Hub and Spoke network topology in Azure

6th of March, 2020 / Lucian Franghiu / No Comments

Originally posted on Lucian.Blog. Follow Lucian on Twitter: @LucianFrango.

Back in late 2016 I was lucky enough to go Microsoft Ignite in Atlanta (USA), which was a bit of a big deal as it was my first major conference. One of the take aways from the various technical sessions on Azure networking I attended was that Microsoft wanted to put a great deal of emphasis on the usage of a Hub and Spoke network topology. … [Keep reading] “Hub and Spoke network topology in Azure”

N2WS Backup & Recovery v3.0 – A big step forward

6th of March, 2020 / Jason Wood / No Comments

N2WS Backup & Recovery v3.0 has now gone live. Below is my review of a late beta version.

For those that have been following, you’ll know that Telstra Purple use N2WS Backup & Recovery (I’ll call it BaR from now, not as good as CPM, but I’m not going to type the whole thing). I was lucky to get a beta preview of N2WS BaR v3.0 and have been very impressed. The new UI is a massive improvement, but there are also a number of small things that have been fixed too.… [Keep reading] “N2WS Backup & Recovery v3.0 – A big step forward”

Azure Building Blocks – The Forgotten IaC Tool

4th of March, 2020 / Jesse Loudon / No Comments

Whilst researching Infrastructure as Code alternatives to Azure Resource Manager templates I stumbled across the Azure Building Blocks (AZBB) tool. It’s not widely adopted and you’ll see why later on this in blog.

Because I’m not keen on authoring large JSON files (aka ARM templates) for IaC I’m going to put Azure Building Blocks to the test with a simple Hub & Spoke VNET deployment. Later on I’ll also demonstrate the same deployment using an AzureCLI script – my current preferred alternative to ARM Templates – so you’ll see the differences.… [Keep reading] “Azure Building Blocks – The Forgotten IaC Tool”

Building the AWS Client VPN

3rd of March, 2020 / Michael O’Leary / No Comments

With the release of the Desktop Clients for AWS Client VPN earlier this month, there has been renewed interest in the managed VPN service. Given that AWS has released the Desktop VPN client, this means that any support you require is now under the AWS support banner giving customers an end to end solution. Before this announcement, AWS customers would have 3^rd party clients to connect. So given this renewed interest in the service, I have decided to document a simple setup scenario.… [Keep reading] “Building the AWS Client VPN”

My experience at Microsoft Containers OpenHack featuring Kubernetes challenges

29th of February, 2020 / Jesse Loudon / No Comments

Azure consultants are constantly looking to expand our scope of expertise and aligning to this I’ve recently attended a Microsoft Containers OpenHack in Sydney. This event was a huge success for me and a rapid introduction to Kubernetes (K8s) and Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) through a series of challenges over 3 days.

Microsoft OpenHack is a developer-focused engagement where a wide variety of participants (Open) learn through hands-on experimentation (Hack) using challenges based on real-world customer scenarios designed to mimic the developer journey – Source: Microsoft

My experience at OpenHack

About 80 attendees were split up between the 20 tables in the room.… [Keep reading] “My experience at Microsoft Containers OpenHack featuring Kubernetes challenges”

How-To deploy Docker images to Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS)

28th of February, 2020 / Santhosh Kumar / No Comments

In this blog, I will guide you through the process of building and deploying Docker images to the Kubernetes platform hosted on Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS). In addition, I will also show you how to work with service scale-out and high-availability.

Docker defines a container as “A standard unit of software that packages up code and all its dependencies, so the application runs quickly and reliably from one computing environment to another”

A Docker container image is a lightweight, standalone, executable package of software that includes everything needed to run an application: code, runtime, system tools, system libraries and settings.”… [Keep reading] “How-To deploy Docker images to Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS)”

Wednesday AWS Wrap up – Wednesday 12 February 2020

13th of February, 2020 / matthew merriel / No Comments

Here we are halfway through February already (all be it a bit belated… again) for another AWS Weekly Wrap-up.

As always, This list is a summary of the recent releases and announcements made by AWS and is far from exhaustive. I simply try to summarise the dozens of weekly announcements to those most sought after by our customers. If your interested in taking a look at all of AWS’s recent announcements, you can follow the “What’s New” section of their website (available here).… [Keep reading] “Wednesday AWS Wrap up – Wednesday 12 February 2020”

Quick Intro to Azure Backup Explorer

10th of February, 2020 / Jesse Loudon / No Comments

Here’s what you need to know about Azure Backup Explorer which has been released in public preview as of 5th Feb 2020.

What is Azure Backup Explorer?

It’s currently available for use with Azure Virtual Machines
A single pane of glass for monitoring backups of your Azure Virtual Machines
Removes complexity and manpower associated with monitoring backups using Azure Log Analytics Workspaces

How do I access it?

TLDR = Azure Portal > any RSV > Overview > Backup Explorer

… [Keep reading]

Azure VNets and 172.16.0.0/12

5th of February, 2020 / Lucian Franghiu / No Comments

I’ve recently been digging into the weeds of doing an Azure VNet Hub and Spoke design for a customer and it’s brought about revisiting a topic from a while back.

For some quick context- for any given VNet in Azure there is a System RouteTable that holds basic routing information for that VNets network traffic flows within that VNet as well as inbound and outbound of the VNet. The following table outlines what the default System RouteTable routes consist of (table information source):

So, whats the problem with that?

… [Keep reading]

Your 2020 Study Guide to Azure DevOps Solutions (AZ-400)

3rd of February, 2020 / Jesse Loudon / No Comments

With Microsoft announcing sweeping changes to a few Azure exams later in March 2020 the time is ripe to blog about an exam I’ve had my eye on for a while: Azure DevOps Solutions (AZ-400). This is an advanced exam that targets professionals familiar with Azure administration and Azure development. I can see this exam providing value to engineers, consultants, and architects who are driving for increased adoption of Agile practices and Infrastructure as Code.

After doing a few of these exams over the years you’ll find a rhythm that works for you.… [Keep reading] “Your 2020 Study Guide to Azure DevOps Solutions (AZ-400)”