Taswar Bhatti
The synonyms of software simplicity
Azure 5 Highlights Thursday

Published: 2026-04-09
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-highlights-thursday-9th-april-2026-107-edition-taswar-bhatti-bgcyf

Here is the #107 edition of 5 Highlights Thursday to help you in your Azure journey and keep you informed. Feel free to forward this along to anyone who you think may enjoy or better ask them to subscribe.

1. Tech Brief: Agentic DevOps with GitHub Copilot (April 28th)

Join the Tech Brief if you are building intelligent applications requires more than just powerful AI models—it also demands a seamless, adaptive development life cycle. Join us to explore how agentic DevOps is transforming the way that teams build, deploy, and scale AI-powered applications on Microsoft Azure. This session is designed for technology and development decision-makers.

2. Network-layer data protection with Microsoft Entra GSA and Purview DLP

Watch the session to learn how this Network Data Security integration allows Purview DLP policies to inspect and control sensitive file traffic in transit through GSA Internet Access, preventing data from reaching unsanctioned cloud apps, generative AI platforms, and cloud storage services.

3. Clean Architecture with ASP .NET Core 10

ASP.NET Core provides better support for clean, testable, maintainable architectures than any of its predecessors. Learn the underlying principles that apply to project/solution organization, how best to arrange your projects to support loosely coupled, maintainable code, and how to refactor existing solutions toward this architecture.

4. Building a Real-Time Multi-Agent UI with AG-UI and Microsoft Agent Framework Workflows

Embedded content: Building a Real-Time Multi-Agent UI with AG-UI and Microsoft Agent Framework Workflows | Microsoft Agent Framework

This post shows what a better answer looks like. It build’s a customer support workflow that pairs Microsoft Agent Framework (MAF) handoffs with AG-UI,

5. GitHub Copilot CLI in Action: Getting Started

GitHub Copilot CLI provides a terminal-based AI coding companion that can be used to explain code, generate code, do code reviews, work with PRs, run and generate tests, and much more. In this video you’ll learn about what Copilot CLI is, how you can get started using it, and examples of it in action.


As always, please give me feedback on LinkedIn. Which bullet above is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know.

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Have a wonderful Thursday 🙂

Taswar

Azure 5 Highlights Thursday

Published: 2026-04-02
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-highlights-thursday-2nd-april-2026-106-edition-taswar-bhatti-u3pxf

Here is the #106 edition of 5 Highlights Thursday to help you in your Azure journey and keep you informed. Feel free to forward this along to anyone who you think may enjoy or better ask them to subscribe.

1. Native Regex in SQL Server 2025

REGEX in Microsoft SQL (SQL Server, Azure SQL, SQL database in Fabric) – did you know we have T-SQL functions for this and it just works? Join Anna Hoffman & Ed Pollack where they take us through it, on #DataExposed #MVPEdition.

2. Foundry IQ: Querying the Multi-Source AI Knowledge Bases

The third episode of The IQ Series opens with Amanda Silver introducing Knowledge Bases and how multiple Knowledge Sources unify behind a single endpoint. Pamela Fox and Matthew Gotteiner then walk through topic-centric Knowledge Bases and demonstrate a multi-source query path, showing how Foundry IQ moves from isolated data pipelines to reusable, queryable knowledge. The episode closes with Tomomi Imura visual doodles, illustrating how this shift unlocks a more connected and scalable knowledge architecture.

3. Developer Tools for Agent ID: SDKs, CLIs & Samples

Join Kyle Marsh on how to accelerate agent and app development with the Microsoft Entra developer toolchain in this deep‑dive session focused on real‑world identity scenarios. Explore SDKs, sample repositories, and ready‑to‑run resources that help you acquire tokens, implement consent flows, and securely call downstream APIs with confidence.

