Introduction 2023 Microsoft rebranded Azure AD to Entra ID. Azure AD name caused confusion with Active Directory (AD) which is similar but not identical. Managing User and Service Accounts Domain Controller can be the DNS as well Joining Computer to a Domain Computer clock must be 5 mins within DC clock CMD+R ncpa.cpl […]
Information Systems Government Compliance
Organizations DHS – Major US Government agency focused on cyber security is DHS. They focus on the physical and cyber threats to the nation. US-CERT (United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team) – coordinates cyber information sharing and manages national cyber risks. (www.us-cert.gov). They also distribute vulnerability and threat information to National Awareness System (NCAS) and […]
Azure implementing caching
The following is from Azure Developer Training lab for AZ-203 Azure Cache for Redis overview Azure Cache for Redis is based on the popular software Redis. It is typically used as a cache to improve the performance and scalability of systems that rely heavily on backend data-stores. Performance is improved by temporarily copying frequently accessed […]
Azure developing scalable apps
The following is from Azure Developer Training lab for AZ-203 Common autoscale patterns Note: Azure Monitor autoscale currently applies only to Virtual Machine Scale Sets, Cloud Services, App Service – Web Apps, and API Management services. Scale based on CPU You have a web app (/VMSS/cloud service role) and You want to scale out/scale in […]
Azure Monitor and Logging
The following is from Azure Developer Training lab for AZ-203 Azure Monitor overview Note: Consolidation of monitoring services into Azure Monitor Log Analytics and Application Insights have been consolidated into Azure Monitor to provide a single integrated experience for monitoring Azure resources and hybrid environments. Overview The following diagram gives a high-level view of Azure […]
Azure Secure Data Solutions
The following is from Azure Developer Training lab for AZ-203 Encryption Encryption is the process of translating plain text data (plaintext) into something that appears to be random and meaningless (ciphertext). Decryption is the process of converting ciphertext back to plaintext. To encrypt more than a small amount of data,symmetric encryption is used. A symmetric […]
Azure implementing Access Control
The following is from Azure Developer Training lab for AZ-203 Claims Authorization is the process of determining which entities have permission to change, view, or otherwise access a computer resource. For example, in a business, only managers may be allowed to access the files of their employees. In the past, this was simple toaccomplish with […]
Azure Managing Identities
The following is from Azure Developer Training lab for AZ-203 Managed identities for Azure resources overview Note: Managed identities for Azure resources is a feature of Azure Active Directory. Each of the Azure services that support managed identities for Azure resources are subject to their own timeline. Make sure you review the availability status of […]
Azure Implementing Authentication
The following is from Azure Developer Training lab for AZ-203 Microsoft identity platform overview Microsoft identity platform is an evolution of the Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) identity service and developer platform. It allows developers to build applications that sign in all Microsoft identities, get tokens to call Microsoft Graph, other Microsoft APIs, or APIs […]
Azure develop solutions Blob Storage
The following is from Azure Developer Training lab for AZ-203 Introduction to Azure Blob storage Azure Blob storage is Microsoft’s object storage solution for the cloud. Blob storage is optimized for storing massive amounts of unstructured data. Unstructured data is data that does not adhere to a particular data model or definition, such as text […]
Azure develop solutions Relational Database
The following is from Azure Developer Training lab for AZ-203 The Azure SQL Database service SQL Database is a general-purpose relational database managed service in Microsoft Azure that supports structures such as relational data, JSON, spatial, and XML. SQL Database delivers dynamically scalable performance within two different purchasingmodels: a vCore-based purchasing model and a DTU-based […]
Azure develop solution for Cosmos DB
The following is from Azure Developer Training lab for AZ-203 Azure Cosmos DB Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is a database service native to Azure that focuses on providing a high-performance database regardless of your selected API or data model. Azure Cosmos DB offers multiple APIs and models that can be used interchangeably for various application […]
Azure develop solution for Table Storage
The following is from Azure Developer Training lab for AZ-203 Introduction to Table storage in Azure Azure Table storage is a service that stores structured NoSQL data in the cloud, providing a key/attribute store with a schema less design. Because Table storage is schema less, it’s easy to adapt your data as the needs of […]
Azure App Service API Apps
