Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Are you lost when it comes to understanding the avalanche of cloud services that Microsoft offers in the Platform-as-a-Service & Infrastructure-as-a-Service space?

INTERACTIVE MAP FOR AZURE PLATFORM
Fear not!  Enter the Interactive Map for the Azure Platform!  This map provides an overhead view of all services and allows the viewer to click into any service for not just a short-and-sweet definition of the service, but also:

• Overview
• Pricing
• Documentation
• Limits

For example:  Interested in knowing what Azure offers as for Content Delivery Network services? (CDN)

Click on it and get the following balloon.  (See photo on the right)

LINKS FOR OTHER KEY REFERENCES
There are also links at the bottom that remind you where to go for:

• Guidance
• Status
• Service Updates
• Support Options
• SLAs
• Supplemental Terms of Use for Azure Previews
• Preview Services

To check out this interactive map of Azure Platform services, visit:

• Interactive Map: Azure Platform
  http://azureplatform.azurewebsites.net/

I’ll admit that one of the things I’ve been eagerly anticipating is the fusion between SharePoint sites & Office Groups.

• SharePoint provides something that every team absolutely needs:  Shared file storage.  It also provides context around those files and the ability to sync those files locally to your PC.
• Office Groups on the other hand, provide threaded messages with integration with Exchange for richer collaboration amomgst team members, something that SharePoint lacks.

But between the two, if faced with choosing just one, I choose SharePoint & Document folders every time.  People need to share documents: For me, communications can always be handled by email and distribution lists.

SHAREPOINT SITES + OFFICE GROUPS: CHOCOLATE & PEANUT BUTTER
Now, as you can see in the video below, Office Groups is being integrated into SharePoint sites to provide both document sharing as well as threaded messaging that is present and archived in the site as well as delivered via Exchange.

All on one site.

This video shows a lot more than just Office Groups. SharePoint Mobile clients, PowerApps, and other features are reviewed so check it out.

For a write up about these features, check out the SharePoint blog post here:

• BLOG: SharePoint—the mobile and intelligent intranet
  https://blogs.office.com/2016/05/04/sharepoint-the-mobile-and-intelligent-intranet/

Now you can benefit from the expanded support for SAP applications on Azure to run your mission-critical SAP workloads. Azure is an enterprise-proven cloud platform that provides unparalleled performance and can handle the largest SAP HANA workloads of any hyperscale cloud provider.

Twenty years and counting, Microsoft and SAP, are committed to delivering innovation for our joint customers. Hear from our Senior Solution and Development Executives on ways to leverage your investments in SAP to drive customer value.

In this webinar you’ll learn about:

• SAP applications on Azure
• HANA on Azure
• Architectural guidance
• Demo of HANA deployment on Azure native VMs

Register at the link below!

• DATE/TIME:
  June 8, 2016  10:00 AM – 11:00 AM PST
• REGISTRATION:
  ”Running SAP workloads on Azure”
  https://info.microsoft.com/running-sap-workloads-on-azure.html

Microsoft & SAP CEOs Satya Nadella and Bill McDermott announced deeper cloud integration between our two companies.

SAP customers will be able to run HANA, SAP’s in-memory databasesolution on Microsoft Azure.  It will specifically perform best on Azure relative to other cloud providers by having far higher data load capacities through the availability of greater dedicated compute power & memory.

Additionally, there will be greater connections between Concur, SuccessFactors, and Ariba with Microsoft industry leading cloud productivity solution, Office 365, which will more directly integration with SAP’s toolset.

For more details on the new partnership, read the announcement here:

• SAP and Microsoft usher in new era of partnership to accelerate digital
  http://news.microsoft.com/2016/05/17/sap-and-microsoft-usher-in-new-era-of-partnership-to-accelerate-digital-transformation-in-the-cloud/

Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection is a new service that helps our enterprise customers to detect, investigate, and respond to advanced and targeted attacks on their networks.

Windows Defender ATP is composed of three parts:

1. The Client – end-point behavioral sensor, built into Windows 10 (Windows 10 Anniversary update, Windows Insider Preview Build number 14332 and later) and activated upon service enrollment. The client logs relevant security events and behaviors from the endpoint.
2. Cloud security analytics service – processing data from endpoints in combination with historical data and Microsoft’s wide data repository to detect anomalous behaviors, adversary techniques and similarity to known attacks. The service runs on the Microsoft scalable big data platform, and uses a combination of Indicators of Attacks (IOAs), generic analytics and machine learning rules, as well as Indicators of Compromises (IOCs) collected from past attacks.
3. Microsoft and community intelligence – our Hunters and researchers investigate the data, finding new behavioral patterns and correlating the data with existing knowledge from the security community.

To sign up for the preview of Windows Defender: Advanced Threat Protection, visit the following site:

• BETA: Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection Preview
  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/WindowsForBusiness/windows-atp

There is no time better to be a developer. With the cloud, you can compose solutions that were never possible before. You can release new features to millions of users within minutes. You can push the boundaries of current technological limitations in days. Developers can turn ideas from the ground up to successful businesses in only months. Companies need apps that allow them to maximize customer engagement and differentiate against competitors. Teams must have agility with app development for faster time to market. Developers need a flexible platform to scale up and down based on business demands, yet rock-solid resources that can withstand failure.