4. Modernizing Legacy .NET applications with GitHub Copilot

Modernizing legacy .NET applications is often intimidating: no one wants to be the developer who breaks code in production. But what if you could approach it with low risk and high confidence? In this live coding session, Jorge Balderas, will demonstrate how GitHub Copilot CLI and the modernize-dotnet custom agent can be used to safely and systematically modernize legacy code.

5. Decision Matrix: API vs MCP Tools — The Great Integration Showdown

Embedded content: Decision Matrix: API vs MCP Tools — The Great Integration Showdown 🥊 | Microsoft Community Hub

Here is a blog post by Sabyasachi Samaddar on deep dive of API vs MCP.


As always, please give me feedback on LinkedIn. Which bullet above is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know.

Last by not least, know someone who might be interested in this newsletter? Share it with them.

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Have a wonderful Thursday 🙂

Taswar

Azure 5 Highlights Thursday

Published: 2026-03-26
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-highlights-thursday-26th-march-2026-105-edition-taswar-bhatti-ypuxf

Here is the #105 edition of 5 Highlights Thursday to help you in your Azure journey and keep you informed. Feel free to forward this along to anyone who you think may enjoy or better ask them to subscribe.

1. Build & Deploy a fullstack JavaScript App with GitHub Copilot CLI and Azure MCP

Watch this video where Karishma Ghiya builds a fullstack JavaScript-based photo gallery web app from scratch using GitHub Copilot CLI and Azure MCP with the Azure Skills plugin, then deploy it to Microsoft Azure.

2. Ten Open-Source projects from KubeCon Project Pavillion

Watch Jorge Arteiro at KubeCon Atlanta 2025 Project Pavillion. It’s a group of 10 Short videos of CNCF projects. Projects are COPA, Drasi, External Secrets, Headlamp, Inspektor Gadget, K3S, KubeScape, Fluentd/FluentBit, Dapr and Flux

3. Runtime Reality Check – from poisoned packages to AI workloads as adversaries.

Cloud attackers are gaining the insider advantage. In this latest S.T.A.R. video episode, our team Avi Sharma, Diwas Sedai , Raae Wolfram reveals how the latest attacks are bypassing perimeters to strike directly in cloud runtimes. Key topics, Learn how adversaries inject malicious code into dependencies and exploit package managers.

4. .NET AI Community Standup: Real-World AI Agent Architecture in .NET

Join Bruno Capuano & Justin Yoo on what does a real AI agent application look like beyond Hello World? Using the open-source Interview Coach sample, we’ll explore production patterns for building multi-agent systems in .NET using: – Microsoft Agent Framework – Microsoft Foundry as the model backend – Model Context Protocol (MCP) for tool integration – Aspire for orchestration and observability

5. Generative AI for Beginners .NET: Version 2 on .NET 10

Embedded content: Generative AI for Beginners .NET: Version 2 on .NET 10 – .NET Blog

AI needle keeps moving thus here is version 2 of Gen AI for Beginners, with completely rewritten curriculum with five structured lessons, updated to .NET 10, etc


As always, please give me feedback on LinkedIn. Which bullet above is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know.

Last by not least, know someone who might be interested in this newsletter? Share it with them.

Subscribe on LinkedIn

Have a wonderful Thursday 🙂

Taswar

Azure 5 Highlights Thursday

Published: 2026-03-19
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-highlights-thursday-19th-march-2026-104-edition-taswar-bhatti-n8xvf

Happy Eid (iyi Bayramlar) for the everyone; here is the #104 edition of 5 Highlights Thursday to help you in your Azure journey and keep you informed. Feel free to forward this along to anyone who you think may enjoy or better ask them to subscribe.

1. Foundry IQ: Unlocking Knowledge for Your Agents

Watch the first IQ Series with Pablo Castro introducing Foundry IQ and the role it plays in building knowledge‑centric AI systems. Ayça Baş and Farzad Sunavala then walk through how Foundry IQ supports agents by bringing together core building blocks such as retrieval, reasoning, synthesis, and orchestration, and how these components work together in practice.

