Tag: Microsoft Azure

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May072018May 7, 2018May 8, 20180Commentby Thomas Maurer
Azure Kubernetes Service

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) – The best place to host your containers

Posted in Cloud, Containers, Docker, IT, Kubernetes, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Azure Stack, Virtualization, Windows Server

Microsoft today at Build 2018 announced that they will rename Azure Container Service (AKS) to Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) manages your hosted Kubernetes environment, making it quick and easy to deploy and manage containerized applications without container orchestration expertise. It also eliminates the burden of ongoing operations and maintenance by provisioning, upgrading, and scaling resources on demand, without taking your applications offline.

  • Drastically simplifies how you build and run container-based solutions without deep Kubernetes expertise
  • Auto Update, auto scale
  • New capabilities integrated with dev tools and workspaces, CI/CD networking, monitoring tools, etc.
  • All included in the Azure Portal

Create Azure Kubernetes Service AKS

This will be a great services to run containerized workloads in a very simple manor and reduce management overhead.

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) will also be available on Azure Stack, as announced in the Azure Stack Roadmap update a couple of months ago.

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) on Azure Stack
Managed Kubernetes with Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) on Azure Stack will make it even easier for Azure Stack users to manage and operate Kubernetes environments in the same ways as they do in Azure, without sacrificing portability. This new service features an Azure-hosted control plane, automated upgrades, self-healing, easy scaling, and a simple user experience for both developers and cluster operators. With Container Service, customers get the benefit of open source Kubernetes without complexity and operational overhead. This update applies primarily to Azure Stack users.

With AKS on Azure and Azure Stack. and other services like the Azure Container Registry, Docker for Windows, Windows Server and Hyper-V Containers, Visual Studio Team Services Integration for Azure and Containers, the Microsoft container story becomes very strong. It allows you to run your container workloads in a very simple CI/CD pipeline (VSTS), deployment on Managed Kubernetes (AKS) and deploy it where ever you need it, in the public cloud (Azure) or on-premise (Azure Stack).

Yes Microsoft still has ACS (Azure Container Service), which allows you to deploy different pre-configured container environments and orchestrators, like Docker Swarm, Kubernetes, DC/OS, for scalable deployments and management of containerized workloads.


May062018May 6, 2018May 6, 20180Commentby Thomas Maurer
Azure Storage Explorer

Microsoft quietly released Azure Storage Explorer 1.0.0

Posted in Cloud, IT, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Azure Stack, Web, Windows, Windows 10, Work

Microsoft quietly released Azure Storage Explorer 1.0.0 back in April. There was not a lot of noise about it, but it is great that this tool finally reached version 1.0. Azure Storage Explorer is a standalone app that enables you to easily work with Azure Storage data on Windows, macOS, and Linux. This works with Azure as well as Microsoft Azure Stack.

Azure Storage Explorer is an easy to use tool to manage Azure Storage types:

  • Access multiple accounts and subscriptions across Azure, Azure Stack, and the sovereign Cloud
  • Create, delete, view, and edit storage resources
  • View and edit Blob, Queue, Table, File, Cosmos DB storage and Data Lake Storage
  • Obtain shared access signature (SAS) keys
  • Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux

Version 1.0.0 brings some new features which were highly requested. Especially the shared account store with Visual Studio 2017 and the improved Azure Stack  integration are very welcome.

