Microsoft introduced Azure Budgets as a means to help companies plan for and drive organizational accountability. While many companies view budget enforcement from a traditional perspective such as alerts, currently Azure did not give you more direct options such as shutting down virtual machines (VMs). Using Budgets makes Azure cost management easy.
While these features are not out of the box, Azure Budgets does offer integration with Azure Action Groups. Action Groups provide a means to trigger an orchestrated set of actions resulting from a budget event. Such actions can be turning off machines when a threshold takes place (in this case when the budget is exceeded by a certain amount), for example. The action groups in term can then execute a PowerShell script (within an automation account) to perform the cost savings action.
It should be noted: this course of action does not need to be applied to all VMs. For example, the
shutdown sequence of VMs to keep within budget can be directed to machines:
How did we get here? A littl e more than a year ago, and as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of people in the workforce were asked to start working from their home offices. Some went home with an assigned corporate laptop, but a lot went with whatever system could be found – lab machines, hastily repaired systems, and tech closet castoffs. Now, a lot of those users are continuing to work from home, even as companies start to reopen. This is part of a trend towards the hybrid workplace which was already under way pre-COVID but was accelerated by the pandemic. Windows Autopilot addresses this trend to make the process easier.
One of the pillars of Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) is the technology behind profile container technology, referred to as FSLogix. Upon login, the FSLogix profile container is connected to the computing environment so the profile is readily available.
This then raises the question on the ideal locations to host the repository of profiles generated FSLogix usage. Aspects to consider:
For those trying to relay SMTP with an application in Azure to Office, base guidance and options can be found in the Microsoft article “How to set up a multifunction device or application to send email using Microsoft 365 or Office 365”. In the article, three distinct distinct options are provided for Office 365 relay, noted in the table below:
Policies are an essential part of an overall security strategy and are many times under-valued or overlooked completely. Organizations of all sizes often struggle with developing a comprehensive information security strategy due to the challenges of prioritizing where to begin. Strong and effective policies provide an excellent set of resources to help set expectations, provide long and short term goals, and identify gaps that may need to be closed. No matter the maturity level of your organization’s information security strategy, well written policies put you on the right path for continued development.
Over the years, businesses’ mission-critical technology has expanded at a rapid pace. A network no longer consists of only servers, client computers, and basic networking equipment. Cloud computing has been introduced to host “X as a Service” solutions and applications that rely on big data, allow mobile and remote endpoints, network shares, and multiple communication applications, just to name a few. Even the solutions meant to secure the network and endpoints have grown complex to the point where a misconfigured security solution could leave an organization vulnerable.
This is why many organizations turn to outside partners to conduct a network security assessment. Having one performed by a trusted partner lets you know not only where your organization's security posture currently stands, but also what you can do to better protect yourself from the current threat landscape.
Businesses have a serious problem when it comes to IT. Many IT managers would agree that the speed of technology outpaces their workers’ skills. Boston-based companies are no stranger to this problem. Organizations across the region often find that their current teams lack the knowledge required to keep pace with newer technologies, or they have trouble hiring new employees to fill these needs.
According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, there have been approximately 11.2 billion records exposed in the more than 8,800 data breaches that have been publicly disclosed since 2005. In 2018 alone, there were more than 1 billion exposed records in that staggering total.
