explains Think Deeper as taking additional time to provide a more thoughtful response (often up to ~10 seconds in Copilot guidance).
In the GPT‑5 mode selector language, Think deeper is “Copilot thinks longer for better answers,” which is exactly what you want for multi-step work.
This pairs naturally with GPT‑5.2 Thinking, which Microsoft positions as best for complex problems and strategic insights.

OpenAI also emphasizes that GPT‑5.2 (especially its “Thinking” variant) is designed to handle complex, multi-step projects, with improvements in long-context understanding and tool use.

Use “Think Deeper” when you want:

Tradeoff analysis (options, pros/cons, risks, recommendations).

Planning & strategy (roadmaps, project plans, stakeholder narratives).

Complex synthesis across longer documents or multi-source context (where available).

Example “Think Deeper” prompts

“Create a decision memo comparing Option A vs Option B, including risks, assumptions, and a recommendation.”

“Draft a 90-day plan with milestones, owners, dependencies, and a communications plan.”

“Break this problem into steps, then propose 3 approaches and tell me which is safest and why.”

Bottom line: Think Deeper is for when quality and completeness matter more than a near-instant response.

5) A Simple Cheat Sheet: Which One Should You Pick?

Pick GPT‑5.2 Quick Response if… you’re drafting, rewriting, translating, or asking a straightforward question and want minimal waiting.

Pick GPT‑5.2 Think Deeper if… you’re doing planning, complex reasoning, multi-step analysis, or want a more thorough answer with clearer structure.

6) “I Don’t See GPT‑5.2 in My Dropdown”—Common Reasons (and Fixes)

It’s still rolling out: Microsoft says GPT‑5.2 begins rolling out and should reach all eligible users in the coming weeks.

Licensing/priority access differences: Copilot Chat capabilities (including models) can vary depending on whether you have a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, with licensed users receiving priority access.

Your org UI may show “Try GPT‑5” first: Microsoft previously surfaced a top-right GPT control during the GPT‑5 transition, and the UI can change as features progress from toggle to full selector.

If you suspect rollout timing, the best practical move is to check again later (or after your Microsoft 365 apps update), because Microsoft expects staged availability as the deployment completes.

7) The Big Picture: Why GPT‑5.2 in Copilot Chat Is a Win

Microsoft’s framing is simple: GPT‑5.2 becomes more powerful “at work” because Copilot applies it inside Microsoft 365, where it can support insights and planning across common productivity workflows (as your licensing and tenant configuration allow).
And because GPT‑5.2 is built to be stronger on long context and complex professional tasks, you can reach for “Think Deeper” when you want higher-quality reasoning—and use “Quick Response” to stay fast for everyday work.

Quick takeaway

Open Copilot Chat → click the upper-right model dropdown → select GPT‑5.2 → choose Quick Response for speed or Think Deeper for heavier reasoning.

Get Ready, Arlington: M365 Copilot Prompt-a-thon Is Coming January 21

Abby_Quinn — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 18:06:53 GMT

The future of productivity is here—and we’re bringing it straight to the DMV.
On Wednesday, January 21, 2026, Microsoft experts will be on-site in Arlington, Virginia, to host an immersive, hands-on Microsoft 365 Copilot Prompt‑a‑thon designed to help you unlock the full power of modern AI in your everyday work.

Whether you support Federal agencies, the Defense Industrial Base (DIB), or Department of Defense missions, this event is your opportunity to sharpen your prompting skills, explore real-world Copilot scenarios, and discover new ways to create efficiency, clarity, and impact across your workflows.

What Makes This Event Unique

AI is transforming how we work, but getting the best results from Copilot starts with learning how to write effective prompts. This in-person workshop focuses on building confidence, creativity, and fluency with Copilot across Microsoft 365 apps such as Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams.

You will gain hands-on experience, see real examples, and receive step-by-step guidance from Microsoft specialists who work with Copilot every day.

What You’ll Learn

During the event, you’ll explore:

High‑impact prompting techniques that generate clear, tailored Copilot responses
Real-world scenarios relevant to GCC, DoD, and DIB environments
Tips for integrating Copilot into your daily workflows
Best practices for refining and iterating prompts for stronger results

Expect a combination of demonstrations, guided exercises, and practical discussions designed to help you build your Copilot expertise.

