Sunday, April 22, 2018

Azure Sphere OS: the new Microsoft Linux Based OS. The world is changing. What about you?!

A couple of days ago in Microsoft Build 2018, Microsoft has announced the first Microsoft Linux based OS!

The new Linux based kernel OS along with other two major components will present a highly-secured end-to-end solution for connected microcontroller-powered devices. Azure Sphere includes three components working as one, a brand-new class of crossover Microcontrollers running a secured Operating System and supported by cloud services. Along with advanced development tools, Azure Sphere is your opportunity to reimagine your business from the ground up.

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Gartner has just published the updated cloud IaaS scores for Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform (GCP)


In March 13, Gartner has published the new Cloud IaaS scores of AWS, Azure, and GCP, As mentioned by Gartner, "Compared to the previous assessments occurred mid-summer 2017, these new assessments show a steady growth in feature coverage by all three providers, with GCP leading the growth with an overall increment of 12 percent points. Azure follows with five additional percent points and AWS, which was the provider with the highest coverage also last year, marked an increment of four percent points. The figure below shows the details of the movements occurred within this update, broken down by required, preferred and optional criteria. It is interesting to note how some scores also went down (see Azure, required). When scores go down, it is not always due to providers removing features, but sometimes – like in this case – due to the modification of the applicability of the criteria’s scope".

Screen Shot 2018-03-13 at 09.37.43

Friday, March 16, 2018

Finally, Microsoft plans to open its first set of Middle East data centers in UAE

After becoming an increasing threat to Amazon in the public cloud space, and in the fourth quarter increased its market share from 16 to 20 percent, according to KeyBanc analystsMicrosoft Finally announced its plans for a major expansion of the Microsoft Cloud with the launch of its first cloud regions in the Middle East. These new regions, which are scheduled to go online in 2019, will be located in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and will host the company’s usual Azure, Office 365 and Dynamics 365 services.
“Microsoft has been present in the Middle East for more than two decades and is deeply invested in the region in many ways,” said Sayed Hashish, regional general manager, Microsoft Gulf, in today’s announcement
"We see enormous opportunity in MEA (Middle East and Africa) for cloud technology to be the key driver of economic development, as well as provide sustainable solutions to many pressing issues such as youth employability, education and healthcare," Samer Abu-Ltaif, president of Microsoft Middle East Africa, said in a press release.
It’s worth noting that Amazon, too, has already announced its plans for a region in Bahrain, which will open in about a year, while Google has not announced any plans to enter this market yet.
In addition to the new Middle East regions, Microsoft also today announced its first region in Switzerland (with data centers around Geneva and Zürich), which is scheduled to go online in 2019. In Germany, the company is launching an additional cloud region and in France, the Microsoft Cloud is now generally available.
In total, Microsoft now offers 50 regions around the globe, with plans for 12 new regions in the works.

Wednesday, March 07, 2018

Exam 70-535 (Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions) - Azure Compute Infrastructure Sub-topics


These are the sub-topics that you have to cover in the Azure Compute Infrastructure

topic of Exam 70-535 (Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions). This sub-topic should cover 10- 15% of the exam. For the complete list of the seven topics, please refer to the first post of this series :
      Design solutions using virtual machines
      Design VM deployments by leveraging availability sets, fault domains, and update domains in Azure; use web app for containers; design VM Scale Sets; design for compute-intensive tasks using Azure Batch; define a migration strategy from cloud services; recommend use of Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery
      Design solutions for serverless computing
      Use Azure Functions to implement event-driven actions; design for serverless computing using Azure Container Instances; design application solutions by using Azure Logic Apps, Azure Functions, or both; determine when to use API management service
      Design microservices-based solutions  
      Determine when a container-based solution is appropriate; determine when container-orchestration is appropriate; determine when Azure Service Fabric (ASF) is appropriate; determine when Azure Functions is appropriate; determine when to use API management service; determine when Web API is appropriate; determine which platform is appropriate for container orchestration; consider migrating existing assets versus cloud native deployment; design lifecycle management strategies
      Design web applications
      Design Azure App Service Web Apps; design custom web API; secure Web API; design Web Apps for scalability and performance; design for high availability using Azure Web Apps in multiple regions; determine which App service plan to use; design Web Apps for business continuity; determine when to use Azure App Service Environment (ASE); design for API apps; determine when to use API management service; determine when to use Web Apps on Linux; determine when to use a CDN; determine when to use a cache, including Azure Redis cache
      Create compute-intensive application
      Design high-performance computing (HPC) and other compute-intensive applications using Azure Services; determine when to use Azure Batch; design stateless components to accommodate scale; design lifecycle strategy for Azure Batch



Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Microsoft Exam 70-535 (Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions) in a nutshell!- Key Sub-topics of Dev-Ops


