by Scott Muniz | Sep 16, 2020 | Azure, Technology, Uncategorized
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
Heya folks, Ned here again. Azure Files isn’t just SMB anymore, we now offer NFS 4.1 as a service! Extreme high availability & durability, full file system semantics, AES-256 encryption at rest, it will do 100K IOPS & 80 Gibps throughput. More info at:
NFS 4.1 support for Azure Files is now in preview
Get started with your first NFS share here.
– Ned “Azure Files isn’t just for SMB anymore” Pyle
by Scott Muniz | Sep 16, 2020 | Uncategorized
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
If you are not familiar with the Microsoft 365 Network Connectivity Principles, you should be. Refer to the video Overview of Network Connectivity Principles as a prelude to this topic.
For many companies, providing remote work options was already a rapidly growing movement (+173% since 2005 according to Global Workplace Analytics). That was before the COVID-19 crisis, which has massively accelerated that trend and highlighted a number of remote work problems that require immediate remediation. The need to maintain security without sacrificing performance has generated unprecedented demands on enterprise IT to support work-from-anywhere productivity at a massive scale.
Microsoft 365 is well positioned to help customers fulfill that demand, but high concurrency of users working from home generates a large volume of Microsoft 365 traffic which, if routed through forced tunnel VPN and on-premises network perimeters, causes rapid saturation and runs VPN infrastructure out of capacity. In this new reality, using VPN to access Microsoft 365 is no longer just a performance impediment, but a hard wall that not only impacts Microsoft 365 but critical business operations that still have to rely on the VPN to operate.
For many years enterprises have been using VPNs to support remote experiences for their users. Whilst core workloads remained on-premises, a VPN from the remote client routed through a datacenter on the corporate network was the primary method for remote users to access corporate resources. VPNs, network perimeters, and associated security infrastructure were often purpose built and scaled for a defined volume of traffic, typically with the majority of connectivity being initiated from within the corporate network, and most of it staying within the internal network boundaries.
VPN models where all connections from the remote user device are routed back into the on-premises network (known as forced tunneling) were largely sustainable as long as the concurrent scale of remote users was modest and the traffic volumes traversing VPN were low. The use of forced tunneled VPNs for connecting to distributed and performance sensitive cloud applications is extremely suboptimal. This problem has been growing for a number of years, with many customers reporting a significant shift of network traffic patterns. Traffic that used to stay on premises now connects to external cloud endpoints.
For customers who connect their remote worker devices to the corporate network or cloud infrastructure over VPN, Microsoft recommends that key Microsoft 365 scenarios including Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online, and Exchange Online are routed over a VPN split tunnel configuration. This becomes especially important as the first line strategy to facilitate continued employee productivity during large scale work-from-home events such as the COVID-19 crisis. The essence of this approach is to provide a simple method for enterprises to mitigate the risk of VPN infrastructure saturation and dramatically improve Microsoft 365 performance in the shortest timeframe possible.
This VPN split tunnel guidance is in alignment with the Microsoft 365 Network Connectivity principles, which are designed to work efficiently for remote users whilst still allowing an organization to maintain security and control over their connectivity. These connectivity principles can also be implemented for remote users very quickly with limited work yet achieve a significant positive impact on the problems outlined above.
Microsoft’s recommended strategy for optimizing remote worker’s connectivity is focused on rapidly alleviating the problems with the traditional approach and providing high performance with a few simple steps. These steps guide you to split tunnel Microsoft 365 traffic for a small number of defined endpoints to bypass bottlenecked VPN infrastructure and leverage cloud-based security services natively available within the Microsoft 365 stack.
For the latest information on how to plan network connectivity for your remote users and provide the best possible cloud experience watch the Enable a seamless remote work experience video below. This is one video from the 7-part Microsoft 365 Network Connectivity Video Series, which you can find at aka.ms/netvideos.
by Scott Muniz | Sep 16, 2020 | Uncategorized
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
As part of our blog series on the value of training and certification, we’re talking with some of our top Learning Partners who deliver Microsoft training and who currently deliver training for Business Applications. We kicked off the series with a post based on a conversation with representatives of Global Knowledge, the 2019 Microsoft Learning Partner of the Year, and followed that up with a blog post based on a conversation with Microsoft Gold Partner Koenig Solutions. Today’s post is based on an interview with Patrick Kersten, Program Director of Computrain and Chairman of the Board of the Leading Learning Partners Association (LLPA).
