Workshop: Microsoft Azure Expert Technical Training (20-21 December, Brussels, Belgium)

Wrapped up the last (this year:), 2 days technical training on Azure (Dec 20th - 21st), organized by Ingram Micro Belgium. I got excellent group of experienced IT Pros attending this course. Primary focus is on Infrastructure-as-a-Service model, with demos and hands on labs focusing on predefined scenarios in operating, planning, creating and configuring the infrastructure and services.

Day 1 was focused on Azure Fundamentals: Welcome and introduction, Azure Portal, Resource Groups, Storage Accounts, Virtual networks and Network Interfaces (incl PIP, VPN, Gateways and Peering), Network Security Groups, Virtual Machines, VM Extensions, Scale and Availability Sets, Load Balancer, Traffic Manager.

We finished strong with deploying WordPress Multi-tier app and Acronis Backup Blueprints.

Day 2, after the wrap up of Day 1 and discussion, was reserved for more Blueprints - Remote Desktop Services (Small Business Server Replacement) and Barracuda Blueprints.
 
Had quite a few discussion on solution designs, real world problems, and did quite a brainstorming with the group. From technical perspective, they were a great bunch of people. Looking forward on seeing them progress further in the Azure model and mapping their clients needs to specific workloads and solutions.

Well, that was it for this year.

Can't wait what will 2018 bring. I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST!!! :)

Released: December 2017 Quarterly Exchange Updates

Hot "off the press", Exchange (onPrem) Quarterly Updates, December 2017. The release covers Exchange 2016, 2013 and 2010, as currently supported versions of the products.

Feature wise, they introduce Hybrid Model Authentication (HMA) for Exchange 2013/2016, support for .NET 4.7.1 as well as few fixes/updates.

KB articles that describe the fixes in each release are available as follows:

• Exchange Server 2016 Cumulative Update 8 (KB4035145), Download, UM Lang Packs
• Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 19 (KB4037224), Download, UM Lang Packs
• Exchange Server 2010 Update Roll-up 19 (KB4035162), Download

Event: "The future of business is digital" (December 13th, Tirana, Albania)

In the course of continuous technological developments and the so-called industrial revolution, business faces every day more with the demand to optimize operational costs as well as the immediate need for the use of new technology solutions in business service.

Technology is a disruptive force – enabling new business models, opening new sources of revenue and shaping entire industry landscapes. Ensuring security, privacy, and compliance is key to enabling digital transformation. As people bring in devices, apps, and data into organizations today, protecting company data requires a new approach.

As part of this future vision of Ingram Micro and Microsoft, I will be conducting an cloud session, covering Microsoft Azure and Office 365 portfolio with specific business scenarios.

Agenda:
09:00 – 09:30   Registration

09:30 – 09:40   Welcome and introduction
Sokol Vladi, General Manager, Microsoft Albania

09:40 – 10:15   Culture eats digitization for breakfast
Oskar Goschl, Managing Director CEE HQ Digital Advisory Services, Microsoft

10:15 – 10:45   Break

10:45 – 11:45   Microsoft Cloud 101
Dimitar Grozdanov, Sales Engineer/Trainer, Datacenter and Cloud Services (CEE), Ingram Micro
    
11:45 – 12:45   Cyber security in cloud
Marko Kavcic, SAM and Compliance Lead, Microsoft

12:45 – 13:00   Questions and Answers (Q&A session)

Webinar: EasyAzure - Protection & Monitoring

As part of "web based activities" with colleagues from Ingram Micro Croatia, we have scheduled two Microsoft Azure Webinars, focused on EasyAzure Blueprints.

EasyAzure offers free downloadable instructions on how to build single solutions within Azure. The instructions are formatted in Blueprints: Ready-to-use and easy-to-understand product offerings, fine-tuned to be cost effective. they can be combined, as per usage scenario to achieve enterprise grade solution. EasyAzure covers three solution areas - Protection, Management and Expansion, and includes over 25 free downloadable Blueprints. New material is constantly developed, and its available as soon as it gets verified.

The specific webinars are based on Protection and Monitoring Blueprints, both in Croatian language:

- Protection (Backup): December 6th, 10:30-11:30

- Monitoring (OMS): December 11th, 14:00 -15:00

The webinars are invitation based, aimed towards local partners.