2. Build AI Agents with Your Data for Under $10 a Month!

Watch Bob Ward, Principal Architect on the Azure Data team, where Bob walks through building a simple AI Application that ‘knows’ your data using Copilot Studio and Azure SQL Database. Help your marketing team or your shoppers in these real-life use cases – and then rise and repeat to build more! All for only $10 a month, with no coding skills required.

3.Beyond KQL: Unlocking SOC Insights with Sentinel data lake Jupyter Notebook

Join Javier Soriano and David H. where they introduce Jupyter Notebooks, explore the benefits they offer, and highlight their value within Microsoft Sentinel’s data lake. Join them for a step-by-step walkthrough on getting started, reading from and writing to the data lake, scheduling recurring notebook tasks, and applying advanced techniques to shape and analyze your data.

4. Building MCP on Entra: Design Choices for Enterprise Agents

Join Merill Fernando where in this session, he explores approaches for integrating MCP with Microsoft Entra Agent ID, with a focus on the foundational aspects of agent identity, consent, and authorization in enterprise environments.

5. Deploying Python apps on Azure App Service

Join Scott Hanselman and Nir Mashkowski where they will go through the simplest way to get started with Python in the cloud. The video explores different deployment approaches and recent changes to the platform to be even simpler.


As always, please give me feedback on LinkedIn. Which bullet above is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know.

Last by not least, know someone who might be interested in this newsletter? Share it with them.

Subscribe on LinkedIn

Have a wonderful Thursday 🙂

Taswar

Azure 5 Highlights Thursday

Published: 2026-03-12
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-highlights-thursday-12th-march-2026-103-edition-taswar-bhatti-aqn3f

Here is the #103 edition of 5 Highlights Thursday to help you in your Azure journey and keep you informed. Feel free to forward this along to anyone who you think may enjoy or better ask them to subscribe.

1. Agent‑ready in 30 days: a practical blueprint for Copilot Agents

Join Daniel Rohregger on Agent ready in 30 days where he explains how enterprises don’t need a massive program to start with agents! They need a safe, fast, and provable path. This session delivers a 30‑day blueprint to launch your first Microsoft 365 agent fast, easy and securely. Including a long‑term strategy for a scalable agent environment in M365. Learn how to finally cut oversharing by govern Teams and SharePoint Online and use Purview and label controls! I share best practices and tips for agent management to ensure sustainable agentic success.

2. Figma MCP for VS Code: Bringing Designs to Life with AI, with Joanna Oikawa

Join Joanna Oikawa & John Maeda on how designers have long handed off work from Figma to engineering—but Model Context Protocol (MCP) is changing that workflow. In this episode of Cozy AI Kitchen, Joanna Oikawa (Product Design Lead, VS Code) walks through how Figma MCP connects Figma designs directly to VS Code, enabling faster iteration, live collaboration, and AI‑assisted UI development.

3. QR code authentication: Fast, simple sign‑in designed for Frontline Workers

Join Akshat Goel where he explains QR Code Auth. Frontline teams often share mobile devices, and long usernames and passwords slow work down. This session introduces QR code authentication in Microsoft Entra ID, a faster and more secure way to sign in on shared iOS, iPadOS, and Android devices using a unique QR code and PIN. No personal phones or complex credentials required

4. What’s new in Microsoft Foundry | February 2026

Embedded content: What's new in Microsoft Foundry | February 2026 | Microsoft Foundry Blog

Here is a quick read for what’s new in Microsoft Foundry 2026 by Nick Brady

5. Getting started with GitHub Copilot CLI | Tutorial for beginners

In this video, Christopher Harrison covers the essentials of getting started with your new terminal-based AI coding assistant: the GitHub Copilot CLI.


As always, please give me feedback on LinkedIn. Which bullet above is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know.

Last by not least, know someone who might be interested in this newsletter? Share it with them.

