A Puzzle

Any idea what quotation is this?

I just sat and passed AZ-900

I just sat and passed AZ-900 with 858/1000.

I used my company's Udemy Academy subscription. This gave me access to:

1. Scott Duffy's online course AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Exam Prep - 2020 Edition
2. Scott Duffy's online course Azure Serverless Functions and Logic Apps
3. Thomas Mitchell's online course AZ-900 Azure Exam Prep: Security Privacy Compliance & Trust

I studied 3.5 days then sat and passed the exam.

I've discovered I can sit the exam from my home office. Most convenient. Although I had to rearrange my entire office to make it "sparse". And I wasn't allowed to cover my mouth. And I wasn't allowed to mumble the questions and/or answers. But it was jolly convenient none-the-less.

It helps that I was previously a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (.NET).

I really liked Scott's approach. Broke up "Death by PowerPoint" with useful demos and hands on labs.

Next steps:

1. AZ-103 Admin
2. AZ-203 Developer
3. AZ-300 Architect
4. AZ-301 Architect

I'm thinking that even though I'm a developer, I want to do 103 before 203, because it will give me a broader understanding leading up to 300 and 301. Is this sound thinking?

My new training plan

I just created a new training plan for myself.  What do you think?

Level	Title	Role	Exam
Novice	Azure Fundamentals	Fundamentals	AZ-900
Intermediate	Azure Developer	Associate	AZ-203
Intermediate	Azure Administrator	Associate	AZ-103
Expert	Azure Architect Technologies	Expert	AZ-300
Expert	Azure Architect Design	Expert	AZ-301

 AZ-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals

• Understand cloud concepts (15-20%)
• Understand core Azure services (30-35%)
• Understand security, privacy, compliance, and trust (25-30%)
• Understand Azure pricing and support (20-25%)

AZ-103 Azure Administrator

• Manage Azure subscriptions and resources (15-20%)
• Implement and manage storage (15-20%)
• Deploy and manage virtual machines (VMs) (15-20%)
• Configure and manage virtual networks (30-35%)
• Manage identities (15-20%)

AZ-203 Azure Developer Associate

• Develop Azure Infrastructure as a Service compute solution (10-15%)
• Develop Azure Platform as a Service compute solution (20-25%)
• Develop for Azure storage (15-20%)
• Implement Azure security (10-15%)
• Monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize solutions (10-15%)
• Connect to and consume Azure and third-party services (20-25%)

AZ-300 Azure Architecture Technologies 

• Deploy and configure infrastructure (25-30%)
• Implement workloads and security (20-25%)
• Create and deploy apps (5-10%)
• Implement authentication and secure data (5-10%)
• Develop for the cloud and for Azure storage (20-25%)

AZ-301 Azure Architect Design

• Determine workload requirements (10-15%)
• Design for identity and security (20-25%)
• Design a data platform solution (15-20%)
• Design a business continuity strategy (15-20%)
• Design for deployment, migration, and integration (10-15%)
• Design an infrastructure strategy (15-20%)

MS IGNITE NZ 2016

Microsoft Ignite (formerly Microsoft Tech-Ed) conference is nearly over.  It's been 3 years since I last posted to this blog.  What have a learned this year?

• You don't need permission to improve the business.  - Dona Sarkar
• DevOps is the union of people, process, and products to enable continuous delivery of value to our end users.  - Donovan Brown
• I got promoted from Lead Developer to Development Consultant (effectively a Solution Architect).
• I've been at Spark (formerly Telecom NZ) now for over 11 years.
• Infrastructure as Code: I can create a project in Microsoft Visual Studio which, when deployed, will stand up a VM in Azure.  Then my code project will be deployed onto it.
• Microsoft SQL Server 2016 (and SSRS 2016) integrates directly with Power BI.
• Power BI is awesome.  It does Mobile Charts as well as KPI's and legacy tabular reports.

Teach Yourself Azure in 4 Hours

Learning to use Azure:

1. Create Web Site - Check
   https://manage.windowsazure.com/?whr=live.com#Workspaces/All/dashboard
2. Create Database – Check
   https://manage.windowsazure.com/?whr=live.com#Workspaces/SqlAzureExtension/Databases
3. Upload Project to TFS – Check
   http://tfs.visualstudio.com/
4. Link TFS to Azure Web Site – Check
   http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/net/common-tasks/publishing-with-tfs/
5. Download Azure SDK for Visual Studio 2010 – Check
   http://www.microsoft.com/en-nz/download/details.aspx?id=15658
6. Download Web Site publication connection settings – Check
   http://www.asp.net/mvc/tutorials/deployment/cse-curated-view-deploy-to-waws
7. Publish Web Site to Azure – Check
   (see above)
8. Create Visual Studio VM – Check
   https://manage.windowsazure.com/?whr=live.com#Workspaces/VirtualMachineExtension/vms
9. Synchronise Local Database Schema to Azure Database - Check.
   http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/ee730904.aspx
10. Synchronise Local Database Data to Azure - Check.
    http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/manage/services/sql-databases/getting-started-w-sql-data-sync/

Not easy, but worth it.
Got inspired by Scott Guthrie’s session on Azure yesterday at Tech Ed 2013, Auckland, NZ.

My First PowerShell Script

What It Does

Finds a list of Active Directory groups, based on a filter. For each one found, rename it to something else. Write back the change to Active Directory.

The Code

$theList = Get-ADGroup -Filter {sAMAccountName -like "SomeGroupPrefix*"} | Select Name, sAMAccountName, DistinguishedName

foreach ($i in $theList) {

$newName = $i.name -replace "Some", "Any"
#write-host $i.name, $newName
Rename-ADObject -Identity $i.DistinguishedName -NewName $newName

}

System.BadImageFormatException

Scenario:

• I've built a .NET 4.0 Windows Forms app...
• I've added it to a .NET 4.0 Setup project...
• My DEV PC has .NET 4.0 Framework installed...
• When I attempt to install the resultant .msi, I get an error message...

System.BadImageFormatException: Could not load file or assembly...This assembly is built by a runtime newer than the currently loaded runtime and cannot be loaded.

Setup:

• On a DEV VM
• 32 bit
• Windows 7
• Visual Studio 2010.

Resolution:

• The Setup project has a folder for Detected Dependencies...
• In there is listed Microsoft .NET Framework...
• When you double-click that, you get a Launch Conditions window...
• Under Launch Conditions, is listed the .NET Framework version...
• This was set incorrectly.