Ctrl+Alt+Azure

This week we focus on licensing with Microsoft 365 E7. What's included in the bundle, and which ones are relevant and when? We reflect on the upgrade path from Microsoft 365 E5, as well as E3 + Defender Suite, and reflect on the options and pricing.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(02:50) - Show content starts.Show links- Microsoft 365 E7 announcement- Microsoft Agent 365 overview- Microsoft licensing FAQ, Agent 365- Purview data security and compliance for Agent 365- Independent E7 licensing analysis (SAMexpert)- Our earlier take on Agent 365 and Entra Agent ID: Episode 336- Give us feedback!

This week we take a look at Microsoft Global Secure Access (GSA). It's been a few years since it was announced, and it's time to refresh our thinking on what GSA is today, how companies can use it, and what a rollout in 2026 would look like. Join us in discussing GPUs, VPNs, and what a delivery project would include!(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:56) - Show content starts.Show links- Global Secure Access deployment guide- Private Access deployment plan- Global Secure Access operations guide- Enable Intelligent Local Access- Configure Private Access for Active Directory domain controllers (preview)- What is Global Secure Access (licensing overview)- Break-glass script for compliant network policies- Our previous take: Episode 201- Give us feedback!

In this week's episode, we look at recent Microsoft Tech updates. By popular request, we're expanding our scope beyond Azure to include Microsoft 365, Power Platform, and related Microsoft platforms and capabilities. What's new? What's interesting? What's retiring? (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(02:18) - Show content starts.Show links- Microsoft Entra Backup and Recovery- Agent identities in Conditional Access policies- Project Perception and Microsoft Learn documentation- Azure Firewall Explicit Proxy- Microsoft Agent Framework – multi-agent orchestration SDK (GA)- Public Preview: AI Gateway in APIM- Public Preview: Protect sensitive generative AI telemetry in Application Insights- Foundational CSPM becomes opt-in for new subscriptions- Give us feedback!

Azure Front Door just got programmable. Edge actions run your own JavaScript at Microsoft's edge, so A/B splits, token checks and origin routing happen before requests hit your backend. We cover what they do, where static rules run out, how they compare to Cloudflare Workers, and how to try them. (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:56) - Show content starts.Show links- Edge Actions - Azure Front Door | Microsoft Learn - Introducing Azure Front Door edge actions | Microsoft Community Hub- Give us feedback!

Microsoft has put the Active Directory Tier Model on GitHub, MIT-licensed, with a deployment engine, a drift auditor, and around 1,700 tests. This used to be consulting material that Microsoft deployed to you as a paid engagement, so the obvious question is: why now? We start with that question, and also consider whether Active Directory is still worth your attention.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:55) - Show content starts.Show links- Repository- FAQ- What's new in Windows Server 2025 (the AD DS section)- Microsoft Learn - Enterprise access model- Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2025- Give us feedback!

Microsoft is retiring natively provided SMS and voice authentication in Entra ID, and the clock is ticking: passkeys become the default experience on September 1, 2026, and Microsoft-provided telecom delivery is fully retired on February 1, 2027.  We walk through the timeline, what admins should do now to find and migrate affected users, and when the new Security Store telecom providers make sense. We also cover the everyday struggle: moving Microsoft Authenticator to a new phone without locking yourself out.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(05:00) - Show content starts.Show links- Passkeys by default | MS Learn- Transfer Authenticator to a new phone  - SMS/voice usage analyzer script  - Plan a passkey deployment  - End-user communication templates- Give us feedback!

In this week's episode, we talk about recent experience in moving away from Ghost and WordPress for blogs, and building a static site with Astro. Since it will be hosted in Azure, we will talk about the experience, the AI-assisted build, and the overall experience. Join us to learn how many mistakes we made, and learn from our failures! :) (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:00) - Show content starts.Show links- 046 - Azure Static Web Apps with Elio Struyf | Ctrl+Alt+Azure- Astro- Azure Static Web Apps hosting plans- Tobi’s blog- Jussi’s blog- Give us feedback!

In this week's episode, we look at recent Microsoft Tech updates. By popular request, we're expanding our scope beyond Azure to include Microsoft 365, Power Platform, and related Microsoft platforms and capabilities. What's new? What's interesting? What's retiring? (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(01:55) - Show content starts.Show links- Retirement: Azure Blueprints- Public Preview: Document PII playground sample in Microsoft Foundry NextGen - GA: Document PII NextGen Playground in Azure AI Language- Public Preview: Azure Migrate with GitHub Copilot modernization integration for code assessments- GA: Client-side data integrity protections in Azure Blog Storage- GA: ICMP support for Azure Standard V2 NAT Gateway- GA: Log Analytics Summary Rules experience- Microsoft certification updates- Give us feedback!

