2021 is off to a great start & it’s only the 2nd month. 😎
I am excited and honored to announce I am featured in an article in Minnesota’s largest newspaper the Star Tribune on SuperBowl Sunday!
Here is a picture of the article in the paper:
You can read the full article here:
I have been waiting for this one to release! I was a guest on Blacks In Technology ‘s renowned podcast BITTechTalk.
On this episode we talk about; the pros and cons of having a coding background vs infra, what it’s like coming from infrastructure into DevOps, the importance of networking skills in DevOps.
We get into the fact that many folks in the tech industry have to jump ship to get the promotion & better pay, being in consulting vs internal tech, what it’s like being a Microsoft MVP, changing the narrative of blacks in tech, tech salaries and much more!
Check out the podcast episode with the BIT founder Greg Greenlee & me here:
https://www.blacksintechnology.net/bittechtalk-ep-127-steve-buchanan-pc-tech-to-microsoft-mvp/
Over the past couple of months I have been hard at work on some more Pluralsight courses. I am excited to announce that today I released 2 new courses on Pluralsight! These are both cloud related courses. One course is more DevOps focused and the other is focused more on cloud security. One of the courses is intermediate while the other is for those beginning with cloud. It’s pretty cool to have two courses listed on Pluralsight’s new releases!
Here are the courses:
Heroku: The Big Picture
This course will teach you the basics of Heroku from; architecture components, developer and operational tooling, along with limitations and benefits of using the platform.
Heroku is a cloud PaaS service that enables companies to speed up the application lifecycle; building, delivering, monitoring, and scaling applications without the headaches of standing up infrastructure to support the application.
Some of the major topics covered in this Cloud Computing course are:
By the end of this course, you will gain a better understanding of the Heroku platform all up including how to build and operate an application on it.
Check out the course here: https://app.pluralsight.com/library/courses/heroku-big-picture
Cloud Computing Fundamentals: Governance, Risk, Compliance, and Security
This course will teach you the fundamental knowledge needed to understand the essentials of cloud Governance, Risk, Compliance, and Security.
Some of the major topics covered in this Cloud Computing course are:
This Cloud Computing course will help you prepare for the CompTIA Cloud Essentials+ exam. This course is also useful if you don’t plan to take the CompTIA exam and just need to ramp up on cloud security.
Take this course if you want to learn cloud essentials, what it takes to successfully adopt cloud, the impact of cloud on IT service management, how security, and risks apply to cloud as well as consequences. This course is for someone with some exposure to cloud technologies and a general background in Information Technology at the minimum of a business analyst level.
Check out the course here: https://app.pluralsight.com/library/courses/cloud-computing-fundamentals-governance-risk-compliance-security
I hope you find value in each of these courses. These two courses bring me to a total of 5 courses now published on the Pluralsight platform. Be sure to follow my profile on Pluralsight so you will be notified as I release new courses! I will be releasing more courses soon!
Here is the link to my Pluralsight profile to follow me: https://app.pluralsight.com/profile/author/steve-buchanan
I decided it was time to branch out into other clouds. We live in a multi-cloud world and it does not hurt to at a minimum understand what other clouds offer and how they work. I decided to go after the base level AWS certification. On 7/24/2020 I took the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam and passed!
Here is my Acclaim badge for it: https://www.youracclaim.com/badges/309a8223-fd41-4e5a-876a-0066f4d32e23
I am still primarily Azure focused but you might see me working with AWS a little more. I may decide at some point to pursue some more AWS certs and potentially GCP.
Here is what I used to study:
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner course on Pluralsight:
https://app.pluralsight.com/library/courses/aws-certified-cloud-practitioner/table-of-contents
AWS to Azure services comparison:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/aws-professional/services
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Study Guide blog post by Janeice DelVecchio and Scott Selikoff (includes a PDF):
The test was not super hard. Good luck if you plan to take it!
Yesterday HashiCorp announced their Terraform and Vault certification exams have gone public! This is exciting news for those that want to get certified on these technologies. Here is the blog announcing this: https://www.hashicorp.com/blog/announcing-hashicorp-cloud-engineering-certifications/ .
I am proud to say that I helped contribute to the Terraform Certified Associate exam. Check out my badge here: https://www.youracclaim.com/badges/077f51e4-74cd-478a-af4b-ec338dae8559 . I plan to contribute more in the future.
I am also happy to announce that I was a tech reviewer on the first study guide for this cert titled “HashiCorp Terraform Certified Associate Preparation Guide“. You can find it here: https://leanpub.com/terraform-certified/. This guide was authored by fellow Microsoft MVP Ned Bellavance and Microsoft CSA Adin Ermie. Huge thanks guys for letting me be a part of this project!