The following is from Azure Developer Training lab for AZ-203 API Management overview API Management (APIM) helps organizations publish APIs to external, partner, and internal developers to unlock the potential of their data and services. Businesses everywhere are looking to extend their operations as a digital platform, creating new channels, finding new customers and driving […]
Azure App Service Functions
The following is from Azure Developer Training lab for AZ-203 Introduction to Azure Functions Azure Functions is a solution for easily running small pieces of code, or “functions,” in the cloud. You can write just the code you need for the problem at hand, without worrying about a whole application or the infrastructure to run […]
Azure App Service Mobile Apps
The following is from Azure Developer Training lab for AZ-203 About mobile apps in App Service Azure App Service is a fully managed platform as a service (PaaS) offering for professional developers. The service brings a rich set of capabilities to web, mobile, and integration scenarios. The Mobile Apps feature of Azure App Service gives […]
Azure App Service In Depth
The following is from Azure Developer Training lab for AZ-203 Web Apps Overview Azure App Service web apps (or just Web Apps) is a service for hosting web applications, REST APIs, and mobile back ends. You can develop in your favorite language, be it .NET, .NET Core, Java, Ruby, Node.js, PHP, orPython. Applications run and […]
Azure Functions
This post is general notes and overview of Azure Functions. Background Azure Functions is the serverless compute service in Azure. It is a combination of Events and Code where events could be: Time Data Web In contrast to Azure Functions, we could use Azure App Service (Azure Web Applications and Web Jobs) but that […]
Azure hosted .NET web application
I needed a small application that manages attendance for a large people management / church management system known as RockRMS. We have this Rock system running in Azure hosted on a VM and using a SQL Database. There were some functionalities lacking in the Rock system and so I created this small extension application and deployed […]
Azure Securing Identity
The following is from Azure Administrator Training lab for AZ-103 Azure MFA Concepts Azure Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) helps safeguard access to data andapplications while maintaining simplicity for users. It provides additionalsecurity by requiring a second form of authentication and delivers strongauthentication through a range of easy to use authentication methods. For organizations that need to […]
Azure Governance and Compliance
The following is from Azure Administrator Training lab for AZ-103 Management Groups If your organization has several subscriptions, you may need a way to efficiently manage access, policies, and compliance for those subscriptions.Azure management groups provide a level of scope above subscriptions. You organize subscriptions into containers called “management groups” and apply your governance conditions […]
Azure Active Directory
The following is from Azure Administrator Training lab for AZ-103 Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) is Microsoft’s multi-tenant cloud-baseddirectory and identity management service. For IT Admins, Azure ADprovides an affordable, easy to use solution to give employees and businesspartners single sign-on (SSO) access to thousands of cloud SaaS Applicationslike Office365, Salesforce.com, DropBox, and Concur. For […]
Azure Data Services
The following is from Azure Administrator Training lab for AZ-103 CDN Benefits A content delivery network (CDN) is a distributed network of servers that canefficiently deliver content to users. CDNs store cached content on edgeservers that are close to end-users. CDNs are typically used to deliver static content such as images, style sheets,documents, client-side scripts, […]
Azure Data Protection
The following is from Azure Administrator Training lab for AZ-103 Replication Options The data in your Azure storage account is always replicated to ensuredurability and high availability. Azure Storage replication copies your data sothat it is protected from planned and unplanned events ranging from transienthardware failures, network or power outages, massive natural disasters, andso on. […]
Azure Monitoring
The following is from Azure Administrator Training lab for AZ-103 Azure Monitor Service Monitoring is the act of collecting and analyzing data to determine theperformance, health, and availability of your business application and theresources that it depends on. An effective monitoring strategy helps youunderstand the detailed operation of the components of your application. Italso helps […]
Azure Network Traffic Management
The following is from Azure Administrator Training lab for AZ-103 System Routes Azure uses system routes to direct network traffic between virtual machines,on-premises networks, and the Internet. The following situations are managedby these system routes: Traffic between VMs in the same subnet. Between VMs in different subnets in the same virtual network. Data flow from […]
Azure Intersite Networking
