Microsoft #Azure CloudShell for Management tasks #Bash #Powershell #CLI #KubeCtl #Terraform

https://shell.azure.com

Azure Cloud Shell is an interactive, browser-accessible shell for managing Azure resources. It provides 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.

In this quick overview you will see the possibilities of Microsoft Azure Cloudshell functionalities and tools.

Azure Cloudshell Editor

Azure Cloud Shell includes an integrated file editor built from the open-source Monaco Editor. The Cloud Shell editor supports features such as language highlighting, the command palette, and a file explorer.
This can be handy with JSON and YAML files.

 

When you have your App YAML file for your Azure Kubernetes Cluster on your Cloud drive, you can edit the file online with your browser and save it in the Azure Cloud. I like this editor in the Cloudshell, especially when you are not behind your own laptop or pc and you have to make a quick change.

I have a Kubernetes Cluster installed on Azure and with this editor I can explore my Azure logs, Cache, and config files for the information I need to work with in Bash, Powershell to do my CLI commands for example 😉

For the Powershell Gurus 

Azure PowerShell provides a set of cmdlets that use the Azure Resource Manager model for managing your Azure resources. Learn here more about Azure Powershell

Azure Kubernetes CLI Kubectl

Kubectl is a command line interface for running commands against Kubernetes clusters. kubectl looks for a file named config in the $HOME/.kube directory. You can specify other kubeconfig files by setting the KUBECONFIG environment variable or by setting the –kubeconfig flag.
Read here more about Kubectl

Terraform CLI is Available

What is Terraform?
Terraform is a tool for building, changing, and versioning infrastructure safely and efficiently. Terraform can manage existing and popular service providers as well as custom in-house solutions.
Configuration files describe to Terraform the components needed to run a single application or your entire datacenter. Terraform generates an execution plan describing what it will do to reach the desired state, and then executes it to build the described infrastructure. As the configuration changes, Terraform is able to determine what changed and create incremental execution plans which can be applied.
The infrastructure Terraform can manage includes low-level components such as compute instances, storage, and networking, as well as high-level components such as DNS entries, SaaS features, etc.

The key features of Terraform are:

Infrastructure as Code
Infrastructure is described using a high-level configuration syntax. This allows a blueprint of your datacenter to be versioned and treated as you would any other code. Additionally, infrastructure can be shared and re-used.

Execution Plans
Terraform has a “planning” step where it generates an execution plan. The execution plan shows what Terraform will do when you call apply. This lets you avoid any surprises when Terraform manipulates infrastructure.

Resource Graph
Terraform builds a graph of all your resources, and parallelizes the creation and modification of any non-dependent resources. Because of this, Terraform builds infrastructure as efficiently as possible, and operators get insight into dependencies in their infrastructure.

Change Automation
Complex changesets can be applied to your infrastructure with minimal human interaction. With the previously mentioned execution plan and resource graph, you know exactly what Terraform will change and in what order, avoiding many possible human errors.

More information on Terraform

It’s really easy to Upload or Download your Files.

AzCopy is a command-line utility designed for copying data to/from Microsoft Azure Blob, File, and Table storage, using simple commands designed for optimal performance. You can copy data between a file system and a storage account, or between storage accounts.

More information about Features & tools for Azure Cloud Shell here

Conclusion :

Microsoft Azure Cloudshell is very powerful to work with, creating your infrastructure from the Command Line Interface (CLI) or with JSON / YAML scripts. Some features or commands are not available in the Azure portal and that’s where Azure Cloudshell can help you out. Try the different Azure Cloudshell Tools and look what you like most to use for your work. From here you can work on any device with a browser and do your work. #MVPBuzz

#Microsoft SQL Always-On Cluster vs #SQL Managed Instance in #Azure

SQL Always-On Cluster in Azure

Before we start with building this SQL Always-On Cluster we already have some Azure SDK Components Active in the Azure Subscription to work with:

• Virtual Network VNET-001 is already installed
• Subnet-SQL and Subnet-Domaincontrollers
• Network Security Groups (NSG) with the right rules active
• Two domain controllers
• Azure Keyvault ( for disk Encryption)

We deployed three Virtual Machines in an Availability Set :

• Primary SQL Node VM01
• Secondary SQL Node VM02
• Witness Server

The deployment was with ARM Template :

VM Deployment

Copy and paste the JSON in your template editor like Visual Studio Code for Example or in the Azure Portal Template builder.

Visual Studio Code

Azure Portal Template

Read more how to deploy ARM Templates via Microsoft Azure Portal here

You also can create a Private or Public Repository on GitHub and store your ARM Templates there in a Library.

GitHub Learning Lab
Learn new skills by completing fun, realistic projects in your very own GitHub repository. Get advice and helpful feedback from our friendly Learning Lab bot.

