I like to thank you Community for Supporting, Sharing and Reading New Microsoft technologies on my Blog, Twitter, Facebook and
LinkedIn Community Groups 💗 I wish you all happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and a Healthy New Year 2023 may the Best Wishes comes true ! 🎄🥂
I’m very proud and Honored on the Microsoft Global MVP Awards 2022-2023 !
MVP Award for Cloud and Datacenter Management
MVP Award for Windows Insiders
MVP Award for Azure Hybrid
Thank you Microsoft Product Groups, MVP Award Program, Windows Insider Team, Azure Hybrid Team, Windows Server and Azure Stack HCI Team for all your support, NDA PGI sessions, and for the Awesome software, Features, solutions you are building 🙂
Wish you all Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and a Healthy New Year 2023 may the Best Wishes comes true ! 🎄🥂
Here are some Great links for Reading and Sharing :
JOIN these LinkedIn Community Groups for free and Share New Microsoft Technologies Together:
To keep your Business running, It’s important to secure and monitor your data. One of the security measures is doing Vulnerability assessments in your datacenter(s) to see the status and results for remediation. With Microsoft Azure Arc Defender for Cloud you can do a SQL Server vulnerability assessment in your on-premises datacenter or anywhere with the Azure Arc agent running. Here you find more information about Azure Arc enabled SQL Server
Microsoft Defender for Cloud on Azure Arc enabled SQL Server
Here I activated Microsoft Defender for Cloud on Azure Arc enabled SQL Server, and Azure Defender for Cloud is doing a SQL vulnerability assessment to get the security status and results for remediation.
On this same Azure portal page you will see the Vulnerability assessment findings.
When you Open a Vulnerability finding, you get more information and the remediation for the issue.
Here you see the complete Resource Health of the Azure Arc enabled SQL Server.
Look at the Status of each severity.
Here you see all the vulnerability findings on these four databases.
When you do the remediation you will see the healthy status.
on the Passed tab.
Here I open only the OperationsManager database.
Now you see only the Vulnerability findings on this database.
Here you see a vulnerability finding on the SCOM database with the Remediation 🙂
You can make your Own Workbooks or use them from the Gallery.
Workbook example of Vulnerability Assessment findings.
Conclusion
With Azure Defender for Cloud vulnerability assessment and management you will learn a lot to set your Security Baseline on a higher level in your datacenter(s). Getting the right remediation of Microsoft to solve security issues is Great! You can do your assessments frequently to show your current status on demand. I Really like these Azure Hybrid Tools to make my work easier and the data more secure for the business.
In the last blogpost of MVPLABSerie we learned how to add Servers from anywhere to Microsoft Azure Arc services to get the Azure Hybrid benefit with awesome features and Management tools. you can find that blogpost over here:
With Windows Admin Center in the Azure Portal you can manage the Windows Server operating system of your Arc-enabled servers, known as hybrid machines. You can securely manage hybrid machines from anywhere–without needing a VPN, public IP address, or other inbound connectivity to your machine.
Open Servers and open your Azure Arc Enabled Server.
First of all we have to add the right Role assignment.
Click on Access Control on the Left.
Click on Add => Add Role Assignment.
Here you have to add the following Role Assignment. Windows Admin Center Administrator Login. Add this to your account
When the account is done, then go to Windows Admin Center (Preview)
on the left panel. Click then on Setup.
Click on Install
Setup Successfully!
Now you can Connect your Azure Arc Enabled Windows Server.
Here we have my Storage Windows Insider Server in mvplab.local domain.
From here you can do your IT Management with WAC.
Remote PowerShell on Azure Arc enabled Server.
Microsoft Azure Arc Insights Monitoring and Log Analytics
For IT Management and troubleshooting, monitoring and getting Insights is important to act quickly to keep the business and IT solutions running. With Azure Arc Insights you can see with Maps the connections of the Windows Server.
Azure Arc Insights with Map.