Microsoft Azure offers a cloud platform designed for developers to build the most innovative apps.

This guide breaks down the “why” and “how” for scenarios suited to the cloud with a focus on building apps using platform services available in Microsoft Azure. The second half of the guide showcases the breadth and depth of the Azure platform and services designed to help developers make truly competitive and differentiated applications. The intended audience for this guide includes:

• Developers wanting to understand why Azure is the best cloud platform for creating applications and how to get started quickly based on the app you want to build today.
• Technical leaders considering Azure to support new or existing application development.

Get the eBook here:

• DOWNLOAD: Understanding Azure – A Guide For Developers (7.54MB, 39pgs)
  http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/C/F/2CF7401A-B9D7-4828-917D-199E0896BFE5/Azure_Developer_Guide_eBook.pdf

A pretty important primer just released for folks looking at Windows Server 2016 – especially folks interested in Containers!

We’re happy to announce the availability of our newest free ebook, Introducing Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview (ISBN 9780735697737), by John McCabe and the Windows Server team. Enjoy!

• Download standard PDF (174pgs, 9.1MB)
• Download mobile PDF (174pgs, 7.94MB)

Get a head start evaluating Windows Server 2016—guided by the experts. Based on Technical Preview 4, John McCabe and the Windows Server team introduce the new features and capabilities, with practical insights on how Windows Server 2016 can meet the needs of your business. Get the early, high-level overview you need to begin preparing your deployment now!

Read more at the announcement here:

• MS PRESS BLOG: Free ebook: Introducing Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview
  https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/microsoft_press/2016/04/20/free-ebook-introducing-windows-server-2016-technical-preview/

Folks looking to migrate their SQL Server databases to Azure now have a great reference to review.

We’re happy to announce the availability of our newest free ebook, Microsoft Azure Essentials Migrating SQL Server “Databases to Azure (ISBN 9781509302925), by Carl Rabeler. Enjoy!

• Download standard PDF (174pgs, 11.7MB)
• Download mobile PDF (174pgs, 9.1MB)

Part of the “Microsoft Azure Essentials” series, this ebook helps SQL Server database users understand Microsoft’s offering for SQL Server in Azure. Learn how SQL Server in Azure is similar to SQL Server in an on-premises environment, and how they are different. The author, a content lead for Azure.com, walks you through the steps of getting started with SQL Server in an Azure virtual machine and with Azure SQL Database. Follow the numerous screenshots to create a trial subscription, create SQL Server in an Azure virtual machine, create an Azure SQL Database, migrate an on-premises database to each Azure environment, create users, back up and restore data, and archive data.

Read more on the MS Press blog announcement:

• MS PRESS BLOG: Free ebook: Microsoft Azure Essentials Migrating SQL Server Databases to Azure
  https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/microsoft_press/2016/05/11/free-ebook-microsoft-azure-essentials-migrating-sql-server-databases-to-azure/

I have clients that have historically used a 3rd party cloud file storage service but since the release of OneDrive for Business & its advanced sync client, most are reassessing that earlier decision & instead investigating why it makes sense to instead use OneDrive for Business – especially clients using Office 365 in production.

Here’s a few matters to consider when evaluating the use of OneDrive for Business for your end user’s personal file storage in the cloud:

