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Microsoft 365 Desired State Configuration with Nik Charlebois May 13, 2020

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How do you keep the configuration of your Microsoft 365 resources consistent? Richard talks to Microsoft Premier Field Engineer Nik Charlebois about the evolution of Desired State Configuration. Nik talks about how his old open source project called ReverseDSC has become a part of the new Microsoft365DSC - giving you the ability to extract all the configuration and policy details from the various elements of your Microsoft 365 tenant. And once you have that file, you can compare it against other templates of Microsoft 365 tenants and apply it if you need to. Nik talks about the power of knowing exactly when your configuration gets changed for any reason, and the options available to react to that change!

Bandwidth in the Pandemic with Cameron Fuller May 08, 2020

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The first of the Pandemic series - how's your bandwidth? Richard talks to Cameron Fuller about some of the issues IT folks are dealing with during the pandemic. With most employees working from home, the bandwidth available to those employees is essential. And most likely, there's more than one person at home that needs that bandwidth - do they have enough? Does it make sense for IT to get involved in configuring networks in employee homes to provide bandwidth shaping with QoS? What about other bandwidth options like MiFi access points? Cameron explores several options and ideas you can add to your list of things to do to keep employees productive in this challenging time!

Terraform with Jennelle Crothers May 06, 2020

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What is Terraform, and why should you use it? Richard chats with Jennelle Crothers about HashiCorp's open source project called Terraform, providing configuration-as-code solutions for building out Azure infrastructure. As Jennelle describes it, this is code for racking-and-stacking Azure resources: Defining your virtual machines (or containers), wiring them up with networking, and so on. You could do it with Azure ARM, but do you want that much JSON in your life? Jennelle talks about the Azure Provider for Terraform and how it transforms the easy-to-read code of Terraform into Azure objects. But that code is still unique to Azure, don't expect to use your same Terraform scripts with other cloud providers.

Azure DevOps for Ops with Michael Levan Apr 29, 2020

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DevOps involves a whole organization - but what can Ops do to facilitate DevOps? Richard chats with Michael Levan about the role of Ops in the DevOps evolution of an organization. Michael talks about the need for culture change to make your DevOps practices successful, but at the same time, tools have gotten dramatically better. The conversation turns to Azure DevOps as an overarching tool for dealing with the continuous integration and continuous deployment of software for your organization. There are lots more tools needed and Michael gives time to many of them - but Azure DevOps is a great place to start!

Migrating from Server 2008 to Server 2019 with Sonia Cuff Apr 22, 2020

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Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 went out of support as of January 14, 2020. Now what? Richard talks to Sonia Cuff about what your options are to deal with your Windows 2008 Servers. The conversation dives into all the great things that have been added to Server in the past twelve years, and the various options to have to upgrade. Starting with - should you upgrade? Sonia talks about building new VMs for roles like DHCP, DNS and Active Directory - and shifting workloads gradually. There are lots of great examples online! Sonia also digs into the power of Windows Admin Center to painlessly migrate file storage roles - and improve server management as a whole!

Exchange in 2020 with Gareth Gudger Apr 15, 2020

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If you care about mail, there are important things coming in 2020! Richard chats with Gareth Gudger about recent announcements from Microsoft that will have an impact on email both on-premises and in the cloud. First up is the end of Basic Authentication to Exchange Online this fall - old mail clients are going to break, time to upgrade! Next is the end of TLS 1.0 and 1.1 support - more client challenges! Gareth talks about upgrading, contracting out and other solutions for the on-going efforts to increase security to mail.

From DBA to Data Analyst to Data Scientist with Ginger Grant Apr 08, 2020

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What does it take to become a data scientist? Richard chats with Ginger Grant about her experience talking to DBAs about getting into data analysis and data science. The conversation starts out describing the difference between analysis and science - Ginger describes analysts as using querying to generate dynamic reports in tools like PowerBI. Data science is all about algorithms. But either way, your knowledge of data and domain are key skills. You have an advantage as a working DBA, add some additional knowledge to your existing knowledge and experience to expand your career!

Information Technology in the Time of Pandemic Apr 01, 2020

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How does IT Pros do their jobs during a pandemic? It may sound like an April Fools Day joke, but it's not. The Covid-19 pandemic is having a significant impact on how we work and play. Richard flies solo again to talk through various aspects of IT during the pandemic, including various efforts needed to help employees work from home, communicate effectively and maintain important operations. This is a time all about business continuity - how can you keep people productive and safe? We can get through this together!

Teams as an Intranet with Stephanie Donahue Mar 25, 2020

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Teams in Office 365 is a hit - but should it be your intranet? Richard talks with Stephanie Donahue about the role that Teams can play in your organization. More than chat, teams is an effective collaboration tool, and a way to store and share institutional knowledge - how decisions are made, what roles people have in those decisions. Is it the first place you should look when you come into work in the morning? Probably. Is it the perfect place for everything in your organization? Stephanie says no - but it can be part of the solution!

Protecting Your Organization using Azure Sentinel with Paul Keely Mar 18, 2020

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What is Azure Sentinel, and how can it help protect your organization? Richard chats with Paul Keely about Azure Sentinel, a set of tools that provide Security Information Event Management (SIEM) and Security Orchestration Automated Response (SOAR). Paul talks about going beyond the firewall, into the analysis of behavior within your systems, including Office 365, Azure and more - and using machine learning, being able to detect what unusual behavior looks like and automatically respond to it.

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