Do any of these issues sound familiar?

- My AG fails to failover

- Why did my AG failover? 

- Why did my AG fail?

- My AG is missing!

- Why am I seeing stale data on secondary? 

- What is with the sudden log growth alerts?

You are either hearing from end users that they are seeing stale data, or they are losing connections to availability database or listener, or you have monitoring solutions in place to catch these proactively and mitigate but are looking for a root cause. In either scenario, it helps to understand the high-level architecture of Availability Groups and the troubleshooting resources available for these components.

1.0 Overview of Availability Group

A picture is worth a thousand words. The above picture depicts the different high-level components that are at play with Always On Availability Groups.  This article attempts to give a high-level conceptual overview of the different components, a map to common failure troubleshooting articles, and specific support topics/component to use when calling Microsoft support for further assistance. This article is not an all-encompassing map of all the issues that one could run into with AG, as there could be various issues based on specific environment and workloads. However, this is an attempt to include the common areas of failures and the logs to look at for narrowing the issue and component down.

2.0 Why WSFC with AG? 

As you can see from the picture, in a Windows environment, when AG is deployed for HA, a Windows Server Failover Cluster (WSFC) is required. WSFC monitors the health of the AG cluster role and also controls operations such as offline/online of the AG cluster role.

• AG is a cluster role on Windows Server failover Cluster (WSFC).
• Cluster service has a Resource Control Manager (RCM) component that is responsible for bringing the cluster resource group to a persistent state. RCM also negotiates with all the RCM instances on all the cluster nodes to ensure that the AG cluster role is online on at most one cluster node at a time. RCM is responsible for bringing the resources in the cluster resource group online in the order of dependencies.
• In order to keep the cluster process stable and not load the custom resource DLLs into the cluster process, a child process RHS (Resource Host Subsystem), also called a Resource Monitor, hosts the DLLs for cluster resources.  SQL Server Always On Availability group has a resource DLL (hadrres.dll) that is loaded into the RHS process. 
• If you are interested in reading more about failover cluster software components, here is a good article - Creating a Cluster Resource DLL (Part 1).

WSFC component performs mainly the following functions:

• Heartbeat communication between cluster nodes

Heartbeat messages are sent between cluster nodes to ensure that the cluster is in a healthy and consistent state. IPv6 is the default protocol that Failover Clustering will use for its heartbeats. The heartbeat itself is a UDP unicast network packet that communicates over Port 3343. 

- Delay defines the frequency in seconds at which cluster heartbeats are sent between nodes (default = 1 second in same subnet and cross subnet)

- Threshold defines the number of heartbeats which are missed before the cluster takes recover action. (default = 10 heartbeats in same subnet, 20 in cross subnet)

- Reference: Detailed heartbeat thresholds are documented here Tuning Failover Cluster Network Thresholds - Microsoft Community Hub

So, with default delay of 1 second and default threshold of 10 heartbeats on a single subnet WSFC environment, what do you expect to see when a certain cluster node does not respond to heartbeats for 10 seconds? This node is removed from active failover cluster membership. You will see a 1135 event on your system log with a message that goes like" Cluster node 'N1' was removed from the active failover cluster membership... " For more details on how to troubleshoot this issue, refer to A problem with deleting a node | Microsoft Learn

• Cluster Quorum

Quorum mechanism is used to prevent split brain and also ensure a consistent and healthy state of WSFC. Cluster goes offline in the event of quorum loss. When cluster service shuts down due to quorum loss, Event ID 1177 is logged in event viewer under Microsoft-Windows-FailoverClustering with a message that goes like "The Cluster service is shutting down because quorum was lost. ... " For more information on troubleshooting this, please refer to : Event ID 1177 — Quorum and Connectivity Needed for Quorum | Microsoft Learn

• Lease (Looks-Alive) 

This is a continuous handshake between SQL Server instance and SQL Server resource DLL to ensure that the AG resource looks alive.  A lease timeout may result in the following errors:

2016-02-16 11:37:03.05 Server      Error: 19419, Severity: 16, State: 1.
2016-02-16 11:37:03.05 Server      Windows Server Failover Cluster did not receive a process event signal from SQL Server hosting availability group 'ag' within the lease timeout period.
2016-02-16 11:37:03.07 Server      Error: 19407, Severity: 16, State: 1.
2016-02-16 11:37:03.07 Server      The lease between availability group 'ag' and the Windows Server Failover Cluster has expired. A connectivity issue occurred between the instance of SQL Server and the Windows Server Failover Cluster. To determine whether the availability group is failing over correctly, check the corresponding availability group resource in the Windows Server Failover Cluster.