• NO ADDITIONAL COST: 
  Office 365 E3 customers have OneDrive for Business as part of their subscription.  There is no additional subscription cost to leverage the solution as it’s already being paid for. (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/onedrive-for-business-service-description.aspx)
• UNLIMITED STORAGE:
  Folks with Office 365 E3 licensing get *unlimited* file storage in OneDrive for Business for Office 365 licensed users.  Initial limits are set to 5TB however more storage may be allocated to a user’s OneDrive upon request to Office 365 support. (https://blogs.office.com/2015/12/16/onedrive-for-business-update-on-storage-plans-and-next-generation-sync-client/)
• SYNC CLIENT REQUIRED FOR SHAREPOINT: 
  Any customer with active SharePoint implementations will likely need to deploy OneDrive for Business sync client to end users anyway to provide file sync with centralized SharePoint Online/SharePoint Server document repositories in which to collaborate.  If the sync client is already going to be used for SharePoint, why not simply use the client to sync personal OneDrive for Business files as well? It makes no sense to deploy a SECOND sync client to accommodated a 3rd party service.(https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Sync-your-OneDrive-for-Business-files-23e1f12b-d896-4cb1-a238-f91d19827a16?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US)
• CO-AUTHORING/CO-EDITING FROM OFFICE APPLICATIONS 
  Users will be able to simultaneously edit the same Office documents (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx) at the same time without fear of collisions when they are stored in OneDrive for Business.  This productivity feature is only available if the files being collaborated on are stored OneDrive for Business or SharePoint Online.  (https://support.office.com/en-us/article/realtime-coauthoring-7dd3040c-3f30-4fdd-bab0-8586492a1f1d, https://blogs.office.com/2015/08/13/preview-real-time-co-authoring-on-onedrive/#wdZgiV4hKoHPEpG1.97) 
• NATIVE DOCUMENT SHARING FROM OFFICE APPLICATIONS 
  Office 365 users can, from the Office 2016 apps, automatically publish documents to OneDrive for Business or SharePoint Online and provision those files with the necessary security privileges, and send a message to the person being collaborated with.
  (https://support.office.com/en-us/article/sharing-documents-from-Office-apps-d39f3cd8-0aa0-412f-9a35-1abba926d354)
• PREMIER SUPPORT CONTRACT:
  Customers with existing Microsoft Premier Support agreements for have a single, flexible, technical support contract which covers OneDrive for Business without the need for a separate 3rd party support agreement.  The same people supporting the desktop, servers, Azure Active Directory & Office 365, can receive support for OneDrive for Business without any changes. (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftservices/premier-support-for-enterprise.aspx)
• NATIVE OFFICE INTEGRATION:
  Natively integrated with Office applications for iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, OneDrive for Business allows users to open documents from the “Most Recent” list synchronized across OneDrive for Business enabled devices. (https://blogs.office.com/2016/04/12/onedrive-for-business-recognized-as-an-efss-leader-and-continues-momentum-with-spring-updates/#FE6gvASqIW01JjKZ.97)
• ENTERPRISE IT CONTROLS:
  OneDrive for Business will maintain IT controls to throttle bandwidth consumption of the client for synchronization activities nad keep them centrally manageable.  We also have the ability manage expiration dates for sharing to limit exposure on a tenant level.  (https://blogs.office.com/2016/04/12/onedrive-for-business-recognized-as-an-efss-leader-and-continues-momentum-with-spring-updates/#FE6gvASqIW01JjKZ.97, https://blogs.office.com/2016/02/17/auditing-reporting-and-storage-improvements-for-sharepoint-online-and-onedrive-for-business/)
• DELVE & PRODUCTIVITY ANALYTICS: 
  Office 365 E3 customers have access to Delve which provides cross-organizational collaboration & alignment/relationship mapping however it will only work with files stored in OneDrive for Business.  Delve does not see relationships using documents stored on 3^rd party cloud file storage.   (https://products.office.com/en-us/business/explore-office-delve?legRedir=true&CorrelationId=58efcdac-8b2f-4cf0-a9b8-f8413bc3fe38)
• UNIFIED SEARCH WITH SHAREPOINT:
  Search works across file shares, SharePoint document repositories, and OneDrive for Business, providing a singular & integrated search experience that is not possible with other cloud file storage providers.
  (https://blogs.office.com/2014/08/27/search-sensitive-content-sharepoint-onedrive-documents/)
• OFFICE 365 EDISCOVERY SEARCHABLE:
  eDiscovery through Office 365 produces reports that includes Exchange, SharePoint, and OneDrive for Business.  Office 365 eDiscovery will not index & report on content stored within 3rd party cloud file storage.
  (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn765092.aspx)
• WEB, DESKTOP, MOBILE CLIENT SUPPORT:
  Provides the client support you expect from the web to the PC/Mac to mobile devices including iOS, Android, and Windows Phone through native clients.
• OFFICE 365/AZURE ACTIVE DIRECTORY
  Native authentication with Azure Active Directory means seamless & instant integration for Office 365 users including single-sign on.

Earlier this month, we made some big announcements around SQL Server’s future.

SQL Server 2016 is the foundation of Microsoft’s data strategy, encompassing innovations that transform data into intelligent action. With this new release, Microsoft is delivering an end-to-end data management and business analytics solution with mission critical intelligence for your most demanding applications as well as insights on your data on any device. Recently, we had the opportunity to showcase the exciting capabilities and what customers are doing with SQL Server 2016 at our Data Driven event. Building on this momentum, today we are excited to announce the following:

• SQL Server 2016 will be generally available on June 1, 2016. This will allow you to build mission-critical, and business critical intelligent applications with the most secure database¹, the highest performance data warehouse², end-to-end mobile BI on any device, in-database advanced analytics, in-memory capabilities optimized for all workloads, and a consistent experience from on-premises to cloud. These capabilities are built-in to SQL Server for industry-leading low cost of ownership.
• New SQL Server 2016 performance benchmarks. Today, Lenovo published a new #1 TPC-H 30 TB world record³ using SQL Server 2016 and Windows Server 2016 on Lenovo System x3950 X6. This result, in addition to recent benchmarks by software and hardware partners, as well as key applications across variety of workloads, proves that SQL Server 2016 is the fastest in-memory database on the planet for your applications.
• The SQL Server 2016 editions include Enterprise, Standard, Express, and Developer. In March, we announced that the SQL Server 2016 Developer edition will be a free download to enable broad access to and development on the full capabilities of the latest SQL Server release.

…

Read the rest of the blog here:

• SQL BLOG: Get ready, SQL Server 2016 coming on June 1st
  https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2016/05/02/get-ready-sql-server-2016-coming-on-june-1st/