In this week's episode, we go back to basics to discuss ways to access resources secured by an Entra tenant. This is the bread and butter of Azure, and it's a good time to revisit these basics to understand why they are more relevant than ever in 2026. Join us in refreshing your knowledge on App Registrations, Service Principals, and Managed Identities!(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:20) - Show content starts.Show links- Application and service principal objects in Microsoft Entra ID- What are managed identities for Azure resources?- Managed identities FAQ (system vs user-assigned, no app object)- Give us feedback!

In this week's episode, we look into what's new with Azure Files in 2026. We touch on the usefulness of Azure Files, the past limitations and challenges in deploying it, and how things have evolved since the latest preview capabilities, all the way to the new general availability. Join us in modernizing your on-premises file shares for a cloud-first future!(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:58) - Show content starts.Show links- Entra-only identities GA announcement- Secure, modern access to Azure Files on macOS with Entra ID- Enable Entra Kerberos for Azure Files on macOS with Platform SSO, preview- FSLogix containers on Azure Files using Entra ID- Give us feedback!

In this week's episode, we dig into Microsoft's Security Adoption Model, the attempt to pull a decade of scattered security guidance under one roof. It's a role-aware way to plan security modernization across on-prem and multicloud, built on three layers: the business scenarios that explain why, the nine disciplines that define who's accountable, and the technology pillars that cover the how. We talk through what's genuinely new, the single front door and the disciplines framing, versus what's just been folded in like the MCRA and the CISO workshop. (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:48) - Show content starts.Show links- Security Adoption Model overview- Business scenarios- Disciplines overview- Technical solutions- Give us feedback!

In this week's episode, we look at recent Microsoft Tech updates. By popular request, we're expanding our scope beyond Azure to include Microsoft 365, Power Platform, and related Microsoft platforms and capabilities. What's new? What's interesting? What's retiring? (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:18) - Show content starts.Show links- Securing code, agents, and models across the development lifecycle- What's new in Azure API Management at Microsoft Build 2026- Azure Container Linux on AKS- Azure Managed Redis Entra ID RBAC- Azure NC RTX PRO 6000- Foundry agent security capabilities transitioning to Agent 365- Azure Infrastructure Resiliency Manager- Logic Apps MCP Server- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we reflect on some of our favorite announcements from Microsoft Build 2026. We touch base on some Windows 11 updates, like Intelligent Terminal, the new Run dialog, and moving the Taskbar again (finally?). We also check out the GitHub Enterprise Local announcement, Azure Logic Apps Automation, Microsoft Scout, Project Solara, some new AI models, and Microsoft Execution Containers (MXC).(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:11) - Show content starts.Show links- Microsoft Build 2026 (News)- Microsoft Build 2026 (Microsoft Blog)- Give us feedback!

This week, we sit down with Rick Van Rousselt, Microsoft 365 MVP and managing partner at Advantive Belgium, for an honest look at what's actually working with applied AI in customer environments and what's quietly failing. We dig into the agentic shift across Agent 365, Entra Agent ID, Microsoft Agent Framework, and AI Foundry; the build-versus-buy line now that Microsoft is shipping agents into every product; and why the wave of Copilot rollouts is finally winding down. (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(00:29) - Show content starts.Show links- Find Rick van Rousselt on LinkedIn- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we explore MCP servers - the open Model Context Protocol that allows AI assistants like GitHub Copilot, Claude, and ChatGPT to connect to live tools and data instead of relying on outdated training data. We discuss what MCP servers are, why they are important, and review our favorite MCP servers for working with Azure. We'll also share some personal favorites! (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:48) - Show content starts.Show links- Microsoft Learn MCP Server- Azure DevOps MCP Server- Azure Resource Manager MCP Server- Spotify MCP Server- Give us feedback!

Microsoft Build 2026 marks the biggest format shift in nearly a decade - moving out of Seattle to a 2,500-seat Fort Mason venue in San Francisco with a deliberate "no fluff" pivot toward AI developers, technical leaders, and enterprise architects. In this episode, we unpack what to expect across the six confirmed tracks - plus where we think Microsoft will double down on Foundry, GitHub Copilot, and agent governance. Whether you're flying to San Francisco or planning your livestream strategy from the couch, this is the episode for you!(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(04:44) - Show content starts.Show links- Build 2026 session catalog- GitHub Copilot Token-based billing- Give us feedback!