Leading Learning Partners Association (LLPA), which trains more than 500,000 students per year, is a unique training organization that grew out of innovation and cooperation. In 2009, after Microsoft representatives suggested that the many great local companies in Europe combine to share best practices and better serve customers, 12 companies started working together. By 2013, 20 training partners were cooperating and they joined forces formally as an association, quickly expanding to 32 countries and other continents. Today, LLPA comprises 32 well-known training centers spread over 55 countries in Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia/Pacific, giving LLPA the largest global footprint of all Microsoft training partners. “Our strength is our global coverage,” Kersten says, “combined with our local approach in the 55 countries we’re located in.” For international projects, the association offers a single point of contact, with a centralized quality management and delivery team, but the input of local members makes it possible to “add the local flavor and culture to a training delivery—even in international projects. And we deliver this centralized virtual training in every language and every time zone.”
LLPA is not a company with franchises, Kersten explains, but a group of individual companies—each of which is a leading IT training company in its country or region, and most with 30 to 40 years of training experience. The association’s success depends in part on its selective rules for membership. It accepts only one member per country, which rules out competition and allows for sharing. Members may not be part of another group. And each member must be in good standing with Microsoft, LLPA’s most innovative and biggest partner. Many of its members have been Microsoft Silver or Gold Partners for more than 25 years.
Recognized as the 2020 Microsoft Learning Partner of the Year, LLPA has been closely aligned with Microsoft from its start as an association. It works closely with the Microsoft Learning leadership team. One LLPA staff person manages all its members’ central link to Microsoft Learning. And annual conversations with the Microsoft team let its people know what’s on the drawing board, so they can prepare training. The association also works with the Partner Advisory Board and with One Commercial Partner (OCP), which brings together partner-focused teams across the company to harness Microsoft partner expertise and knowledge—technical, marketing, business development, and programs—and to better recognize how customers are buying technology. “By working with Microsoft in these ways at the corporate level,” Kersten notes, “we know the direction and try to shape our training to be ready for new technology, so we can fill any skills gaps.”
In addition, all LLPA’s members work with local and regional Microsoft representatives, which enables them to think and innovate together. By working with the WE Partner Enablement team, for example, they created future-proof.net, and out of that, working with the Microsoft Cloud and Enterprise team, they created and set up an online portal called Skills Academy. Skills Academy is a learning platform for enterprise customers that can be customized and branded. LLPA works primarily with companies, not individuals, which means, as Kersten says, it “empowers those who empower every person and organization in the world to achieve more.” Approximately 185 companies now have their own branded learning portal. This idea started regionally but was picked up by local teams, so now local companies have their own Skills Academy portals to help keep their people skilled up. These academies now have more than 28,000 students with over 67,000 courses started. As one of the pilot partners for the Microsoft Learn Catalog API, LLPA is able to offer Microsoft Learn tracks on each customer-branded Skills Academy. It keeps innovating its Skills Academy, especially for cloud technology like Azure, Modern Workplace, and Dynamics 365, and expanding it by adding supporting content to the Microsoft Learn resources from third parties.
LLPA members offer all official Microsoft courses and certifications. The shift in Microsoft training the last two years from product-based to role-based has been very successful and well adopted by LLPA’s customers. The changes have been especially good for Dynamics 365 training. Ten years ago, Dynamics training was offered by Learning Partners—and then only by Dynamics partners. Two years ago, with the shift to role-based training and certification, it became part of the Microsoft Learn portfolio. Dynamics 365 training has benefited greatly from this. Being able to connect companies’ Skills Academy portals with Microsoft Learn made it easier to integrate Dynamics 365 training and for people to get access to training. Another advantage of the Skills Academy is the availability of training. For example, like all Dynamics 365 training, the core Dynamics 365 courses—Microsoft Power Platform + Dynamics 365 Core and Microsoft Dynamics 365: Core Finance and Operations—are part of the Skills Academy. That means that even if only one or two people in a company want to take those courses, they can: they don’t have to wait for a class to fill.
The Cloud Certification Circle is another innovative way LLPA supports learners’ success. The association found that when learners get an exam voucher at the end of a training and are told, “Take the exam whenever you want,” many don’t use the voucher. LLPA’s response was to create an end-to-end solution, the Cloud Certification Circle. They take a group of about 25 people, give them a kickoff session, and then train them online—nurturing people and stimulating them to keep learning throughout the training, all the way through to exam preparation and certification. “This way we know who’s preparing online,” Kersten explains, “who’s participating in the virtual instructor-led session, who’s doing final exam prep—so we can offer the support they need.” Certification rates for learners who participate in the Cloud Certification Circle are 80-plus percent, much higher than those without this support. A recent circle of 24 people earned more than 50 certifications, and their certification rate was 85 percent. “With this circle concept,” Kersten says, “we are also able to report to customers and vendors the result of training programs, in terms of certification success, which can give a justification of their investment.”