  • Enhanced authentication that allows Storage Explorer to use the same account store as Visual Studio 2017. To use this feature, you will need to re-login to your accounts and re-set your filtered subscriptions.
  • For Azure Stack accounts backed by AAD, Storage Explorer will now retrieve Azure Stack subscriptions when ‘Target Azure Stack’ is enabled. You no longer need to create a custom login environment.
  • Several shortcuts were added to enable faster navigation. These include toggling various panels and moving between editors. See the View menu for more details.
  • Storage Explorer feedback now lives on GitHub. You can reach our issues page by clicking the Feedback button in the bottom left or by going to https://github.com/Microsoft/AzureStorageExplorer/issues. Feel free to make suggestions, report issues, ask questions, or leave any other form of feedback.
  • If you are running into SSL Certificate issues and are unable to find the offending certificate, you can now launch Storage Explorer from the command line with the –ignore-certificate-errors flag. When launched with this flag, Storage Explorer will ignore SSL certificate errors.
  • There is now a ‘Download’ option in the context menu for blob and file items.
  • Improved accessibility and screen reader support. If you rely on accessibility features, see our accessibility documentation for more information.
  • Storage Explorer now uses Electron 1.8.3

Apr102018April 10, 2018April 10, 20180Commentby Thomas Maurer
Azure Stack

Video: HIAG Data and itnetX enable hybrid IT with HPE and Microsoft Azure Stack

Posted in Cloud, IT, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Azure Stack, Web, Work

When I had the chance to speak about our Azure Stack project together with HIAG Data at HPE Discover 2017 in Madrid last year, I also had the chance to record a short video. In that video I am speaking about how HIAG Data and itnetX enable Hybrid Cloud with HPE and Microsoft Azure Stack.

Enjoy the quick customer case marketing video 😉

HIAG Data partnered with itnetX which helps its customers with cloud transformations by utilizing HPE & Microsoft Azure Stack . You can find out more about how your business can implement a hybrid IT strategy based on HPE at https://hpe.com/cloud/azurestack

 


Dec282017December 28, 2017December 28, 20170Commentby Thomas Maurer
Azure Cloud Shell

Azure Cloud Shell – shell.azure.com and in Visual Studio Code

Posted in Cloud, Containers, Hyper-V, IT, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Powershell, Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, Web, Windows 10, Work

Back in May Microsoft made the Azure Cloud Shell available in the Microsoft Azure Portal. Now you can use it even quicker by just go to shell.azure.com. First you login with your Microsoft account or Work and School account, and if your account is in multiple Azure Active Directory tenants, you select the right tenant and you will be automatically logged in. So even if you are on a PC where you can not install the Azure CLI or the Azure PowerShell module, you can still easily fire up a shell where you can run the Azure CLI, Azure PowerShell and other CLI tools like Docker, Kubectl, emacs, vim, nano, git and more.

In addition you can also open up Azure Cloud Shell directly from Visual Studio Code

Azure Cloud Shell Visual Studio Code

With that, enjoy your holidays and I wish you a good start in the new year!


Dec182017December 18, 2017December 18, 20170Commentby Thomas Maurer
Windows SSH on WSL

Install and Configure OpenSSH Server on Windows 10 and Windows Server 1709

Posted in Cloud, Hyper-V, IT, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Azure Stack, Powershell, Windows, Windows 10, Windows Server, Windows Server 1709, Work

A couple of weeks ago I already wrote about how OpenSSH is now available on Windows 10. In this blog post I will cover how to install and configure OpenSSH Server on Windows 10 and Windows Server 1709.

Today, OpenSSH Client and Server on Windows are still in Beta, so they should only be used in secure test environments and not in production.

First you have to install the OpenSSH feature on your Windows machine. Remember that it needs to be the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (1709) or Windows Server version 1709 or higher.

Windows OpenSSH Server

On Windows 10 you can also use the UI to install it.

Windows OpenSSH Server Folder

After the installation you can find the OpenSSH Server files and some more configuration options under C:\Windows\System32\OpenSSH

Now you need to configure the OpenSSH Server (sshd)

To enable authentication into an SSH server on Windows, you first have to generate host keys and repair the ACL on the host keys.

Configure OpenSSH Server on Windows

Windows SSH on WSL

Now you should be able to connect to the Windows Machine using SSH for an SSH client. Of course this can be the OpenSSH client or the SSH client which comes with the Windows Subsystem for Linux on Windows 10.