Who Should Attend

This event is ideal for:

Professionals working in or supporting GCC, DoD, and DIB environments
Users who want to strengthen their Copilot skills
Anyone seeking to boost productivity, reduce repetitive tasks, and work more creatively with AI
Teams interested in scaling Copilot adoption across their organization

Whether you are new to Copilot or already experimenting with it, you will gain insights you can apply immediately.

Event Details

Date: Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Time: 9:00 AM
Location: 1300 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, Virginia 22209

Join Us

The Microsoft 365 Copilot Prompt‑a‑thon is more than a workshop. It is a collaborative, creative environment where you can experiment, ask questions, learn from experts, and practice alongside other mission-focused professionals.

We look forward to seeing you in Arlington.

Level Up Your Productivity: Join Our 2026 Copilot in Action Series this January and February

Abby_Quinn — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 18:06:47 GMT

A new year brings new opportunities to work smarter, not harder. If you’re ready to tap into the full power of Microsoft Copilot and transform the way you work, we’ve lined up an exciting series of live, hands-on sessions designed to help you build skills, explore new capabilities, and get real value fast.

Whether you're completely new to AI in Microsoft 365 or already experimenting with Copilot across your apps, this series has something for everyone. And the best part? Each session is short, focused, and packed with practical guidance you can use the same day.

Below is your guide to all four upcoming sessions. Save your seat now and step confidently into a more efficient 2026.

January 15, 2026

Copilot Chat in M365 Apps (Licensed and Unlicensed Users)

12:00 – 12:45 PM EDT
Register here: Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams

Imagine having a side-by-side AI assistant built directly into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote. Copilot Chat lets you access intelligent help right within your flow of work—no extra setup required. Whether you have a Microsoft 365/Office license or a full M365 Copilot license, this session will show you how to knock out repetitive tasks, get instant explanations, and free up time for what really matters. Join us to try it hands-on and discover practical ways to get more done with less effort.

January 29, 2026

Create Your First Agent Using Agent Builder (Copilot Studio Light)

12:00 – 12:45 PM EDT
Register here: Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams

Ready to build your first Copilot agent without writing a single line of code? This session walks you step-by-step through Agent Builder, a lightweight, no-code version of Copilot Studio included in your Microsoft 365/Office or M365 Copilot license. Learn how to ground your agent in your own M365 data and extend Copilot’s value even further. Perfect for beginners and anyone curious about low-code innovation.

February 12, 2026

Create an Agent for M365 Copilot Using Microsoft Copilot Studio

12:00 – 12:45 PM EDT
Register here: Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams

If you joined the January 29 session or want to take your agent-building skills to the next level, this one is for you. We’ll explore the full version of Microsoft Copilot Studio and show you how to create a more advanced agent grounded in both public knowledge and your M365 data. You do not need to be a developer to participate—just bring your curiosity and get ready to build.

February 26, 2026

Data Analysis with Copilot in Excel

12:00 – 12:45 PM EDT
Register here: Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams

Data doesn’t have to be daunting. In this session, you’ll learn how Copilot in Excel can take raw data and transform it into insights, visuals, and clear direction in minutes. Ask natural-language questions, clean data instantly, uncover trends, and move from confusion to clarity faster than ever. Whether spreadsheets are your daily habitat or an occasional stop, this session will give you the tools to work confidently with data.

Don’t Miss This Opportunity

These four sessions are your chance to build practical, meaningful Copilot skills that make your day-to-day work smoother and more efficient. Sign up for one or register for all—each event offers something unique, actionable, and designed to support your productivity goals.

Key Considerations for Modernizing and Migrating Custom Applications to Azure

srhulsus — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 18:04:26 GMT

Understanding the Current Application

A detailed understanding of the existing application is the foundation of a successful migration. Azure Migrate helps discover servers, databases, dependencies, and performance characteristics. It gives insight into everything that must be moved and modernized.
Documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/migrate/migrate-overview

This step reveals performance bottlenecks, outdated libraries, legacy integrations, and security gaps that need attention during modernization.

Selecting the Right Migration Approach

Once the current state is clear, the next step is to decide how each component should move to Azure. Some workloads can be rehosted on Azure Virtual Machines, while others benefit from modernization using App Services, Kubernetes, serverless functions, or managed databases. The Azure Migration Guide helps map applications to the right strategy.