Subscribe on LinkedIn

Have a wonderful Thursday 🙂

Taswar

Azure 5 Highlights Thursday

Published: 2026-03-05
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-highlights-thursday-5th-march-2026-102-edition-taswar-bhatti-4pkcf

Here is the #102 edition of 5 Highlights Thursday to help you in your Azure journey and keep you informed. Feel free to forward this along to anyone who you think may enjoy or better ask them to subscribe.

1. Agentic RAG for Everyone Using Azure SQL, OpenAI, and Web Apps

Join the legendary Davide Mauri as he builds an agentic RAG solution on a tiny budget using Azure SQL, OpenAI, and Web Apps.

2. VS Code for the Web

Join Scott Hanselman & Meera Haridasa on how to get started with VS Code for the Web – Azure to seamlessly run, debug and deploy your applications with no setup! This browser based VS Code environment allows you to work as you would locally, but wherever you are. Watch this video to see us create an enterprise-grade application, run it and deploy it to Azure within minutes!

3. Azure Firewall Integration with Microsoft Sentinel

Join Shabaz Shaik & Sai Prasanna Kishor for a focused session on how Azure Firewall integrates with Microsoft Sentinel to enhance threat visibility and streamline security investigations.

4. Vector Data in .NET – Building Blocks for AI Part 2

Embedded content: Vector Data in .NET – Building Blocks for AI Part 2 – .NET Blog

If you want to earn about VectorData in .NET, then you dont want to miss the series written by Jeremy Likness Where he explains the same benefits to vector databases that Microsoft.Extensions.AI brings to LLMs.

5. Reduce Azure Networking Costs: Smart Routing, Locality & Efficient Connectivity

Join Andrea Michael on how to cut Azure networking spend by minimizing egress, optimizing routing, using Private Link and NAT Gateway, and right‑sizing ExpressRoute and load balancing services—without sacrificing performance.


As always, please give me feedback on LinkedIn. Which bullet above is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know.

Last by not least, know someone who might be interested in this newsletter? Share it with them.

Subscribe on LinkedIn

Have a wonderful Thursday 🙂

Taswar

Azure 5 Highlights Thursday

Published: 2026-02-26
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-highlights-thursday-26th-feb-2026-101-edition-taswar-bhatti-heihf

Here is the #101 edition of 5 Highlights Thursday to help you in your Azure journey and keep you informed. Feel free to forward this along to anyone who you think may enjoy or better ask them to subscribe.

1. Zero-Trust AI Agents: Secure Microsoft Foundry Workflow

As autonomous AI agents built with Azure AI Foundry take on critical tasks, security is non-negotiable. In this fast demo, we apply zero trust to agent chains: secure tool access with Entra ID, protect secrets and context with Key Vault, enforce real-time content filters, and capture auditable traces. Learn to stop prompt injection, data leaks, and agent hijacking using Azure’s native security controls. Walk away with a battle-tested checklist for hardening Foundry agents!

2. From Alert to Resolution: Using Security Agents to Power Real‑World SOC Workflows

Join Ugur Koc , Ankur Arora & Konrad Sagala in this webinar, we’ll show how SOC analysts can harness security agents from Microsoft Security Store to strengthen every stage of the incident lifecycle. Through realistic SOC workflows based on everyday analyst tasks, we will follow each scenario end to end, beginning with the initial alert and moving through triage, investigation, and remediation.

3. Harness the power of your data with SQL Server 2025, the AI-ready enterprise database

Would you like to take your search in SQL Server to the next level? In this episode, check out how to use vector search, securely built into the SQL Server 2025.

4. Upcoming Events – Agentic DevOps Live

Embedded content: Agentic DevOps Live | Microsoft Reactor

Agentic DevOps Live is your central hub for learning, implementing, and mastering the tools and services that bring AI-powered automation into the software lifecycle. Each session offers practical insights, demos, and actionable playbooks to help you apply Agentic DevOps effectively.

Join live or access on demand—return anytime for blueprints, adoption guides, and hands-on resources designed to boost productivity, accelerate delivery, and enable innovation with confidence and quality.