See also the Quick Link to Connection details
This is a really cool overview of your connections.
Here you can see if you have a Malicious connection!
Here I do a Query on the Arc Enabled Server mvpstore01 Update Summary.
There are a lot of Log Analytics queries to play with and mark them as your favorite for your Arc enabled Windows Server 😉
In the following blogpost we will have a closer look at Microsoft Azure Auto Manage and Update Management Center for
Microsoft Azure Arc enabled Windows Servers. We will not forget Security with Azure Defender for Cloud coming in the next blogposts.
Conclusion
With Microsoft Azure Arcenabled Servers you get a Microsoft Azure Hybrid environment with Great features and solutions.
Some features are still in preview and not supported for production workloads, but you can test them now like I do with my mvplab.local
This new innovative technology is going fast forward for Azure Hybrid Services to Manage your Windows Servers, Azure Stack HCI Clusters or your Linux virtual Machines. Azure Arc rocks and you can connect Microsoft Azure Anywhere 🙂
In this blogpost of MVPLAB Serie, we are going to install Microsoft SQL Server 2022 CTP2.1 on my Windows Server Insider Preview Cluster in mvplab.local domain. Before this blogpost I installed the following basics in mvplab.local domain :
Now we are going to install the Backend of the datacenter, and that is SQL Server 2022 CTP2.1 on a Cluster resource with the first SQL Instance for databases which is High Available (HA).
SQL Server 2022 Preview is the most Azure-enabled release of SQL Server yet, with continued innovation in security, availability, and performance.
Integration with Azure Synapse Link and Azure Purview enables customers to drive deeper insights, predictions, and governance from their data at scale.
Cloud integration is enhanced with disaster recovery (DR) to Azure SQL Managed Instance, along with no-ETL (extract, transform, and load) connections to cloud analytics, which allow database administrators to manage their data estates with greater flexibility and minimal impact to the end-user.
Performance and scalability are automatically enhanced via built-in query intelligence.
There is choice and flexibility across languages and platforms, including Linux, Windows, and Kubernetes.
Mount the ISO file and Copy the files to a local disk location, then run Setup as Administrator with your personal Domain Administrator Account to install SQL Server 2022 CTP2.1. Before the installation read Configure Cluster accounts in Active Directory (AD)
Click on Yes.
Click on the left on Installation Then Click on New SQL Server Failover Cluster Installation
Here I choose for the Developer edition.
Click on Next
Accept the License terms
Click on Next
Check for Updates (recommended)
Click on Next
Check the Warnings and solve issues.
Click on Next
I Installed only the default for SQL Database.
(You can install later Shared SQL Features if you need them.)
Click on Next
Specify a network name for the New SQL Server Failover Cluster. mvpsql01 Click on Named Instance and type INSTANCE01 Click on Next
Click on Next
Select your Cluster disk
Click on Next
Select IPv4 and type the IP-Address of your Cluster Resource
mvpsql01
Then Click on Next
Select your domain Service accounts and type the passwords. Select if you want Maintenance Tasks privilege to your SQL Server Database Engine Service.
Click Next
Here you can add the SQL Admin Group from Active Directory (AD)
Click on top tab Data Directories
I Changed the User Database Log Directory.
Here you can set your directories.
Have a look at the Other TAB fields, I set Memory later. When you finished all the Tabs then click Next
Check the Summary and click on Install
SQL Server 2022 CTP2.1 Installed Successfully Click on Close.
This was on the first mvpfs01.mvplab.local, now you have to do the installation on the other node mvpfs02.mvplab.local.
Here we will add a SQL Node to the Cluster.
Click on the left on Installation
Then Click on Add Node to a SQL Server Failover Cluster
Add Node in Progress
Add Node to SQL Server 2022 CTP2.1 Failover Cluster is Successful
Click on Close
Here you see your SQL Server 2022 CTP2.1 Cluster Instance Running in Failover Cluster Manager.