Other errors with lease timeout: Improved Always On Availability Group Lease Timeout Diagnostics - Microsoft Community Hub

• Health Check (IsAlive) - 

Two values control the Always On health check: FailureConditionLevel and HealthCheckTimeout. The FailureConditionLevel indicates the tolerance level to specific failure conditions reported by sp_server_diagnosticsand the HealthCheckTimeout configures the time the resource DLL can go without receiving an update fromsp_server_diagnostics. The update interval forsp_server_diagnosticsis always HealthCheckTimeout / 3. If SQL Server does not respond with the results from executing sp_server_diagnostic within the HEALTH_CHECK_TIMEOUT (default is 30 sec), then the availability group will transition to RESOLVING state and failover if configured to do so. (Reference/Credit: Diagnose Unexpected Failover or Availability Group in RESOLVING State - Microsoft Community Hub)

• Excellent Table to refer to on the healthcheckTimeout and lease timeout, the causes of these timeouts, and outcome of these timeouts - Availability group lease health check timeout - SQL Server Always On | Microsoft Learn

3.0 How is AD/DNS involved?

When a cluster is created, a CNO (Cluster Name Object) is created in Active Directory. CNO has IP address(es) as dependencies and the CNO and IP are used for management and cluster operations. The listener also referred to as a Virtual Network Name (VNN) has a network name and IP address(es) and listener is also created in Active Directory. If the account that is used to create the cluster or listener on AD, does not have full permissions to perform the operation, CNO and listener can be pre-staged on AD.

Both the CNO network name and listener VNN network name are also present on DNS for mapping between the network name and IP address(es). Reference on DNS: DNS Registration with the Network Name Resource - Microsoft Community Hub

Some common issues on AD/DNS is permissions related - 

• Listener creation failure with error 19471 or 19476

Msg 19471, Level 16, State 0, Line 2
The WSFC cluster could not bring the Network Name resource with DNS name '<DNS name>' online. The DNS name may have been taken or have a conflict with existing name services, or the WSFC cluster service may not be running or may be inaccessible. Use a different DNS name to resolve name conflicts, or check the WSFC cluster log for more information.

Troubleshoot article: Create Listener Fails with Message 'The WSFC cluster could not bring the Network Name resource online' - Microsoft Community Hub

• Connection timeouts in multi-subnet availability group

Connection Timeouts in Multi-subnet Availability Group - Microsoft Community Hub

Connect to an availability group listener - SQL Server Always On | Microsoft Learn

• Driver and Client support 

Driver and client connectivity support for availability groups - SQL Server Always On | Microsoft Learn (This table shows the driver versions that have support for Always On parameters like Application Intent, multi-subnet failover, read-only routing etc.)

4.0 How is SQL Server involved?

Data movement from the primary replica to the secondary replica(s) is done through log block transmission and redo process.

Reference for the above image: Troubleshooting data movement latency between synchronous-commit Always On Availability Groups - Microsoft Community Hub (This article is also an excellent resource to read further)

5.0 My AG has an issue. Where do I look? 

This is not an all-encompassing list of issues, but includes some common issues observed with Always On. Hope this helps!

Thanks to @Joseph Pilov  and Kathleen Carter for reviewing this article. 

Till next time,

Dharshana

The Logic Apps Standard extension in VS Code provides a feature that allow customers to export workflows from Integration Services Environment (ISE) or Consumption SKUs to a Logic Apps Standard VS Code project.

This experience allows customers to group workflows that should be deployed together as Logic Apps Standard application, validates the workflows against the export logic – guaranteeing that workflows, once export, work successfully in the new platform, and generates a local VS Code project, allowing users to test the code locally before packaging them for deployment.

This tool is a core part of the strategy to migrate workflows off ISE, which is retiring on August 31, 2024, providing a way to export ISE workflows into Logic Apps Standard projects, allowing customers to plan their migration on their own terms.

For more details this export features, including a walkthrough and known issues, access the Microsoft Learn documentation for ISE or consumption.

