Build your cloud skills
Free technical learning event with Microsoft’s top cloud engineers across Azure and Microsoft 365. Whether you’re developing innovative apps or delivering optimized solutions, Microsoft Tech Summit can help evolve your skills, deepen your expertise, and grow your career.
Customize your learning
Whether you’re already cloud-savvy or just getting started, there is something for everyone. Discover the latest trends, tools, and product roadmaps at more than 80 sessions covering a range of focus areas and topics – from keynotes and breakouts to hands-on labs.
Connect with experts
Take advantage of the event Hub, a gathering place where you can learn, network, meet partners, visit the community theater, and more! You’ll also have access to experts who can help you get the most out of the cloud – ask your toughest questions, share best practices, and provide feedback.
Get inspired
The cloud is changing expectations – and transforming the way we live and work. Learn how Microsoft’s cloud platform can help you lead your organization through real digital transformation – and shape your future.
Build your cloud skills with the latest in Azure and Microsoft 365 at a free, technical learning event for IT professionals and developers. March 28-29, 2018 Register here
There are a range of tools for monitoring your Azure environment, from the application code running on Azure to the services and infrastructure hosting your application. These tools work together to offer comprehensive cloud monitoring and include:
Azure Monitor – the Azure service that operates as a consolidated pipeline for all monitoring data from Azure services. It gives you access to performance metrics and events that describe the operation of the Azure infrastructure and any Azure services you are using. Azure Monitor is a monitoring data pipeline for your Azure environment, and offers that data directly into Log Analytics as well as 3rd party tools where you can gain insight into that data and combine it with data from on premises or other cloud resources.
Application Insights – the Azure service that offers application performance monitoring and user analytics. It monitors the code you’ve written and applications you’ve deployed on Azure, on-premises, or other clouds. By instrumenting your application with the Application Insights SDK you can get access to a range of data including response times of dependencies, exception traces, debugging snapshots, and execution profiles. It provides powerful tools for analyzing this application telemetry while developing and operating your application. It deeply integrates with Visual Studio to enable you to get right to the problem line(s) of code so you can fix it, and offers usage analytics to analyze customer usage of your applications for product managers as well.
Log Analytics – is an Azure service that ingests log and metric data from Azure services (via Azure Monitor), Azure VMs, and on-premises or other cloud infrastructure and offers flexible log search and out-of-the box analytics on top of this data. It provides rich tools to analyze data across sources, allows complex queries across all logs, and can proactively alert on specified conditions. You can even collect custom data into its central repository so you can query and visualize it. You can also take advantage of Log Analytic’s built-in solutions to immediately gain insights into the security and functionality of your infrastructure.
Azure Monitor enables you to consume telemetry to gain visibility into the performance and health of your workloads on Azure. The most important type of Azure telemetry data is the metrics (also called performance counters) emitted by most Azure resources. Azure Monitor provides several ways to configure and consume these metrics for monitoring and troubleshooting.
Telemetry data is important
Because telemetry data is sending every minute, you get near to real-time monitoring of your data and/or your IT Solution.
There are three types of alerts off of data available from Azure Monitor — metric alerts, near real-time metric alerts (preview) and Activity Log alerts.
Metric alerts– This alert triggers when the value of a specified metric crosses a threshold that you assign. The alert generates a notification when the alert is “Activated” (when the threshold is crossed and the alert condition is met) as well as when it is “Resolved” (when the threshold is crossed again and the condition is no longer met)
Near real-time metric alerts (preview) – These alerts are similar to metric alerts but differ in a few ways. Firstly, as the name suggests these alerts can trigger in near real-time (as fast as 1 min). They also support monitoring multiple(currently two) metrics. The alert generates a notification when the alert is “Activated” (when the thresholds for each metric are crossed at the same time and the alert condition is met) as well as when it is “Resolved” (when at least one metric crosses the threshold again and the condition is no longer met).
Activity log alerts– A streaming log alert that triggers when an Activity Log event is generated that matches filter criteria that you have assigned. These alerts have only one state, “Activated,” since the alert engine simply applies the filter criteria to any new event. These alerts can be used to become notified when a new Service Health incident occurs or when a user or application performs an operation in your subscription, for example, “Delete virtual machine.”
Alerts overview
When you go to the Microsoft Azure Portaland click on the left side on Monitor you can start your Solutions and configure them.
Alerts are created by alert rules that automatically run log searches at regular intervals. If the results of the log search match particular criteria then an alert record is created. The rule can then automatically run one or more actions to proactively notify you of the alert or invoke another process. Different types of alert rules use different logic to perform this analysis.
In addition to creating an alert record in the Log Analytics repository, alerts can take the following actions.
Email. Send an email to proactively notify you of a detected issue.