Connecting the High Available SQL 2022 CTP2.1 Cluster Resource Instance01.
And you can connect the SQL Instance with Azure Data Studio 😉
With Azure Data Studio you can install marketplace extensions working with your SQL Instance.
Here you find more information about Microsoft Azure Data Studio
In my last MVPLAB Serie blogpost, I wrote about setting-up a Microsoft Domain mvplab.local and making a Windows Server Insider Cluster with an iSCSI Target Host Server for Shared iSCSI Storage provisioning. First thing I did was Installing Windows Admin Center for Hybrid IT Management. With WAC we can Manage the Cluster Nodes but also the Cluster, Installing new features via Windows Admin Center like Kubernetes for running Containers and microservices. But first we start with Microsoft Cluster Aware Updating to keep your Cluster up-to-date.
Windows Admin Center Cluster Manager
Installing Cluster Aware Updating
In the following steps you can see how easy it is to install Cluster Aware Updating with Windows Admin Center on your Windows Server Cluster, in my case mvpcl01.mvplab.local
Go to your Windows Server Insider Cluster
In Cluster Manager, go to Updates.
Click on Add Cluster Aware Updating Role
Microsoft Windows Admin Center is the Administrator Management tool to use in your hybrid datacenter. You see how easy it is to configure Cluster Aware Updating (CAU) on your Cluster. When you use Windows Server Core or Azure Stack HCI then Windows Admin Center is really handy instead of command-line tools or PowerShell scripting. here you can find more information about Cluster Aware Updating requirements and Best Practices
The Server Message Block (SMB) Protocol is a network file sharing protocol, and as implemented in Microsoft Windows is known as Microsoft SMB Protocol. The set of message packets that defines a particular version of the protocol is called a dialect. The Common Internet File System (CIFS) Protocol is a dialect of SMB. Both SMB and CIFS are also available on VMS, several versions of Unix, and other operating systems. Here you can see the versions of MS-CIFS and download free white papers
Today SMBv1 is a not save protocol and will be used by hackers for man in the middle attacks to compromise your data and systems. SMBv1 is a weak protocol and should not be used in your environment. There are still a lot of Windows Servers 2012 R2 in the world running in datacenters with SMBv1 by Default enabled. To make your Windows Server more secure, you can disable SMBv1 protocol via a Group Policy Object (GPO).
In the following steps we will disable SMBv1 on Windows Servers via GPO.
Open Group Policy Management in your Domain.
Click on Group Policy Object with your right mouse button.
Click on New.
Give your policy a Name.
I made also an temporary Exception policy.
Right click on your new Policy Object.
Click on Edit.
Go to Computer Configuration => Preferences => Windows Settings
Click on Registry.
Click on New and then on Registry Item.
Here you have to add the following Registry Properties:
Set these settings.
Set Path: HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters
Click on Apply for these Registry settings.
SMBv1 Disable setting is set in the Policy Object.
This is the path where we push the policy via GPO.
Here we Link the Existing GPO to the OU with the Windows Server 2012 R2
to disable SMBv1 Protocol.
Select your new Policy to disable SMBv1 Protocol.
We have now Linked the new GPO to Disable SMBv1
GPUpdate /force on your Server to disable SMBv1
To get the new GPO active on your Server.
When the Server gets a reboot, SMBv1 will be disabled by GPO again.
When you have maintenance window for updates for example, you can un-install the SMBv1 Feature in Server Manager. This procedure needs a restart of the Windows Server.
Go to Server Manager remove features.
Click on Remove Roles and Features.
Remove the mark at SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support Feature.
Click on Remove.
Click on Close and Reboot the Server
Now SMBv1 protocol on the Windows Server is disabled and will use a higher version of SMB like version 2.x or 3.x.