What’s new in the Export Tool

Updated Converter List

The latest version of the Export Tool implemented a series of converters that will automatically replace actions based on Azure Connections to their Service Provider counterparts. The following is the list of converters implemented today:

• Azure API Management
• Azure Automation
• Azure Blob Storage
• Azure File Storage
• Azure Functions
• Azure Queue Storage
• Azure Table Storage
• Batch Operations
• DB2
• Event Grid Publisher
• Event Hubs
• File System
• Flat File
• FTP
• Integration Account
• Key Vault
• Liquid Operations
• MQ
• RosettaNet
• SAP
• Service Bus
• SFTP
• SMTP
• SQL Server
• Workflow Operations
• XML Operations

Custom Connector Export

Logic apps containing Custom Connector actions are now able to be exported. The exported workflow action will be converted to an HTTP action, with the endpoint parameterized. This allows the workflows to be exported and adds flexibility for the user to decide how that action will be configured.

Workflow Operations Export

One of the differences between consumption in standard is related how the workflow operations action works. While in consumption you could refer to any workflow in a subscription, with standard you are restricted to workflows in the same application. This would restrict how workflows with a “call child workflow” action could be exported. The export tool now handles this situation automatically, with the following rules:

• If a child workflow is part of the logic apps workflows selected to export, the tool will export that action as is.
• If a child workflow is not part of the logic apps workflows selected to export, the tool will export that action as an HTTP action, with the endpoint parameterized, so you can point to a different application.

Thank you for being a part of the HLS Teams Productivity Summit. We are pleased to provide you with a copy of today's presentation and recording, which you can find below.

Session Title: Empowering frontline workers on shared mobile devices

Session Details: Most frontline workers today use shared devices while at work. This means they need to sign-in and -out of their devices once or multiple times a shift. This can be time consuming, and if not done correctly, a security risk. To simplify authentication for shared device, Microsoft created Shared Device Mode.

With Shared Device Mode, a user only needs to sign-in once to be automatically authenticated into all their MSAL enabled applications and sign-out once to make the device safe to give to the next user. During this session, we will discuss timelines for Shared Device Mode and how to roll it out to your frontline workers.

Target Audience: IT Professionals who manage a fleet of shared corporate devices.

Documents can contain table data. For example, earning reports, purchase order forms, technical and operational manuals, etc., contain critical data in tables. You may need to extract this table data into Excel for various scenarios.

• Extract each table into a specific worksheet in Excel.
• Extract the data from all the similar tables and aggregate that data into a single table.

Here, we present two ways to generate Excel from a document's table data:

1. Azure Function (HTTP Trigger based): This function takes a document and generates an Excel file with the table data in the document.
2. Apache Spark in Azure Synapse Analytics (in case you need to process large volumes of documents).

The Azure function extracts table data from the document using Form Recognizer's "General Document" model and generates an Excel file with all the extracted tables. The following is the expected behavior:

• Each table on a page gets extracted and stored to a sheet in the Excel document. The sheet name corresponds to the page number in the document.
• Sometimes, there are key-value pairs on the page that need to be captured in the table. If you need that feature, leverage the add_key_value_pairs flag in the function.
• Form Recognizer extracts column and row spans, and we take advantage of this to present the data as it is represented in the actual table.

Following are two sample extractions.

Top excel is with key value pairs added to the table. Bottom one is without the key value pairs.

Solution

Azure Function and Synapse Spark Notebook is available here in this GIT Repository 

• Deployment Steps 
  • Azure Function
  • Synapse Spark Notebook
• Sample Data: The repository has two sample documents to work with:
  • PurchaseOrderForm.pdf . This document has key-value pairs for each table that makes sense to capture as part of the table.
    • PurchaseOrderForm-WithKeyValuePairs.xlsx --> This is the output with addkeyvaluepairs set to True.
    • PurchaseOrderForm-WithKeyValuePairs.xlsx --> This is the output with addkeyvaluepairs set to False.
  • earningreport.pdf . This document does not have key-value pairs for each table that makes sense to capture.
    • earningreport.xlsx -> This is the output with addkeyvaluepairs set to False.
• Note on the Excel output: 
  • If there is a page in the main document with no tables, no sheet will be created for that page.
  • The code has been updated to remove the extracted text from check boxes (":selected:", ":unselected:") in the table.
  • If a cell does not have any alphanumeric text, it will be skipped. Please update the code to reflect different behavior.

How to leverage this Solution

• Use this solution to generate an Excel file as mentioned above.
• Integrate this with Power Automate so that end-users can use this seamlessly from O365 (email, SharePoint, or Teams).
• Customize this to generate an aggregated table.

