Azure Friday

Scott learns how to setup a Virtual Private Network within Azure to keep Virtual Machines off the public network completely. Areas covered in this video: Keeping data, network, and infrastructure separate Isolating Virtual Private Networks Cloud Access Layer Running intranet applications in a secure way Useful topics and links: New Windows Azure Network Security Whitepaper Azure Security Guidance

Scott hears from John Walton all about the full time security testers that attack Azure and find (and plug!) security holes, keeping our sites safe. Areas covered in this video: Methods of improving Azure security How Azure security operates Understanding emerging threats Red team and blue team roles Model real-world attacks, identify gaps, and demonstrate impact Detect and respond, enhance awareness, and measure readiness and impact Useful topics and links: Microsoft Azure Trust Center Azure Security Guidance

Ben Ridgway schools Scott about Azure Security 101. What are the best practices when designing for a cloud platform? What is Azure's responsibility and what is mine? Areas covered in this video: Application architecture helps define the security measures offered and needed The scope of security is different based on IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS Hybrid deployments adds different vectors to security Understand the division between your security responsibility and the platform capability Security key thoughts that you should follow Useful topics and links: Microsoft Azure Trust Center Security Best Practices for Developing Azure Solutions (DOC)

Scott and Chandrika adds a Web Test to one of Scott's existing production websites. Web Tests enable regular monitoring of your sites' uptime, and you can even pin the web tests within the new Azure Portal. Areas covered in this video: Web Tests – Explore issues, occurrences, and errors. Create tests, add success criteria, and enable alerts. Useful topics and links: Web Tests topic - Tests your website at regular intervals by configuring a Web test. The Azure Preview Portal – Tour and learn more about the Azure portal.

Chandrika Shankarnarayan teaches Scott about how Azure Web Hosting Plans are now exposed in the new Azure portal. We'll see how they can save me money, show me exactly how much money my sites are costing me, and enable finer grain control than we ever had before. Areas covered in this video: Understanding the available web hosting plans Creating a new web hosting plan Understanding different pricing tiers Useful topics and links: What is a Web Hosting Plan? Azure Web Sites Web Hosting Plans In-Depth Overview The Azure Preview Portal – Tour and learn more about the Azure portal.

Scott learns about the new Microsoft Endpoint Protection for Azure. This video includes how to install, update, and configure it to constantly scan for viruses and malware within our Azure instances. Areas covered in this video: Capabilities provided by Endpoint Protection Endpoint Protection features available for Azure Cloud Services platform and Azure Virtual Machines Basic configuration and monitoring available programmatically Endpoint Protection is Off by Default Real-time and scheduled protection available

Scott and Chandrika add the new Analytics JavaScript to one of Scott's production sites running within Azure and then explore the resulting data within the new Azure Portal. Areas covered in this video: Analytics on the Azure Portal Add JavaScript to set up analytics View analytics from Scott's web site Drill down into specific issues exposed by analytics Monitoring verses analytics Alert rules Useful topics and links: Analytics for Web sites

Scott talks to Eduard Koller about the Microsoft Open Tech "VMDepot," a collection of hundreds of open virtual machine images you can install in Azure today! Areas covered in this video: The VMDepot portal – A community-driven VM image catalog. Images contain the OS, applications, and development stack. Deployment to Azure is easy. How to modify the command line to create the VM in Azure. Viewing the Azure VM commands (azure vm –help). Useful links: VMDepot - A community-driven VM image catalog. The Azure Preview Portal – Tour and learn more about the Azure portal. Related Videos: Overview of the new Azure Portal with Vishal Joshi Exploring the New Azure Portal

Scott learns how to create and share a Linux Image on Windows Azure with Eduard Koller within Ubuntu using the Azure Command Line Tools

Josh shows Scott how to set up hybrid connections through the new Azure portal. Hybrid connections are an excellent alternative to an on-site VPN for talking to local resources from Azure. Areas covered in this video: Use the Azure Preview Portal to add a Hybrid Connection Hybrid Connection Listener Setup See that an MVC app's Web.config is used to connect to the database Verify data changes made through the Azure web site are reflected in the local database Useful topics and links: Hybrid Connections - A Hybrid Connection provides an easy and convenient way to connect Azure applications, like Web Sites and Mobile Services, to an on-premises resource. Azure mobile service using Hybrid Connections - Connect to an on-premises SQL Server from an Azure mobile service using Hybrid Connections. Azure web site using Hybrid Connections - Connect to an on-premises SQL Server from an Azure web site using Hybrid Connections. The Azure Preview Portal – Tour and learn more about the Azure portal. Related Videos: Announcing Hybrid Connections: Building Amazing Hybrid Web Sites and Mobile Apps in Minutes Connect to an on-premises SQL Server from Azure Mobile Services using Hybrid Connections