Azure Network Security Group SSH

If you are running OpenSSH Server on a Windows 10 or Windows Server 1709 virtual machine in Microsoft Azure, don’t forget to also configure the Network Security Group (NSG) to allow SSH inbound access on port 22.

Also check out how you can do SSH from PowerShell: Using SSH with PowerShell


Dec132017December 13, 2017December 13, 20170Commentby Thomas Maurer
Azure Stack Development Kit PowerShell Install

Developing Azure Stack compatible services in Microsoft Azure using Azure Policies

Posted in Cloud, IT, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Azure Stack, Powershell, Virtualization

As mentioned Azure Stack brings a true hybrid Cloud experience by bringing an consistent platform from the public cloud to the private cloud. There is a little bit of a catch, Microsoft Azure Stack of course only offers some of the Azure Public Cloud services, since for some of them you need to have a specific scale or specialized hardware, and they often they are behind in feature and functionality, since Azure gets updated daily and Azure Stack gets a slower updated cycle.

But what if you want to develop services on Azure, which should be compatible with Azure Stack, how can you make sure that these services also work on Azure Stack? The anwser to that is the Azure Stack Policy Module. The Azure Stack Policy module allows you to configure an Azure subscription with the same versioning and service availability as Azure Stack using Azure Policy.  The module uses the New-AzureRMPolicyAssignment PowerShell cmdlet to create an Azure policy, which limits the resource types and services available in a subscription. You can then use your Azure subscription to develop apps targeted for Azure Stack.

You can find the Azure Stack Policy Module in Azure Stack tools on GitHub.

Install the Azure Stack Policy Module

  1. Install the required version of the AzureRM PowerShell module, as described in Step1 of Install PowerShell for Azure Stack.
  2. Download the Azure Stack tools from GitHub
  3. Configure PowerShell for use with Azure Stack
  4. Import the AzureStack.Policy.psm1 module:

Apply policy to subscription

The following command can be used to apply a default Azure Stack policy against your Azure subscription.

Apply policy to a resource group

You may want to apply policies in a more granular method. As an example, you may have other resources running in the same subscription. You can scope the policy application to a specific resource group, which lets you test your apps for Azure Stack using Azure resources.

You can find more information about this on the official documentation page: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-stack/user/azure-stack-policy-module


Nov202017November 20, 2017November 20, 20170Commentby Thomas Maurer
Thomas Maurer Speaking

Speaking at HPE Discover 2017 Madrid

Posted in Cloud, Containers, Events, HP, Hyper-V, IT, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Azure Stack, Nano Server, Powershell, Private Cloud, Virtualization, Windows Server, Windows Server 1709, Windows Server 2016, Work

Today I am happy to announce that I have the honor to speak at HPE Discover in Madrid next week. In a presentation together with HP Enterprise I will talk about how HPE and Microsoft improve the Hybrid Cloud experience using Microsoft Azure Stack.

HPE Discover 2017 Madrid Azure Stack

HPE Discover 2017 Madrid

Building your Azure hybrid cloud business is easier when you work with Hewlett Packard Enterprise

With the release of Azure Stack, now is the time to develop your hybrid cloud business. Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Microsoft have partnered to make it easy for you to accelerate your business by offering Azure-consistent services with HPE ProLiant for Microsoft Azure Stack. Come hear about HPE’s solution for Azure Stack and how HPE can help you develop and grow your Azure business. This session is designed for HPE partners.

I hope to see you next week in Madrid, if you have the chance, step by the HIAG Data booth and ask for me.



  • About

    Thomas Maurer

    My Name is Thomas Maurer. Microsoft MVP. Work as a Solutions Architect and Technology Lead for itnetX, a consulting and engineering company located in Switzerland. I am focused on Microsoft Technologies, especially Microsoft Cloud & Datacenter solutions based Microsoft System Center, Microsoft Virtualization and Microsoft Azure.

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