Contributors: Ben Ufuk Tezcan, Vinod Kurpad, Matt Nelson, Nicolas Uthurriague , Sreedhar Mallangi

Disclaimer

This document is not meant to replace any official documentation, including those found at docs.microsoft.com.  Those documents are continually updated and maintained by Microsoft Corporation.  If there is a discrepancy between this document and what you find in the Compliance User Interface (UI) or inside of a reference in docs.microsoft.com, you should always defer to that official documentation and contact your Microsoft Account team as needed.  Links to the docs.microsoft.com data will be referenced both in the document steps as well as in the appendix.

All the following steps should be done with test data, and where possible, testing should be performed in a test environment.  Testing should never be performed against production data.

Target Audience

Microsoft customers who want to better understand Microsoft Purview.

Document Scope

The purpose of this document (and series) is to provide insights into various user cases, announcements, customer driven questions, etc.

Topics for this blog entry

Here are the topics covered in this issue of the blog:

• Sensitivity Labels relating to SharePoint Lists
• Sensitivity Label Encryption versus other types of Microsoft tenant encryption
• How Sensitivity Labels conflicts are resolved
• How to apply Sensitivity Labels to existing SharePoint Sites
• Where can I find information on how Sensitivity Labels are applied to data within a SharePoint site (i.e. File label inheritance from the Site label)

Out-of-Scope

This blog series and entry is only meant to provide information, but for your specific use cases or needs, it is recommended that you contact your Microsoft Account Team to find other possible solutions to your needs.

Sensitivity labels and SharePoint Sites – Assorted topics

Encryption Sensitivity Label Encryption versus other types of Microsoft tenant encryption

Question #1

How does the encryption of Sensitivity Labels compare to encryption in leveraged in BitLocker?

Answer #1

The following table breaks this down in detail and is taken from the following Microsoft Link.

Encryption in Microsoft 365 - Microsoft Purview (compliance) | Microsoft Learn

Sensitivity Labels relating to SharePoint Lists

Question #2

Can you apply Sensitivity Labels to SharePoint Lists?

Answer #2

The simple answer is NO while in the list, but YES once the list is exported to a file format.

Data in the SharePoint List is stored within a SQL table in SharePoint.  At the time of the writing of this blog, you cannot apply a Sensitivity Label to a SharePoint Online tables, including SharePoint Lists.

SharePoint Lists allow for exports of the data in the list to a file format.  An automatic sensitivity label policy can apply a label to those file formats. Here is an (example below of those export options.

How to apply Sensitivity Labels to existing SharePoint Sites

Question #3

Can you apply Sensitivity Labels to existing SHPT sites?  If so, is this, can this be automated (ex. PowerShell)

Answer #3

You can leverage PowerShell to apply SharePoint labels to multiple sites.  Here is the link that explains how to accomplish this.

Look for these two sections in the link below for details:

• Use PowerShell to apply a sensitivity label to multiple sites
• View and manage sensitivity labels in the SharePoint admin center

Use sensitivity labels with Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365 Groups, and SharePoint sites - Microsoft Purview (compliance) | Microsoft Learn

How Sensitivity Labels conflicts are resolved

Question #4

If you have an existing file with an existing Sensitivity Label that is stricter than the Sensitivity Label being inherited from SharePoint Site label, which Sensitivity Label is applied to the file? 

Answer #4

Please refer to the link and table below for how Sensitivity Label conflicts are handled.  Notice that any Higher priority label or user applied label, would not be overridden by a site label or an automatic labeling policy.

Configure a default sensitivity label for a SharePoint document library - Microsoft Purview (compliance) | Microsoft Learn

File label inheritance from the Site label

Question #5

Where can you find the documentation on SharePoint Site labels and how label inheritance applies to files in that SharePoint site?

Answer #5

Here are 2 links that can help you with Sensitivity Labels and how they relate to SharePoint sites:

• Configure a default sensitivity label for a SharePoint document library - Microsoft Purview (compliance) | Microsoft Learn

• Enable sensitivity labels for Office files - Microsoft Purview (compliance) | Microsoft Learn

When it comes to default Sensitivity Labels for SharePoint sites/libraries (what I have called “label inheritance” above, this link is of use.

• Configure a default sensitivity label for a SharePoint document library - Microsoft Purview (compliance) | Microsoft Learn

"When SharePoint is enabled for sensitivity labels, you can configure a default label for document libraries. Then, any new files uploaded to that library, or existing files edited in the library will have that label applied if they don't already have a sensitivity label, or they have a sensitivity label but with lower priority.

For example, you configure the Confidential label as the default sensitivity label for a document library. A user who has General as their policy default label saves a new file in that library. SharePoint will label this file as Confidential because of that label's higher priority."

