Category: Architecture

Festive Tech Calendar session – Unboxing the Festive Design patterns with Santa

Hello Cloud Marathoner friends,

I was thrilled that my both sessions have been accepted for the Festive Tech Calendar 2023 events. The first session has been already announced and posted with a #cloudmarathoner community member and contributor, Kasun which is referenced below.

  1. Dec 23 session with Kasun Rajapakse: “The 12 Bicep 💪 Tips of Christmas”
  2. Dec 28th session: “Unboxing the Festive Design Patterns with Santa”

Today’s post is dedicated to the second session where we will embark on a cloud journey with Santa. Santa will be helping us to understand something about clouds, but not the fluffy white ones in the sky – we’re talking about those special computer clouds!

Here is the festive description of the session:

So, imagine all the important things that people do with their computers, like making games, apps, and websites. These things need a special place to live so they can work properly. That special place is like a magical cloud where you can keep all those important things safe and make them work really well.

Now, the clever grown-ups who help with these computer things are learning more about how to use this cloud in the best way. They want to make sure everything in the cloud works just right. To do this, they plan carefully and design everything perfectly, like how we plan Santa’s route on Christmas Eve to deliver presents.

In a special meeting, they will talk about something called “design patterns.” These are like tricks and plans to help make sure everything in the computer cloud is super safe, works really well, and can grow if more people use it. It’s a bit like Santa’s workshop, where we have special patterns for making toys.

So, you see, just like Santa prepares for Christmas, these clever people are getting ready to make the computer cloud a better and safer place for everyone. It’s like their own magical holiday season for computers! 🎅🌟🖥️

Festive Tech Calendar 2023 session

So, if you are intrigued with it then please check my recorded session to learn about the Festive Cloud design patterns > https://youtu.be/Yj-lXf1l1ng?t=17

Wish you all Happy Holidays and Happy New Year !!!

Should you consider Azure 🚀 Blueprints for your new ⛅ projects ⁉ 🤔

Hello friends,

During my recent project engagement, I was checking on status of the Azure Blueprints – a service which is still in Preview. I was surprised and alerted with the note I saw on the documentation page. Namely, service is scheduled to be deprecated.

What is Azure Blueprints (Preview)?

First thing first, this is a service that we use in Governance of Azure resources. This preview service allows the engineers and architects to sketch a project’s design parameters, by enabling cloud architects and central information technology groups to define a repeatable set of Azure resources that implements and adheres to an organization’s standards, patterns, and requirements.

What to do if you are using it?

No worries here. If you already using this service, then plan to migrate your existing blueprint definitions and assignments to Template Specs and Deployment Stacks. Your existing Blueprint artifacts could be converted to ARM JSON templates or Bicep files used to define deployment stacks.

When is the deadline?

Well, all the Blueprints (Preview) will be deprecated on July 11, 2026. Thus, you should have enough time to make the transition to Template Specs and Deployment Stacks.

📌 Reference to Microsoft Learn page on this announcement.
📌 Reference to the LinkedIn post 👉 Should you consider Azure 🚀 Blueprints for your new ⛅ projects ⁉ 🤔

what is next?

Are there any other cloud services ⛅ that will be deprecated soon ⁉🤔
Please, share below in the 💬 comments section.

🔔 If you see any recommendations or suggestions to use Azure Blueprints on Microsoft Learn pages, please ping me back.

Thank you in advance 😉

How could you easily create new pre-configured 🚀 Azure subscriptions that meet your organization’s specific needs ⁉ 🤔

Hello, dear #CloudMarathoner community!

If you have been implementing your customers with the management of enterprise subscriptions and policies, then it is a pretty common need to automate the provisioning of those subscriptions in a controlled and secure manner.

The good news is that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel and do everything from scratch. The Microsoft team that is behind the Azure Landing Zones implementation has a good reference that could tremendously help you.

Microsoft Global Customer Success team

Have you ever checked the subscription vending IaC Modules from the Microsoft Global Customer Success team (the same team behind Azure Landing Zones)?

Subscription Vending IaC Modules

Well, if not then Subscription Vending IaC Modules are available for you in two popular infrastructure-as-code (IaC) tools: Bicep and Terraform.
AND designed to help you implement the best practices for subscription provisioning.

Why use these modules?

Using these modules, you can quickly and easily provision new Azure subscriptions that are pre-configured to meet your organization’s specific needs. The modules include parameters/variables for Role-Based Access Control, Networking, Tags, and more.