The Foundry Toolkit for Visual Studio Code - formerly the AI Toolkit - is Microsoft's answer to fragmented AI development workflows, bringing model selection, prompt iteration, agent building, evaluation, and production tracing into a single VS Code extension. In this episode, we walk through the full feature surface. Whether you're picking your first frontier model or shipping a hosted agent to Microsoft Foundry, this is the episode for you!(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:55) - Show content starts.Show links- Foundry Toolkit overview- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we unpack nine months of lessons from Pons.io's full rebuild around agentic AI - cutting engineering outsourcing entirely, replacing HubSpot and Salesforce with an internal CRM built in seven days, and shipping dramatically more product on roughly half the staffing cost. We dig into what worked, what bit them along the way, and the practical mechanics of steering an agentic workforce with AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, and Copilot instructions. (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:20) - Show content starts.Show links- AGENTS.MD - Claude.md- Give us feedback!

In this week's episode, we look at recent Microsoft Tech updates. By popular request, we're expanding our scope beyond Azure to include Microsoft 365, Power Platform, and related Microsoft platforms and capabilities. What's new? What's interesting? What's retiring? (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(06:14) - Show content starts.Show links- ALZ for SMB- GA: Smart Tier for Azure Blob and Data Lake Storage- Public Preview: Assessment of file shares hosted on servers to Azure Files- GA: Azure available in Denmark cloud region- GA: Azure DevOps March 2026 updates- Copilot Cowork available in Microsoft 365 Copilot- Give us feedback!

In this week's episode, we take a look at Microsoft Agent Framework 1.0, which has been generally available since early April. What is it, and why and how can you use it? We reflect on previous SDKs for building agents, how they relate to Copilot Studio-based and Foundry agents, and how to get started with them. Also, we share experiences using this for a real-agent solution.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(05:10) - Show content starts.Show links- microsoft/agent-framework (GitHub)- The agent development journey- DevUI- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we reflect on Microsoft certifications and what value they provide. It's been a while since we last looked at these, and plenty has happened - what's new, what's retired, and what's useful in 2026? We also reflect on the usefulness of certifications for juniors and seniors.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:10) - Show content starts.Show links- Certification Poster- New AI business solutions credentials- Certification updates- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we look at Microsoft Agent 365 and Entra Agent ID. What are these new capabilities, and why should you care? We dissect them both, in contrast with agentic engineering, vibe coding, and the growing needs of governing agents.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:52) - Show content starts.Show links- What is Entra Agent ID?- What is Agent 365?- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we take a deeper look at Defender for Cloud and Cloud Security Posture Management. We reflect on what this is all about, what you can do, and how you should approach the capabilities as part of CSPM.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(02:42) - Show content starts.Show links- What is Defender CSPM- Give us feedback!

In this week's episode, we look at recent Microsoft Tech updates. By popular request, we're expanding our scope beyond Azure to include Microsoft 365, Power Platform, and related Microsoft platforms and capabilities. What's new? What's interesting? What's retiring? (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:43) - Show content starts.Show links- Entra ID-based identities for Azure Blob Storage SFTP- GA: Draft & Deploy on Azure Firewall- Microsoft 365 E7 (and Agent 365)- Azure Skills Plugin- Defender for Cloud release notes- Microsoft Sentinel what's new- Defender XDR what's new- Microsoft Entra releases and announcements- AKS supported Kubernetes versions- AKS security bulletins- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we look at the newly released Microsoft Cloud Security Benchmark v2, which is now in preview. What is it, why should you care - and what changed since v1? We take it for a spin, discuss aspects of governance and regulatory compliance, and how to apply them in practice.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:57) - Show content starts.Show links- MCSB v2- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we take a focused look at Startup-Scale Landing Zones. We've previously discussed Enterprise-scale Landing Zones and how the default model from the Cloud Adoption Framework is the usual approach for new deployments. SSLZ is an opinionated approach that is better suited to smaller environments. We talk about the pros, cons, differences, and how to get started.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(04:51) - Show content starts.Show links- Startup-Scale Landing Zone (GitHub)- Nice intro page for SSLZ- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we're not diving deep into a single feature of Azure - instead, we'll talk and share our insights on how to build a career working with Microsoft security. What should you know? What's relevant? What's less relevant? What are the core skills you should have? (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(04:51) - Show content starts.Show links- No links this week :)- Give us feedback!