Appendix and Links

• Learn about sensitivity labels - Microsoft Purview (compliance) | Microsoft Learn

• Create and publish sensitivity labels - Microsoft Purview (compliance) | Microsoft Learn

• Enable sensitivity labels for Office files - Microsoft Purview (compliance) | Microsoft Learn

• Configure a default sensitivity label for a SharePoint document library - Microsoft Purview (compliance) | Microsoft Learn

• Use sensitivity labels to configure the default sharing link type - Microsoft Purview (compliance) | Microsoft Learn

• Use sensitivity labels with Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365 Groups, and SharePoint sites - Microsoft Purview (compliance) | Microsoft Learn

• Minimum versions for sensitivity labels in Microsoft 365 Apps - Microsoft Purview (compliance) | Microsoft Learn

• Encryption in Microsoft 365 - Microsoft Purview (compliance) | Microsoft Learn

• Use sensitivity labels with Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365 Groups, and SharePoint sites - Microsoft Purview (compliance) | Microsoft Learn

• Configure a default sensitivity label for a SharePoint document library - Microsoft Purview (compliance) | Microsoft Learn

In response to continued enthusiastic adoption of the twenty previously published Synapse Database Templates (SDTs), we’re pleased to announce today that we are releasing two Industry Data Models (IDMs), for Airlines and for Travel Services, that have not previously been published as SDTs, along with enhanced versions of seven previously published SDTs.

The IDM for Airlines is a comprehensive data model that addresses the typical data requirements of organizations operating one or more airlines for passengers and/or cargo. The IDM for Travel Services is a comprehensive data model that addresses the typical data requirements of organizations providing booking services and/or hospitality services for airlines, hotels, car rentals, cruises, and vacation packages.

We have released two new SDTs for Travel Services and Airlines, in addition to updated versions of the previously released SDTs for Automotive Industries, Consumer Packaged Goods, Healthcare Insurance, Healthcare Service Providers, Manufacturing, Retail, and Utilities. All twenty-two SDTs can now be accessed in Azure Synapse, either through the Gallery or by creating a new lake database from the Data tab and selecting '+ Table', and then 'From template'.

We have also continued to expand the scope and content of the previously published seven SDTs by releasing new versions. Additionally, we are working to ensure that our customers and partners who use selected Microsoft solution offerings can fully integrate their application data into relevant subsets of a data lake created using the new versions of SDTs.

The new versions for Healthcare Insurance and Healthcare Providers have been fully mapped from Microsoft’s Industry Cloud for Healthcare to ensure customers can land all their data from our Healthcare Cloud into the relevant subset of a data lake published using the applicable SDT to make it easier for our customers to land data from Microsoft’s Healthcare Cloud, along with data from their organization’s many other applications and data sources, into a comprehensive integrated and harmonized lake database deployed using the SDTs. We have also expanded the IDMs for healthcare to enable customers to provision the specific clinical data content required to support OMOP consumption in the gold layer of their Azure data lake if that is of interest.  

We’ve expanded the IDM for Retail to accommodate smart store and shopper journey data generated by solutions from key Microsoft smart store partners such as AiFI in support of current and anticipated future smart store analytics use cases. Similarly, the expanded IDM for Utilities provides full data support for data sourced from Microsoft’s 24x7 Sustainability offering. We’ve also expanded the IDMs for Automotive, Consumer Packaged Goods, and Manufacturing to provide full alignment with the recently announced Microsoft Supply Chain Center solution offering. Each of the SDTs that is part of this latest release also benefits from enhanced and expanded support for readings and data streams acquired from leading edge IoT devices and sensors used in each of those industries.

SDTs contain coverage of many different “business areas”, some very industry-specific and others cross-industry, that together comprise each of these very large IDMs. For example, in addition to comprehensive industry-specific business areas (such as Reservations, Ticketing, and Cargo and Departure Control Services for the Airline industry), most SDTs also include cross-industry business areas such as Accounting & Financial Reporting, Human Resources, Inventory, and an Emissions business area which provides support for data used to report greenhouse gas emissions (including scope 1, scope 2, and scope 3 emissions), combining to provide unparalleled coverage of the data typically found in the integrated data estates of large organizations in specific industries, thereby providing comprehensive best practices based accelerators as our customers continue to move their enterprise data estates to the cloud.

To learn more, check out the following:

• Overview of database templates.
• How to get started with database templates and lake databases.
• Learn more about lake databases.