Microsoft provides guidance through the Azure Migration Guide in the Cloud Adoption Framework.
Documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/cloud-adoption-framework/migrate/azure-migration-guide

This framework helps you evaluate whether the application should be rehosted, refactored, rearchitected, rebuilt, or replaced.

Modernizing the Application Layer

Azure App Service is a good option for hosting websites and APIs with minimal operational overhead. Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) supports microservices and container-based applications with strong orchestration capabilities. Azure Functions are helpful for serverless or event-driven workloads.

Azure App Service documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/app-service/

AKS documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/aks/
Azure Functions documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/azure-functions/

Choosing the right compute platform improves scalability, security, and performance.

Migrating and Modernizing Databases

Azure offers several modern database services, including Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance, Azure PostgreSQL, and Cosmos DB. These services reduce administrative overhead and offer built-in high availability. Database Migration Service helps automate schema conversion and data transfer.

Azure Database Migration Service helps streamline schema conversion and data movement.
Documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/dms/dms-overview

After migration, it is important to validate schema integrity, perform performance testing, and confirm that the application works properly with the new database.

Designing a Secure Cloud Architecture

Security must be at the center of the design. Managed Identities remove the need for storing credentials. Azure Key Vault protects secrets and encryption keys. Defender for Cloud improves security posture and provides threat detection.

Managed Identities documentation:
https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/active-directory/managed-identities-azure-resources/

Key Vault documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/key-vault/

Defender for Cloud documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/defender-for-cloud/

A secure application also depends on strong network design. Azure provides tools such as Virtual Networks, Private Endpoints, Network Security Groups, Application Gateway, and Azure Firewall.
Network security guidance: Best practices for network security - Microsoft Azure | Microsoft Learn

Planning for High Availability and Resilience

Moving to Azure gives you the ability to build highly resilient applications. Availability Zones help protect the application from failures in a single data center. Azure Load Balancer and Application Gateway help distribute traffic between instances. Geo-replication keeps data available even during regional disruptions.

Resilience guidance:
https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/architecture/framework/resiliency/overview

Adding retry logic and resilience patterns in the application code ensures that the app can recover from intermittent failures.

Adopting DevOps and Continuous Delivery

Azure integrates well with DevOps practices. GitHub Actions and Azure DevOps Pipelines allow applications to be built, tested, and deployed automatically. Infrastructure can be deployed consistently using Terraform, Bicep, or ARM templates.

Azure DevOps Pipelines documentation:
https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/devops/pipelines/

Automated deployments make it easier to maintain quality and reduce human error during rollouts.

Monitoring, Logging, and Observability

Once the application is running in Azure, monitoring becomes an essential part of operations. Azure Monitor provides metrics and alerting. Application Insights captures performance, tracing, and error data. Log Analytics offers centralized log storage and analysis.

Observability overview:
https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/azure-monitor/

Strong observability ensures issues can be detected early and resolved quickly.

Managing Cost and Governance

Governance is important for long-term cloud success. Azure Policy helps enforce compliance and security standards. Tagging strategies support better organization and cost tracking. Azure Cost Management provides visibility into spending and suggests optimization areas.

Governance documentation:
https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/governance/policy/overview

Using budgets, alerts, and resource organization strategies helps control costs and keeps the environment manageable.

Testing, Cutover, and Post-Migration Optimization

Before switching to production, performance testing, load testing, functional validation, and security scanning should be completed. Azure Load Testing and various open-source tools can help simulate traffic. Once the application is ready, a cutover plan ensures a smooth transition, and a rollback plan prepares the team for unexpected issues.

After going live, ongoing optimization helps improve reliability, reduce cost, and modernize additional parts of the application. Azure’s cloud-native services, such as Service Bus, Event Grid, and Azure AI Studio, can be added to enhance the application further.

Using AI to Improve and Accelerate Azure Migrations

AI can significantly improve the migration journey. It can help automate analysis, enhance decision-making, detect issues early, and modernize application architecture.

