Category Archives: Community

Allgemein, Azure, Azure Arc, Cloud, Community, Events, Microsoft, Windows Server, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019

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

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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.

Continue reading Connect physical/virtual servers to Azure Arc for centralized Azure management →
Allgemein, Azure, Azure Backup, Azure File Sync, Azure Files, Cloud, Community, Events, Microsoft, Windows Admin Center, Windows Server, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022

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

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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:

Continue reading Speaking at Cloud Eight Conference about 7 Best Practices for Azure File Sync →
Allgemein, Azure, Cloud, Community, Events, Meetup, Microsoft

Global Azure NEWS Germany Meetup Konferenz für Global Azure

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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!

Continue reading Global Azure NEWS Germany Meetup Konferenz für Global Azure →
Allgemein, Azure, Azure Arc, Azure Automanage, Azure Files, Azure Migrate, Azure Network, Cloud, Events, Microsoft, Windows Admin Center, Windows Server 2022

My Microsoft Ignite 2021 Spring Highlights

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The corona situation brings new opportunities and one of them is that Microsoft Ignite going to a virtual conference twice a year. It used to be an in-person event only once a year. Last week the Microsoft Ignite 2021 spring conference started and in this article I will cover most of the highlights from my perspective. I would really appreciate your feedback on how valuable the article is.

Windows Server 2022 in preview

With Windows Server 2022 there coming the next Major release for as Windows Server OS. This release coming as the next LTSC release with lots of new features, such as new hybrid and security capabilities. Take a look at the MS Ignite Session about latest Azure innovation for SQL and Windows Servers

Passwordless Azure AD authentication is GA

To prevent phishing attacks Microsoft is part of the FIDO2 alliance. Azure AD supports long time ago the login with FIDO2 keys, but the service are in public preview. With this Ignite Microsoft move the service from Public Preview state into GA state and add some new capabilities, like the Temporary access pass. To unterstand how FIDO2 and TAP works, take a look at the short video. Passwordless authentication with FIDO2 keys, brings Identity Security to a new level. This prevents custom user passwords, enable higher security and preventing phishing attacks.

To enable passwordless login for the own Azure AD Tenant take a look at my blog article “Setup passwordless login for Azure & Microsoft 365 mit Yubico and FIDO2 (german)“.

http://aka.ms/passwordlesswizard

Continue reading My Microsoft Ignite 2021 Spring Highlights →
Allgemein, Azure, Azure Arc, Azure Governance, Azure Security, Cloud, Community, Events, Microsoft

Speaking at Scottish Summit 2021 about Azure Policy and Azure Security Center

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I am pleased to have received an invitation to speak at the upcoming Scottish Summit 2021. The Scottish Summit was estabhlished in 2020. This year the conference is becoming an online-only conference and will be streamed on all social media channels. The conference itself is growing into a really big conference with many parallel tracks with different language. The main conference starts on Saturday 27/02/21 and there will be many sessions on Microsoft Cloud services (like Azure, M365 and so on).

Azure Governance is an important topic for any customer using cloud resources. In my session, I will show the power of Azure Policy and Azure Security Center to define guardrails for your Azure environment and bring it into a compliant and secure state. I will go live with my session at Saturday 27/02/21 starting 1PM. If you are interested in how Azure Policy and Azure Security Center work together and how these services are handled, please feel free to join my session and ask questions.

There are quite a few Microsoft Cloud sessions planned for the Conference. Go to the website, plan your agenda and grab your ticket. There’s also an App available for iOS and Android. I hope to see you there.

Active Directory, Allgemein, Azure, Azure Active Directory, Azure Files, Azure Network, Cloud, Community, Events, Microsoft, Remotedesktop, Windows Virtual Desktop

Speaking at WVD Tech Fest 2021 about Azure Files

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Due do the covid pandamy, many organizations in Germany are in a challenging phase as many employees need to be given the opportunity to work from home. Many companies have not yet made this option available to their employees, or only to a few. Microsoft has created a new option with Windows Virtual Desktop to give employees the ability to work from anywhere and the clients are always hosted in Azure and accessible via an app or browser.

I am very happy to have received an invitation to the WVD Tech Fest. The first conference only focusing on WVD with three parallel tracks around everything you need to know about Windows Virtual Desktop. The agenda is pretty complete and the organizers Simon Binder and Patrick Köhler are doing a great job. The conference will take place on 25/02/21 and is free. So take a look at the Website, plan your Agenda and grab your Ticket.