📌 Check out the Bicep 💪 Landing Zone vending module for Azure a GitHub repo 👉 https://lnkd.in/dJRiK5yG

📌 Check out the Terraform landing zone vending module for Azure a GitHub repo 👉 https://lnkd.in/dtndsfXr #sharingiscaring ❤️

In Summary

So, what is your preferred way to provision Azure subscriptions ⁉ 🤔
Please, share your feedback 💬 in the comments or in the following LinkedIn post.

New episode on Azure Stack HCI & Azure Arc

Hello freinds,

Last week, we had an engaging session on Cloud Lunch and Learn meetup about exploring Azure Stack HCI and Azure Arc with Thomas Bründl .

Azure Stack and azure arc

In this post, I will reflect upon some major points in this session that covers:

  • Azure in Hybrid & Multi-Cloud Scenarios
  • Managing existing infrastructure on-premises in Azure
  • Getting you familiar with using hybrid Azure services with focus on Azure Arc and Stack HCI

What was covered?

Our guest speaker covered the following topics in his presentation:

  • Evolving services in Azure Infrastructure
  • Azure Arc
  • Azure Stack HCI
  • Azure Arc Jumpstart
  • References to how to get started with Azure Stack HCI and connectivity

Summary

At the end of the session, we had an interactive Q&A (Questions and Answers). Please check the recording and reference links as the recording is uploaded to the Cloud Marathoner YT channel.

Thank you for stopping by and checking this session!

Session about Architecting 🚀 a Modern Analytics Cloud Data Platform with Warner

Hello Cloud Marathoners,

Yesterday, we had an engaging session on Cloud Lunch and Learn meetup about Azure Architecture, particularly for Modern Analytics Cloud Data Platform with Warner Chaves.

Modern Analytics

In this post, I will reflect upon some major points in this presentation and architecting session.

Session details and recorded YT link

What was covered?

Our guest speaker covered the following topics in his presentation:

  • Reference architecture for modern analytics platforms
  • Data Warehousing
  • Big Data
  • Lakehouse
  • Data Mesh and more in Microsoft Azure

Summary

At the end of the session, we had an interactive Q&A (Questions and Answers). Please check the recording and reference links as the recording is uploaded to the Cloud Marathoner YT channel.

Thank you for stopping by and checking this session!

Getting you ready for Azure Architect AZ-305 exam!

Hello Cloud Marathoners,

Thank you everyone who took a time from their busy schedule and attended my Global Azure 2022 session – Getting you ready for Azure Architect exam!

It was great pleasure to interact with each of you, and Thank You for great questions that you brought during the session.

Getting you ready for Azure Architect AZ-305 exam

In this session, I focused on a number of changes in Microsoft Azure Architect exam, as it might be troublesome to get ready for it with all the digital distractions around us.

However, in this lightning talk, I shared bits and tips on how to focus on the AZ-305 Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions exam objectives and help you to prepare for a big day.

A screenshot from the participants comments

As part of this presentation, I have shared free, official and community learning resources that will boost your knowledge, and hopefully help you pass this important exam with confidence.

A screenshot of an official practice exam reference

If you missed this session, no worries, you are covered, as this session was recorded. It is freely availiable on the #cloudmarathoner ⏯ 🖐 YouTube channel here.

The slides and as well as links to the recommended resources are posted on my 🖐 👨‍💻 GitHub repo here.

Please, feel free to check up this GitHub repo, share & fork it as you like 👍

Study Guide for AZ-305: Part 12 –Design for high availability

Hello friends!

Thank you for following series of blog posts on this Study Guide for AZ-305!

This is the final (Part 12/12) of blog post series to help you get ready for the latest AZ-305 exam.

Feel free to check the previous posts listed below, if you did not look into them yet 🙂

Table of content (blog series)

What is high availability ?

High availability (HA) is an important quality measure of computing infrastructure that is mission-critical for the customer facing applications and overall organization’s systems. High availability permits the computing infrastructure to continue functioning, even when certain components fail.

Thus, cloud solution providers (CSPs) are expected to deliver certain measures and guarantees to claim the high availability of the offered services.

Image showing availability zones that protect against localized disasters and regional or large geography disasters by using another region.
Azure Regions and Availability zones

The diagram below, equates Service Level Agreement (SLA) percentual to actual downtime, measured in seconds per week, month and year.

Measuring SLA table

How to achieve High Availability in Azure?

Azure infrastructure is composed of geographies, regions, and availability zones which in turn limits the impact of a physical server or Sofware update failure and therefore limit potential impact to customer applications and data.

The Azure availability zones construct was developed to provide a software and networking solution to protect against datacenter failures and to provide increased high availability (HA) to the Azure customers.

Infographic: Reliability with Microsoft Azure

Availability zones are playing very important role in designing your HA solution to meet customer needs. Please, read more about the Azure Regions and availability zones here.

