Implementing Azure Active Directory SSO (Single Sign on) in Xamarin iOS apps

2nd of December, 2014 / / 2 Comments

This blog post is the first in a series that cover Azure Active Directory Single Sign On (SSO) Authentication in native mobile applications.

  1. Authenticating iOS app users with Azure Active Directory (this post)
  2. How to Best handle AAD access tokens in native mobile apps
  3. Using Azure SSO access token for multiple AAD resources from native mobile apps
  4. Sharing Azure SSO access token across multiple native mobile apps.

Brief Start

Two weeks ago the Azure AD (AAD) team released the Active Directory Authentication Library (ADAL) to enable developers to implement SSO functionality leveraging AAD.… [Keep reading] “Implementing Azure Active Directory SSO (Single Sign on) in Xamarin iOS apps”

Installing WordPress in a Sub-Folder on Azure Websites

27th of November, 2014 / / 7 Comments

This blog post shows you how to install a wordpress website in a sub-folder on your Azure website. Now somebody would ask why would I need to do that, and that is a good question, so let me start with the reasons:

Why do it this way?

Assume that you have a website and you want to create a blog section. This is a very common practice and most companies nowadays have a blog section of the website (which replaces the old “news” page).… [Keep reading] “Installing WordPress in a Sub-Folder on Azure Websites”

Secure Azure Virtual Network and create DMZ on Azure VNET using Network Security Groups (NSG)

7th of November, 2014 / / 20 Comments

At TechEd Europe 2014, Microsoft announced the General Availability of Network Security Groups (NSGs) which add security feature to Azure’s Virtual Networking capability. Network Security Groups provides Access Control on Azure Virtual Network and the feature that is very compelling from security point of view. NSG is one of the feature Enterprise customers have been waiting for.

What are Network Security Groups and how to use them?

Network Security Groups allow us to control traffic (ingress and egress) on our Azure VNET using rules we define and provide segmentation within VNET by applying Network Security Groups to our subnet as well as Access Control to VMs.… [Keep reading] “Secure Azure Virtual Network and create DMZ on Azure VNET using Network Security Groups (NSG)”

Installing Windows 10 Technical Preview Build

6th of November, 2014 / / 1 Comment

Windows 10 Technical Preview build has been released since 1st October 2014. It was quoted as the “most comprehensive platform”, ever.

Currently, there is variant of Windows 10, Professional and Enterprise. You can get the professional version via here and the enterprise version via here.

Both includes “seamless” upgrade from Windows 7 including bringing over your profile and most apps.

As here, I am sharing my journey to Windows 10 technical preview. And I welcome any feedback and comment.… [Keep reading] “Installing Windows 10 Technical Preview Build”

Start-up like a pro or fast track cloud in your enterprise. . .

30th of October, 2014 / / No Comments

As part of my job I regularly interact with IT and business leaders from companies, across a diverse range of industries. A similarity I see across most businesses is that they contain a bunch of knowledge workers that all need to interact both internally and externally with common parties (internal departments / branches, customers, suppliers, vendors and government / regulatory bodies).

So how do knowledge workers in today’s highly connected world collaborate and communicate? Aside from telephone and face to face communication, email is still the primary tool of communication, why?… [Keep reading] “Start-up like a pro or fast track cloud in your enterprise. . .”

Publishing to Azure Event Hubs using a .NET Micro Framework Device

21st of October, 2014 / / 6 Comments

In previous posts, Kloudies Matt Davies and Olaf Loogman have shown how we connect Arduino based devices to the Azure platform. Preferring the .NET Micro Framework (NETMF) platform myself, I thought it time to show how we can publish senor data to Azure Event Hubs using a NETMF connected device.

.NET Micro Framework

Like Arduino, the .NET Micro Framework is an open source platform that runs on small, microcontroller based devices or “things”as we call them now in the world of the Internet-of-Things (IoT).… [Keep reading] “Publishing to Azure Event Hubs using a .NET Micro Framework Device”

Forget about the Internet and Sync Locally

4th of September, 2014 / / 2 Comments

If you have missed our talk in Melbourne Mobile, now you have the chance to flip through the slides and have a look at the code/demo.

Talk Details

Cloud technologies have changed the way users interact with their devices and the way they keep their data. Users now expect their data to be synced always to all devices in real-time. This has been facilitated through many cloud providers such as iCloud, Google services, and Azure.… [Keep reading] “Forget about the Internet and Sync Locally”

Mobile Test-Driven Development Part (3) – Running your unit tests from your IDE

15th of August, 2014 / / 2 Comments

TDD in Mobile Development – Part 3
1. Unit Testing of Platform-Specific Code in Mobile Development.
2. Portable IoC (Portable.TinyIoC) for Mobile Development
3. Mobile Test-Driven Development – Running your unit tests from your IDE

This is the third post in my TDD for Mobile Development series. This post shows how we can have test driven development for mobile. We will look at options for running our tests from within our IDE and finding the right test runner for our development env without the need to launch an emulator or deploy to a device every time we want to run the tests.… [Keep reading] “Mobile Test-Driven Development Part (3) – Running your unit tests from your IDE”

PowerShell Detection Method for SCCM 2012 Application Compliance management

12th of August, 2014 / / 8 Comments

Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2012 has a very powerful Application Detection and Delivery model, separate from the existing ‘package and program delivery model’ of previous versions of SCCM & SMS.

The power of this new model is not having to ‘daisy chain’ packages and executables together to achieve a desired outcome.  Using SCCM’s Detection Model reduces the burden in managing a Windows client base in terms of keeping its baseline configuration the same across every client in the Organisation.… [Keep reading] “PowerShell Detection Method for SCCM 2012 Application Compliance management”

HOW I REDUCED THE WORKER ROLE TIME FROM ABOVE 5 HRS TO LESS THAN 1 HOUR

10th of August, 2014 / / No Comments

This post talks about my experience in reducing the execution time of the Worker Role from above 5 hours to under 1 hour. This Worker Role is set up to call some external APIs to get a list of items with their promotions and store them locally. A typical batch update process that you would see in many apps. Our client was only interested in quick fixes that would help them reduce the time it is taking the Worker Role to run.… [Keep reading] “HOW I REDUCED THE WORKER ROLE TIME FROM ABOVE 5 HRS TO LESS THAN 1 HOUR”