azure

Building a custom container-based API using Docker Desktop and Azure App Service

February 11, 2020
Building something, How to

Many times when I’ve worked with Microsoft partners and customers in projects the need arises when we need a custom API to be implemented. Perhaps the reason is that we need the versatility and freedom this provides, or simply because the developer feels this is the best approach for the given business problem. So, while you can host your APIs in multiple ways in Azure, I wanted to try out how easy (or complex!) it… Read More »Building a custom container-based API using Docker Desktop and Azure App Service

How to run business logic code as background jobs in Microsoft Azure

January 29, 2020January 30, 2020
How to

Microsoft Azure offers multiple ways to run, schedule and trigger business logic code in the background. Business logic is a fancy way to say you need to execute a series of tasks, based on a process. In this article, I aim to provide a convenient and prioritized list of options to choose from, with the goal of clarifying these options for developers and architects working with Azure. What is the need to run code in… Read More »How to run business logic code as background jobs in Microsoft Azure

Interesting events and meetups in Finland for January and February

January 23, 2020January 24, 2020
Events

As part of my work at Microsoft, I support and help local communities that revolve and evolve around technologies I have a passion for. This includes platforms such as Microsoft Azure, but also general topics such as serverless, AI and coding. While I’m ramping up on my role – and believe me, there’s plenty to digest and ingest – I wanted to share interesting events and meetups from local communities and user groups in Finland,… Read More »Interesting events and meetups in Finland for January and February

Azure Community: Azure Heroes is now live

January 21, 2020January 31, 2020
Community

Azure Heroes is a program for the community from Microsoft, that aims to recognize and empower technical Azure practitioners to achieve more. Recognized community members will be rewarded with a digital badger, that is backed by blockchain (from Enjin). You can see the public ledger here. You can reach out to me also directly (via Twitter, Teams, or email) if you have any questions or feedback with regards to the program. [Update Jan 21: As… Read More »Azure Community: Azure Heroes is now live

So, what’s up?

December 19, 2019January 31, 2020
What's up

Don’t worry. This is not one of those end-of-the-year/end-of-a-decade posts. I’ll do that next week. I’ve taken the habit to reflect, reminisce and gather up my thoughts a few times a year. I did that a few months ago in October, and before that in June. As I’ve perhaps mentioned, I’ve been on an extended leave of absence since April. I spent the summer finishing up some projects, focusing on my well-being and spending time… Read More »So, what’s up?

Building a monitoring solution for Office 365 service availability using Azure Logic Apps

December 17, 2019January 31, 2020
Building something

I spent some time in early December building an integration between Azure Log Analytics (and Azure Sentinel, obviously) and Office 365 Audit Logs. The latter exposes the logs through Office 365 Management Activity API, which is very handy, albeit slightly cumbersome to use. I wrote about that experience here. I noticed that there is also a separate Office 365 API I found useful, called the Office 365 Service Communications API. It’s much simpler to use,… Read More »Building a monitoring solution for Office 365 service availability using Azure Logic Apps

Building a monitoring solution for Power Platform events using PowerShell, C#, Azure Log Analytics, and Azure Sentinel

December 9, 2019February 1, 2020
Building something

I’m writing this from the beautiful and sunny city of Prague, where I’m attending the European SharePoint, Office 365 and Azure Conference. It’s a 4-day event, with hundreds of sessions, and some very insightful keynotes also. I’m delivering two sessions here, and one of those was on monitoring and managing Power Apps and Power Automate. As you probably know, Power Automate used to be called Microsoft Flow. They are both parts of the Power Platform,… Read More »Building a monitoring solution for Power Platform events using PowerShell, C#, Azure Log Analytics, and Azure Sentinel

Adding a free SSL certificate to an Azure Web App

November 24, 2019February 1, 2020
How to

One of the many announcements Microsoft made during Ignite 2019 was the capability to add free SSL certificates to Web Apps on Azure. You can read the announcement here. “Wow, that’s beyond great!”, I remember thinking on my way to Orlando for Ignite at the time. I can finally secure all my web apps without paying hundreds of dollars to third-parties for SSL certificates. So, I went on to try this new capability. Let’s see… Read More »Adding a free SSL certificate to an Azure Web App

Generating random numbers from a lava lamp using .NET Core

November 19, 2019February 1, 2020
Building something

I used to have a lava lamp when I was young. I mean, I’m still relatively young, but I haven’t had a lava lamp in decades anymore. I think it was a fad of the 1990s, and when everyone realized the lamps actually broke rather easily, the hype died quickly. Our family also had a bread machine around the same time. We don’t have that either, anymore. When I read about Cloudflare’s random number generator… Read More »Generating random numbers from a lava lamp using .NET Core

Building a simple backup solution for Hyper-V-based virtual machines using OneDrive for Business and PowerShell

October 14, 2019February 1, 2020
Building something

At home, I run several PCs – a few laptops, and one workstation which is a bit more performant, so that I can run Hyper-V and virtual machines on it. It’s also my server for Plex, the amazing multimedia system that effectively allows me to have my own private Netflix wherever I go. At the moment, my server runs on Windows 10 Pro for Workstations, which is the special edition for high-performance PCs. Among others,… Read More »Building a simple backup solution for Hyper-V-based virtual machines using OneDrive for Business and PowerShell