 In this episode, we take a look at the transition from "vibe-coding" to shipping verifiable, production-grade AI applications. This is the critical shift from relying on "gut feel" and prompt tinkering to implementing rigorous audit trails, versioning, and security controls. We discuss why many AI pilots fail due to a lack of explainability, the specific risks of privilege expansion and data leakage in agentic workflows, and also outline how to use Microsoft Foundry/Azure AI Studio to operationalize your models like true regulated software. (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(05:30) - Show content starts.Show links- RedAmon (GitHub) for automated agentic offensive security- Give us feedback!

In this week's episode, we look at recent Microsoft Tech updates. By popular request, we're expanding our scope beyond Azure to include Microsoft 365, Power Platform, and related Microsoft platforms and capabilities. What's new? What's interesting? What's retiring? (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:30) - Show content starts.Show links- Preview: Virtual Network Routing Appliance- Claude and Codex on Agent HQ (Github Copilot)- Disabling NTLM by default- What's new in Microsoft Sentinel- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we take a look at the Unified Tenant Configuration Management APIs, or UTCM. This is a set of capabilities that allow you to monitor and extract tenant configuration for automated and code-based monitoring and management. We discuss why you would use these, how they work, and also try them out by building tooling around the APIs. (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:13) - Show content starts.Show links- UTCM APIs- Jussi's vibe-coded tooling on GitHub- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we take a look at Windows Backup for Organizations. What's the capability, and why should you use it? What's required, and anything that's missing from it? We discuss backups in general, also, and provide insights on what you should back up. (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:30) - Show content starts.Show links- Windows Backup for Organizations- LEGO Arcade Machine (40805)- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we dissect the newly refreshed Well-Architected Framework guidance on building AI workloads. What is AI, actually? The guidance is organized into sections, and we walk through each one, sharing our insights and thoughts. (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(04:26) - Show content starts.Show links- Google Gemini- AI Workload guidance in Well-Architected Framework- Reference architectures- Give us feedback!

 In this week's episode, we look at recent Microsoft Tech updates. By popular request, we're expanding the scope beyond just Azure to include Microsoft 365, Power Platform, and similar Microsoft platforms and capabilities. What's new? What's interesting? What's retiring? (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(04:45) - Show content starts.Show links- Update: Retirement date for default outbound access has been extended- GA: Tenant-owned Domain Impersonation for Teams messaging- Preview: Tenant-to-tenant migration with orchestrator for Microsoft 365- Preview: Dynamic Threat Detection Agent- Get started with azureblobcontainer-to-azureblobcontainer migration in Azure Storage- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we take a look at the brand new Microsoft Security Dashboard for AI. We initially spotted this during Microsoft Ignite 2025, and have been eagerly waiting for it to become available. And here it is! We talk about the what, how, and why of this new capability.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(02:40) - Show content starts.Show links- Microsoft Security Dashboard for AI- Fitness tests that Jussi is working on - part 1, part 2 (in Finnish)- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we take a look at Azure networking topologies from the ground up. What options do we have for building enterprise-scale architectures, and when should we choose one over another? We discuss our own experiences, and also the stuff we seemingly do not know enough about.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:59) - Show content starts.Show links- Define an Azure network topology - Traditional Azure networking topology (Hub and Spoke) - Virtual WAN network topology (Managed)- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we dive deeper into Azure Trusted Signing, and how it can help with signing your binaries. Why should you care? What are the tools today and in the future, and how to get this done right?(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:01) - Show content starts.Show links- Signtool - Introduction to code signing - Trusted Signing- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we take a look at three interesting - and free - tools to help you manage and secure Azure and Entra ID. We take each tool for a spin and reflect on the findings and usage.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:15) - Show content starts.Show links‑ ScEntra‑ azqr - Azure Quick Review‑ EntraExporter- Give us feedback!

In this week's episode, we look at recent Microsoft Tech updates. By popular request, we're expanding the scope beyond just Azure to include Microsoft 365, Power Platform, and similar Microsoft platforms and capabilities. What's new? What's interesting? What's retiring?(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(04:25) - Show content starts.Show links- Agent 365 tooling servers - Mistral 3 available in Microsoft Foundry - Microsoft 365 Copilot Business - Entra ID support for RDP Connections- Ignite 2025 Next Steps- Foundry Control Plane: Where Developers Build, Operate, and Govern Every Agent Feedback - Give us feedback!

