Microsoft Azure Multi-Site VPN

10th of June, 2014 / / 24 Comments

Recently I had the opportunity to assist an organisation which has physical offices located in Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney replacing their expensive MPLS network with a Multi-site VPN to Azure.

This worked well for the customer as they no longer have any server infrastructure on premises. Each branch office requires access to the virtual infrastructure hosted within their Azure VNET.

The solution provides each office connectivity to the VMs and other services hosted within Azure, as well as a means of inter-site connectivity to PC’s and other services located within the branch offices on the rare occasion where this may still be required.… [Keep reading] “Microsoft Azure Multi-Site VPN”

Windows Intune Features and Policies for Samsung KNOX

25th of May, 2014 / / No Comments

Microsoft and Samsung have announced a partnership whereby Samsung KNOX devices can be managed by Windows Intune using both Direct Management and Exchange ActiveSync.  ​Windows Intune now supports direct configuration of Samsung KNOX devices.  This feature allows IT administrators to manage Samsung KNOX mobile devices via the Windows Intune administration console.  Samsung KNOX devices are designed to be used in high security environments.

 

Here are the list of Windows Intune policies which are available today for managing Samsung KNOX devices:

Group
 Policy
Security / Password Require a password to unlock mobile devices
Security / Password Password quality
Security / Password Minimum password length
Security / Password Number of repeated sign-in failures to allow before the device is wiped
Security / Password Minutes of inactivity before screen turns off
Security / Password Password expiration (days)
Security / Password Remember password history –> Prevent reuse of previous passwords
Security / Encryption Require encryption on mobile device
Device Capabilities / Hardware Allow camera

 

If you are looking for assistance managing your corporate owned or personally owned mobile devices, please contact Kloud Solutions using the following URL:

http://www.kloud.com.au/contact-us/… [Keep reading] “Windows Intune Features and Policies for Samsung KNOX”

Downloading Azure Friday videos from Channel 9 with one line of PowerShell

23rd of May, 2014 / / No Comments

As it’s Friday, I’ve set myself the challenge of downloading all the Azure Friday videos from the Channel 9 website with a single line of PowerShell. If you’re not familiar with this fantastic series, Scott Hanselman talks to the actual engineers who build Microsoft Azure to discuss cloud development in small bite-sized episodes. It’s great, and soon you’ll be able to watch it offline from the comfort of your own mobile device.

Here goes.

First, I’ll need to get a catalogue of all the video titles and their corresponding download links. … [Keep reading] “Downloading Azure Friday videos from Channel 9 with one line of PowerShell”

How to install Magento on Azure Websites

23rd of May, 2014 / / 10 Comments

This blog explains in a step-by-step how to install (fresh install or migrate) a Magento package into Azure websites

Background

1. What is Magento?
Magento is an eCommerce software platform used by some of the world’s leading brands. More details could be found here on Magento.

2. Why install Magento on Azure?
There is a long list of reasons of why would somebody wants to migrate to the cloud, but few of these reasons could be 1) Cost saving 2) Load Balancing 3) Scalability 4) Less maintenance.… [Keep reading] “How to install Magento on Azure Websites”

Bad Request: Internal Load Balancer usage not allowed for this deployment

20th of May, 2014 / / 2 Comments

Microsoft released a number of new networking features for the Azure platform this week:

  • Multiple Site-to-Site VPNs
  • VNET-to-VNET Secure Connectivity
  • Reserved IPs
  • Instance level Public IPs
  • Internal Load Balancing

Announcement details can be found on Scott Gu’s blog post

Internal load balancing (ILB) was a much needed networking feature that will enable the design of highly available environments in hybrid infrastructure scenarios. Until now, 3rd party solutions were required to load balance workloads in IaaS virtual machines when accessed by on-premise (internal) clients across the site-to-site VPN.… [Keep reading] “Bad Request: Internal Load Balancer usage not allowed for this deployment”

Are My Cloud Services Vulnerable to “Heartbleed”?

16th of April, 2014 / / No Comments

I have been receiving questions from a number of customers about the “Heartbleed” vulnerability that has been widely reported by the media.  Many customers are concerned as to whether they are at risk by using cloud services from Microsoft and other providers.  There a reasonable concern with any IT service when it comes to security.  Your provider should be able to answer simple questions about whether a service is vulnerable or not to Heartbleed and what steps are being taken to mitigate the risk.… [Keep reading] “Are My Cloud Services Vulnerable to “Heartbleed”?”

Why You Should Move Your IT to the Cloud

15th of April, 2014 / / No Comments

​Cloud Computing is a revolutionizing the way IT is delivered.  Today, business of all sizes rely on IT to operate effectively.  IT is mission critical.  Unfortunately, very few enterprises can afford the operational costs required to deliver a highly available IT environment.

The Cloud is changing the economics of delivering IT.  Now, businesses of all sizes can subscribe to a highly reliable, elastic, cloud service for a fraction of the cost of running the infrastructure on premises. … [Keep reading] “Why You Should Move Your IT to the Cloud”

New backup to Azure feature in SQL Server 2014

10th of April, 2014 / / No Comments

SQL Server 2014 went RTM a couple of weeks ago and today it hits general availability for on-premises users via MSDN download, and for the cloud, where you can now spin one up as a VM from the Azure image gallery.  So let’s saddle up and take Microsoft’s new Pegasi workhorse for a flying gallop through the hybrid cloud. Giddyup!

Installation

First to download the SQL Server 2014 Developer Edition (x64) from MSDN.  It’s a hefty 2.6 GB image, meaning it’s time to put the new Kloud HQ 100 Mbps fibre link through its paces… four minutes later and we’re done, nice. … [Keep reading] “New backup to Azure feature in SQL Server 2014”

Easily connect to your AWS VPC via VPN

10th of April, 2014 / / 21 Comments

This blog post will explain the process for setting up a client to site connectivity on AWS. This allows you to connect to your AWS resources from anywhere using a VPN client. There are several ways to do this but this post shows you one of the quickest ways to do it using a pre-built community image by OpenVPN available in AWS.

AWS Marketplace

AWS Marketplace is a great place to find any pre-built solutions created by AWS ISV’s or enthusiasts for a wider community benefit.… [Keep reading] “Easily connect to your AWS VPC via VPN”

Simulate moving to the Cloud with NEWT

28th of March, 2014 / / No Comments

I’ve blogged a bit in the past about the unique challenges encountered when moving to the cloud and the unavoidable consequence of introducing new network hops when moving workloads out of the data centre. I’m currently working for a unique organisation in the mining industry who are quite aggressively pursuing cost saving initiatives and have seen cloud as one of the potential savings. The uniqueness of the IT operating environment comes from the dispersed and challenging “branch offices” which may lie at the end of a long dedicated wired, microwave or satellite link

Centralising IT services to a data centre in Singapore is all very well if you’re office is on a well serviced broadband Internet link but what of these other data centres with more challenged connectivity.… [Keep reading] “Simulate moving to the Cloud with NEWT”