#Microsoft Windows Insiders and Windows Terminal Preview #WindowsInsiders #Winserv #MVPBuzz

Microsoft Windows Insiders Program

To be the first with the Microsoft Windows Insiders Community testing all the New features is awesome to do!
I’m a Windows Insider since October 1st, 2014 and I like to see every week what’s new? In the Feedback HUB Preview you can Follow other Windows Insiders and see the Challenges and features requests. From there you can give them feedback or vote for the new features.

Windows Insiders Feed Back HUB

To become a Microsoft Windows Insider, you have to register your self here : BECOME AN INSIDER

In the Windows Insiders HUB you find also the New announcements of the Preview Build versions. Microsoft Windows Insiders also have a blogsite here to follow:

Windows Insiders Blogpost site

When you are active in the Microsoft Windows Insiders Community you can Earn badges and Learn a lot of the New Features Microsoft releases every week. This gives you always a step a head and It’s fun 🚀😎👍

Earning Badges

It’s not only the Windows 10 Insiders program but also Windows Server Insiders or Microsoft Edge Insiders
Here you find more information :

Windows Server Insider Program

Microsoft Edge Insider Program

And of course keep up-to-date via Social Media here:

@windowsinsider

@donasarkar

@JenMsft

@MSEdgeDev

@windowsserver

Which recent Features do I like in Microsoft Windows Insiders Preview Build?

Well Let start Right a way with the Dark Side Theme in Windows Insiders 😎👍🚀

Much better for my eyes 😍

One of the latest new Features in Windows Insider Preview Build 18922 is Windows Terminal Preview from the Marketplace.

Click on Get

Just Click on Launch

It’s in really early Preview with version 0.2.1715.0

Windows Terminal Preview

Here begins the cool 😎 part with Settings opening profiles.json file to edit :

JSON Settings of Windows Terminal Preview

Here I Changed the JSON file for my Ubuntu Linux Terminal with a Great New Background.

You Have to add these lines in the JSON file here:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_8wekyb3d8bbwe\RoamingState

Under “Icon” :

“backgroundImage” : “ms-appdata:///roaming/yourimage.jpg”,
“backgroundImageOpacity” : 0.75,
“backgroundImageStrechMode” : “fill”,

Save Profiles.json and you will see that the background will be Awesome in Ubuntu Terminal :

How Awesome is this !! 😎🚀👍

Conclusion:

I Love my Hobby and my Hobby is my Work !
The Microsoft Windows Insiders Program is Awesome together with the Community to make Windows a Great product for everyone.

What is Microsoft Azure Sentinel? #SIEM #AI #Analytics #Azure #Security #ContainerInsights

Building on the full range of existing Azure services, Azure Sentinel natively incorporates proven foundations, like Log Analytics, and Logic Apps. Azure Sentinel enriches your investigation and detection with AI, and provides Microsoft’s threat intelligence stream and enables you to bring your own threat intelligence.

Microsoft Azure Sentinel is a scalable, cloud-native, security information event management (SIEM) and security orchestration automated response (SOAR) solution. 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. Read more about Azure Sentinel Preview here

Run a Log Analytics query from Azure Sentinel and use Bookmarks to Hunt

Configure your own Data-Connector to Azure Sentinel Workspace

Read here more about Connecting data sources

Happy Hunting

#Microsoft Azure Central Monitoring for your Team #Dashboards #Azure #ContainerInsights #Apps

Full Screen Monitoring

When you install Azure Virtual Machines or Kubernetes Clusters in the Microsoft Cloud, It’s important to monitor your workload and keep your IT department in Control for the Business. Metric alerts in Azure Monitor work on top of multi-dimensional metrics. These metrics could be platform metrics, custom metrics, popular logs from Azure Monitor converted to metrics and Application Insights metrics.

When you have important alerts, you want to take action based on your rules.

Take action on Alerts

Make your Own rules based on Alerts.

IT Department of a company has most of the time different teams with each having it’s own responsibility of workloads in the Microsoft Cloud. For example, the Servicedesk is supporting the Business and they like to see if all the Services are up and running for the Business. The Infrastructure Team wants the same, but on deep level components of the Services like Memory, Network, Storage, CPU, Performance, Availability and more. The Technical Application Team is interested if the application is running and working with all the Interfaces, Databases, and/or Azure Pipelines.

Each Team can build there own Azure Dashboard(s) in the Microsoft Cloud.

Here I Have made an easy example of my Windows Server 2019 Virtual Machines and my Azure Kubernetes Cluster in One Microsoft Azure Dashboard :

You can Start from Azure Monitor Metrics

Or you can Start from the Virtual Machine Blade here.

When you have your Azure Monitor metrics ready with the right information then you can create it in your Azure Dashboard for your Team.

 

Select another Dashboard.

Create your Own Dashboard.

Now we have the first VM with CPU percentage in the Azure Dashboard.

Here I have added More Virtual Machines to the Same Metric Chart.

When you have Azure Kubernetes Cluster to monitor :

From here you can Add Container Insights information into your Azure Dashboard :

Adding Azure Monitor Container Insights of KubeCluster01

The Azure Monitor Container Insights logs for your Dashboard information, with Pin to Dashboard.

 

When you right click with your mouse on the dashboard, you can edit your dashboard with more Azure Resources
from the tile Gallery. Here you can read more about creating your Own Azure Dashboard with Action Rules.

Azure Monitor for containers is a feature designed to monitor the performance of container workloads deployed to either Azure Container Instances or managed Kubernetes clusters hosted on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). Monitoring your containers is critical, especially when you’re running a production cluster, at scale, with multiple applications.
Azure Monitor for containers gives you performance visibility by collecting memory and processor metrics from controllers, nodes, and containers that are available in Kubernetes through the Metrics API. Container logs are also collected. After you enable monitoring from Kubernetes clusters, these metrics and logs are automatically collected for you through a containerized version of the Log Analytics agent for Linux and stored in your Log Analytics workspace.

 

Read here more about Azure Container Insights with Live Logs.

Follow and Join the community on LinkedIn

JOIN Azure DevOps Community 

JOIN Containers in the Cloud Community 

JOIN Azure Monitor and #Security Community 

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