LLPA’s hybrid training model is part of the Cloud Certification Circle. It, too, makes training more responsive to learners’ needs. “We asked customers what they wanted,” Kersten says, “and built our training around that. We found that not everybody wants five days of training, either in-person or virtually. That’s why we pushed forward our hybrid model: learners train eight to 10 hours per week for four weeks and close off their training with a virtual instructor-led training.” That adaptive model, at the end of which learners are exam-ready, is one of the reasons Kersten believes LLPA won the Learning Partner of the Year Award this year.
When the pandemic hit in March, LLPA went 100 percent virtual in all of its countries. Its hybrid virtual model enabled it to do this quickly, as did its organization as an association of members with different histories and specialties. The association was able to scale its capacity overnight with 1,000 extra virtual seats. Because one of its members already had a great innovative hybrid delivery system set up, LLPA was able—with a great deal of technical innovation—to expand fast. After that, other members, each with its own specialty and experience, were able to expand their training capacity. And, with LLPA’s centralized delivery structure, these expanded offerings were made available to all learners.
LLPA offers other ways to train, besides its hybrid model. People can attend a bootcamp for a week (in countries that are not in COVID-19 lockdown). Bootcamps are led by two trainers and include a study room, breakout sessions, one-on-one training, and an exam room. Group dynamics facilitate the learning, Kersten emphasizes, because participants stimulate and motivate one other. Or learners can attend a Study Academy—a one- to two-day virtual instructor-led training that’s combined with a scheduling service that helps learners stay on track to complete their certification. The service provides them with an exam scheduling form that they fill out, and then the LLPA registration desk registers them. This makes the process easier for individuals and helps make sure everyone in a cohort takes the exam they registered for. The Project and Delivery team is dedicated to this nurturing of learners. It follows up with everyone, with personal contact, evaluation forms, and statistics on whether they passed the practice exam or actual exam. That way the association knows how many who took the exam passed it—statistics that help justify training to companies and individuals. This training—taking the learner through the whole certification journey—sets LLPA apart.
LLPA also offers many Microsoft Webinars, and their annual Global Cloud Skills Tour brings business leaders together to get ahead of the competition. For the 2020 tour, nine events on four continents were planned to respond to the skills gap and encourage lifelong learning. Unfortunately, the pandemic struck after four in-person events. But LLPA organized a virtual series of six presentations in six weeks across time zones in May and June, and hundreds of people gathered to discuss cloud benefits and opportunities, such as how Microsoft and LLPA could support customers.
Because each member has its own history, the association uses a mix of in-house and freelance instructors. The majority, however, are freelancers who are experienced consultants and solution architects who work closely with LLPA’s members, maintaining a good relationship. They’re “very good advisors,” Kersten stresses, “because they’re the ones with direct contact with our customers.” Another advantage of freelancers is that they keep up the rapid change cycle of cloud training, for example, for Azure and Dynamics 365. “We expect a lot more from trainers today than we used to,” he explains, “when products didn’t change as fast and you could give the same training three years in a row and you didn’t need to know how and why processes worked. Our trainers see change logs every day.”
Though Dynamics 365 training is currently about 5–10 percent of LLPA’s Microsoft offerings, that number is growing rapidly. Power BI training is also quickly becoming a front-runner. LLPA members offer all the Dynamics 365 courses. The two most popular are: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Fundamentals and Microsoft Power Platform + Dynamics 365 Core, which is being replaced by Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate (Exam PL-200). And its members have specializations in all areas of Dynamics 365. The Skills Academy helps here to deliver those trainings. “Because of our global footprint and because the association was an early adopter of the Microsoft Learn Catalog API, we can show all those courses in all 185 customer portals. And we have trainers for all of them. If there aren’t enough participants for a Supply Chain Management training in one country, for example, we can combine countries into a group. That’s one of the big advantages of being an association of independent training companies—all of them bring their own expertise.”
The association’s unique structure, history, and commitments benefit LLPA members, customers, vendors, and learners. Kersten sums up LLPA’s mission this way: “We want to close the skills gap. We can help people. That’s what it’s all about.” The largest skills gap he sees right now is in cloud technology, though that need varies by region. In some, fundamentals are needed. In others, more advanced and specialized skills. LLPA’s multi-step approach, from learning to crawl (fundamentals), to learning to walk (certification), to learning to run (using the technology for specific capabilities)—offered around the world—enables it to deliver that mission with excellence.
by Scott Muniz | Sep 16, 2020 | Uncategorized
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
Join us at Microsoft Ignite 2020 before, during and after the event (which is September 22-24th).