SMB over QUIC introduces an alternative to the TCP network transport, providing secure, reliable connectivity to edge file servers over untrusted networks like the Internet. QUIC is an IETF-standardized protocol with many benefits when compared with TCP:
All packets are always encrypted and handshake is authenticated with TLS 1.3
Parallel streams of reliable and unreliable application data
Exchanges application data in the first round trip (0-RTT)
Improved congestion control and loss recovery
Survives a change in the clients IP address or port
SMB over QUIC offers an “SMB VPN” for telecommuters, mobile device users, and high security organizations. The server certificate creates a TLS 1.3-encrypted tunnel over the internet-friendly UDP port 443 instead of the legacy TCP port 445. All SMB traffic, including authentication and authorization within the tunnel is never exposed to the underlying network. SMB behaves normally within the QUIC tunnel, meaning the user experience doesn’t change. SMB features like multichannel, signing, compression, continuous availability, directory leasing, and so on, work normally.
Client Server Handshake and Data transfer differences.
When you still have Windows Servers running with SMBv1 by default enabled, for security you should disable SMBv1 protocol as soon as possible! Otherwise you make it easy for hackers to compromise your data with man in the middle attacks. In Windows Server 2019 and higher SMBv1 is disabled by default. Have a look at SMB over QUIC in your test environment and learn how secure it is and how it works for your security and data.
As a Windows Insider it’s great to have your machine in the Microsoft Azure Cloud to test new features of Windows 11 Preview. You don’t have to buy compatible hardware for Windows 11 Preview, and you only pay for the machine when you use it in the Cloud. Here you find the Windows 11 Preview minimal requirements.
In the following steps I deploy Windows 11 Preview Enterprise in Azure Cloud.
Create your Windows 11 Preview Machine in Azure Cloud.
For this you need a Microsoft Azure Subscription to create a Windows 11 Preview Virtual Machine in the Cloud. In the Azure template for deployment you can select the right size Virtual Machine, Storage, networks, and Management extensions like security and Azure Monitor.
Before you Connect your Windows 11 Preview VM, make sure the security for RDP is set in the Network Security Group (NSG)
Set security for your RDP session in the NSG.
Go to Settings => Windows Update => Windows Insider Program.
Click on Get Started.
First step link an account to join the program.
(This must be your Windows Insiders account)
Sign in selection and continue.
IMPORTANT
Here you select your Windows Insider Channel, read the information and choose your
Windows Insider Build Channel. As a Windows Insider MVP I choose for the Dev Channel to give feedback to the product Team and get the first new features of Windows 11 Preview.
Read the recommendations and click on Continue.
Review the Agreements for your Device.
Click on Continue if you agree.
Restart the Virtual Machine into the Dev Channel for
the latest updates.
Set your Windows Update Advanced options.
Here we have Windows 11 Preview Insider Build 22000.160 on Azure Cloud 😉
After this I went to the Windows Insider Feedback Hub to do my settings :
At Settings of the Feedback Hub you can update the software.
and of course your personal settings.
I Like the Windows Insider Feedback Hub in Dark mode.
IMPORTANT
When you are ready with testing and sending feedback to Microsoft don’t forget to Stop the Virtual Machine! This save you money.
Conclusion
Microsoft Azure Cloud Services and Windows 11 Preview Insider Builds working together gives you flexibility and as a Windows Insider you can test every Windows 11 Preview Build from any place with a Internet connection. I like to give Microsoft feedback to make Windows Awesome for everyone on the planet 🙂
Azure Monitor Insights for Monitoring your Containers.
In the last blogpost I wrote about Microsoft Azure Arc Services and how to connect a Docker for Desktop Kubernetes Cluster for testing your DevOps solution like Container Apps, Functions, App Services in a test environment. Here you find the Link to the Installation.
One of the Microsoft Azure Arc features is Azure Monitor Insights for monitoring your Kubernetes Cluster and the Containers.
Azure Arc Insights for Kubernetes Cluster anywhere
In the following step-by-step guide we will configure Azure Monitor Insights for your Kubernetes Cluster.