High Availability in Azure: App Service, Function Apps | mithun shanbhag's blog

Part 12: Design for high availability

The references below are taken from official Microsoft docs and focused on designing HA solutions in Azure. You could also find it helpful to check the Microsoft docs and learning paths with [Tutorials] below 😉.

This collection of links is gathered with a focus on the exam objectives of the AZ-305 certification exam.

Regions and availability zones
Azure geographies
Azure services that support availability zones
[Article] Enabling Data Residency and Data Protection in Microsoft Azure Regions
Azure reliability Overview
Build solutions for high availability using availability zones

Microsoft Azure Well-Architected Framework
Reliability Patterns
High availability and disaster recovery scenarios for IaaS apps
Infographic: Reliability with Microsoft Azure
[Tutorial] Design for high availability
[Tutorial] Configure virtual machine availability

[Tutorial] Describe high availability and disaster recovery strategies
[Tutorial] Monitor the usage, performance, and availability of resources with Azure Monitor
[Tutorial] Plan and implement a high availability and disaster recovery environment
[Tutorial] Deploy highly available solutions by using Azure SQL

SUMMARY

This is it folk, we did it!!!

Thank you for visiting the AZ-305 Study Guide and checking the Part 12: Design a solution for backup and disaster recovery and completing your learning journey.

Looking forward and ask for feedback.

Study Guide for AZ-305: Part 6 –Design a network infrastructure solution

Hi Cloud Marathoners!

Welcome to the new blog post (Part 6/12) from the Az-305 series to help you get ready for the AZ-305 exam.

You could also check the previous posts listed below, if you landed on this page for the first time 🙂

Table of content (blog series)

What is a Network Infrastructure?

A Network Infrastructure is the physical equipment (also known as, hardware) as well as the software applications that support your company’s services to run. Types of network infrastructure include foundational hardware, software, services and facilities.

The physical network infrastructure requires cabling, routers, switches, and other pieces of equipment which help support them and make sure they are connected internally and externally. However, most Cloud Solution Providers (CSPs) virtualize this physical infrastructure and provide software defined, virtual networks.

Architecture: Global transit network architecture - Azure Virtual WAN | Microsoft Docs
Click and check the Azure Virtual WAN

WHAT are the network infrastructure solution in azure?

Azure network infrastructure connects and delivers your hybrid and cloud-native applications with low-latency, with Zero Trust based networking services.

The networking services in Azure provide a variety of networking capabilities that can be used together or separately. Those key capabilities are grouped into four services and described on Azure networking services overview :

Front Door Service overview
Click to check the Azure Front Door Service

Part 6: Design a network infrastructure solution

The references below are taken from official Microsoft docs and focused on designing Network Infrastructure solutions in Azure. You could also find it helpful to check the Microsoft docs and learning paths with [Tutorials] below 😉.

This collection of links are gathered with a focus toward the exam objectives of AZ-305 certification exam.

Azure Virtual Network frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Azure subscription and service limits, quotas, and constraints
Virtual network peering
Create, change, or delete a virtual network peering
Load-balancing with Azure’s application delivery suite
What is Traffic Manager?
Traffic Manager Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How Traffic Manager Works

Traffic Manager routing methods
Network security groups
Create a Network Security Group
Microsoft.Network networkSecurityGroups
Azure network security overview
What is Azure Bastion?
[Tutorial]: Introduction to Azure Bastion
[Tutorial]: Configure Bastion and connect to a Windows VM
Azure Bastion FAQ
Using S2S VPN as a backup for ExpressRoute private peering

SUMMARY

Thank you for visiting the AZ-305 Study Guide and checking the Part 6 – Design a network infrastructure solution.

The next blog post will cover the Part 7: Design a migration solution.

Study Guide for AZ-305: Part 4 – Design a compute solution

Hi Cloud Marathoners!

Welcome to the new blog post (Part 4/12) from the Az-305 series to help you get ready for the AZ-305 exam.

Please, check the previous post(s) listed below, if you landed on this page for the first time 🙂

Table of content (blog series)

What is the Compute service in Cloud?

The keyword “compute” refers to the hosting model for the computing resources that your application runs on. However, “cloud computing” is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, like a data storage and computing power without direct active management by the end user.

The compute services play very important role in delivery of digital services and
defining a purposeful compute solution for your project is the first critical step 😎

Why Microsoft Azure Cloud Adoption? Cognilytic Technologies

WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH compute services in azure?