Create a SQL Server 2014 Always On Availability Group in an existing Azure VNET and an existing Active Directory instance via GitHub :

https://github.com/Azure/azure-quickstart-templates/tree/master/sql-server-2014-alwayson-existing-vnet-and-ad

Configure Always On Availability Group in Azure VM manually :

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/windows/sql/virtual-machines-windows-portal-sql-availability-group-tutorial

Important Tip :

Don’t forget to get the right connectivity between Azure Load Balancer and the SQL Always-On Listener :

## Get the Cluster Resource Information:
Clear-Host
Get-ClusterResource `
| Where-Object {$_.ResourceType.Name -like “IP Address”} `
| Get-ClusterParameter `
| Where-Object {($_.Name -like “Network”) -or ($_.Name -like “Address”) -or ($_.Name -like “ProbePort”) -or ($_.Name -like “SubnetMask”)}

#############################################################

## Set Cluster Parameters:
$ClusterNetworkName = “Cluster Network 1” # the cluster network name (Use Get-ClusterNetwork on Windows Server 2012 of higher to find the name)
$IPResourceName = “IPlistener” # the IP Address resource name
$ListenerILBIP = “10.x.x.x” # the IP Address of the Internal Load Balancer (ILB). This is the static IP address for the load balancer you configured in the Azure portal.
[int]$ListenerProbePort = 80

Import-Module FailoverClusters

Get-ClusterResource $IPResourceName | Set-ClusterParameter -Multiple @{“Address”=”$ListenerILBIP”;”ProbePort”=$ListenerProbePort;”SubnetMask”=”255.255.255.255″;”Network”=”$ClusterNetworkName”;”EnableDhcp”=0}

############################################################

Before you start with your SQL workloads from On-premises Datacenter on Microsoft Azure, have a look if PaaS Azure SQL Managed Instances is something for your Organization with all the benefits.

What is Microsoft Azure SQL Managed Instance?

Managed instance is a new deployment option of Azure SQL Database, providing near 100% compatibility with the latest SQL Server on-premises (Enterprise Edition) Database Engine, providing a native virtual network (VNet) implementation that addresses common security concerns, and a business model favorable for on-premises SQL Server customers. The managed instance deployment model allows existing SQL Server customers to lift and shift their on-premises applications to the cloud with minimal application and database changes. At the same time, the managed instance deployment option preserves all PaaS capabilities (automatic patching and version updates, automated backups, high-availability ), that drastically reduces management overhead and TCO.

Read here more on Microsoft Docs about Azure SQL Services

Conclusion :

When you have a lot of SQL workloads and want to go to Microsoft Azure Cloud Services, analyze your existing workloads well and have a look first at Microsoft Azure SQL Managed Instances. With this Azure PaaS Service, you don’t have to manage the Complete Infrastructure like in a SQL Always-On Cluster (IaaS).

Have a good look at the requirements and Microsoft Data Migration Services can help you out.

SQL Server instance migration to Azure SQL Database managed instance

 

Build your hybrid strategy with #AzureStack and Azure Stack HCI #HybridCloud #DevOps

Azure Stack HCI solutions are available for customers who want to run virtualized applications on modern hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) to lower costs and improve performance. Azure Stack HCI solutions feature the same software-defined compute, storage, and networking software as Azure Stack, and can integrate with Azure for hybrid capabilities such as cloud-based backup, site recovery, monitoring, and more.
Adopting hybrid cloud is a journey and it is important to have a strategy that takes into account different workloads, skillsets, and tools. Microsoft is the only leading cloud vendor that delivers a comprehensive set of hybrid cloud solutions, so customers can use the right tool for the job without compromise.

Microsoft Announcing Azure Stack HCI: A new member of the Azure Stack family

#Azure Monitor in Action Investigating Production Issues Follow @Azuremonitor

Microsoft Azure Monitor in Action

In this episode, Isaac Levin (@isaac2004) joins us to share how the developer exception resolution experience can be better with Azure Monitor and Snapshot Debugger. The discussion talks about what Azure Monitor is and an introduction to Snapshot Debugger, and quickly goes into demos showcasing what developers can do with Snapshot Debugger.

More information about Azure Monitor on Microsoft Docs

What’s is Application Insights?

Application Insights is an extensible Application Performance Management (APM) service for web developers on multiple platforms. Use it to monitor your live web application. It will automatically detect performance anomalies. It includes powerful analytics tools to help you diagnose issues and to understand what users actually do with your app. It’s designed to help you continuously improve performance and usability. It works for apps on a wide variety of platforms including .NET, Node.js and Java EE, hosted on-premises, hybrid, or any public cloud. It integrates with your DevOps process, and has connection points to a variety of development tools. It can monitor and analyze telemetry from mobile apps by integrating with Visual Studio App Center.

Follow Azure Monitor on Twitter

JOIN the Azure Monitor & Security Community on LinkedIn

Inside Azure Management (Preview) Free E-Book #Azure #Cloud #Management #MVPBuzz

Inside Azure Management

This Awesome Inside Azure Management E-book is a must have with Great content !