If you work with Terraform I hope you get certified and be sure to use the study guide!
Recently I was a guest on the “Day Two Cloud” podcast hosted by fellow Microsoft MVP/Pluralsight author Ned Bellavance.
We talked about how native Azure governance & management tools Azure Policy, Tagging, and Blueprints can be used to bring order to your cloud environments. Listen now here:
Check it out here:
At Experts Live Europe 2019 I presented a session titled “Master Azure with VS Code”. This was a fun session with an engaging audience that took to twitter after the session. There was some chatter asking this session was recorded. It was not. I did note that I planned to write a blog post on this topic.
Here is that blog post and it is the first one of 2020 for me! In this post, we are going to dive into how VS code is helpful when working with Azure and many extensions I find useful when working with Azure. This post is not set to be an end-all to using VS Code with Azure but from my experience. Use this post as a starting point or a reference for expanding your use of VS Code with Azure. Also, check out the many other community experts and Microsoft MVPs for their additional knowledge plus tips and tricks on this topic.
VS Code Overview
First off if you are not using VS Code stop reading this right now, go download it and install it then come back to finish reading. 🙂 VS Code is a must-have in your toolbox and it is free! For those that are new to VS Code, it is an open-source – code editor developed by Microsoft that runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS. Here is a shortlist of the many benefits of VS Code:
Note that yes, VS Code is for the “IT Pro”. Not just developers.
Azure Extensions in VS Code
VS Code has a ton of extensions in general. There are a number of Azure specific extensions and you can work with Azure directly from VS Code.
If you go to the VS Code Marketplace here: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/vscode and search on Azure you will see results for many published by Microsoft and many community based extensions for Azure. As of the time of writing this blog post, there are 93. Here is a screenshot showing some of the results:
You can also go directly to the Azure Tools extension from Microsoft here:
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/itemdetails?itemName=ms-vscode.vscode-node-azure-pack
Or the
Azure Extensions from Microsoft here:
https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/azure/extensions
In the rest of this post, I am going to share some key extensions I use with Azure. I will post the marketplace links at the end of each extension I talk about and if it is maintained by community or Microsoft.
Deploy to Azure using VS Code
It is important to note that not all of the Azure extensions available in VS Code can be used to deploy to Azure. Some can but most can’t here is a list of the services that you can deploy to from extensions in VS Code.
| Azure Service | Description |
| Azure Functions | Build and manage Azure Functions serverless apps directly in VS Code with the Azure Functions extension. |
| App Service | Manage Azure resources directly in VS Code with the Azure App Service extension. |
| Docker | Deploy your website using a Docker container. |
| Azure CLI | Create, deploy, and update a website using a terminal and the Azure CLI. |
| Static website | Create, deploy, and update a static website on Azure Storage. |
NOTE: This list is current at the time of writing this blog post. This will change over time.
Azure Cloud Shell in VS Code
Cloud Shell is something you should be using with Azure to make your life easier. It is an interactive command-line shell. You are authenticated to your Azure account when you launch it, It typically runs in the browser and is used for managing Azure resources. When you launch it you can choose the shell experience that best for you, either Bash or PowerShell. With VS Code you can launch Cloud Shell directly in VS Code!
Cloud Shell is a part of the Azure Account extension. Here are some key points on using Cloud Shell with VS Code:
Azure and open-source Tooling in Cloud Shell:
| Azure Tools: blobxfer Azure CLI and Azure classic CLI Azure Functions CLI AzCopy Service Fabric CLI Batch Shipyard | Open-Source: Bash Terraform Packer Ansible Chef InSpec Puppet Bolt Docker Kubectl Helm DC/OS CLI iPython Client Cloud Foundry CLI |
PowerShell Modules in Cloud Shell
| You get the following PowerShell modules in Cloud Shell: Azure Modules (Az.Accounts, Az.Compute, Az.Network, Az.Resources, Az.Storage) Azure AD Management (Preview) Exchange Online (In development) MicrosoftPowerBIMgmt SqlServer |
Marketplace Link:
Azure Account: https://marketplace
Maintained By Microsoft
Next week I will travel across the pond again to speak at Experts Live Europe 2019. I am excited to reunite with many friends and fellow Microsoft MVPs in the Microsoft community. I am honored to be a part of this conference again. I will be speaking about Azure, participating in Ask the Experts as a cloud expert, and will sit on an Azure Stack Hub panel.