Azure Files is one of my favorite topics and due to many WVD projects in the past, I will address the question is Azure Files the optimal WVD profile store solution. And I can say: it depends – but you will learn more in my session on Thursday between 10:50 – 11:20 AM 🙂

Take this oppurtunity to learn more about Windows Virtual Desktop and hopefully this can be a solution for your organization to enable more people to work from anywhere and get everyone safely through these challenging time. I hope to see many of you there 🙂

Allgemein, Azure Governance, Cloud, Community, Events, Microsoft

Speaking at Azure Saturday Hamburg 2021 together with Thomas Naunheim

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In the past Thomas Naunheim (Thomas Blog) and I have worked on several Cloud projects focusing on Azure Governance and Enterprise Scale. We decided to create a session together to integrate the best of both worlds and our experiences and recommendations from the field.

Our agenda:

  • Overview of Cloud Adoption Framework
  • Overview of Well-architecture Framework
  • Management of Compliance and Security Status
  • Azure Enterprise-Scale Landing Zone
  • Azure Ops: “Operationalize” Azure environment at scale

We are very happy to announce that our session was accepted by the Azure Saturday Hamburg Team on 20/02/2021. The Azure Saturday Hamburg is a full, free Azure conference day with lot of great sessions. The event will have two different tracks and the first speakers and sessions have been announced. Take a look at the agenda and sign up for this great conference across different sessions from the Azure Cosmos.

Continue reading Speaking at Azure Saturday Hamburg 2021 together with Thomas Naunheim →
Allgemein, Azure, Azure Automanage, Azure Backup, Azure Bastion, Azure Governance, Azure Monitor, Azure Network, Azure Security, Azure VM, Cloud, Community, Microsoft, Windows Server

Azure VM Best Practices

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Last year Gregor Suttie and Richard Hooper launched the Azure Advent Calendar and I got to support with a session on Azure Bastion. This year they improved on the idea with the Festive Tech Calendar. I’m happy to be back with an article on Azure VM best practices. I hope you find the article helpful and I would appreciate feedback.

Over the past few months, I have conducted many customer workshops, designed and implemented Landing Zones, and migrated or placed VMs into Azure. One of the most common customer questions has been about best practices for Azure VMs to maximize performance and efficiency, minimize costs, increase security, and reduce management overhead. This article is based on my real-world experience and recommendations based on several Azure projects.

Continue reading Azure VM Best Practices →
Allgemein, Azure, Cloud, Community, Events, Microsoft

Festive Calendar 2020 – Thanks Gregor and Richard for a great Advent Idea

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Last year my Community buddies Gregor Suttie and Richard Hooper has the great Idea to start the Azure Advent Calendar. A Advent Calender with 48 different Sessions to Azure related topics. I had the pleasure to held a session about Azure Bastion.

This year Gregor and Richard take this to a new level and create the Festive Calendar. An Adventcalendar with around 85 different sessions around the Microsoft 365 world.

The Calendar has started today with the yearly POM deliverd by Isidora Katanic (BTW: Greetings to the well deserved MVP award) and introduction from Amy Boyd and Adam Jackson.

This year I have the pleasure to hold a session again about Azure …… at the ….! Psst – I do not say when and which topic so it is a an Advent suprise. Take a look at the daily Festivecalendar website to see what amazing session surprises are behind the door 🙂

You can also follow the @_CloudFamily Account at Twitter to get notified when new sessions are available or you follow the tag #FestiveTechCalendar for the latest updates.

Thanks again to Gregor Suttie and Richard Hooper for this great community driven Idea – Love IT.

Allgemein, Azure, Azure Active Directory, Azure Governance, Azure Security, Cloud, Community, Meetup, Microsoft

Speaking with Thomas Naunheim at GermanyClouds Meetup about Azure Governance Best Practices

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In the past Thomas Naunheim and I do a lot of architecture and designing prinicple for integrating Azure in company environments. We have the idea to create a Azure Governance Best Practices session in the last couple of months to give the community our insights and best practices for Starting/Integrating Azure environments. The goal is to give you insights, where you can find the best documentations to start with a Cloud journey and which technical Azure features help to bring and hold your environment in an compliant and secure state.

The session contains the following topics:

  • Cloud Adoption Framework
  • Well-architecture Framework
  • Insights about Azure Policies and Azure Security Center
  • Azure Enterprise Scale architecture
  • Azure Ops
  • Identity and Access Management

We are exited to hold the session at the GermanyClouds Meetup on november 26. Did you interested in this topics or you are in the beginning or implementig phase, join us. We will happy to see you there and get your questions.

The session will not been recorded.