Cosmos DB Server-Side Programming with TypeScript – Part 1: Introduction

Cosmos DB is a NoSQL database provided as part of Microsoft’s Azure platform. Designed for very high performance and scalability, Cosmos DB is rapidly becoming one of the default data storage options I recommend for new green-field applications and microservices. It is a fairly opinionated database, with some guidelines that you need to follow to take full advantage of its scalability and performance, but it also provides a number of features to enable sophisticated and powerful applications to be built on top of its engine.… [Keep reading] “Cosmos DB Server-Side Programming with TypeScript – Part 1: Introduction”

VSTS Build Definitions as YAML Part 2: How?

In the last post, I described why you might want to define your build definition as a YAML file using the new YAML Build Definitions feature in VSTS. In this post, we will walk through an example of a simple VSTS YAML build definition for a .NET Core application.

Application Setup

Our example application will be a blank ASP.NET Core web application with a unit test project. I created these using Visual Studio for Mac’s ASP.NET… [Keep reading] “VSTS Build Definitions as YAML Part 2: How?”

VSTS Build Definitions as YAML Part 1: What and Why?

Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) has recently gained the ability to create build definitions as YAML files. This feature is currently in preview. In this post, I’ll explain why this is a great addition to the VSTS platform and why you might want to define your builds in this way. In the next post I’ll work through an example of using this feature, and I’ll also provide some tips and links to documentation and guidance that I found helpful when constructing some build definitions myself.… [Keep reading] “VSTS Build Definitions as YAML Part 1: What and Why?”

Monitoring Azure Storage Queues with Application Insights and Azure Monitor

Azure Queues provides an easy queuing system for cloud-based applications. Queues allow for loose coupling between application components, and applications that use queues can take advantage of features like peek-locking and multiple retry attempts to enable application resiliency and high availability. Additionally, when Azure Queues are used with Azure Functions or Azure WebJobs, the built-in poison queue support allows for messages that repeatedly fail processing attempts to be moved to a dedicated queue for later inspection.… [Keep reading] “Monitoring Azure Storage Queues with Application Insights and Azure Monitor”