5. Develop a Web App with CoPilot and Azure SQL Database for Under $10!

What if a production ready clinic app could be generated, iterated, and deployed mostly by AI, and cost less than $10? Join us, Amar and Arvind, to see how we built a professional web app for a university dental clinic using a Copilot first workflow in VS Code with GitHub Copilot Pro to scaffold the .NET solution, author deployment scripts, and accelerate debugging. We run it on Azure App Service (F1) and store data in Azure SQL Database (free offer) to keep performance high and costs tiny.


As always, please give me feedback on LinkedIn. Which bullet above is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know.

Last by not least, know someone who might be interested in this newsletter? Share it with them.

Subscribe on LinkedIn

Have a wonderful Thursday 🙂

Taswar

Azure 5 Highlights Thursday

Published: 2026-02-05
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-highlights-thursday-5th-feb-2026-100-edition-taswar-bhatti-g93tf

Here is the #100 edition of 5 Highlights Thursday to help you in your Azure journey and keep you informed. Feel free to forward this along to anyone who you think may enjoy or better ask them to subscribe.

1. Agents That Talk Back: MCP, ACP, A2A, Oh my! – NDC Manchester 2025

Here is my talk at NDC Manchester where I spoke about MCP, ACP and A2A protocol. I hope you like it and feel free to give me any feedback more than welcome.

2. Building environmental-aware API platforms w/ API Management

Are you striving to reduce the impact on the environment for your A(P)I landscape? Azure API Management is here to help! Learn from Scott Hanselman & Tom Kerkhove ☁️ in this video at Azure Friday.

3. Microsoft Sentinel | Accelerate your SIEM migration to Microsoft Sentinel

Watch this webinar featuring Margaret Mwaura, Sarah Vetter & Yossi Hasson to discover how Microsoft Sentinel simplifies SIEM migration and enables true SOC transformation. Experience the new AI-powered SIEM migration tool that goes beyond syntax conversion—delivering advanced correlation, actionable insights, and accurate intent-based mapping for improved detection coverage and continuous optimization.

4. Using the GitHub Copilot CLI and SDK for .NET dev

GitHub Copilot CLI is getting lots of traction, if you want to learn it then watch this video. Learn all about the GitHub Copilot SDK with Steve Sanderson!

5. AgentCon Istanbul – 7th Feb 2026

AgentCon Istanbul 2026

AgentCon Istanbul 2026

Come and join us at AgentCon this Saturday, lots of amazing session you definitely don’t want to miss out, not to mention it is free, but do register to get a spot. https://globalai.community/chapters/istanbul/events/agentcon-istanbul/

Linkedin Newsletter

Hi everyone,

Your weekly dose of 5 Highlights Thursday is here, a list of information and links that you may find helpful in your Azure journey. Feel free to forward this along to anyone who you think may enjoy such sharing.

1. Microsoft partnership with Mistral AI

Microsoft on Monday announced a new partnership with French start-up Mistral AI as the U.S. tech giant seeks to expand its footprint in the fast-evolving artificial intelligence industry. Read more in the link below:

Mistral AI

Mistral AI

2. Research Forum Keynote: Research in the Era of AI

Peter Lee, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Research and Incubations, discusses how recent developments in AI have transformed the way Microsoft approaches research.

3. Develop Your Copilot Skills (Part 2)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is fundamentally changing how we relate to and benefit from technology. In this episode of the #AzureEnablementShow, Aaron and Natalie share some of the amazing—and FREE—training resources available to help you get the most out of #MicrosoftCopilot. In this second of three episodes, Natalie will share some of the video and self-paced learning resources available for GitHub Copilot, including Introduction to GitHub CoPilot, GitHub Copilot for Visual Studio, Learning AI with GitHub Copilot, and GitHub Copilot Fundamentals – Understand the AI pair programmer.