Ignite is a unique opportunity to connect with Microsoft experts and your world-wide community like never before. Experience the all-new Microsoft Ignite on a global scale!
The event will kick off with a Satya Nadella Key Segment at 8:30AM PDT, followed by Leadership Key Segments. Then you will have access to Digital Breakout Sessions, Ask the Experts, Pre-recorded On- Demand Deep Dive sessions, the Connection Zone, Learning Zone and the Microsoft Ignite Live show. Not only did the IoT teams prepare some cool announcements but we also prepared new learning content and connecting opportunity.
Here are your next steps:
1. Register now, it’s free!
In order to access all the content you will need to register for the event. for this, just visit the event site at https://myignite.microsoft.com/.
2. Create your agenda
Once registered you will be able to see the whole event agenda and mark your calendar to not miss the live sessions during which you’ll get to ask your questions to our experts. You will notice that most of the sessions are replayed so that you can participate from anywhere in the world at your own time.
Below you will find the full list of IoT content at Microsoft Ignite 2020.
3. Start your IoT learning journey today
Don’t wait for the event to start. If you are new to Azure IoT, we recommend you check out the IoT Learning Collection.
If you are already familiar with Microsoft IoT technologies and services, you can extend your IoT skills going through some of our IoT Learning Path and modules on MS Learn. You will also want to check the latest updates on the IoT Show to learn about IoT Plug and Play, Azure Digital Twins, Vision AI in IoT Central, the new IoT Plug and Play certification, upcoming changes in Azure IoT TLS certificates, and more.
If you want to dig even deeper, here are some Deep Dives for you: Getting started with Azure RTOS, Embedded C SDK, Indoor Maps with Azure Maps, Windows 10 Enterprise for IoT, Developing for Azure Sphere,
4. Don’t be a stranger after the event: learning and connection continues!
The experience is not meant to stop at the end of the event. Our experts will stay on the IoT Tech Community forums and blog as well as on the IoT Show and Deep Dives series to discuss and collaborate with the community.
Do not forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel dedicated to IoT developers to stay posted on latest IoT innovation and technologies, watch interesting and crazy IoT projects, follow along some coding sessions, all of that Engineers to Engineers.
IoT content at Ignite
Here is the full list of IoT content and sessions we prepared for you Ignite
Executive Key Segments featuring IoT
IoT will be featured in several Ignite Key Segments presented by Microsoft leadership and executives. Make sure you add these sessions to your schedule to catch Satya Nadella, Julia White, Erin Chapple and Scott Hanselman highlight key IoT partnership announcements, customer success stories and solution demonstrations.
Times shown are in Pacific Standard Time
|
Code
|
Session Title
|
Primary Speaker(s)
|
Date
|
Start
|
|
N/A
|
Satya Nadella Key Segment
|
Satya Nadella
|
9/22/2020
|
8:30AM
|
|
N/A
|
Satya Key Segment (Replay)
|
Satya Nadella
|
9/22/2020
|
4:30PM
|
|
N/A
|
Satya Key Segment (Replay)
|
Satya Nadella
|
9/23/2020
|
12:30AM
|
|
KEY02
|
Invent with Purpose on Azure with Julia White and Friends
|
Julia White, Erin Chapple, Rohan Kumar
|
9/22/2020
|
9:00AM
|
|
KEY02-R1
|
Invent with Purpose on Azure with Julia White and Friends
|
Julia White, Erin Chapple, Rohan Kumar
|
9/22/2020
|
5:00PM
|
|
KEY02-R2
|
Invent with Purpose on Azure with Julia White and Friends
|
Julia White, Erin Chapple, Rohan Kumar
|
9/23/2020
|
1:00AM
|
|
KEY07
|
Are we there yet? App Development in Azure with Scott Hanselman & Friends
|
Scott Hanselman, Abel Wang, Tara Walker
|
9/23/2020
|
8:30AM
|
|
KEY07-R1
|
Are we there yet? App Development in Azure with Scott Hanselman & Friends
|
Scott Hanselman, Abel Wang, Tara Walker
|
9/23/2020
|
4:30PM
|
|
KEY07-R2
|
Are we there yet? App Development in Azure with Scott Hanselman & Friends
|
Scott Hanselman, Abel Wang, Tara Walker
|
9/24/2020
|
12:30AM
|
Digital Breakout Session
Watch Microsoft CVP, Sam George, present the latest Azure IoT announcements, vision and roadmap in his Digital Breakout Session. Digital Breakout Sessions are 30 minutes with Live Q&A over chat.