Tags: Database templates     Industry    Lake databases

Join us for this year’s digital event, Securely Migrate and Optimize with Azure, where you’ll learn how to achieve more efficiency and maximize the value of your IT investments. Get tips to migrate and modernize your infrastructure, apps, and data—with a spotlight from experts on optimizing migration for Windows Server and SQL Server workloads.

Here’s 5 good reasons to Register Now: 

1. Get expert guidance to securely migrate and optimize your Windows Server and SQL Server workloads.
2. Find tools, programs, and resources from Azure to migrate and optimize your cloud investments.
3. Hear real-life success stories of customers who moved to Azure.
4. See demos with step-by-step guidance on how to stay secure and manage complex hybrid IT environments.
5. Get a walkthrough of tools for self-guided migration—including how to discover, assess, and migrate with Azure Migrate.

You’ll also get expert answers to your migration questions during the live chat Q&A.

Securely Migrate and Optimize with Azure

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

9:00 AM–11:00 AM Pacific Time (UTC-8)

We're celebrating #NationalHighFiveDay today by introducing an exciting and unique way to interact with your team members using new Together Emojis in Microsoft Teams. The new Together Emoji for high fives is currently rolling out and will be available to users soon!

What are Together Emojis?

“Together Emojis” are a unique concept conceived by myself and my colleague Nico Nuzzaci in 2016 to bridge the gap across the communication stream. For a long time, when you send an emoji in chat, it stays on the left or right and has always felt disconnected to us.

We wanted a way for people to come together when they are apart using digital communication to foster a greater sense of connection and community. Ranging from a slap of hands with high fives, clinking glasses to cheers, grabbing a coffee, or getting pizza for lunch, Together Emojis are there to bring everyone’s sentiments together and belong!

How to do it:

Open Microsoft Teams for work or life, desktop or mobile app, and jump in to chat with friends, colleagues, and family, and by each of you sending high five after each other, you’ll get a fun animation:

And watch the two smileys come together.

You can find the “highfive” emoji in 3 ways:

1. On desktop type (highfive) in the compose bar and hit enter; or
2. On mobile or desktop, open the fun picker, and type “highfive” in the search bar and hit enter; or
3. On mobile or desktop, open the fun picker and scroll down the smileys category to the custom emojis and tap the highfive emoji and hit enter.

“Highfive” is one Together Emoji of many other sentiments you can bring together, more coming soon!

More about National High Five Day:

National High Five Day is celebrated in the United States on the third Thursday of April and is a holiday about giving high fives and spreading good vibes. This year, it benefits CoachArt by sending virtual high fives to kids with chronic illnesses. Learn more about this holiday, the charity, and how to get involved at http://nationalhighfiveday.com.

Issue:

Unable to delete Azure EventHub Cluster/Namespace/ Entity from Portal/ PowerShell/ CLI.

Case 1:

When EventHub tier is Premium and you are unable to delete Azure EventHub namespace and getting conflict operation error 409.

Sample error message : "statusMessage":"{\"error\":{\"code\":\"Conflict\",\"message\":\"Namespace provisioning in transition. For more information visit https://aka.ms/eventhubsarmexceptions.

Reason:

The reason for stuck state of EventHub namespace or its provisioning failure is due to a known race condition which initiates between two or more internal microservices from premium EventHub  architecture from different namespaces. If we trigger a Premium namespace provisioning and an event hub creation right after that then this race condition initiates and both provisioning may fail and the runtime creation will fail with internal server error 500.

Recommendation:

It is recommended to not perform back to back create operation on EventHub until the first EventHub namespace is not created successfully and if you want to delete the namespace just after its creation then it is recommended that the operation should be performed after 1 hour of its created time.

Action to be taken:

In such situation where your EventHub is stuck in activating/ Deleting state, raise support request with Microsoft to fix the state of namespace and to bring it in active state.

Case 2:

While deleting EventHub you have received a conflict error 409  but it's not a Premium EventHub.

Reason:

The reason for this conflict error could be due to any pending operations executing in the backend associated with the EventHub components and you might be trying to delete the EventHub while its execution is not completed.

Recommendation and Action to be taken:

In such situation, wait for some time to finish the pending operations on EventHub or its component and then retry after sometime.

Case 3:

Getting successful message on deletion of EventHub entity within a namespace but after sometime it is recreating and reappearing on portal.

Reason:

The recreation of entities in namespace could be due to any diagnostics settings enabled against the namespace entity or the Application insights might be using the EventHub entity and so Azure Monitor resource provider could be recreating the EventHub.