4. DevOps Security Capabilities in Defender CSPM

In this episode of Defender for Cloud in the Field, Charles Oxyer joins Yuri Diogenes to talk about DevOps security capabilities in Defender CSPM. Charles explains the importance of DevOps security in Microsoft CNAPP solution, what are the free capabilities available as part of Foundational CSPM, and what are the advanced DevOps security features included in Defender CSPM. Charles demonstrates how to improve the DevOps security posture by remediating recommendations, and how to use code to cloud contextualization with Cloud Security Explorer.

5. Microsoft Azure Virtual Training Day: AI Fundamentals – March 6th 2023

Explore core AI concepts at Azure Virtual Training Day: AI Fundamentals from Microsoft Learn. Join us for this free training event to learn how organizations use AI technology to solve real-world challenges and see how to build intelligent applications using Azure AI services. This training is suitable for anyone interested in AI solutions—including those in technical or business roles.

Azure Virtual Training Day

Azure Virtual Training Day


You can complement this edition of 5 Highlights Thursday with our MEA Developer Channel on YouTube where we have weekly interviews and learning material on Microsoft Azure, and much more.

And, as always, please give me feedback on LinkedIn. Which bullet above is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know.

Last by not least, know someone who might be interested in this newsletter? Share it with them.

Subscribe on LinkedIn

Have a wonderful Thursday 🙂

Taswar

Linkedin Newsletter

Hi everyone,

Your weekly dose of 5 Highlights Thursday is here, a list of information and links that you may find helpful in your Azure journey. Feel free to forward this along to anyone who you think may enjoy such sharing.

1. Demo of Azure AI & pgvector with Azure Database for PostgreSQL

This video showcases how you can improve the relevance of search results on a recipe website by using Azure OpenAI. Specifically the demo shows how you can use the new azure_ai (Preview) extension along with the open source pgvector extension and the Azure Database for PostgreSQL managed service to deliver semantic search results—as compared to search results you could obtain in the past via pattern matching with the LIKE clause in Postgres, or via Postgres full text search. The demo also shows how azure_ai gives you an integration between Azure Database for PostgreSQL and the Azure AI Language service, so you can do things like sentiment analysis, language detection, and PII redaction. In combination with the Azure Database for PostgreSQL service and pgvector, the new azure_ai extension to Postgres gives you the capability to build entirely new classes of applications—entirely in Postgres.

2. Encryption and Ledger in Azure SQL Database | Data Exposed

In this episode of Data Exposed, learn about the recent Azure SQL security innovations with Anna Hoffman and Pieter Vanhove.

3. Microsoft Fabric February 2024 Update

Read the Microsoft Fabric Feb Update. They have a lot of great features this month including Fabric Git Integration REST APIs, Fabric notebook status bar upgrade, Copilot in Dataflow Gen2, and many more!

Microsoft Fabric February 2024 Update

Microsoft Fabric February 2024 Update

4. Save money with Arc SQL Server licensing – what you need to know | Data Exposed

If you are used to traditional licensing options and pay for software assurance, you may wonder why you would ever use pay-as-you-go billing. In this episode of Data Exposed with Anna Hoffman and Sasha Nosov, we’ll cover how to use our new PayG model and understand how you can use Extended Security Updates.

5. MVP TechBytes – An Overview of Azure Virtual Desktop with Mahammad Kubaib

Dive into Azure Virtual Desktop with MVP Tech Bytes! 💻 Join Mahammad Kubaib and Taswar Bhatti to explore its benefits, deployment, and configuration. Discover how Azure Virtual Desktop can streamline and secure your virtual desktop experience. Don’t miss out on expanding your software development skills.


You can complement this edition of 5 Highlights Thursday with our MEA Developer Channel on YouTube where we have weekly interviews and learning material on Microsoft Azure, and much more.

And, as always, please give me feedback on LinkedIn. Which bullet above is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know.

Last by not least, know someone who might be interested in this newsletter? Share it with them.

Subscribe on LinkedIn

Have a wonderful Thursday 🙂

Taswar

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