I Connected my Analytics Workspace CloudMVPLab.
Click on Configure.
Onboarding your Kubernetes Cluster will take some minutes.
After a while your Kubernetes Cluster Analytics data will show in Insights.
Here you see a navigation bar with the following topics
What’s New
Cluster
Reports
Nodes
Controllers
Containers.
Insights reports of the Kubernetes Cluster
Here you can Click on default reports of your Kubernetes Cluster.
Storage Capacity and Health Status report of your Kubernetes Cluster.
Storage Capacity more in Details.
Deployments Report of your Kubernetes Cluster.
Workload details Report of your Kubernetes Cluster.
Kubelet report of your Kubernetes Cluster
Data Usage of your Kubernetes Cluster
Data Usage
Insights the Nodes of the Kubernetes Cluster
Insights of the Nodes and on the right you can view Analytics.
Here you can work with Log Analytics on your Cluster.
Insights in Controllers of your Kubernetes Cluster
Insights of your Controllers
Insights Containers of your Kubernetes Cluster
Container Insights of your Kubernetes Cluster
Container Insights with Azure Log Analytics.
So with Azure Arc Enabled Kubernetes Clusters you can monitoring your Cluster and running Containers to keep you in Control on what is happening on the Cluster but also with your Container Apps and microservices. After this you can set Alerts and notifications when something is going wrong or offline. With this running you can start running your own App services, Containers or Azure functions on your Kubernetes Cluster.
This configuration with Docker for Desktop Kubernetes Cluster is for testing purpose only and can be used for your own DevOps solutions before you deploy on Production Ready Clusters. With Azure Arc Enabled Kubernetes Clusters you get the powerful Microsoft Azure Features and solutions in a secure way on your Kubernetes Cluster. I wish you lot of success with Azure Arc Enabled Kubernetes Clusters to make Awesome Apps and IT solutions for the Business 😉
Security by Design is increasingly becoming the mainstream development approach to ensure security of software systems. Security architectural design decisions are based on well-known security tactics, and patterns defined as reusable techniques for achieving specific quality concerns. In the following steps we will make a security baseline for Windows Servers with different tools.
1.Microsoft Security Compliance Toolkit
The Microsoft Security Configuration Toolkit enables enterprise security administrators to effectively manage their enterprise’s Group Policy Objects (GPOs). Using the toolkit, administrators can compare their current GPOs with Microsoft-recommended GPO baselines or other baselines, edit them, store them in GPO backup file format, and apply them via a domain controller or inject them directly into testbed hosts to test their effects. A security baseline is a group of Microsoft-recommended configuration settings that explains their security impact. These settings are based on feedback from Microsoft security engineering teams, product groups, partners, and customers. A lot of hacks are based on registry settings, so that’s why Windows Server Security Baseline is important.
You can download the Microsoft Security Compliance Toolkit here
2. Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security
Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security is an important part of a layered security model. By providing host-based, two-way network traffic filtering for a device, Windows Defender Firewall blocks unauthorized network traffic flowing into or out of the local device. Windows Defender Firewall also works with Network Awareness so that it can apply security settings appropriate to the types of networks to which the device is connected. Windows Defender Firewall and Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) configuration settings are integrated into a single Microsoft Management Console (MMC) named Windows Defender Firewall, so Windows Defender Firewall is also an important part of your network’s isolation strategy. So set only the firewall ports you need end to end.
Windows Security Setting Firewall & Network Protection
Select Advanced settings
Windows Defender Firewall Advanced settings Set only active what you need!
3. Windows Defender Security Virus & Threat Protection
Schedule a Full Scan in the Night for Threats
and Set the Windows Security options.
Keep your Defender and Virus definition files up-to-date.
4. Windows Updates
When your Windows Server is ready for production, you have to keep it Up-to-Date with Windows Updates. It’s not only the Windows Security patches, but all the software that’s running on your Server. One software leak is enough for a hacker to compromise your Server.
