Kurt Shintaku's Blog

To build and manage solutions in the cloud that comply with industry standards and regulations, IT administrators should understand the security mechanisms within Windows Azure—both those that are automatic and those that require configuration.

In particular, Windows Azure networking provides the infrastructure necessary to securely connect your virtual machines to one another, as well as bridge between the cloud and your on-premises datacenter.

The overall architecture and operation of Windows Azure’s network services have been designed for flexibility, security, and integrity. This white paper seeks to uncover these inner-workings and give insights on how customers can take advantage of the platform’s native features to best protect their information assets.

…

Read more here:

• WHITEPAPER: Windows Azure Network Security (579KB)
  http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/3/9/43902EC9-410E-4875-8800-0788BE146A3D/Windows%20Azure%20Network%20Security%20Whitepaper%20-%20FINAL.docx

The infamous free eBook repository from Microsoft Press has been relocated to Microsoft Virtual Academy.

So if you’re looking for newly published eBooks that don’t cost a dime, check out the site below.  All newly posted free eBooks will also be placed here as well moving forward.

• Free ebooks from Microsoft Press
  From technical overviews to drilldowns on special topics, these free ebooks are available in PDF, EPUB, and/or Mobi for Kindle formats, ready for you to download.
  http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/
  ebooks

[Normally, I don’t blatantly point folks to a summary like this but this was really well done and a nice time saver.]

Bill Gates did an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on Reddit today and these is a transcript of the questions he answered from the public.  Questions like:

• Can you describe your new role at Microsoft?
• How will your time be divided up between the foundation and Microsoft now that the CEO has asked you to step up?
• How does Mr. Nadella’s vision differ from yours and Mr Ballmer’s?
• What is your favorite project you have ever worked on at Microsoft?
• Is the Desktop computer really dead? What does that say for the future of computer programming?
• …

Intrigued? 

Here’s the Geekwire summary:
http://www.geekwire.com/2014/full-reddit-ama-transcript-bill-gates-new-gig-guilty-pleasures-financial-advice/

And here’s the original AMA on Reddit:
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1xj56q/hello_reddit_im_bill_gates_cochair_of_the_bill/

These posters provide a visual reference for understanding key private cloud storage and virtualization technologies in Windows Server 2012 R2. They focus on understanding storage architecture, virtual hard disks, cluster shared volumes, scale-out file servers, storage spaces, data de-duplication, Hyper-V, Failover Clustering, and virtual hard disk sharing. Note: There are multiple files available for this download. When you click Download, you will be prompted to select the files you want to download.

• Hyper-V and Failover Clustering Mini Poster.pdf (210 KB)
• Scale-Out and SMB Mini Poster.pdf (249 KB)
• Storage Spaces and Deduplication Mini Poster.pdf (248 KB)
• Understanding Storage Architecture Mini Poster.pdf (247 KB)
• Virtual Hard Disk and Cluster Shared Volumes Mini Poster.pdf (206 KB)

Windows Server 2012 R2 Private Cloud Virtualization & Storage Posters
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=41665

This update is the latest in a cumulative series of feature additions and bug fixes for Visual Studio 2013. Periodic updates enable us to enhance and expand Visual Studio more frequently to support the latest software development innovations for building and managing modern apps. For information about the latest update, see Visual Studio Updates and the Visual Studio Update KB Article.

Download the update from one of these two links:

• DOWNLOAD: Visual Studio 2013 Update 1 (1.1MB, Downloader)
  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=41650
• DOWNLOAD: Visual Studio 2013 Update 1 (245MB, .ISO)
  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=386593

Updates for these other products are also available:

• Release Management for Visual Studio 2013
• Remote Tools for Visual Studio 2013

Enterprise social networking for businesses is one of the fastest growing technology trends in recent years. In fact, there were 208 million subscribers to enterprise social networking tools in 2013 alone, according to market research firm Frost & Sullivan. This reflects a 29.5% increase from the previous year, with 160.8 million users in 2012.

Introducing the Yammer Resource Center, a one-stop shop for your ESN educational needs. This newly redesigned resource center brings together industry reports, videos, infographics, guides, and other resources on social networking for business to help you better understand its potential.

• Yammer Resource Center
  https://about.yammer.com/why-yammer/resources/

Microsoft has been selected to be the cloud encoding and hosting platform provider for NBC Olympics.  As a result, viewers will be able to watch Winter Olympics programming via more than 50 live high-definition streams and on demand.