Chapter 1 – Intro
Chapter 2 – Implementing Governance in Azure
Chapter 3 – Migrating Workloads to Azure
Chapter 4 – Configuring Data Sources for Azure Log Analytics
Chapter 5 – Monitoring Applications
Chapter 6 – Monitoring Infrastructure
Chapter 7 – Configuring Alerting and notification
Chapter 8 – Monitor Databases
Chapter 9 – Monitoring Containers
Chapter 10 – Implementing Process Automation
Chapter 11 – Configuration Management
Chapter 12 – Monitoring Security-related Configuration
Chapter 13 – Data Backup for Azure Workloads
Chapter 14 – Implementing a Disaster Recovery Strategy
Chapter 15 – Update Management for VMs
Chapter 16 – Conclusion

It’s all about Azure Management in the Cloud written by Great Microsoft MVP’s.
Download the Free Inside Azure Management E-book here

 

Follow the Authors here :  Tao Yang, Stanislav Zhelyazkov, Pete Zerger, and Kevin Greene, along with Anders Bengtsson, CSA for Microsoft.

Thank you for all the work guys and Congrats on this Awesome E-Book ! 😉

#Microsoft Azure Sentinel (Preview) Overview #Azure #Sentinel #Security #Analytics #SIEM

 

Microsoft Azure Sentinel

Microsoft Azure Sentinel delivers intelligent security analytics and threat intelligence across the enterprise, providing a single solution for alert detection, threat visibility, proactive hunting, and threat response.

• Collect data at cloud scale across all users, devices, applications, and infrastructure, both on-premises and in multiple clouds.
• Detect previously undetected threats, and minimize false positives using Microsoft’s analytics and unparalleled threat intelligence.
• Investigate threats with artificial intelligence, and hunt for suspicious activities at scale, tapping into years of cyber security work at Microsoft.
• Respond to incidents rapidly with built-in orchestration and automation of common tasks.

In the following step-by-step guide you get a global overview of Azure Sentinel :

Search for Azure Sentinel in the Azure Portal.

Click on Create

Connect or add your Workspace.

Click on Add Azure Sentinel

Azure Sentinel is added to your workspace.

Azure Sentinel Overview

Security Analytics

Learn here more with Microsoft Azure Monitor analytics queries

Here you can play with Azure Log Analytics 😉

Here you can collect all your Security Cases

Azure Sentinel Build-In Dashboard Solutions

Azure AD Audit Logs

 

Linux Machines Security

When you have your Azure Sentinel Solutions in place with alerting rules and telemetry and analytics is coming to your workspace, Hunting is the next Threat management tool :

Azure sentinel Hunting

Working with Tags and Collaborate with Teammates

Launch Investigations and Bookmark

Working with Azure Notebooks for Azure Sentinel

Welcome to the Azure Sentinel repository! This repository contains out of the box detections, exploration queries, hunting queries, dashboards and playbooks to help you get ramped up with Azure Sentinel and provide you security content to secure your environment and hunt for threats. You can also submit any issues or feature requests as you onboard to Azure Sentinel. For questions and feedback, please contact AzureSentinel@microsoft.com

Azure Sentinel Notebooks on GitHub

 

Get started from here to Configure your Azure Sentinel Environment

Choose your Data Collections for Azure Sentinel Security

Lot of Choice already Build-in for you.

From here you can make your own Azure Sentinel Analytics Alert Rules.

Alert Rules

Create Alert rules with the right mappings, triggers, and scheduling, response automation.

Add your own playbooks for your Security

Unlock the power of AI for security with Machine Learning

Machine Learning in Azure Sentinel is built-in right from the beginning. We have thoughtfully designed the system with ML innovations aimed to make security analysts, security data scientists and engineers productive. One such innovation is Azure Sentinel Fusion built especially to reduce alert fatigue.

Building your Full Screen Dashboard for Monitoring

More information about Azure Sentinel Intelligent Security :

Start here free with Azure Sentinel Preview

Microsoft azure Sentinel Docs

Microsoft Azure Sentinel on GitHub

Join Microsoft Azure Monitor & Security for Hybrid IT Community

 

#Microsoft Hololens 2 Overview Videos #MWC2019 #Hololens #Azure #VR with @satyanadella

Microsoft Keynote HoloLens 2 at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019

HoloLens 2

Microsoft HoloLens 2: Partner Spotlight with Philips

Microsoft HoloLens 2: Partner Spotlight with Bentley

Conclusion:

I see Awesome possibilities for Maintenance in Smart Cities and Smart Buildings with Intelligent Cloud and Intelligent Edge together with the Microsoft Hololens 2 and Microsoft Azure. Intelligent Dashboards in your Hololens 2 hybrid with your Azure App for example. Great for Manufacturers, Healthcare, Architects, Maintenance Companies but also for Teachers and Students doing innovative Education 🙂

Here you find more information about Microsoft Hololens 2 and Business Ready Apps