In the last couple of days I try to optimize some Azure environments from security and cost perspective. One customer has a SQL Server Express installed inside an Azure VM. The backup was configured for the hole VM, but there is no need to backup the Datadisk which contains the SQL databases. In this article I will explain how you can reinstall the Azure Backup Windows Workload extension to fix the issue when the service account will not listed on the Azure SQL Server VM. This fix the issue only did you not find the service account in the SQL Server management studio. To add the account in the right way, please refer to the article from Wim Matthysen.
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.
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:
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.
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 🙂
The Microsoft Ignite 2020 has moved to a free, virtual conference with a lots of online sessions about the Microsoft Product world like Azure, Microsoft 365 and more. As every year Microsoft announced new services and new features for existing services. In this blog post I will report about my highlights of the last 48 hours of Microsoft Ignite.
First of all, I’m a little sad because this was to be my first Microsoft Ignite I was able to attend in person. However, I’m glad that Microsoft offers this conference as a virtual version and gives us the opportunity to participate for free and get in contact with the product owners.
Satya Nadella opened the MS Ignite with his Keynote about Challenging Times, Producivity and Modern Work and how Microsoft services can help in every section with different services.
My focus area is Azure, you know it 🙂 And there were a lot of new announcements before and during the Ignite.
This article will be updated after the MS Ignite ends.
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“.
Preparation and study guides
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.
In 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.
