The newest release of System Center Operations Manager, SCOM 2019, recently became available to install and evaluate in March 2019. Microsoft continues to invest in the System Center product line and SCOM 2019 is a nice delivery of improved performance and new features. The most significant updates to SCOM seem to be in the hybrid […]
Azure and SCOM solutions detailed and compared Situation: You have an Azure VM running Windows Server hosting a high-value website. You need to do two things: (1) monitor that the website is running, and (2) if the site is discovered to be stopped, you want to send a start command to the website. Tools available: […]
A real-world practical deep dive into creating a simple but valuable custom solution in Azure Log Analytics. The focus is hooking up a common and popular firewall product from Fortinet, Inc. with an Azure Log Analytics workspace to gain insight and affect control into the Internet traffic through the firewall. This article is for organizations […]
Do you need a plan to upgrade perhaps thousands of client computers to Windows 10 in the next year? Microsoft makes available an enormously useful Azure-based tool to help organizations plan a Windows 10 migration that is free to use in most scenarios: Upgrade Readiness. Why it’s important: Many organizations must execute Windows 7 upgrades […]
New capabilities for Azure monitoring allow you to ‘bring you own’ SIEM (security information and event management) and connect to Azure log and event data streams. Azure as a data provider I’d call it a landmark achievement for Azure: Enough enterprise customers are relying on Azure AD for business critical identity and security services that’s […]
This article shows you how to connect your Office 365 organization to an existing or new Azure Log Analytics workspace and begin to centrally monitor and alert on events occurring in your Azure AD, Exchange online and SharePoint online services. This capability for Microsoft customers can consolidate and elevate more enterprise health and security data […]
Always On VPN is a new Remote Access solution from Microsoft. It meets the needs of information workers using remote or roaming computers to access resources on the private corporate network. It’s known as “the new DirectAccess” because DirectAccess (DA) is no longer being developed. Always On VPN is simpler to deploy than DA, but […]
Just attended the Microsoft Ignite 2018 Keynote presented by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. It’s interesting to observe the spectacle of such a large high-vis event. This year’s keynote was a departure from past years in terms of content, length, and presenters. It was an abbreviated, streamlined event that gave Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO an exclusive […]
Situation: You have an Azure VM running Windows Server that you need to access via RDP over the Internet, and you are, per best practice, changing the well-known RDP port of 3389 to a random high-numbered port. This will significantly reduce the brute-force attempts of hackers and hostile bots to break in via RDP. Problem: […]