Cloud Skills Challenge is back with Microsoft Build 2022 πŸ‘

Hello Cloud Marathoners,

I have good news for all of you!
Now, you could you earn aΒ #freeΒ #examvoucherΒ πŸ’° (worth πŸ’²165 or Β£ 113) by completing theΒ #cloudskillschallengeΒ atΒ MicrosoftΒ Build 2022. Yay!

Microsoft Build 2022 Cloud Skills Challenge

What is the cloud skill challenges?

Well, each of these learning challenges are set of Microsoft Learn modules. You could read and complete them on your own phase within a month.

πŸ“Œ Check out these 8Β #cloudskillsΒ challenges and sign-up to participate πŸ‘‰Β https://lnkd.in/gByWJNJR

You have a selection choice to pick the right challenge for YOU & earnΒ #freeΒ #examvoucher. Available challenges are listed below:

βœ”οΈ Microsoft 365: Building Applications and Solutions Challenge
βœ”οΈ Azure Developer Challenge
βœ”οΈ IoT Developer Challenge
βœ”οΈ Azure Cosmos DB Developer Challenge
βœ”οΈ Power Platform: Functional Consultant Challenge
βœ”οΈ Power Platform: App Maker Challenge
βœ”οΈ Microsoft Security: Who Hacked? Challenge
βœ”οΈ Data and AI: Who Hacked? Challenge

What happens when I complete a challenge?

You will be notified by email and become eligible to redeem one exam voucher. Exam voucher is an official Microsoft exam payment code (πŸ’²165 or Β£ 113 value) you earn forΒ #freeΒ by completing the cloud skills challenge on-time.

πŸ“Œ Check out the Official Terms and Conditions πŸ‘‰Β https://lnkd.in/gQvy-NWn

You can redeem an #examvoucher for an eligible exam listed below:
🌟 AI-102: Designing and Implementing a Microsoft Azure AI Solution
🌟 AZ-204: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure
🌟 AZ-220: Microsoft Azure IoT Developer
🌟 AZ-400: Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions
🌟 DP-420: Designing and Implementing Cloud – Native Applications Using Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB
🌟 MS-600: Building Applications and Solutions
🌟 PL-100: Microsoft Power Platform App Maker
🌟 PL-200: Microsoft Power Platform Functional Consultant
🌟 PL-300: Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst
🌟 SC-200: Microsoft Security Operations Analyst
🌟 SC-300: Microsoft Identity and Access Administrator

Summary

I wish you all GOOD LUCK in this challenge 🀞

Please, don’t forget to tag me on LinkedIn or Twitter once your challenge is completed or you pass the exam!

This might be a unique opportunity to earn the first PRO MicrosoftΒ #azurecertificationΒ for many people in theΒ #cloudcommunity.
Please πŸ™Œ share this with yourΒ #network too.

Hope to hear from all of you soon 😊 πŸ€—

Fᴏʟʟᴏᴑ ᴍᴇ 🎯 α΄€Ι΄α΄… become α΄€Β #cloudmarathonerΒ β›…πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈπŸƒβ€β™€οΈ – 𝐋𝐄𝐓’𝐒 π‚πŽπππ„π‚π“ πŸ‘Β #microsoftazureΒ #azurecertification #cloudskillschallenge #microsoftbuild2022Β #MSBuildΒ 

Microsoft Build 2022 is this week

Hello friends,

Hope you are all pumped up and excited for this week’s Build πŸš€ event!

It is a special week when Microsoft will be announcing publicly the latest innovations in code and development tools and services to global audience.

This is a unique opportunity to learn about the industry directions in #development, #azure, #lowcode and how Microsoft is evolving post-pandemic.

No alternative text description for this image
Microsoft Build 2022 Registration

Thus, save the date and register to attend it between May 24-26, 2022.

πŸ“Œ Register forΒ #FREEΒ πŸ‘‰Β on official site https://mybuild.microsoft.com/en-US/home.

Have you attended before?

Did you had a chance to attend this awesome event last year?
If yes, then please let me know on LinkedIn chat what is/was your favorite topics or session.