The following is from Azure Administrator Training lab for AZ-103 VNet Peering VNet Peering Perhaps the simplest and quickest way to connect your VNets is to use VNetpeering. Virtual network peering enables you to seamlessly connect two Azurevirtual networks. Once peered, the virtual networks appear as one, forconnectivity purposes. There are two types of VNet […]
Azure Virtual Networking
The following is from Azure Administrator Training lab for AZ-103 Azure Networking Components A major incentive for adopting cloud solutions such as Azure is to enableinformation technology (IT) departments to move server resources to thecloud. This can save money and simplify operations by removing the need tomaintain expensive datacenters with uninterruptible power supplies,generators, multiple fail-safes, […]
Azure Storage In Depth
The following is from Azure Administrator Training lab for AZ-103 Azure Storage Azure Storage is Microsoft’s cloud storage solution for modern data storage scenarios. Azure Storage offers a massively scalable objectstore for data objects, a file system service for the cloud, a messaging store for reliable messaging, and a NoSQL store. Azure Storage is: Durable […]
Azure Storage
The following is from Azure Administrator Training lab for AZ-103 These are some reference notes using Azure Storage services as of 12/2018. The main storage services available are listed below and explained further in the sections below. Azure Blobs (objects/media) Azure Data Lake Storage (gen2) Azure Files (File Server) Azure Queues Azure Tables Azure Cosmos DB […]
Azure Security
The following is from Azure Administrator Training lab for AZ-103 Some Azure Services related to Security, Privacy and Compliance. Azure Firewall – enforce, log application and network connectivity. Inbound and oubound filtering rules. Azure Monitor loggin. Different than Web Application Firewall (WAF) which is part of Application Gateway – it does only inbound protection […]
Azure Resource Manager and ARM Templates
The following is from Azure Administrator Training lab for AZ-103 Resource Manager The infrastructure for your application is typically made up of manycomponents – maybe a virtual machine, storage account, and virtual network,or a web app, database, database server, and third-party services. You maynot see these components as separate entities, instead you see them as relatedand interdependent parts of a single entity. You want to deploy, manage, andmonitor them as a group. Azure Resource Manager enables you to work with the resources in yoursolution as a group. You can deploy, update, or delete all the resources foryour solution in a single, coordinated operation. You use a template fordeployment and that template can work for different environments such astesting, staging, and production. Resource Manager provides security,auditing, and tagging features to help you manage your resources afterdeployment. Consistent management layer Resource Manager provides a consistent management layer to perform tasksthrough Azure PowerShell, Azure CLI, Azure portal, REST API, and clientSDKs. All capabilities that are available in the Azure portal are alsoavailable through Azure PowerShell, Azure CLI, the Azure REST APIs, andclient SDKs. Functionality initially released through APIs will be representedin the portal within 180 days of initial release. Choose the tools and APIs that work best for you – they have the samecapability and provide consistent results. The following image shows how all the tools interact with the same AzureResource Manager API. The API passes requests to the Resource Managerservice, which authenticates and authorizes the requests. Resource Managerthen routes the requests to the appropriate resource providers. Benefits Resource Manager provides several benefits: You can deploy, manage, and monitor all the resources for your solutionas a group, rather than handling these resources individually. You can repeatedly deploy your solution throughout the developmentlifecycle and have confidence your resources are deployed in aconsistent state. You can manage your infrastructure through declarative templatesrather than scripts. You can define the dependencies between resources so they’re deployedin the correct order. You can apply access control to all services in your resource groupbecause Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) is natively integrated intothe management platform. You can apply tags to resources to logically organize all the resources inyour subscription. You can clarify your organization’s billing by viewing costs for a groupof resources sharing the same tag. Guidance The following suggestions help you take full advantage of Resource Managerwhen working with your solutions. Define and deploy your infrastructure through the declarative syntax inResource Manager templates, rather than through imperativecommands. Define all deployment and configuration steps in the template. Youshould have no manual steps for setting up your solution. Run imperative commands to manage your resources, such as to start orstop an app or machine. Arrange resources with the same lifecycle in a resource group. Use tagsfor all other organizing of resources. Terminology If you’re new to Azure Resource Manager (ARM), there are some terms youmight not be familiar with. resource – A manageable