Action to be taken:

In such case, Please follow the below steps:

1. Check if the entity is operational using PowerShell/ CLI. You may test using any Get command, example - Get-AzEventhub
2. If the EventHub is recreated, check the content of EventHub. You can check the content either by Processing Data option on EventHub control pane on portal or by using Service Bus explorer tool.
3. Once you see any content or record in EventHub entity, then identify the resource ID which is sending the events to that EventHub by looking at content data.
4. Go to that resource from Azure portal and disable the diagnostic settings or application Insight settings which is using the EH entity.

Recommendation:

If you want to delete the EventHub entity or namespace, you should check whether none of the resource from this document are streaming logs to EventHub.

Case 4:

When you have deleted the EventHub and all operations on the deleted EventHub entity are failing but it is still showing on Portal

Reason:

The reason why we are still seeing a non-operational and deleted EventHub could be due to its stale entry in ARM cache

Action to be taken:

In such case, Please follow the below steps:

1. Check if the entity is operational using PowerShell/ CLI. You may test using any Get command, example - Get-AzEventhub
2. If the operation is failing with error code 404 i.e. entity not found, but it is still showing on portal then raise a support ticket with Microsoft to perform the synchronize operation on ARM cache of resource.

Case 5:

When you are unable to delete Kafka enabled EventHub topic.

Reason:

One of the reason why you are still seeing the Kafka enabled EventHub topic after its deletion could be because the Kafka producer keeps re-creating the EventHub due to

Auto topic creation is ON by default.

Action to be taken:

1. Check the activity logs to make sure that you see the deleted operation.
2. Set the Auto topic creation property as OFF.

Recommendation:

You can either stop the Kafka producers or pick another EventHub name.

Case 6:

Unable to delete Dedicated Event hub cluster and getting error message "BadRequest"

Reason:

It is known issue that a dedicated EventHub Cluster cannot be deleted until four hours after its creation time.

Recommendation and Action to be taken:

Please rerun this operation after that time has elapsed, or contact EventHub team through a support request if the cluster is stuck in a particular state.

Details to be included in support ticket should be resource ID, correlation ID of operation and timestamp of issue.

As we observe and honor Earth Day on April 22, we're mindful of the importance of meeting our customers’ needs alongside responsible environmental stewardship. And here on the Surface team, we’re committed to producing devices with as little impact on the planet as possible. 

Our commitment to sustainability goes back years and has evolved into three pillars that help us contextualize our goals for Surface: reducing carbon impact, designing with circularity in mind, and having integrity built in. These elements make up the design language of every major product we launch.

Reducing carbon impact

Microsoft Surface devices are integral to achieving the company's commitment to be carbon negative by 2030. We're also delivering technology to help our customers measure and manage their Surface carbon emissions more effectively.

Launched earlier this year, the Surface Emissions Estimator is a tool that helps you calculate the carbon footprint of your Surface devices¹. It provides an estimate of the carbon emissions associated with the production, use, and disposal of your device. You can use this tool to calculate the carbon footprint of your Surface devices by entering information about your device, such as its model, usage, and power settings. The calculator can even recommend ways of reducing your carbon footprint.

Sample results showing estimated carbon emissions for three devices

Ocean plastic

One of the more promising advances in device manufacturing is the use of ocean-bound plastic, recovered from plastic waste. First, it’s cleaned and processed into recycled plastic resin pellets and then blended in with virgin plastic during manufacturing.

Two years ago, we launched the Ocean Plastic Mouse with a shell made with 20% recycled ocean plastic, the first consumer electronics application of this material. Going beyond ocean-bound plastic (plastic collected within 50 km of shorelines), each mouse contains recycled resin derived from recycled water bottles taken directly from oceans, beaches, and waterways.

We’ve since carried this innovation to our newest accessory, Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock for Business. The dock and power supply unit enclosures (excluding the AC cable) are attributed to 20% ocean-bound plastic² and feature lighter materials than our previous docks. Single-use plastics have been removed from its packaging, making the packaging about 99% recyclable in OECD countries.³

Design for circularity

The traditional “take, make and waste” model of electronics is becoming unviable. That's why, at Surface, we design products with the circular economy in mind, meaning we follow a reduce, reuse and recover model.

By 2025, our goal is for our packaging to contain zero single-use plastics and by 2030 will be 100% recyclable. We continue to integrate innovations from our most recyclable products into the rest of our products. We also make recycling convenient and secure with global recycling programs and data-wiping.