All right, hope you all will enjoy the #MSBuild and share your experience ❀



Cloud Marathoner ranked in the Top 100 Azure blogs

Greetings to my dear Cloud Marathoner friends!

We have a piece of great newsΒ to celebrate this week as our blog is one of the 100 Best Microsoft Azure Blogs and Websites in 2022 (feedspot.com). Yay πŸŽ‰πŸŽ‰πŸŽ‰

Actually, our blog post progressed up by one rank, and now it is in the 56th spot.

#CloudMarathoner on FeedSpot TOP 100 Azure Blogs

Could it make it to the TOP 10 Azure Blogs?

Well, I don’t want to speculate on that but, everything is possible with your help πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘

Yes, YOU – my dearest readers and supporters πŸ’ͺ of #cloudmarathoner movement!!!

Thank you for all you do πŸ™ŒπŸ™ŒπŸ™Œ

What is a FeedSpot blog site?

This site has a very selective editorial team and does a very hard job of on objectively deciding which blogs deserve the top spot for the readers.

I was informed that the FeedSpot editorial team extensively searches on Google and social media websites to find the best Microsoft Azure blogs and ranks them based on several factors such as:

  • Blog content quality
  • Post consistency
  • Age of the blog
  • Average number of shares on social sites of the blog posts
  • Traffic of the blog site and more.

Here is the clear text URL below, where you can find more about the TOP 100 Azure blogs: https://blog.feedspot.com/microsoft_azure_blogs/

Conclusion

Check out the links posted above and visit this site, and please like & subscribe to the #cloudmarathoner.

What is new in Azure Bicep v0.6?

Hello freinds,

Thank you everyone who has landed in this page to check out my Global Azure 2022 session – What is new in Azure Bicep language?

I had a great joy while interacting with a number of attendees.
Thank You for checking this blog and please feel free to reach out back with your questions.

What is new in Azure Bicep language?

As you might know, the Azure Bicep language brings a new Infrastructure as a Code (IaC) approach to manage your Azure resources in a clean way.
We also have a classic ARM JSON template that is/was traditionally used to define Azure infrastructure resources in a declarative way.

However, it is not easy to author and maintain ARM JSON templates when your project grows in complexity.

A demo screenshot from the session

But, I have good news for you – Microsoft infrastructure team has been working on new language to ease this process. Thus, an Azure Bicep language is created to simplify management of your infrastructure while re-using the code.

In this, I have introduced new features and capabilities of Azure Bicep v0.5 & v0.6 language. You also see demos on how it is simple to create, manage a modularized Azure infrastructure-as-code, while using familiar tools and extensions on VS Code.

A screenshot from the slides

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

The slides and as well as links to the recommended resources are posted on my πŸ– 🍴 GitHub repo here.

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

What is the Digital Advertising Fundamentals & how to pass?

Hello Cloud Marathoners,

Two weeks ago, I have earned and shared a Microsoft Advertising badge. I got several request to provide information about the training material and my expereince with the exam.

What is the digital advertising?

Well, if you are you new to digital advertising, then these Microsoft courses will provide you an introduction to the digital marketing industry. You could start learning the foundations and then looking at search, shopping, and display advertising.

Digital Advertising Fundamentals

Earn the Badge

  • By complete the 4 courses in the Learning Path (in any order) you could earn a digital Badge. As you know, it can be shared and verified on LinkedIn or other social media platforms to demonstrate your new knowledge.
  • Keep in mind that each chapter has assessment questions
  • Finally, review all the material and get ready to pass the final assessment

Where you can start?

Checkout the Digital Advertising Fundamentals Learning Path πŸ‘‰
https://lnkd.in/eu4ciw67 #sharingiscaring β€

There are several more Learning paths that you can check below:
Choose a Learning Path or event to get started!

I hope you can get all the resources you need to start your own learning journey in Advert space. Good Luck and keep me posted on your progress!

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 ⏯ πŸ– YouTube channel here.

The slides and as well as links to the recommended resources are posted on my πŸ– πŸ‘¨β€πŸ’» GitHub repo here.

