Server 2008 and 2008 R2 End of Life - 90 Day Warning

Server 2008 and Server 2008 R2 End of Life is 90 days away. Here are some options that be looked into since there is not much time remaining.

by Paul Harris Oct 16, 2019

Windows Virtual Desktop

After months of going through Public Preview, Microsoft has finally announced Windows Virtual Desktop service is moving to general availability.  Here is an overview of what to expect with this new offering. 

by Paul Harris Oct 3, 2019

Monthly Azure Payment Option

Recently, Microsoft Azure released an update to the Azure Reservation model that might help with paying for Azure resources that will be used for long term. Read this post to find out how to setup monthly payments for your Azure Reservations.

by Paul Harris Sep 17, 2019

Moving Big data in and around Azure using Azure Data Factory.

There are numerous data storage options available on Azure, each one designed and developed for different modern data storage scenarios. These storage options could be in the form of database, data warehouse, data caches and data lakes. Usage of these depends on the application and the scale that they serve. Within databases, some applications might need relational database, some might need NOSQL, or a key-value storage, or in-memory database (for caching), or blob storage (for media and large files). Another criteria to keep in mind when selecting a database for your application is the required read-write throughput and latency. Azure has a wide array of fully-managed database services which frees up the development teams valuable time in managing, scaling and configuring these databases.

Whatever database you choose, you should also keep in mind how easy or difficult it is to move the data in and out of that database. You might have a situation in future where you need to move to a new database solution because of reasons like change in application architecture, scale, performance, or even cost. Microsoft Azure has a very powerful ETL tool called Azure Data Factory to easily move data in and around Azure at scale. It has over 80 native connectors which can serve both as source and sink.  In this blog, I would like to highlight a few features and concepts of Azure Data Factory which will serve as a quick start guide for anyone looking to do data movement and transformation on Azure.

by Siddharth Bhola Jul 24, 2019

How to Delete Users From Azure AD After AD Connect instance has been deleted

Directions guiding you to delete duplicated objects or "orphaned" objects from Azure AD after the instance of AD Connect has been deleted.

by Jack Bumgarner Jul 15, 2019

AIA Location #2 - Unable to download

A Step-by-Step Solution when dealing with AIA Location #2 Unable To Download Error 

by Leon Harmon Jul 10, 2019

Top 10 Ways to Secure your Azure Environment – Part 2 of 2

This is the second in a pair of posts on the most important actions to take to set up and maintain security in your Azure environment. This post picks up where the prior one left off in the list of 10 critical security concepts. (See the first five items here. Also, check out related content in my 10-part series on the top mistakes to avoid when getting started in Azure.)

by Nathan Lasnoski Jul 9, 2019

ServiceNow to Azure DevOps: Working Together in Harmony

Microsoft has been on the forefront of integrating with ServiceNow, but what solutions exist for getting ServiceNow records into Azure DevOps? Check out this post to learn more about outbound REST Messages out of the ServiceNow platform in order to create work items within Azure DevOps.

by Michael Dugan Jul 8, 2019

Removing Licenses from Groups with PowerShell in Azure Active Directory

This PowerShell scripting process will allow an administrator to remove licenses from groups in Azure Active Directory. You can manually remove licenses through Azure AD or through admin.Microsoft, but automating the process would be easier to scale up.

by Jack Stabile Jun 28, 2019

Creating a UI with Power BI

Highlights tips and tricks to maximize the built-in features of Power BI to create an appealing UI and group data inside dashboards.

by Trevor Suarez Jun 26, 2019

10 Ways Manufacturers Can Do More with Less in 2023 - Part 1

As we enter the new year, manufacturers are assertively focusing on how they optimize their business during uncertain economic conditions.  The goal of most manufacturers is to do more with less, or at minimum optimize their ability to execute their mission for their customers.  Working with many manufacturers, I am seeing a variety of ways that companies can leverage technology to do more with less year. 

Part 1 of this series outlines the first five ways that manufacturers can do more with less.

by Nathan Lasnoski Jan 17, 2023

10 Ways Manufacturers Can Do More with Less in 2023 - Part 2

As we enter the new year, manufacturers are assertively focusing on how they optimize their business during uncertain economic conditions.  The goal of most manufacturers is to do more with less, or at minimum optimize their ability to execute their mission for their customers.  Working with many manufacturers, I am seeing a variety of ways that companies can leverage technology to do more with less year. 

Part 2 of this series outlines the second five ways that manufacturers can do more with less.

by Nathan Lasnoski Jan 25, 2023

Driving Efficiency from Cloud Investments

I’m asked frequently, “how do I know if there is waste in my cloud environment?” or “how do I know if my cloud environment is following best practices?”.  In response, I have six initial tests to evaluate the state of an already deployed cloud environment.  These tests can also be used in reverse to think about the critical tests for a cloud environment you are deploying new.  In this article I’ll walk through each of those six tests and how to evaluate them. 

by Nathan Lasnoski Feb 22, 2023

10 Optimizations for Your Azure Environment - Part 1

As we enter the new year, I’d like to challenge every company with an Azure environment to “do more with less” by raising the operational maturity of their cloud environment.  Successful companies look at the cloud as a financial advantage to their businesses because of the opportunity to apply optimizations across each spending area.  The unsuccessful companies deploy services and are ineffective at applying spend to improvement, likely leaving it as they initially provisioned it.   

by Nathan Lasnoski Feb 8, 2023

Cost Savings Ideas for Your Azure Environment

I’ve seen that 20% – 40% of cloud spend is waste!  In this post I’ll cover cost savings ideas for your Azure environment that will help you “get more with less” from your cloud spend.  

by Nathan Lasnoski Mar 14, 2023

10 Optimizations for Your Azure Environment - Part 2

As we enter the new year, I’d like to challenge every company with an Azure environment to “do more with less” by raising the operational maturity of their cloud environment.  Successful companies look at the cloud as a financial advantage to their businesses because of the opportunity to apply optimizations across each spending area.  The unsuccessful companies deploy services and are ineffective at applying spend to improvement, likely leaving it as they initially provisioned it.   

by Nathan Lasnoski Feb 10, 2023