Design a management, monitoring, and business continuity strategy (20–25%)

  • Azure IaaS monitoring with OMS 
  • Create an alert rule on a metric with the Azure portal
  • Azure Automation Account
  • Replicate Hyper-V virtual machines (without VMM) to Azure using Azure Site Recovery with the Azure portal
  • Replicate physical machines to Azure by using Site Recovery
  • My first graphical runbook
  • My first PowerShell runbook
  • My first PowerShell Workflow runbook
  • Getting Started with Azure Automation DSC
    Desired State Configuration (DSC) 
  • How Azure Backup Works in 10 mins
  • Microsoft Azure Backup Server v2 Docs
  • AzureRM.RecoveryServices.Backup (PowerShell)

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Microsoft Exam 70-535 (Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions) in a nutshell!- Key sub-topics of Design Azure Web and Mobile Apps



These are the sub-topics that you have to cover in the Design Azure Web and Mobile Apps

topic of Exam 70-535 (Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions). This sub-topic should cover 5-10% of the exam. For the complete list of the seven topics, please refer to the first post of this series:

Design of Web Applications

            Design Azure App Service Web Apps 
            Design custom web API 
            Offload long-running applications using WebJobs 
            Secure Web API using Azure AD, design Web Apps for scalability and                                 performance
             Deploy Azure Web Apps to multiple regions for high availability 
             Deploy Web Apps, create App Service plans 
             Design Web Apps for business continuity 
             Configure data replication patterns 
             Update Azure Web Apps with minimal downtime 
             Back up and restore data 
             Design for disaster recovery.
Design of Mobile Applications
Design Azure Mobile Services 
Consume Mobile Apps from cross-platform clients 
Integrate offline sync capabilities into an application
Extend Mobile Apps using custom code 
Implement Mobile Apps using Microsoft .NET or Node.js 
Secure Mobile Apps using Azure AD 
Implement push notification services in Mobile Apps 
Send push notifications to all subscribers 
Specific subscribers, or a segment of subscribers



Exam 70-535 sub-topics of Design advanced applications




These are the sub-topics that you have to cover in the Design Advanced Applications
topic of exam 70-535 (Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions). This sub-topic should cover 20%-25% of the exam For the complete list of the seven topics, please refer to the first post of this series :      
Design for Artificial Intelligence Services 
      Determine when to use the appropriate Cognitive Services, Azure Bot Service, Azure Machine Learning, and other categories that fall under cognitive AI
       Design for IoT 
      Determine when to use Stream Analytics, IoT Hubs, Event Hubs, real-time analytics, Time Series Insights, IoT Edge, Notification Hubs, Event Grid, and other categories that fall under IoT
       Design messaging solution architectures  
      Design a messaging architecture; determine when to use Azure Storage Queues, Azure Service Bus, Azure Event Hubs, Event Grid, Azure Relay, Azure Functions, and Azure Logic Apps; design a push notification strategy for Mobile Apps; design for performance and scale
       Design for media service solutions 
      Define solutions using Azure Media Services, video indexer, video API, computer vision API, preview, and other media related services

Wednesday, February 07, 2018

Microsoft Exam 70-535 (Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions) in a nutshell!- Key topics of Design an application storage and data access strategy

In a previous post about the exam  70-535 (Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions), I talked about the seven pillar main topics that you have to cover before entering this exam. Today I will speak about the third topic. This topic should cover 5%-10%:
  • Design an application storage and data access strategy : 
This includes two dimensions; the data access strategy design and the Azure storage that fits it. The following are the main topics that you have to consider when studying this topic:
      • Design for Azure Storage solutionsDetermine when to use Azure Blob Storage, blob tiers, Azure Files, disks, and StorSimple
        Design for Azure Data Services
        Design for relational database storage
        Design for NoSQL storage
        Design for CosmosDB storage
      • Determine when to use MongoDB API, DocumentDB API, Graph API, Azure Tables API; design for cost, performance, data consistency, availability, and business continuity
      • Determine when to use Azure Redis Cache, Azure Table Storage, Azure  Data Lake, Azure Search, Time Series Insights
      • Determine when to use Azure SQL Database and SQL Server Stretch Database; design for scalability and features; determine when to use Azure Database for MySQL and Azure Database for PostgreSQL; design for HA/DR, geo-replication; design a backup and recovery strategy
      • Determine when to use Data Catalog, Azure Data Factory, SQL Data Warehouse, Azure Data Lake Analytics, Azure Analysis Services, and Azure HDInsight.