In this episode, we unpack what's new with Microsoft Defender for Cloud. During Ignite 2025, Microsoft announced that the public preview of MDC would be available shortly, and it has arrived now. We'll take a look at what changed, what didn't, and why you should care.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:52) - Show content starts.Show links- Defender for Cloud Preview- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we take a look at the new Microsoft Zero Trust Assessment tool. We reflect on Zero Trust in general, its application in the Microsoft security landscape, and what this exciting tool will offer you.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(05:00) - Show content starts.Show links- Microsoft Zero Trust Assessment tool- Demo of Microsoft Zero Trust Assessment (Merill Fernando)- Give us feedback!

Microsoft Ignite 2025 is here! We reflect on the hero announcements and what they mean for the future. Some exciting announcements were made during the first keynote, and we already had a chance to try a few of them out.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:35) - Show content starts.Show links- ESPC’25 in Dublin- Microsoft Agent 365- Security Copilot announcement- Azure Copilot- Microsoft Foundry, and more here- Defender for Cloud- Give us feedback!

Microsoft Ignite 2025 is just around the corner. As is tradition by now, we take a look at what to expect from Ignite: the announcements, expectations, and sessions.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(04:55) - Show content starts.Show links- Microsoft Ignite 2025- Give us feedback!

This week, we unpack the hero announcements from GitHub Universe 2025. Much of this is related to agents, agentic AI, and GitHub Copilot. We reflect on these new announcements as we proceed.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:59) - Show content starts.Show links- Agent HQ- Custom agents examples- Copilot integrations - Agentic code review in Copilot- Plan mode- Agents.md- GitHub Code Quality- Usage metrics and API- Enterprise AI controls and agent control plane- Give us feedback!

This week, we review the Microsoft Digital Defense report 2025. We did the same for 2024 and 2023, so this time we'll look at what's interesting in the report and what to focus on from a security perspective.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:40) - Show content starts.Show links- Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2025- Ctrl+Alt+Azure: Episode 275: Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2024- Ctrl+Alt+Azure: Episode 210: Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2023- HackTheBox- Give us feedback!

In this week's episode, we look at recent Microsoft Tech updates. By popular request, we're expanding the scope beyond just Azure to include Microsoft 365, Power Platform, and similar Microsoft platforms and capabilities. What's new? What's interesting? What's retiring?(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(04:40) - Show content starts.Show links- Public preview: VM Customization in Azure: Disable Multithreading & Constrained Cores- Containerization Assist (GitHub)- Microsoft Azure Migration Hub- Private Link service Direct ConnectFeedback - Give us feedback!

Today, we talk about identity mistakes, with our guest, Stephan van Rooij. We learn about OWASP top 10, his project IdentityProxy and things to avoid when building custom solutions that revolve around identities.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(02:50) - Show content starts.Show links- Blog: https://svrooij.io- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/stephanvanrooij - IdentityProxy: https://github.com/svrooij/identityproxy- OWASP Top 10- GitHub servers being migrated to AzureFeedback - Give us feedback!

Today, we go through the three recommended and must-have alerts you should configure in all of your Azure tenants. We touch upon FinOps, security, a bit of WAF and CAF, and find out if we're using these recommendations ourselves.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:20) - Show content starts.Show links- Azure Quota Alerts (Preview): Still overlooked, but incredibly useful | Microsoft Community HubFeedback - Give us feedback!

In this week's episode, we take a tour of Microsoft PowerToys in 2025. What's in there? What's new? Do we actually use these tools, or are they just gimmicks?(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(06:44) - Show content starts.Show links- Microsoft PowerToysFeedback - Give us feedback!

In this week's episode, we talk about our experiences with SharePoint and Project. Now that Project Online is going away, as well as SharePoint 2013-style Workflows, we discuss the options for moving to more modern capabilities, and why these are still very valid tools. (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:58) - Show content starts.Show links- Project Online is retiring- SharePoint 2013 Workflow retirement- SharePoint 2013 Workflow Assessment Tool- SharePoint Workflow ManagerFeedback- Give us feedback!

In this week's episode, we share ideas, experiences and lessons learned running AI workloads at home. On a laptop, in a custom-built AI rig, and everything in between!(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:37) - Show content starts.Show links- HuggingFace- Ollama & Open WebUI- LMStudio- Azure AI Foundry LocalFeedback - Give us feedback!