Category Archives: Cloud

Microsoft release Azure AD Connect V2 with tons of new features and remove support for WS 2012 R2 or Older

Update 18/08/2021

Added some details about v. 1.6.11.3 which fixes a security issue.

Microsoft released a major update of Azure AD Connect. This major release brings a lots of new features and requirements for the local infrastructure. In this article I will cover the latest information and how you can upgrade to the new release.

The new version 2 of Azure AD Connect was released on 20/07/2021 and bring the product to the version 2.0.3.0 the lastet release of version 1 was 1.6.4.0 1.6.11.3. Microsoft found a security issue in 1.6.4.0 and 2.0.3.0 and updated the Azure AD Connect v2 to 2.0.8.0.

Microsoft released also an update for AAD Connect v1 and brings it to 1.6.11.3. This is for customers who running an older version of Windows Server who can not upgrade to WS 2016 and fixes an security issue in 1.6.4.0.

Continue reading Microsoft release Azure AD Connect V2 with tons of new features and remove support for WS 2012 R2 or Older

MY UPCOMING COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENTS IN 2ND HALF OF 2021

Summer is here and I hope many enjoy the time on vacation. In this article I would like to give a little preview on which community events you can find me in the 2nd half of 2021.

GeekSprech Podcast

I had the pleasure of visiting Eric Berg and Weimar on the 3rd weekend in July. We had a great time and talked a lot about the community, new projects and more. On Sunday, Eric and I had the idea to record a new GeekSpeak episode with the news about the Microsoft Inspire 2021. We had a lot of fun recording it and hope you do too. The podcast is in German.

German AVD UserGroup – Azure Files

Patrick Köhler and Marcel Meurer are the founder of the German Azure Virtual Desktop User Group. The host a monthly meetup with different topics around AVD. Both invited me to speak about Azure Files and is this the perfect profile store solution. I am really looking forward to the event and hope that I can give you a good overview about the different file store solutions in Azure.

Cloud Identity Summit 2021

In 2020 based on the initial idea of my best buddy Thomas Naunheim we started as Azure Bonn Team the Cloud Identity Summit 2020. The speaker lineup was awesome and the feedback was so great that we decided to repeat this in 2021. This year the Cloud Identity Summit will another virtual conference and take place at 30/09/2021. We hope you attend our 2nd edition. The agenda and the speaker will announce in August 2021.

CloudInspires Podcast

Thomas and I founded in June our own CloudInspires.me Podcast. Do not miss the latest two episodes (in German). We have so many great speaker on our timeline – stay tuned 🙂

AVD TechFest Fall 2021

I am very happy to speak for a 2nd time at the well organized AVD Techfest. This a free online conference with all topics related to Azure Virtual Desktop. There are so many sessions on the agenda, it’s worth taking a look if you work in the AVD space. I’ll be giving a session on Azure Files as an AVD profile storage solution, and diving into the different ways you can use the Azure Files solution for AVD. This means that I will introduce Azure Files and Azure NetApp Files and show in which scenarios some of these options are the better solution.

IT Tage Konferenz

One of the last conferences this year is the German IT Tage Konferenz in December. This is a really big conference running about 4 days with a wide range of topics. I had a pleasure to hold a session about Azure VM Best Practices.

I will add additional events, when I know about.

Azure Bastion supports SCALABILITY for SSH/RDP Connections with the new Standard SKU

Update 1 on 01/12/2021 :

Microsoft has changed the #AzureBastion minimum subnet size from /27 to /26. Installed #Azure Bastion are unaffected, but new deployments require the new subnet size. Please remember this. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/bastion/bastion-faq#subnet

Azure Bastion is a fully managed PaaS service to secure access Azure VMs via SSH/RDP without the need for Internet connectivity on the selected VMs. Azure Bastion was released as part of the Microsoft Ignite 2019. As part of the ongoing Microsoft Inspire 2021, Microsoft has launched a new SKU for Azure Bastion called Standard.

Difference between Basic and Standard SKU

When you create an Azure Bastion instance Microsoft creates in the backend an optimized Azure VM that runs all the processes they are needed for Azure Bastion. This Azure VM is called a Instance and had some limitations. In general when you deploy the Azure Bastion Basic SKU Microsoft deploys two instances which supports 20-24 concurrent sessions which means each instance support 10-12 sessions.

The Standard SKU allows you to specify the number of instances called as host scalling.

Please note that when using an Azure Bastion Standard SKU, the AzureBastionSubnet size should be increased to a subnet size of approximately /26 or larger.

Azure BastionBasicStandard
Instances2 Defaultup to 50
Max. supported concurrent sessions20-24up to 500
Supported configurationAzure Portal, Powershell, CLIOnly Azure Portal

Deploy an Azure Bastion Standard SKU

Only the Azure Portal allows to deploy an Azure Bastion Standard SKU with the host scalling feature, because the feature is in public preview.

Continue reading Azure Bastion supports SCALABILITY for SSH/RDP Connections with the new Standard SKU

Microsoft MVP for Azure 2021-2022

The first of July starts with the new fiscal year for Microsoft and with some important informations for many people around the globe. This date marks the Renewal date for awarded Microsoft MVPs.