Designing for circularity minimizes waste and extends the lifespan of our devices for as long as possible, thanks to a modular design that lets commercial customers replace parts rather than throw away their devices. Surface Pro 9, for example, comes with 14 modular components, including the display, hard drive, motherboard, and battery. ⁴

Integrity in manufacturing

Our design process focuses on building products of the highest craftsmanship with a responsible supply chain that meets higher ethical and environmental standards. Integrity also reflects our commitment to transparency on the impact of our products and supply chain, which is why we produce eco profiles for all our major devices. As the EPEAT requirements become more rigorous, our products and operations are evolving to meet more stringent standards. We plan for our products to meet the new EPEAT requirements at the Gold level.⁵ Surface registered products can be found on the EPEAT Registry.

Crafting for longevity is vital to long-term sustainability across all three focus areas, as it can reduce emissions and increase circularity by keeping materials in use for longer. It's why our latest Surface products are the most repairable devices in their product lines.

This is also where our material innovation can shine as we weave in recycled materials. You'll see it in our packaging, made of sustainably forested material that's 99% recyclable⁶ for Surface Laptop 5. We're also excited for our latest products to continue to bring hardware and software together to optimize energy performance. All Surface laptop and tablet devices are ENERGY STAR certified with a focus on energy efficiency and battery life. And our Surface Laptop 5 and Pro 9 devices are over twice as energy efficient as the Energy Star recommended limits. They can all also take advantage of new sustainability features in Windows 11, the first PC operating system to offer a carbon-aware feature.⁷  

Ready for a new device?

There are multiple ways to responsibly recycle your device or give it new life.

• Trade it in: The Microsoft Store Trade-In Program⁸ offers cash back for certain used devices suitable for refurbishment or reuse. See aka.ms/tradein.
• Sell or donate: Consider selling or donating your used device to an authorized refurbisher to give it a potential second life for a new user. See aka.ms/refurbishers.
• Recycle: Microsoft and other device manufacturers offer free mail-back recycling programs for used devices. See aka.ms/recycle.

Learn more

• Ignite 2022 | Built for Sustainability: Evolving the Surface design for a more repairable future
• 2021 Environmental  Sustainability Report | Microsoft CSR
• Energy efficiency | Microsoft Legal
• Product environmental and safety documents | Microsoft Legal

References

1. Emissions Estimator report provided for informational purposes only. You should not interpret the report you receive to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft; actual emissions may vary based on your location, purchase method, usage, and other factors.

2. Ocean-bound plastic is plastic waste recovered from oceans and waterways, cleaned, and processed into recycled plastic resin pellets. These recycled pellets are blended in with virgin plastic during the manufacturing process. To learn more, see Sustainable Products & Solutions | Microsoft CSR.

3. In OECD countries, Microsoft operates recycling programs either independently or through third parties covering Microsoft Devices. In addition, check local recycling programs for availability.

4. Customer Replaceable Units (CRUs) are components available for purchase through your Surface Commercial Authorized Device Reseller. Components can be replaced on-site by a skilled technician following Microsoft’s Service Guide. Opening and/or repairing your device can present electric shock, fire and personal injury risks and other hazards. Use caution if undertaking do-it-yourself repairs. Device damage caused during repair will not be covered under Microsoft’s Hardware Warranty or protection plans. Components will be available shortly after initial launch; timing of availability varies by component and market.

5. EPEAT rating availability may differ by market.

6. Recyclability dependent on recycling options in markets where products are discarded.  Check local recycling programs for availability. Learn more at aka.ms/recycle

7. See Windows Update is now carbon aware

8. Available in select countries only.

Simplify your update management experience with Windows Update for Business. It's an umbrella term for multiple products and services that we're unpacking in a series of skilling snacks. Today, let's learn about what it is, how to configure it, and how to use it with Intune or other familiar tools. Take it one bite at a time or allow a learning module to take you through the four-course meal. Leave some room for policies at the end!

Time to learn: 87 minutes

If that got your appetite going for Windows Update for Business, I'll spill the beans! In the upcoming weeks, we'll package snacks on more control over approval, scheduling, safeguarding of updates (the deployment service), and getting information on compliance (reports).

For more general information on update management, revisit our Skilling snack: Windows monthly updates and Skilling snack: Windows feature update management.

As always, welcome to the table!

Continue the conversation. Find best practices. Bookmark the Windows Tech Community and follow us @MSWindowsITPro on Twitter. Looking for support? Visit Windows on Microsoft Q&A.