Runbook. An alert in Log Analytics can start a runbook in Azure Automation. This is typically done to attempt to correct the detected issue. The runbook can be started in the cloud in the case of an issue in Azure or another cloud, or it could be started on a local agent for an issue on a physical or virtual machine.
Webhook. An alert can start a webhook and pass it data from the results of the log search. This allows integration with external services such as an alternate alerting system, or it may attempt to take corrective action for an external web site.
Monitoring your IT Solutions is really important for your Application Life Cycle management to get feedback for improvements and to get Customer satisfaction.
With Microsoft Monitoring from the Cloud with Azure and OMS you get more inside information via telemetry and log analytics to keep you Up-To-Date of
your IT Hybrid Infrastructure. Modern Hybrid Cloud Datacenter(s) need a Modern Secure Monitoring environment to keep yourself and your business in Control all the time in this rapidly fast changing IT World. Monitoring via the Microsoft Cloud gives you :
More Security information, Alerts and Advice to prevent security leaks
Application improvements in your Life Cycle management
Automation of action plans on Events.
The Health of your IT Hybrid Cloud Services
Makes troubleshooting much easier with Diagnostics logs
Integration with on-premises IT Infrastructures
OMS assessments, like Active Directory, SQL, Upgrades, Malware, Security & Audits………… and More
Great Dashboards for DevOps, IT Administrators, IT Managers, or for your Customers.
Microsoft is announcing the availability of version 9.7 of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit. This release of the MAP Toolkit helps increase the agility and cost effectiveness of deploying the latest Microsoft technologies. MAP 9.7 is updated to inventory, assess and report the SQL Server 2017 and components in the SQL Server assessment. It also helps organizations assess their environment for Windows 10, Windows Server 2016, Office 2016 and Office 365, track usage of Windows Server 2012, SharePoint Server 2013, and Exchange Server 2013, and preparing a migration to Windows Azure virtual machines.
Today at Microsoft Connect(); we introduced Azure Databricks, an exciting new service in preview that brings together the best of the Apache Spark analytics platform and Azure cloud. As a close partnership between Databricks and Microsoft, Azure Databricks brings unique benefits not present in other cloud platforms. This blog post introduces the technology and new capabilities available for data scientists, data engineers, and business decision-makers using the power of Databricks on Azure.
Azure Databricks Preview
Azure Databricks is an Apache Spark-based analytics platform optimized for the Microsoft Azure cloud services platform. Designed with the founders of Apache Spark, Databricks is integrated with Azure to provide one-click setup, streamlined workflows, and an interactive workspace that enables collaboration between data scientists, data engineers, and business analysts.
Quickstart: Get started with Azure Databricks using the Azure portal :
This quickstart shows how to create an Azure Databricks workspace and an Apache Spark cluster within that workspace. Finally, you learn how to run a Spark job on the Databricks cluster.
In Databricks, you can create two different types of resources:
Standard Clusters: Databricks’ standard clusters have lot of configuration options to customize and fine tune your Spark jobs. You can learn more about standard clusters below.
Serverless Pools (BETA): With serverless pools, Databricks’ auto-manages all the resources and you just need to provide the range of instances required for the pool. Serverless pools support only Python and SQL. Serverless pools also auto-configures the resources with right Spark configuration. Visit Serverless Pools to know more about them.
Overview Azure Virtual Datacenter is an approach to making the most of the Azure cloud platform’s capabilities while respecting your existing security and networking policies. When deploying enterprise workloads to the cloud, IT organizations and business units must balance governance with developer agility. Azure Virtual Datacenter provides models to achieve this balance with an emphasis on governance. Deploying workloads to the cloud introduces the need to develop and maintain trust in the cloud to the same degree you trust your existing datacenters. The first model of Azure Virtual Datacenter guidance is designed to bridge that need through a locked-down approach to virtual infrastructures. This approach isn’t for everyone. It’s specifically designed to guide enterprise IT groups in extending their on-premises infrastructure to the Azure public cloud. We call this approach the trusted datacenter extension model. Over time, several other models will be offered, including those that allow secure Internet access directly from a virtual datacenter.