Ask the Expert Sessions
These sessions are designed to enable you to continue the dialogue following the Digital Breakout Sessions and will be set up as live 30 minute Live Q&A with multiple experts participating. For IoT, we will host Ask the Expert Sessions covering on the topics of: Azure Digital Twins and IoT Plug and Play.
|
Code
|
Session Title
|
Session Experts
|
Date
|
Start
|
|
ATE-DB116
|
Ask the Expert: Azure IoT: From connected assets to connected environments with Digital Twins
|
Pamela Cortez, Olivier Bloch, Paul DeCarlo, Ines Khelifi, Christian Schormann, Dave Glover
|
9/23/2020
|
3:15PM
|
|
ATE-DB116-R1
|
Ask the Expert: Azure IoT: From connected assets to connected environments with Plug and Play
|
Pamela Cortez, Olivier Bloch, Koichi Hirao, Quinn Tran, Daisuke Nakahara, Stefan Wick, Ricardo Pablos, Peter Provost
|
9/24/2020
|
7:15AM
|
On-Demand Deep Dive Session (Pre-Recorded)
Watch Azure IoT experts Pamela Cortez and Cory Newton Smith deep dive (300 level) on how to build end to end IoT solutions on Azure – secured from edge to cloud. Pre-Recorded sessions are 30 minutes and on-demand – and will not include Live Q&A.
Microsoft Ignite Live Sessions
Watch Microsoft Mechanics presenter, Jeremy Chapman, highlight how Microsoft customer, RXR Realty, is leveraging Azure IoT and AI to reimagine smart office spaces – and how this technology is helping bring their employees back to the workplace. Ignite Live sessions are delivered in a 15 minute, interview-style format.
by Scott Muniz | Sep 16, 2020 | Uncategorized
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
Fatima Zohra Benhamida strongly believes that any big change starts with a small act.
While the Paris-based MVP readily admits her home nation of Algeria will require the biggest of changes before young girls and women are given equal opportunity in STEM, Fatima also understands how tech markedly improves education for the next generation. Thus, Fatima is enacting the change she wants to see back home.
“I learnt in public school in Algeria, and it has been a long and challenging path to reach my current level of knowledge,” Fatima admits. “I look back today and want to save the next generation from the same frustration. Plus, I have a burning passion for both technology and teaching which inspires me to use modern teaching methods and better engage my students.”
So, The Office Apps and Services MVP volunteers 10 hours every week to mentor and advise young girls in Algeria. Fatima hopes in doing so to inspire young women just like her to strive for more.
The push to give back to her community began after Fatima represented Algeria in Techwomen 2017.
The Silicon Valley event selects 100 global women for a five-week fellowship focused on professional mentorship, cultural exchange, and impact planning. The conference was revelatory for Fatima, who soon offered technical and educational support not only to students at her university but to women in her home country.
“The best way to inspire future generations is to spend some of our personal free time to mentor them and help them to thrive,” Fatima says. “I really do believe that our actions can start small and grow to something much bigger.”
Fatima – who describes herself as someone with a “big thirst for science and knowledge” – hopes supporting other women in tech will help overcome stereotypes and unconscious bias. While being a dark woman from an underrepresented country has not been advantageous, Fatima says, it has made her persevere.
“I never felt intimidated by the looks from others or their refusal to my ideas. I was always ready to take on a new challenge and prove my competencies, to repeat my words twice if the first time wasn’t enough to be heard, or to start the conversation instead of waiting to be invited. This is how I could evolve both personally and professionally: perseverance and self-confidence.”
Now, Fatima is using this perseverance and self-confidence to benefit those in North Africa. Today offers an incredible opportunity to design new solutions which solve societal challenges, Fatima says, and she hopes to guide the coming batch of tech leaders in caring for our shared future.
“It’s our mission as technical community leaders to design new solutions for new challenges and then make them accessible for everyone. We should include every single person: citizen, refugee, developed nation, undeveloped nation.”
“Being engaged in volunteering is the best way to use our skills for the sake of all humanity,” Fatima says. “We should all ask ourselves: what are my skills, how can I use them for a wider positive impact, and how can I share it with my local community or even worldwide?”
For more on Fatima, check out her website and YouTube channel.
Recent Comments