• Going for gold: Windows Azure Media Services provide live and on-demand streaming of 2014 Olympic Winter Games on NBC
  http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2014/02/06/going-for-gold-windows-azure-media-services-provide-live-and-on-demand-streaming-of-2014-olympic-winter-games-on-nbc.aspx

For more coverage of Microsoft’s streaming solution for the 2014 Winter Olympics, visit some of the following other web sites:

• CNN MONEY: NBC Winter Olympics to put Windows Azure to the test
  http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/gigaom/articles/2014_02_04_
  nbc_winter_olympics_to_put_windows_azure_to_the_test.html
• USA TODAY: How to watch the Olympics on your phone or tablet
  http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/baig/2014/02/04/how-to-watch-the-winter-olympics-on-your-phone-or-tablet/5188041/
• FORBES: Adobe And Microsoft Team Up To Stream Sochi From The Cloud
  http://www.forbes.com/sites/benkepes/2014/02/04/adobe-and-microsoft-team-up-to-stream-sochi-from-the-cloud/

Today we are excited to announce the launch of NBC Sports Live Extra for Windows and Windows Phone!

Get ready to watch more than 1,000 events LIVE for FREE with the NBC Sports Live Extra app. You can follow your favorite events and sports, and receive push notifications for event start times.  The app will live stream an abundance of live sporting events that air on NBC, NBC Sports Network and the Golf Channel, including NHL Regular-Season and Stanley Cup Playoff games, PGA TOUR, U.S. Open (golf), Notre Dame Football, French Open (tennis), Premier League (soccer), Major League Soccer, Formula One, IndyCar, and Triple Crown horse racing.  NBC Sports Live Extra is your exclusive source for LIVE streaming video coverage of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics February 6-23.

The NBC Sports Live Extra applications are free to download:

• Download the Windows 8.1 application HERE.
  http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/nbc-sports-live-extra/e15ed754-98ec-4ab5-9285-b9eddc3e9251
• Download the Windows Phone 8 application HERE.
  http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/nbc-sports-live-extra/2bfb700d-7703-45ac-818e-677857b3b849

As you may have read, Microsoft announced the Board of Directors has selected Satya Nadella as its next CEO, effective today. A 22-year veteran of Microsoft, Nadella is strong advocate for customers and partners, and proven leader with strong technical and engineering experience.. Many of you met Satya at the Microsoft Briefing in Redmond last year with his keynote on Microsoft cloud vision.

Today, Satya will address customers and partners for the first time as CEO during a Customer and Partner Webcast event. I would like to extend a personal invitation for you to participate in this online event.

Customer and Partner Webcast Details:

When:  12:00 – 12:30 pm PDT

Where: http://msft.it/ceowebcast

If you’re unable to join the live event, a video recording will be available later in the day at: www.microsoft.com/ceo.

Protecting application availability – especially against threats like regional disasters – can be a high-cost endeavor involving complex planning and the need to remotely monitor service availability.  This cost and complexity results in many applications which could benefit from protection going unprotected today.

Windows Azure Hyper-V Recovery Manager helps protect your on premises applications by automating the replication of virtual machines to a secondary location – and as of today, it’s now generally available.

It provides three key capabilities

• Automated Protection – HRM leverages the capabilities of Windows Server and System Center to provide on-going replication of Virtual machines to your secondary site
• Continuous Health Monitoring – Windows Azure provides remote monitoring of service availability, and acts as the central repository for your customized recovery plan
• Orchestrated Recovery – In the event of a service outage at your primary datacenter, you can execute your recovery plan from Windows Azure to orchestrate the recovery of services at your secondary site.

These recovery plans enable automated disaster recovery orchestration by sequencing failover of different virtual machines and application tiers and providing customization through scripts and manual actions.

Now you can easily protect, monitor, and if needed recover your applications with an easy-to-use cloud-based service.

Several customers have already deployed Windows Azure Hyper-V Recovery Manager in their environments, including as Aston Martin, United Airlines, and Pošta Slovenije.  You can read more about specific capabilities in today’s blog posts from Brad Anderson and Scott Guthrie.

Learn more about Hyper-V Recovery Manager here.
http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/services/recovery-manager/

[stolen from the Windows Server blog]