In the Azure Virtual Datacenter model, you can apply isolation policies, make the cloud more like the physical datacenters you know, and achieve the levels of security and trust you need. Four components any enterprise IT team would recognize make it possible: software-defined networking, encryption, identity management, and the Azure platform’s underlying compliance standards and certifications. These four are key to making a virtual datacenter a trusted extension of your existing infrastructure investment. Central to this model is the idea that your cloud infrastructure has isolation boundaries that can be thought of as your corporate namespace. Think of it as your isolated cloud within Azure. Within this virtual boundary, security controls, network policies, and compliance come together, providing you with an IT infrastructure on Azure capable of securely integrating cloud resources with your existing on-premises datacenter. You can deploy new virtual workspaces in the virtual datacenter much as you would deploy additional capacity to your physical datacenter. These virtual workspaces are self-contained
Environments where workloads can run independently, and workload teams can get workspace specific access. Workspaces enable teams to build solutions and manage workloads with great freedom while adhering to the overall access and security policies defined in the central IT infrastructure. This guide is intended for enterprise IT architects and executives. Using the lens of the physical datacenter, the guide discusses an approach to designing secure, trusted virtual datacenters on the Azure platform. Azure Virtual Datacenter is not a specific product or service but rather a way to think about cloud infrastructures. It offers proven practices and guidance to help smooth your migration to the cloud. At the end of this guide, you can learn about the upcoming Virtual Datacenter Automation guidance. This guidance includes a collection of scripts and Azure Resource Manager templates that will help you build an Azure Virtual Datacenter using the trusted extension model.
Azure Cloud Shell is an interactive, browser-accessible shell for managing Azure resources. It gives you the flexibility of choosing the shell experience that best suits the way you work. Linux users can opt for a Bash experience, while Windows users can opt for PowerShell.
At the left corner you can change from Powershell Cmd to Bash
Bash with Azure CLI 2.0
Features Browser-based shell experience
Cloud Shell enables access to a browser-based command-line experience built with Azure management tasks in mind. Leverage Cloud Shell to work untethered from a local machine in a way only the cloud can provide.
Choice of preferred shell experience
Azure Cloud Shell gives you the flexibility of choosing the shell experience that best suits the way you work. Linux users can opt for a Bash experience, while Windows users can opt for PowerShell.
Pre-configured Azure workstation
Cloud Shell comes pre-installed with popular command-line tools and language support so you can work faster.
Automatic authentication
Cloud Shell securely authenticates automatically on each session for instant access to your resources through the Azure CLI 2.0 or Azure PowerShell cmdlets.
Connect your Azure File storage
Cloud Shell machines are temporary and as a result require an Azure Files share to be mounted as clouddrive to persist your $Home directory. On first launch Cloud Shell prompts to create a resource group, storage account, and file share on your behalf. This is a one-time step and will be automatically attached for all sessions. A single file share can be mapped and will be used by both Bash and PowerShell in Cloud Shell.
In the following step-by-step examples ( in Bash and Powershell ) you will see how easy it is to make an Azure Container Instance in the Cloud.
we begin with starting Bash Shell from the Azure Portal.
When you run Cloud Shell for the first time it will create a Cloud Drive of 5GB.
Cloud Shell machines are temporary and as a result require an Azure Files share to be mounted as clouddrive to persist your $Home directory. On first launch Cloud Shell prompts to create a resource group, storage account, and file share on your behalf. This is a one-time step and will be automatically attached for all sessions. A single file share can be mapped and will be used by both Bash and PowerShell in Cloud Shell.
Create Storage for your CloudDrive
A locally-redundant storage (LRS) account and Azure Files share can be created on your behalf. The Azure Files share will be used for both Bash and PowerShell environments if you choose to use both. Regular storage costs apply.
Cloud Shell runs on a temporary machine provided on a per-session, per-user basis
Cloud Shell times out after 20 minutes without interactive activity
Cloud Shell can only be accessed with a file share attached
Cloud Shell uses a the same file share for both Bash and PowerShell
Cloud Shell is assigned one machine per user account
Permissions are set as a regular Linux user (Bash)
az container create -h
With this command you see the options to create a Container Instance in Microsoft Azure Cloud.
You see also some examples to learn from
az group create –name MyResourceGroup –location eastus
We now created a resource group in the East US location of Azure for our Container.
az container create –name mycontainer –image microsoft/aci-helloworld –resource-group MyResourceGroup –ip-address public
We now Created an Azure Container Instance.
ProvisioningState Succeeded
az container list –output table
The result of your Azure Container Instance
To see how your Azure Container Instance is doing, you can read the logs.
az container logs –name mycontainer –resource-group MyResourceGroup
When your Azure Container Instance was for testing, you can delete the instance by :
az container delete –name mycontainer –resource-group MyResourceGroup
az container list –output table
I got two Azure Container Instances running, and now you can see that mycontainer instance is deleted.
This was just an simple example by using Bash in the Azure Portal with CLI 2.0 commands. Of course there are a lot of Azure Solutions to play with:
In the following step-by-step example we will use Azure Powershell from the portal instead of Bash :
$PSVersionTable.PSVersion
Microsoft Azure Powershell via the Portal is using version 5.1 Build 14393 Revision 1480 in my example.
Of course there is also an Azure Powershell reference guide online
Cloud and Datacenter Management Blog 