Here are the details for the sessions I will be a part of:
Master Azure with VS Code
22nd of November, 3:30pm – 4:20pm
Description
There are many ways to work with Azure and its services including the: Azure portal, CloudShell, Azure CLI, and Azure REST APIs. And there are even more tools to choose when it comes to working with other services on Azure such as Docker, Kubernetes and more. It can be overwhelming to decipher what Azure tool to use for your day-to-day Azure administration and deployment.
VS Code to the rescue!!!! You can deploy and administer Azure and supporting services direct from VS Code through the plethora of extensions built for Azure. These extensions can be used to work with ARM Templates, Storage, App Service, Docker, Azure Kubernetes Service, Functions, Logic Apps, Event Hub, Cosmos DB, and more. Also, VS Code brings CloudShell directly in so you can work from a single tool!
Azure Stack Experts Panel
21st of November, 5:00pm – 5:50pm
Description
Join this global list of Azure Stack Experts for an open question and answer session as we discuss real-world scenarios.
Fellow panelists include: Kristopher Turner Global Azure Stack Hub CSA, Dino Bordonaro Microsoft Azure MVP, and Thomas Maurer Cloud Advocate at Microsoft.
Check out the sessions here: https://www.expertslive.eu/agenda
Shout out to Marcel and Isidora the folks behind the conference!
These days the growth of Kubernetes is on fire! Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Microsoft’s managed Kubernetes offering is one of the fastest-growing products in the Azure portfolio of cloud services with no signs of slowing down. For some time me and two fellow Microsoft MVPs Janaka Rangama (@JanakaRangama) and Ned Bellavance (@Ned1313) have been working hard on an Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) book. We are excited that the book has been finished and is currently in production. The publisher Apress plans to publish it on December 28th, 2019.
Besides my co-authors, we had additional rock stars to help with this project. For the Tech Review, we had the honor to work with Mike Pfeiffer (@mike_pfeiffer) Microsoft MVP, Author, Speaker, CloudSkills.fm podcast and Keiko Harada (@keikomsft) Senior Program Manager – Azure Compute – Containers. Shout out to them and huge thanks for being a part of this!
We also had the honor of the foreword being written by Brendan Burns (@brendandburns) Distinguished Engineer at Microsoft and co-founder of Kubernetes. A shout out to him and a world of thanks for taking the time to help with this project!
Books like this are only possible with a great team of people contributing to them. The book is titled “Introducing Azure Kubernetes Service: A Practical Guide to Container Orchestration” and can be pre-ordered here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1484255186 or here: https://www.apress.com/gp/book/9781484255186. Here is the cover:
In this book, we take a journey inside Docker containers, container registries, Kubernetes architecture, Kubernetes components, and core Kubectl commands. We then dive into topics around Azure Container Registry, Rancher for Kubernetes management, deep dive into AKS, package management with HELM, and using AKS in CI/CD with Azure DevOps. The goal of this book is to give the reader just enough theory and lots of practical straightforward knowledge needed to start running your own AKS cluster.
For anyone looking to work with Azure Kubernetes Service or already working with it, this book is for you! We hope you get a copy and it becomes a great tool you can use on your Kubernetes journey.
Again you can get the book here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1484255186
FEATURED ON CLOUDSKILLS.FM ~
CloudSkills.fm is a podcast by fellow Microsoft MVP Mike Pfeiffer and veteran in the tech space with 5 books under his belt and numerous courses on Pluralsight. The podcast can be found here: cloudskills.fm. Mike is an all around good guy and I was honored to be a featured guest on one of his podcast episodes. The podcast is weekly with technical tips and career advice for people working in the cloud computing industry. The podcast is geared for developers, IT pros, those making move into cloud.
On this episode Mike and I talked about managing both the technical and non-technical aspects of your career in the cloud computing industry. We also discuss DevOps stuff around Docker, Azure Kubernetes Service, Terraform and cloud stuff around Azure management including my 5 points to success with cloud. You can listen to the podcast here:
Also on you can listen here: iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/cloudskills-fm/id1448194100 and PlayerFM: https://player.fm/series/cloudskillsfm/ep-015-managing-your-cloud-career .
NEW AZURE COURSE ~
I’m very excited Opsgility recently published a new Azure course by me titled: “Deploy and Configure Infrastructure”. This course is part of the AZ 300 certification learning path for Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies. More about the AZ 300 certification can be found here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/exam-az-300.aspx. The course is over 4 hours of Azure content!
Description of the course:
In the course learn how to analyze resource utilization and consumption, create and configure storage accounts, create and configure a VM for Windows and Linux, create connectivity between virtual networks, implement and manage virtual networking, manage Azure Active Directory, and implement and manage hybrid identities.
Objectives of the course:
It can be watched here:
https://skillmeup.com/courses/player/deploy-and-configure-infrastructure