Lot of Companies are using Microsoft WSUS Services or Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager to deploy the software Life cycle Management Security updates to Servers to keep them secure as possible. These are not only Microsoft Security Updates but also from third party Software vendors, like adobe, Google, etc.
5. Security Monitoring and Remediation
This Cycle is important for Security!
IT departments have multiple teams with different disciplines, so when the Windows Server is ready
for the Administrator it goes to the Application Admin in a different IT Team. They will install the Application software and maybe
some software connections with other Servers by a third IT Team. To get in control of those security steps is important, because when a IT Consultant of a third party vendor is installing old legacy software you will have hacker leaks again and that’s making your Server vulnerable. Here is where Azure Security Center and Azure Defender will support you in monitoring and remediation of security issues.
It doesn’t matter where your Windows Server is installed, in Azure Cloud or On-premises in your datacenter, it can connect securely via internet for monitoring the Server. When it’s on-premises you can install the Microsoft Arc agent
Microsoft Azure Arc Connected Machine Agent.
Azure Arc enabled Server from On-premises
When the Microsoft Azure Arc Agent is installed on the Server, you can use these Azure Services for example :
Azure Update Management
Azure Monitoring
Azure Security Center with Azure Defender
Azure Policies for Compliance
Change Tracking and Inventory
Insights
Automation of Tasks
These Microsoft Azure features are supporting you to keep your Server as safe as possible and your security Up-to-Date.
From here you can add the Windows Server to Microsoft Azure Security Center with the right log analytics workspace.
Microsoft Azure Security Center Recommendations
Remediate Security Configurations on the Arc enabled Server
Remediation of Vulnerabilities on your Windows Server (Arc Enabled)
Azure Defender is a built-in tool that provides threat protection for workloads running in Azure, on premises, and in other clouds. Integrated with Azure Security Center, Azure Defender protects your hybrid data, cloud-native services, and servers and integrates with your existing security workflows, such as SIEM solutions and vast Microsoft threat intelligence, to streamline threat mitigation.
Workflow of Azure Defender for Vulnerability Scanning.
When Azure Security Center and Azure Defender are installed, you can do a Vulnerability Assessment on your Azure Arc enabled Server which is on-premises datacenter before your Windows Server is going in Production.
Vulnerabilities after Assessment on Windows Server with Arc enabled with remediation
This happens a lot when there is third party software installed on the Server.
To get a list of your high security vulnerabilities, you can use the Azure Resource Graph explorer.
Azure Resource Graph Explorer
Here you can download your high risks into a CSV or Pin to a Dashboard.
6. Compliance and Security Policies
Learn how Microsoft products and services help your organization meet regulatory compliance standards.
When you have to manage a lot of Windows Servers or Linux Servers, you want them compliant with the right security policies.
With Azure Security Policy you can configure your Compliance.
in the following steps you will see an Sample alert :
Sample Alerts with Mitre ATT&CK Tactics
Take Action on the Security Alert.
Related entities
Mitigate the Threat
Prevent future attacks
Trigger automated response
or
Suppress similar Alerts.
Security by Design Conclusion
Before you begin with deploying Windows Servers in your datacenter or in the Azure Cloud, it’s good to make a High Level design with your security set for the right compliance of your new Windows Server. You can use all the security On-Premises for Windows Server but with Azure Security Center, Azure Monitor, Azure Arc Services, Azure Defender you get all the security Insights and remediation options when a vulnerability is discovered. Windows Server and Azure Security Center is better together for Security Management.
Microsoft Security
If you want to keep your Windows Servers secure as possible, you need to keep doing these steps above. Continuous Monitoring and remediate vulnerabilities is a on-going process for SecOps and Administrators. Make it hackers difficult to add ransomware on your Servers. One more important IT Service, is your Backup / Disaster Recovery solution. This should be secure from hackers and from ransomware encryption. I always say think of this rule :
Cloud and Datacenter Management Blog 