Azure Data Box Disks just went from preview to general availability and became available in more regions

Yesterday, Microsoft announced the general availability for Azure Data Box Disks.

For those who don’t know what this is, Azure Data Box Disks are basically a fast (SSD disk based), reliable and secure solution to do offline data transfer to Azure.

It’s been a while since Microsoft announced the preview program, and that was available only for the EU and US regions. General availability is for EU, US, Australia and Canada. As Microsoft promised, the service is expanding to more Azure data centers worldwide.

When compared to the Azure Import/Export service, using the Azure Data Box Disks is, in theory, a simpler process, since Microsoft will provide the disks and handle all the logistics.

We’ll have to wait and see where Microsoft will drive this service towards, since the expectation of some customers is to see it handle other things, besides just simple data transfer, such as initial seeding for Azure Backups.

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Azure Identity training, anyone?

With the New Year starting, I am looking at a training plan for 2019.

I don’t think that training is the only thing that makes you improve your skills, and at least in my opinion you should add to that as much real live consulting experience as you can, as well as make your training as much “hands on” as possible. Don’t just read or watch videos, build a lab and execute everything that you’re learning.

This blog post is to share with you what seems to be an excellent training resource in Azure Identity: Microsoft Azure Identity training in the edx.org platform.

With this training, as they state in their website, you’ll learn the following:

• How to create and manage Azure Active Directory (AD) directories.
• How to implement applications in Azure AD.
• How to extend on-premises AD to Azure.
• How to configure multi-factor authentication.

The prerequisites for this training are:

• General understanding of cloud computing models.
• General understanding of virtualization, networking and Active Directory.
• Basic proficiency in PowerShell and command line interface scripting.

The above basically means that you should have some experience with Azure, virtualization and of course as this training is focused in Microsoft Identity Management, that means you need to clearly understand how Active Directory works. Finally, as in everything Azure related, PowerShell knowledge is a must! 🙂

All training that I did with edx.org has been great. The training is free, but if you choose to get a certificate at the end, you can pay 99USD, knowing you’d be helping the only nonprofit and open source learning platform.

Most of my posts are about real life scenarios, tips and tricks, etc, so I am sure I will be blogging a lot about Azure Identity in the near future.