Cloud Computing

Learn how to perform geo-load balancing for deployments in different Azure regions using Traffic Manager profiles in Azure Resource Manager (ARM) or Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) subscriptions.

In today’s Ask the Admin, I’ll explain how to use linked Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates to facilitate complex deployment options.

In today’s Ask the Admin, I’ll show you how to create an ARM template in Visual Studio for deploying Azure virtual machines (VMs). Having used VS to deploy resources in Azure, this is the way I now recommend you work with Azure templates.

Microsoft Azure and Office 365 hosted in the UK for the first time. Redmond just opened up three new data centers in England and Wales, arranged in two Azure regions. This brings the number of Regions to 28 globally. Among the launch customers are Aston Martin, a regional health authority, and the Ministry of Defence [sic]. This should give a boost to Microsoft’s data-sovereignty story…

On Friday, over 80 technology firms, media organizations, civil liberties groups, and others filed legal briefs supporting Microsoft’s challenge to secret U.S. government orders. Amazon, Apple, and Google are among those supporting Microsoft, as are firms as diverse as Fox News and the A.C.L.U.

In today’s Ask the Admin, I’ll show you how to sign up for Microsoft Flow and create a simple workflow that posts a tweet with a hashtag from your Twitter account to your Slack channel.

In this post I’ll provide a brief overview of IFTTT and Zapier and Microsoft’s contribution to the user-friendly, user-powered workflow services tool, Microsoft Flow.

Because I’m already planning my next trip, this edition of Short Takes focuses on Windows phone market share, Microsoft’s Edge problem, PowerShell coming to Linux and macOS, Xbox One highs and lows, and the next Apple Watch.

Microsoft PowerShell on Linux and macOS—yes, it’s now open source. If you think the world’s gone mad, you might be right. For die-hard Linux-heads, it’s never going to replace Bash, Perl or Python. But for Microsoft-centric dev/ops types, it promises to be a wonderful widget in the toolbag. Especially as more workloads move to “the cloud.”

Microsoft has launched a preview for a new set of NVIDIA-powered virtual machines in Azure that can be used for compute-intensive and graphic-intensive workloads. See the specs, pricing and availability.