In one of the last blog article on the old Microsoft Community Learning site was announced the new Azure exams Az-303 and Az-304 as beta. Why the last blog article, because they move the blog and all related content to a new page at TechCommunity.
Yesterday was beginning of the new fiscal year for Microsoft and the renewal day for all MVPs from the last year. I´m very happy to announce that I received my 2nd MVP award in the category Microsoft Azure 🙂
I feel so honored to have received my 2nd award and now I am really sure that the first time was no mistake. It is a honor to work for the community, to discuss and learn from and with the community. I hope to share additional good things and hints in the next year for Microsoft Azure. Please feel free to reach for questions or ideas to some Azure topics. Hope to see you soon in person.
I would like to thank my wife Jessica for her great support, my best buddies Eric, Marcel and Thomas for their constant support. And finally, thanks the community and Microsoft for this great award.
I reveived a cool mail some days ago with an information, that I had passed successful the new Azure Administrator Exam Az-104 and get the renewal of the Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate.
Two years ago Microsoft released the first new Rolebased exams with the Az-100/Az-101. I´ve passed both exams, but the exams are only valid for two years after passing. With the new Az-104 I got a renewal of the title for the next two years.
The Az-104 certification is a further development of the Az-103, as it will be discontinued at the end of July. To see the necessary skills and the differences to the Az-103, please have a look at the document “Az-104 Skills measured“.
In preparation, all I can say is practice, practice, practice. Create different Azure Services, manage and administer them and interact with them. This helps a lot to understand the individual service and the different functions.
There are a lot of good study guides out there:
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Good luck and happy study.
Update 2
Please note: This article is replaced by All you need to know about Azure Files SMB authentication via Active Directory Domain Services.
Update 1
Azure Files on-premises Active Directory Domain Services authentication is since 11/06/20 GA. The article is upgraded and integrated the latest features and improvements.
12/06/20 Azure Files Hybrid PowerShell Module upgrate to v. 0.2.0
Update 2
In the past I had a lot of talks about Azure File Sync, a lightwight solutions to sync servers from different locations and branches via Azure Files. One often questions was, it is possible to use Azure Files directly with integrated on-premises Active Directory (AD DS) authentication – the great answer since a few days is Yes, this is possible.
Now you can use Azure Files with on-premises Active Directory authentication as a fully replacement for Fileservers. No need for Azure Active Directory Domain Services (Azure AD DS) or different settings on Azure Files. This gives great new ways to use Azure Files as an replacement for Windows based fileservers or for using as an profile store for Windows Virtual Desktop and come closer to a cloud native solution.
In this article I will explain how Azure files AD DS authentication works, how to configure it, some basic steps and more. Please feel free to use the comment section or Twitter to get in touch with me and give me feedback or ask questions.
Continue reading CONFIGURE AZURE FILES ON-PREMISES ACTIVE DIRECTORY (AD DS) AUTHENTICATION FOR FILESERVER OR WVDAzure allows to use IaaS and PaaS solution together over the same network. But all Azure PaaS services using a public interface for connection. When configure the PaaS firewall to allow traffic only from internal VNETs the public interface still exists. With Azure Private Link there is a new service to disable the public interface and add a private endpoint to secure connect to PaaS from your own VNET.
When configuring the internal service Firewall to block all traffic from outside the VNET, the Firewall make a mapping from internal VNET traffic to the Public IP and block all other IP- Adress ranges – and here comes the new Azure Service Private Link into play. This blog post will cover how Private Link works and how to configure this service for your environment including own DNS solution to get a complete private based Azure VNET.
Continue reading Connect and Secure Azure PaaS services to Virtual Networks with Private LinkThis is a challenging time for everyone and I hope you are well. Many community conferences cancelled or moved to an online event. The online events give the oppurtunity to learn and discuss in an different way. The European Sharepoint Conference (ESPC) Team has announced the Azure Week between 25.05. – 29.05.20 as a webinar week.
The Azure Week has an great lineup with very useful sessions. Thomas Maurer open the week with a session about Modern Azure Cloud operations for IT Ops and I have the pleasure to close the week with a session about Azure Policy with Azure Security Center.
In this session we will dive into the many aspects of Azure Policy and Azure Security Center and see how they work together.
Continue reading Speaking at the ESPC AzureWeek about Azure Policy with Azure Security Center
Time has changed, and the actual situation around the globe has shifted many personally events to virtual events. Global Azure (formerly known as Global Azure Bootcamp) has also transformed the personally meetings around the globe into purely virtual events. This has prompted many community organizers to make their events virtual. The Global Azure Team decided to make an own global virtual event around the globe with a dedicated call for speakers. This has led to the beautiful result that now several global azure events are taking place simultaneously. Some are organized by local organizers and one event is organized by the Global Azure Team. This results in three Azure days of Azure sessions (Thursday to Saturday) around the globe with an awesome agenda, where you can pick the sessions that suit you perfectly 🙂
Continue reading Global Azure Virtual 2020 is close including two sessions from meIn the past I have taken several Azure exams, and yesterday I took the Azure Security exam Az-500. I am really glad that I passed the exam. In this article I will give you a brief overview of the topics I saw in the exam and what materials I used to prepare for the exam. I can say directly that the best way to succeed in the exam is practice.
Continue reading How I pass the Azure Security Exam Az-500Short notice: In the last days Microsoft announced two new exams in the Microsoft learning blog for the data area.
The two new exams are:
Both exams are released as beta exam. This means that the first 300 people who book the exam and take it by 31.05.2020 at latest will receive a discount of 80% of the exam price. This reduces the price from 165€ to 39,27€. Book the exam over the Microsoft MCP Portal or directly over the exam site and use the discount code at the payment process. When the limit capacity of 300 codes are reached, you get a notice.
Continue reading New Azure Database and DataAnalyst Exams Available DA-100 & DP-300Short notice: The Microsoft learning blog has announced a new Azure exam, the Azure Administrator Az-104. This is the successor of the Az-103 exam. The exam is available right now as a limited beta. This means that the first 300 people who book the exam and take it by 31.05.2020 at the latest will receive a discount of 80% of the actual exam price. This reduces the price from 165€ to 39,27€. The needed skills are listed on the official exam site.
The beta exam is a pre-release of the exam and you can help to improve the exam. So take an eye on illogical or incomplete questions or graphics and note this within the exam to the team. This helps the team to improve the exam and the following participants to get a better exam experience.
Continue reading New Azure Beta Exam AZ-104 available with limited discount