Modernizing with AI begins in the assessment stage. Tools like Azure Migrate now include intelligent insights that recommend the right VM sizes, storage tiers, or modernization paths based on workloads. These recommendations are driven by data collected from on-premises systems, helping teams make more accurate decisions. Azure Advisor also uses AI to suggest performance, cost, and reliability improvements after workloads move to Azure.
Documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/advisor/advisor-overview

AI can also support code modernization. GitHub Copilot helps engineers refactor legacy code, containerize applications, and rewrite outdated components faster and with fewer errors. This is especially useful when moving monolithic applications into microservices or serverless models.

During database modernization, Azure SQL and Cosmos DB use built-in intelligence to index data, tune queries, detect anomalies, and improve performance autonomously.
Azure SQL Intelligent Performance: Automatic Tuning Overview - Azure SQL & SQL database in Fabric | Microsoft Learn

AI improves security as well. Microsoft Defender for Cloud and Sentinel use machine learning to detect unusual behavior, misconfigurations, and threats. This is helpful during migration because legacy apps often contain hidden vulnerabilities.

Sentinel documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/sentinel/

AI can also support testing and validation by generating synthetic test data, predicting performance bottlenecks, and analyzing logs during trial runs.

In operations, AI-based monitoring in Azure Monitor and Application Insights helps detect anomalies earlier and automatically pinpoint the root cause of issues. This reduces downtime and simplifies troubleshooting.

AI-enabled migration accelerators and copilots across Azure, GitHub, and Visual Studio help teams modernize faster, reduce manual effort, and improve the accuracy of the migration plan.

Workload by week/ month export to Excel

Runejors — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 17:55:59 GMT

I like to use Visual report, but that doesn’t work.. I have MSProject 2016 and office 365.

so I have tried to use save as (export) as xls. But I can’t get the load or week or month.
anyone that can help out

setup in table format. I think… the I can build the rest in Excel if needed

rune

AI Upskilling Framework Level 3 Building

carlottacaste — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 17:31:50 GMT

The Global AI Community is excited to bring you the latest updates on AI Upskilling Framework Level 3 Building, straight from Microsoft Ignite! This session dives deep into advanced concepts for building agentic workflows and showcases new announcements that will help developers accelerate their Agentic AI journey.

AI Upskilling Framework

In this new era of work, AI skills will be critical for nearly every role. But the level of AI readiness will vary: An entry-level sales representative, seasoned marketing professional, data analyst, and engineer will all need different skills to incorporate AI into their day-to-day work.

It can be complex to navigate these different use cases; that’s why the LinkedIn Learning team crafted a five-level framework with a structured learning model to upskill your organization on AI. They built the framework utilizing insights from LinkedIn’s 1 billion members across 200 regions and countries; consulted LinkedIn Learning instructors who are some of the top AI experts in their field; and validated the model with LinkedIn’s top AI engineering experts across R&D and IT.

Level 3 Building - Session Highlights

In this session, we start with an introduction to the AI Upskilling Framework, setting the stage for Level 3 building and its significance. We then explore the blueprint and landscape of agentic workflows, followed by a deep dive into what an agent is, why it matters, and the challenges organizations face when adopting this approach. You’ll see practical use cases and learn about the tools that enable agentic solutions, including a live demo with Microsoft Foundry. Next, we introduce the Microsoft Agentic Framework (MAF), comparing traditional workflows with agentic workflows and addressing common issues. To bring these concepts to life, we showcase two new demos: a Claims Intake Workflow and a Claims Fraud Detection Workflow, highlighting how agentic design transforms real-world processes. Finally, we wrap up with a recap and key takeaways to help you apply these insights in your own projects.

Speakers

Alexander Wachtel - Microsoft AI MVP & MCT, CEO @ ESC Deutschland GmbH
Jose Luis Latorre Millas - Microsoft AI MVP, Software Architect @ Swiss Life AG
Carlotta Castelluccio- Sr AI Advocate @ Microsoft

Useful Resources

Deep dive into the demo code: https://aka.ms/multi-agents-sample
Learn more on MS Learn https://aka.ms/ai-agents-fundamentals and our OSS AI Agents for beginners course https://aka.ms/ai-agents-beginners
Join our online communities to share ideas and experiences: https://aka.ms/foundrydevs

CSP Promotion Exception Request

seth — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 17:05:40 GMT

We're having trouble claiming a promotion for a customer. Partner support says our PDM needs to submit an exception request. However, we haven't been assigned a PDM. How can we resolve this? Our CSAM doesn't seem to know either. Does anyone have any ideas?