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

Career Panel Q&A with Streaming Clouds

Hello friends,

Few days ago, I was really honored to receive an invitation to speak at a great “Career Panel” Q&A event from Robin Smorenburg and Kevin Evans. This event was the first organized event of Streaming Clouds.

Oh boy, it was such an interesting and honest discussion where myself and other guests honestly shared experiences and struggles, while addressing questions from the live audience.

Image
Cloud careers with Streaming Clouds

This panel focused on addressing the following hot question: – How to break into a cloud career or how to get your career journey to the next stage?

This event covered the certifications and how to gain hands-on experience, community and personal branding, and mentorship.

Dear friends, this event was recorded and available for re-watch at the following LinkedIn url.

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 πŸ™‚

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 πŸ˜‰.

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 AZ-305: Part 11 – Design for business continuity, backup and disaster recovery

Hi Cloud Marathoners!

Welcome to the 11th blog post (Part 11/12) of the Azure Architect series to help you get ready for the AZ-305 exam. This post starts the last section of this exam – Design Business Continuity Solutions.

And please feel free to check the previous sections & blog posts listed below if you landed on this page for the first time πŸ™‚

Table of content (blog series)

What is Business Continuity Solutions ?

Simply put, a Business Continuity (aka, BC) solution is based on a plan πŸ™‚
A BC plan is a predefined approach and procedure for how a business will continue to run when dealing with an emergency.

In another words, it is a process of creating systems of prevention and recovery to deal with any potential threats to your company.  These threats could be a natural disasters, such as hurricanes, fires, floods, power outages or an unintended misconfiguration of a system. It could also be a malicious cyberattack as well.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is where-is-server-it-is-crashed-w-backup.jpg

There are many benefits provided by BC planning and Disaster Recovering (aka, DR) planning to your organization when they are drafted and approved across the board, such as:

  • Improved decision-making
  • Risk Management
  • People and Property Protection
  • Morale boost πŸ™‚

The “Morale boost” element is very important piece, because when employees know plans are in place, they may feel safer. Moreover, it does not just boost morale, but potentially increases the business value perception to customers who recognize the high preparedness and responsibilities of the company.

Top 13 Priorities for a Strong Business Continuity Plan

What are the Backups and Disaster Recovery solutions in Azure?

In the case of service disruption or accidental deletion or corruption of data, recover your business services in a timely and orchestrated manner. The Azure backup and disaster recovery solution is simple to architect, cloud-native, highly available, and resilient.

Backup and Disaster Recovery in azure

Azure Backup and Disaster Recovery (DR) services are important services that help you to achieve your company’s reliability goals for all of the system workloads in the cloud or on-premises. It is very important when CSP (Cloud Solution Provider) prioritizes transparency and keep it’s customers informed during and after the service issues.

You could easily target following goals when planning to deliver your Backup and DR services to your most critical customers:

  • Simplified Management across environments
  • Azure built-in security controls
  • Reduced complexity and cost
  • Extent solutions to Azure with our partners
Cloud-Based Disaster Recovery with Microsoft Azure - PEI

Part 11: Design a business continuity solution

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

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

What is the Azure Backup service?
Overview of operational backup for Azure Blobs
About Azure file share backup
Back up Azure file shares
Full Database Backups (SQL Server)
Differential Backups (SQL Server)

Enable and manage soft delete for containers
Enable soft delete for blobs
Point-in-time restore for block blobs
Lock resources to prevent unexpected changes

Overview of share snapshots for Azure Files
Recover using automated database backups – Azure SQL Database & SQL Managed Instance
Long-term retention – Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance
Auto-failover groups overview & best practices (Azure SQL Database)

An overview of Azure VM backup
About Site Recovery
Azure Site Recovery documentation
Azure Backup service documentation

Recovery Services vaults overview
Azure to Azure disaster recovery architecture
Support matrix for Azure VM disaster recovery between Azure regions
[Tutorial] : Set up disaster recovery for Azure VMs

[Tutorial] : Disaster recovery and backup
[Tutorial] : Design your site recovery solution in Azure
[Tutorial] : Microsoft Azure Well-Architected Framework – Reliability
[Tutorial] : Describe high availability and disaster recovery strategies
[Tutorial] : Protect your virtual machines by using Azure Backup

How to restore Azure VM data in Azure portal
Recover files from Azure virtual machine backup

[Blog] : Understanding Azure Availability Sets and Availability Zones
Availability options for Azure Virtual Machines
Regions and availability zones

SUMMARY

Thank you for visiting the AZ-305 Study Guide and checking the Part 11: Design a business continuity solution.