  • Important Tip:
  • Know the various storage types and their uses. For example, many times you can use Queues to decouple components of a system.
    Check this link to know when to use what: https://aka.ms/azure/storage


Thursday, January 25, 2018

Microsoft Exam 70-535 (Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions) in a nutshell!- Key topics Secure Resources

These are the sub-topics that you have to cover in the Secure Resources topic of exam Exam 70-535 (Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions). This sub-topic should cover 20%-25% of the exam.
For the complete list of the seven topics, please refer to the first post of this series :

That is entitled: Microsoft Exam 70-535 (Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions) in a nutshell!
       Design an identity solution
       Design AD Connect synchronization; design federated identities using Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS); design solutions for Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA); design an architecture using Active Directory on-premises and Azure Active Directory (AAD); determine when to use Azure AD Domain Services; design security for Mobile Apps using AAD
       Secure resources by using identity providers
       Design solutions that use external or consumer identity providers such as Microsoft account, Facebook, Google, and Yahoo; determine when to use Azure AD B2C and Azure AD B2B; design mobile apps using AAD B2C or AAD B2B
       Design a data security solution
       Design data security solutions for Azure services; determine when to use Azure Storage encryption, Azure Disk Encryption, Azure SQL Database security capabilities, and Azure Key Vault; design for protecting secrets in ARM templates using Azure Key Vault; design for protecting application secrets using Azure Key Vault; design a solution for managing certificates using Azure Key Vault; design solutions that use Azure AD Managed Service Identity
       Design a mechanism of governance and policies for administering Azure resources
       Determine when to use Azure RBAC standard roles and custom roles; define an Azure RBAC strategy; determine when to use Azure resource policies; determine when to use Azure AD Privileged Identity Management; design solutions that use Azure AD Managed Service Identity; determine when to use HSM-backed keys
       Manage security risks by using an appropriate security solution

       Identify, assess, and mitigate security risks by using Azure Security Center, Operations Management Suite Security and Audit solutions, and other services; determine when to use Azure AD Identity Protection; determine when to use Advanced Threat Detection; determine an appropriate endpoint protection strategy 

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Microsoft Exam 70-535 (Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions) in a nutshell!- Key topics of Design-Azure-Resource-Manager-ARM-Networking


These are the sub-topics that you have to cover in the Design-Azure-Resource-Manager-ARM-Networking topic of exam Exam 70-535 (Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions). This sub-topic should cover 5-10% of the exam.
For the complete list of the seven topics, please refer to the first post of this series :

That is entitled: Microsoft Exam 70-535 (Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions) in a nutshell!

Design Azure virtual networks
Design solutions that use Azure networking services: design for load balancing using Azure Load Balancer and Azure Traffic Manager; define DNS, DHCP, and IP strategies; determine when to use Azure Application Gateway; determine when to use multi-node application gateways, Traffic Manager and load balancers
Design external connectivity for Azure Virtual Networks
Determine when to use Azure VPN, ExpressRoute and Virtual Network Peering architecture and design; determine when to use User Defined Routes (UDRs); determine when to use VPN gateway site-to-site failover for ExpressRoute 
Design security strategies
Determine when to use network virtual appliances; design a perimeter network (DMZ); determine when to use a Web Application Firewall (WAF), Network Security Group (NSG), and virtual network service tunneling
Design connectivity for hybrid applications
Design connectivity to on-premises data from Azure applications using Azure Relay Service, Azure Data Management Gateway for Data Factory, Azure On-Premises Data Gateway, Hybrid Connections, or Azure Web App’s virtual private network (VPN) capability; identify constraints for connectivity with VPN; identify options for joining VMs to domains

Monday, January 08, 2018

Microsoft Exam 70-535 (Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions) in a nutshell!


Many People are asking  and searching for the new Microsoft Exam 70-535: 

Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions that is still in A version and B is still not released.

Few important points to know:

  • In its current version is coming in one only language which is English. 
  • The exam is coming is an adaptive exam that comes with couple of cases and each cases has some applied questions. Your answers to one case determine the next case you get.
  • Based on being an adaptive exam, means that once you leave one case you will not be able to return it back. This applies because the second case has been decided based on the answers of the previous case so, changing the answers of the first case may lead to changing the second case that you already have answered already which could create a lot of miss during the exam. that is why, this is already disabled and not possible initially.
  • The exam is based on seven pillars of knowledge. Here are they and some key points under each of them:
    • Design Azure Resource Manager (ARM) networking.

    • Secure Resources.

    • Design an application storage and data access strategy.

    • Design advanced applications.

    • Design Azure Web and Mobile Apps.

    • Design a management, monitoring, and business continuity strategy.

    • Architect an Azure Compute infrastructure.



Please note that The exam 70-534 includes main 6 topics. The 70-535 includes 7 topics. The main topics are different.
The 70-535 includes more features to study like CosmosDB, DMZ, WAF, AAD, Azure Key Vault, Event Grid and more.
in the The following posts I will speak about the content topics that you should be aware of in each of the seven pillar topics.