The Azure “Compute” provides the infrastructure you need to run your application, whether you’re building from scratch or deploying existing ones. You could easily pick a compute capacity in the cloud and scale on demand. A variety of services allow you to containerize your applications, deploy any OS in virtual machines (VMs), and take advantage of flexible options to plan and execute your VMs migration into Azure.

You can also rely on comprehensive support for hybrid environment solutions by deploying where you want to. The Azure compute services are supported with enterprise grade integration solutions including identity solution. By using Azure cloud platform you can manage end-point protection, and Active Directory support that helps secure access to on-premises and cloud workloads and applications.

Click to learn about the compute choices in Azure

Part 4: Design a compute solution

The references below are taken from official Microsoft docs and focused on designing compute solutions in Azure. You could also find it helpful to check the Microsoft docs and learning paths with [Tutorials] below 😉.

This collection of links are gathered with a focus toward the exam objectives of AZ-305 certification exam.

Shared responsibility in the cloud
Choose an Azure compute service for your application
Sizes for virtual machines in Azure
Azure Batch best practices
Azure Marketplace – Compute
Azure App Service plan overview
App Service overview
Set up staging environments in Azure App Service

What is Azure Container Instances?
What is Kubernetes?
Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
CUSTOMER CASE STUDY – Azure Functions (Serverless Computing)
CUSTOMER CASE STUDY – Azure Logic Apps and Azure API Management

Security considerations for Azure Container Instances
Getting started with Docker
Run background tasks with WebJobs in Azure App Service
Azure Logic Apps
What is Azure Batch?
Linux Virtual Machine Pricing
Choose the best Azure service to automate your business processes
Integration Services
Authentication and authorization in Azure App Service and Azure Functions

[Tutorial] Create an Azure Batch account by using the Azure portal
[Tutorial] Host a web application with Azure App Service
[Tutorial] Introduction to Azure Logic Apps
[Tutorial] Introduction to Azure virtual machines

SUMMARY

Thank you for visiting the AZ-305 Study Guide and checking the Part 4 – Design a Compute solution on Azure.

The next blog post will cover the Part 5: Design an application architecture solution.

Study Guide for AZ-305: Part 3 –Design a solution to log and monitor Azure resources

Hello friends!

This is the continuation (Part 3/12) of blog post series to help you get ready for the latest AZ-305 exam.

Feel free to check the previous posts listed below, if you did not look into them yet 🙂

Table of content (blog series)

What is the Monitoring ?

The monitoring is a skill and not a full-time job. In today’s world of cloud-based architectures that are implemented through DevOps projects, developers, SREs, and operations staff must collectively define an effective cloud monitoring and logging strategy. This strategy should focus on identifying when service-level objectives (SLOs) and service-level agreements (SLAs) are not being met, likely negatively affecting the user experience.

Cloud monitoring is a method of reviewing, observing, and managing the operational workflow in a cloud-based IT infrastructure. Manual or automated management techniques confirm the availability and performance of websites, servers, applications, and other cloud infrastructure.

Azure Monitor overview
Azure Monitor Overview

WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH logging and monitoring?

Azure Monitor helps you maximize the availability and performance of your applications and services. It delivers a comprehensive solution for collecting, analyzing, and acting on telemetry from your cloud and on-premises environments. This information helps you understand how your applications are performing and proactively identify issues affecting them and the resources they depend on.

Microsoft docs

The Azure Monitor collects the following sets of data:

  • ✔️ Application Monitoring data
  • ✔️ Guest OS monitoring data
  • ✔️ Azure resource monitoring data
  • ✔️ Azure subscription monitoring data
  • ✔️ Azure tenant monitoring data
Measuring Metrics: Log Analytics vs Azure Metrics - Part 1 Introduction - AdinErmie.com
Azure Monitoring and Log Analytics Overview

Part 3: Design a solution to log and monitor Azure resources

The references below are taken from official Microsoft docs and focused on designing logging and monitoring Azure solutions.

This collection of links are gathered with a focus toward the exam objectives of AZ-305 certification exam.

Analyze your Azure infrastructure by using Azure Monitor logs
Best practices for monitoring cloud applications
Cost Management tools in Azure
What are Azure Active Directory reports?

Overview of Log Analytics in Azure Monitor
Tutorial: Log Analytics
Monitor performance of virtual machines by using Azure Monitor VM Insights
Designing your Azure Monitor Logs deployment
Overview of Azure Monitor agents

Azure Monitor Frequently Asked Questions
Azure Monitor Workbooks
Application Insights overview
Azure Data Explorer

SUMMARY

Thank you for visiting the AZ-305 Study Guide and checking the Part 3 – Design a solution to log and monitor Azure resources.

The next blog post will cover the Part 4: Design a compute solution.