The next blog post will be continuation with Part 12: Design a solution for backup and disaster recovery.

Study Guide AZ-305: Part 10 – Design a data integration solution

Hi Cloud Marathoners!

Welcome to the 10th blog post (Part 10/12) of the Azure Architect series to help you get ready for the AZ-305 exam. This post finalizes the third section of this exam – Design Data Storage Solutions.

Our next post will be discussing the last section of this exam – Design Business Continuity Solutions.

And please feel free to check the previous blog posts listed below if you landed on this page for the first time πŸ™‚

Table of content (blog series)

What is the Data Integration ?

It is very natural to wonder – “what is the meaning of data integration”?
In a nutshell, it is a combination of differently sourced data for a high-level overview and analysis. In other words, “Data Integration” – is a common term referring to the requirement to combine data from multiple separate business systems into a single unified view, also known as a single view of the truth.

This unified view is typically stored in a central data repository known as a data warehouse.

Data integration can serve your organization some short- and long-term benefits, including the followings:

βœ”οΈ Better Data
βœ”οΈ Better Collaboration
βœ”οΈ Fast connections between Data Storage
βœ”οΈ Increased efficiency and ROI
βœ”οΈ Better customer and partner experiences
βœ”οΈ A more comprehensive view of your business

Trinamix Cloud Integration solutions with third party software and Oracle Cloud SaaS applications. - Trinamix

What are the Data Integration solutions in Microsoft Azure?

Application integration often requires connecting multiple independent systems, often in complex ways. This white paper explains how the components of Azure Integration Servicesβ€”API Management, Logic Apps, Service Bus, and Event Gridβ€”work together to provide a complete solution for integrating both cloud and on-premises applications.

Azure Integration Services


There are several Azure services such as Azure Functions, Azure Data Factory, and Azure Logic Apps are just a few of the services that can help you efficiently solve complex data challenges.


Check out the Overview of Data Integration in Azure from this official resource.

Basic enterprise integration on Azure - Azure Architecture Center | Microsoft Docs

Part 10: Design a data integration solution

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

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

What is Azure Logic Apps?
Azure Logic Apps documentation
What is Azure Service Bus?
Azure Service Bus Messaging documentation
[Tutorials] Azure Logic Apps on Microsoft Learn
[Tutorials] Azure Service Bus on Microsoft Learn
Introduction to Azure Functions
Azure Functions documentation
[Tutorials] Azure Functions on Microsoft Learn

About API Management
API Management documentation
[Tutorials] API Management on Microsoft learn
What is Azure Event Grid?
Azure Event Grid documentation
[Tutorials] Azure Event Grid on Microsoft Learn

Azure Data Factory
Azure Data Factory documentation
[Tutorials] Azure Data Factory on Microsoft Learn
Introduction to Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2
Overview of Azure Stream Analytics Cluster
Azure Stream Analytics documentation

Transact-SQL features supported in Azure Synapse SQL
Introducing data virtualization with PolyBase
Azure Data Lake
Analytics end-to-end with Azure Synapse
[Tutorial] Implement a Data Streaming Solution with Azure Streaming Analytics
Azure Synapse SQL architecture
What is Azure Synapse Analytics?

[Tutorial] Explore Azure database and analytics services
[Tutorial] Data integration at scale with Azure Data Factory or Azure Synapse Pipeline
What is Azure Databricks?
[Blog] 4 common analytics scenarios to build business agility

SUMMARY

Thank you for visiting the AZ-305 Study Guide and checking the Part 10: Design a data integration solution.

The next blog post will be continuation with Part 11: Design a business continuity solution.