I am very honored and grateful to be recognized as an MVP in the Microsoft Azure category for the third year in a row. This makes me happy about many different reasons:

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Connect physical/virtual servers to Azure Arc for centralized Azure management

The Cloud usage grows in the last years rapidly, but in many customer environments we had servers and applications they can´t migrate to the cloud about different reasons. There are many reasons why applications can not migrated to the cloud e.g. data regulations, connections and latency challenges and more. On the other hand customers whish to use different cloud providers. In summary the hybrid cloud is one of the most use cases in many customer environments. Microsoft released Azure Arc as a solution for hybrid cloud environments. Azure Arc was announced as public preview at Ignite 2019 and going GA on Ignite 2020.

In this article I will cover how connect Windows VMs to Azure Arc.

Azure Arc in General

Azure Arc capabilities – Image from Microsoft Docs

Azure Arc is a solution to extend the Azure management capabilitites to services outside of Azure. This gives the possibilites to manage different services, in different environments from one central place with same capabilities across different services layers.

Microsoft release the first version for Server management and has since expanded the range of functions over Dataservices, Kubernetes and new since some days Azure applications.

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Speaking at Cloud Eight Conference about 7 Best Practices for Azure File Sync

Update 1 on 22/06/2021

The recording of the session is now available on Youtube. I have added the link at the end of the article.

I am glad to announce that I was invited as a speaker to the Cloudeight conference. This is the 3rd edition of this conference and the conference is grown to a really big conference with a lots of great speakers and sessions. The conference itself was founded by Drago Petrovic as a free community driven conference.

I am very exited to deliver a session on 7 tips you need to know to use Azure File Sync perfectly. Azure File Sync is a perfect service to sync file servers across enterprise boundaries through a central Azure Fileshare. In this session, I will share the best practices to use Azure File Sync perfectly based on my real-world experience. I will cover the following topics:

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Microsoft Certified Trainer MCT for 2021-2022

Today I received really great news from Microsoft, I got the confirmation that I am a Microsoft Certified Trainer for 2021-2022. It is a really great honor to be part of this great community and share knowledge about the different learning and exams about the Microsoft world. This is the first time, that I received this great award.

Microsoft descripe the MCT programm with the following words:

Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCTs) are the premier technical and instructional experts in Microsoft technologies. Join this exclusive group of worldwide Microsoft technical training professionals and reap the benefits of MCT training certification and membership.

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Global Azure NEWS Germany Meetup Konferenz für Global Azure

Global Azure ist ein jährliches, von der Community getragenes Event, das von Microsoft initiiert wird. Zwischen dem 15.04. und 17.04. gibt es viele Global Azure Events rund um den Globus. Auch wir sind in diesem Jahr Teil dieses Community-Events und haben das Global Azure NEWS Germany gegründet. Ein Zusammenschluss von Azure Meetup Community basierend auf den 4 Himmelsrichtungen (Nord, Ost, West und Süd).

Am 16.4. werden wir im Rahmen von Global Azure ein 4-stündiges Azure Meetup veranstalten, und das Beste daran: Ihr bestimmt die Agenda!

Jedes Meetup stellte über seinen Twitter-Kanal 3 Sessions zur Auswahl und von jedem Meetup wurde die Session mit den meisten Zustimmungen ausgewählt und in unsere Agenda aufgenommen.

Sichert euch diesen Termin in Ihrem Kalender und wählt eure Session!

Die Agenda ist fertig und folgende Sessions wurden durch euch ausgewählt:

Die Session werden auf Deutsch stattfinden und nicht aufgezeichnet!

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AZURE AD Connect Release 1.6.4.0 is available and moves synchronization to new Azure AD V2 endpoint and fixed a Bug in 1.6.2.4

Update 1 – 31/032021

Microsoft released the new v. 1.6.4.0 this fixed a bug in the previous release 1.6.2.4, because after upgrade to that release, the Azure AD Connect Health feature was not registered correctly and did not work. When you installed 1.6.2.4 please do a upgrade to the new 1.6.4.0 release.

Microsoft has released a new Version of Azure AD Connect. The new release going a big step forward from 1.5.4.5 to 1.6.2.4 and brings a lots of improvements and changes.

Please note:

This release changes the sync process to the new Azure AD V2 endpoint and is not supported for the German national cloud, the Chinese national cloud and the US government cloud. Please be aware of this notes and only use this version in Global Cloud Tenants or switch back to V1 endpoint, when you install this version in National Cloud environments.

I install the new relase on the weekend for a customer, because of changing the Azure AD Connect server. The new relase allows to import settings from a previous version. The new relase brings a lot of new features:

  • This release defaults the AADConnect server to the new V2 end point
  • This release require a full sync after installation
  • This version changes the synchronization to the new Azure AD V2 endpoint
  • This release is only supported for Global Cloud user – if you using National cloud environments, please take a look at the MS Docs article for futher details
Continue reading AZURE AD Connect Release 1.6.4.0 is available and moves synchronization to new Azure AD V2 endpoint and fixed a Bug in 1.6.2.4