item that is available through Azure. Some common resources are a virtual machine, storage account, web app, database, and virtual network, but there are many more. resource group – A container that holds related resources for an Azure solution. The resource group can include all the resources for the solution, or only those resources that you want to manage as a group. You decide how you want to allocate resources to resource groups based on what makes the most sense for your organization. resource provider – A service that supplies the resources you can deploy and manage through Resource Manager. Each resource provider offers operations for working with the resources that are deployed. Some common resource providers are Microsoft.Compute, which supplies the virtual machine resource, Microsoft.Storage, which supplies the storage account resource, and Microsoft.Web, which supplies resources related to web apps. ARM template – A JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) file that defines one or more resources to deploy to a resource group. It also defines the dependencies between the deployed resources. The template can be used to deploy the resources consistently and repeatedly. declarative syntax – Syntax that lets you state “Here is what I intend to create” without having to write the sequence of programming commands to create it. The Resource Manager template is an example of declarative syntax. In the file, you define the properties for the infrastructure to deploy to Azure. Resource providers Each resource provider offers a set of resources and operations for working with an Azure service. For example, if you want to store keys and secrets, you work with the Microsoft.KeyVault resource provider. This resource provider offers a resource type called vaults for creating the key vault. The name of a resource type is in the format: {resource-provider}/{resource-type}. For example, the key vault type is Microsoft.KeyVault/vaults. ✔️ Before getting started with deploying your resources, you should gain an understanding of the available resource providers. Knowing the names of resource providers and resources helps you define resources you want to deploy to Azure. Also, you need to know the valid locations and API versions for each resource type. Resource Group Deployments Resources can be deployed to any new or existing resource group.Deployment of resources to a resource group becomes a job where you cantrack the template execution. If deployment fails, the output of the job can describe why the deployment failed. Whether the deployment is a single resource to a group or a template to a group, you can use the information to fix any errors and redeploy. Deployments are incremental; if a resource group contains two web apps and you decide to deploy a third, the existing web apps will not be removed. Currently, immutable deployments are not supported in a resource group. To implement an immutable deployment, you must create a new resource group. Resource Groups Resource Groups are at their simplest a logical collection of resources. There are a couple of small rules for resource groups. Resources can only exist in one resource group. Resource Groups cannot be renamed. Resource Groups can have resources of many different types […]
Azure Overview and App Service
Some general notes about the Azure cloud platform and services. Regions – geographical area with one or many datacenters Feature Availability – not all features available in every region Geography – discrete market area with one or more regions Availability Zones – physically separate locations within Region providing redundancy for that region Availability Sets – […]
ASP.NET Core, Angular2 on Azure using OAuth
This is a simple app that is hosted on Azure. It uses ASP.NET Core with Angular2 front end and WebAPI on the back. The site and database are hosted on Azure and use Azure’s EasyAuth (link tbd) authentication service. This service allows for user login using their Microsoft, Google or Facebook accounts. The app has […]
Using Azure to Manage Connection Strings
Azure provides a variety of application settings that can help manage the app from within Azure instead of coding it in the application. Some of these settings are highlighted below. Application Settings tbd Connection Strings Azure provides connection strings that can be configured for the whole app. This includes ASP.NET based apps as well as […]
ASP.NET MVC, WEBAPI, SQL, Unit Test and EF on Azure
This is a sample project that contains the following: ASP.NET MVC (4.6) ASP.NET WEBAPI SQL (SQL SERVER 2014) ENTITY FRAMEWORK (5) UNIT TESTS All is deployed on Azure here: http://samplewidgets.azurewebsites.net/ This is a project I use as kind of a template for other projects that use similar technologies and frameworks. I’ve also used it to […]
Cloud Services Overview
Cloud Services Provide Availability Scalability / Dynamic adjust for current workload (up or out) Elasticity / Providing scalability automatically Agility / React quickly Disaster Recovery Fault Tolerance Latency Global Reach Security Predictive Cost Things to consider for cost when using Cloud Economies of Scale – Cloud providers have far larger resources therefore able […]