Let's Talk Azure!
Listen with Alan Armstrong and Sam Foot as we talk about all things Microsoft Azure! We are both technical consultants working with Azure day in, day out. Alan focuses on Identity and Security automation while Sam is a .NET developer deploying PaaS and SaaS solutions on Azure. Each episode we have a topic we cover and we highlight some key news that we are interested in. No fluff, sales or products here, just two technical people having a light hearted chat.
Episodes
This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.
Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:
- Build + RSA Updates
- key Microsoft Entra and Defender features and updates
- Lots of Azure changes and new features
Alan and Sam talk about why it is important to monitor your network for connected devices. Alan runs us through the benefits of doing it with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. Here are a few areas we covered:
- Why is it important to monitor your network?
- How can you find devices using Microsoft solutions?
- What are the benefits of devices being discovered and searchable in the Defender XDR Portal
- How is it licensed
This week Alan and Sam discuss Azure AI Search. It is a robust, cloud-based search service provided by Microsoft that leverages artificial intelligence to enhance search functionalities within applications. It allows developers to create rich, full-text search experiences with features like natural language processing, semantic search, and cognitive search capabilities, which can extract insights from various data sources. The serv...
Alan and Sam discuss the management of macOS and how it is a little different to other operating systems. Alan guides through what can be configured and the reasons why. Here are a few things we covered:
- How is macOS different to other operating systems to manage?
- What Microsoft tooling can you use to manage them
- What licences do you need
What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or ...
This week Alan and Sam discuss Azure Data Box. It is a ruggedised appliance designed to simplify the process of transferring large volumes of data to Azure cloud storage, offering high-speed data transfer and secure encryption. It enables organisations to overcome bandwidth limitations and easily migrate large datasets, ensuring efficient and reliable data transfer.
- What is Azure Data Box?
- What can you back up with it?
- How doe...
This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.
Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:
- FIDO2 authentication & Keypass
- Security group provisioning to Active Directory using cloud sync
- Unified security operations platform
- New API Manager v2
- App ...
Alan and Sam discuss Microsoft Entra Global Secure Access. A identity-centric Security Service Edge (SSE) solution that helps secure user's internet and on-premises access. Here are a few things we covered:
- What is a Security Service Edge ?
- What is Microsoft Entra Global Secure Access?
- How does Entra Internet access for Microsoft 365 help secure and prevent data leakage?
- What is Entra Internet Access and Private Access?
This week Alan and Sam discuss Azure Backup. It is a comprehensive solution offered by Microsoft Azure for safeguarding data across cloud and on-premises environments, providing seamless backup and recovery capabilities. It enables users to protect critical workloads, applications, and files with automated backups and flexible retention policies.
- What is Azure backup?
- What can you back up with it?
- How can you secure your backu...
Alan and Sam discuss Microsoft's new Cloud PKI service, which enables the management and deployment of device and user certificates through Intune. Below are some key points we addressed:
- What are user and device certificates and how are they used
- How would you normally manage PKI services
- What is Microsoft’s Cloud PKI
- How much does it cost?
What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, ...
This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.
Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:
- Copilot for Security and M365
- Syslog and CEF AMA connector for Microsoft Sentinel
- Lots of Azure changes, new features and retirements!
Alan and Sam discuss Azure Key Vault, it is a centralized cloud service designed for securely storing and managing cryptographic keys, certificates, and secrets used by cloud applications and services. It offers robust access control, encryption, and auditing capabilities to safeguard sensitive information and streamline key management processes.
- What is Azure Key Vault?
- What are the common use cases for Azure Key Vault?
- What ...
Alan and Sam talk about the Microsoft Connection Program (CCP). A Community of Technical professional from Customers, to Partners and MVPs that interacts with Microsoft Product groups around new features.. Here are a few things we covered:
- What is the Customer Connection Program?
- What are the benefits of being in the CCP?
- What is my experience being in the various CCPs?
- How do you get involved?
This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.
Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:
- Dark Mode in Defender XDR
- Cloud PKI
- Improvements in Azure Key Vault
- Configuration-as-code customizations in Microsoft Dev Box
Alan and Sam discuss Azure Event Grid. It simplifies event-driven architectures by providing a fully managed service for routing events from various sources to multiple destinations in near real-time, enhancing agility and scalability in cloud-based applications. It enables seamless communication between Azure services, custom applications, and external sources while offering features like event filtering, routing, and dead-letteri...
Alan and Sam discuss what vulnerability management is, and why it is important to an organisation. Alan dives into how Microsoft security solutions help identify weaknesses and monitor their remediation. Here are a few areas we covered:
- What are vulnerabilities?
- why should you monitoring, priorities and resolve them?
- How can Microsoft Solutions help manage your vulnerabilities?
- What Microsoft licenses do you need to get starte...
Azure AI Studio is an all-in-one AI platform that simplifies the development, evaluation, and deployment of generative AI solutions and custom copilots1. It provides a unified hub for building, managing, and fine-tuning AI models, making it easier for developers of all skill levels to create and deploy intelligent applications. Whether you’re working on natural language processing, computer vision, or other AI tasks, Azure AI Studi...
This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.
Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:
- Microsoft Defender XDR
- MDA / MDI / Defender for Cloud
- Azure API Center
- Azure Containers Apps Multiple Ports
- Azure API Management
- Azure Gen1 to Gen 2 Migration ...
Alan and Sam discuss all things Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE). Alan goes through the history of MDE, what its capabilities are, and the platforms it covers. Here are a few other areas we cover:
- What capabilities does MDE provide.
- How is it different from other AV and EDR solutions.
- How is it licensed.
What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in th...
This week we cover Azure AI Content Safety provides developers with tools to analyze and moderate user-generated content, utilizing machine learning to detect and filter inappropriate text and images. Customizable rules, scalability, and seamless integration with Azure services empower developers to create applications that maintain a safe and compliant online environment. Sam takes the lead covering:
- What is content safety an...
Alan and Sam discuss Microsoft Defender XDR, a unified portal to manage you incidents across your MS Defender suite. Alan dives into the Extended Detect and Response (XDR) concepts and how it's beneficial to have all products in the same system.
Here are few other areas we covered:
- What is XDR?
- What is Microsoft Defender XDR?
- What Microsoft solutions feed into Defender XDR?
- How is it licensed?
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