How to make cool modern SharePoint Intranets Part 1 – Strategize (scope & plan)

28th of February, 2019 / / No Comments

Over the last year, we have seen many great advancements with SharePoint communications sites that have bought it more closer of being an ideal Intranet. In this blog series, I will be discussing about some of my experiences for the last years in implementing Modern Intranet and best practices for the same.

In this specific blog, we will look at the strategies about the first block of building a great Intranet – Strategize the Intranet approach.… [Keep reading] “How to make cool modern SharePoint Intranets Part 1 – Strategize (scope & plan)”

Azure AD/Active Directory User Security Evaluation Reporter

28th of February, 2019 / / 1 Comment

During December 2018 – February 2019 Microsoft have run an online Microsoft Graph Security Hackathon on Devpost.

The criteria of the hackathon was;

  • Build or update a functioning Microsoft Graph-powered solution that leverages the Microsoft Graph Security API

Following the announcement of the Hackathon I was encouraged by Kloud management to enter. During the busy month of December I started to formulate a concept for entry in the Hackathon taking learnings from the hackathon I entered in 2018.… [Keep reading] “Azure AD/Active Directory User Security Evaluation Reporter”

Great SharePoint Modern updates Feb 2019 #makespintranetcoolagain

26th of February, 2019 / / 1 Comment

During Ignite 2018, Microsoft showcased some great updates that are going to change how we implement SharePoint Intranets. It will scale Modern Communication sites to new heights to become the Next-gen Intranet.

Since Ignite 2018, there have been many steady releases and some great updates on SharePoint Modern communication sites. Following this blog, I am planning to start with a detailed blog series about how to build cool Modern Intranets in SharePoint #makespintranetcoolagain.

Here is quick blog for these updates.… [Keep reading] “Great SharePoint Modern updates Feb 2019 #makespintranetcoolagain”

Using Liquid transformations in Logic Apps… for free!

25th of February, 2019 / / 1 Comment

Microsoft offers a few different solutions to perform message transformations in Logic Apps. One of them I described before in ‘Translating JSON messages with Logic Apps’. Liquid is considered as the new way forward to translate JSON and XML messages. XSLT still has strong support if you’re working with XML documents but if you’re working with the JSON message format Liquid is your friend.

Liquid is an open source template language created by Shopify.… [Keep reading] “Using Liquid transformations in Logic Apps… for free!”

Enabling Billing Visability for IAM Users in AWS

25th of February, 2019 / / No Comments

Today I’ve going to cover off an issue that I’ve seen in a couple of customer environments recently and that’s around allowing users the correct level of access to their AWS billing, Budgets, and account settings. This is an important topic as cost optimization and operational excellence are two of the 5 pillars of the AWS Well Architected Framework and if you can’t monitor your spend, it’s hard to ensure your delivering business value.

AWS Cost Management Tools

Firstly, when we talk about billing and cost management within AWS, there are typically 4 main tools/dashboards that you might want to use:

  • Billing & Cost Management Dashboard.
… [Keep reading] “Enabling Billing Visability for IAM Users in AWS”

Managing Microsoft Teams Devices

22nd of February, 2019 / / No Comments

One of the coolest parts of the Office 365 Teams Admin Centre is the built in Devices management portal.

From here, you can view and control your deployed Microsoft Teams handsets, create and apply policies, firmware updates, and even reboot them.

The Dashboard

To access the dashboard, sign in to the Office 365 Portal, then choose Teams under Admin Centres.

From the menu on the left, choose Devices > Manage Devices

The dashboard will show you all Microsoft Teams devices that are registered to your Office 365 tenant.… [Keep reading] “Managing Microsoft Teams Devices”

Enabling Microsoft Teams Meeting Rooms

21st of February, 2019 / / 1 Comment

Enabling a meeting room within your organisation for Microsoft Teams is remarkably easy! In fact, the hardest decision you’ll need to make is which device you want to use within the room. Luckily, even this is made simple by using Microsoft’s offical Microsoft Teams Certified Devices List.

Alright, so you’ve chosen your in-room device, it’s been delivered, you’ve ripped the box open, thrown the plastic and packaging aside and connected the device to your PoE switch.… [Keep reading] “Enabling Microsoft Teams Meeting Rooms”

Configuring the Lithnet REST API for the FIM/MIM Service post MIM Version 4.4.x.x

20th of February, 2019 / / No Comments

Last year I wrote this post on installing and configuring the Lithnet REST API for the FIM/MIM Service and integrating it with Azure API Management.

This week on a fresh installation of Microsoft Identity Manager with SP1 I was installing the Lithnet REST API for the FIM/MIM Service and was getting errors from the WCF Web Service finding the correct version of the Microsoft.ResourceManagement.dll.

Error finding Microsoft.ResourceManagement DLL.PNG

After a little troubleshooting and no progress I recalled Kent Nordström posting the following tweet last month.… [Keep reading] “Configuring the Lithnet REST API for the FIM/MIM Service post MIM Version 4.4.x.x”

Error: Failed to connect to the specified database when creating a Microsoft Identity Manager Service MA

19th of February, 2019 / / 2 Comments

Last week I was installing Microsoft Identity Manager into a development environment. The install was using Microsoft Identity Manager 2016 with SP1 and was version 4.5.285.0. The install had gone well, SQL, Synchronisation Server, MIM Service and Portal etc. I had even created a couple of Management Agents. However when it came time to create the Microsoft Identity Manager Service MA, the Synchronisation Server returned the error “Failed to connect to the specified database”.

Failed to connect to the specified database.PNG

Jumping over to the Event Log I found the error below.… [Keep reading] “Error: Failed to connect to the specified database when creating a Microsoft Identity Manager Service MA”

Weekly AWS update: Friday 15th February 2019

15th of February, 2019 / / No Comments

Well, it’s Friday again and that can only mean one thing…. It’s time again for my weekly update on all things AWS. Last week was a big week for developers and while this week has also seen a number of new features for our developer friends, Amazon Web Services has also brought us new instance types, storage options and functionality to what’s becoming a favourite of mine, Amplify. This article continues our weekly series on the happenings in the world of Amazon Web Services.… [Keep reading] “Weekly AWS update: Friday 15th February 2019”