Role Permissions
Security|Oct 2, 2020

Azure Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) As Fast As Possible

Role-based access control (RBAC) is the centerpiece of any robust, distributed system. The ability to use RBAC allows users to be decoupled from the systems that they use by assigning roles to an individual, then defining privileges based on roles rather than trying to assign people permissions directly. This allows systems administrators and security personnel…
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Azure and Cloud Computing|Sep 17, 2020

Using NFS with Azure Blob Storage

A Little History or Why NFS? File shares on computer networks are as old as the concept of a network itself. The idea of being able to access data across a wire by multiple machines was created not long after the first network was created. When the PC industry took off in the 1980’s file…
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Security|Sep 9, 2020

Restricting Azure App Service Access to Azure Front Door

Securing an Azure App Service is a common requirement. If you’re not familiar with Front Door, it combines a web application firewall (WAF), content distribution network (CDN), traffic manager, and routing rules into a single service. This makes it a perfect choice for protecting a web site. In using this, we want to ensure that…
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Security
Docker|Jul 26, 2018

Security Best Practices for Docker Images

Docker Hub is a blessing and a curse at times. It’s a great way to share Docker images to the public, but it can be used by hackers to sneak code into environments with malicious intent. Recently, a hacker uploaded images into Docker Hub that were downloaded over 5,000,000 times. The intent was to turn…
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OpenVPN
Azure and Cloud Computing|Jun 27, 2018

Using OpenVPN on Azure For a Low Cost, Private VPN

A personal VPN is a nice way of securing traffic between your device and the Internet. Securing your traffic is good for several reasons including safe browsing when one is away from a trusted network like one’s home or office. Untrusted networks would be those at coffee shops, airports, hotels, public libraries, and other places…
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Tutorials|Jun 14, 2017

How to Avoid a Docker Database Disaster

Containers are cool – and everyone and their mother is trying to get on board with them. While many applications are natural fit for containers in many cases, it feels like some applications are forced into containers so vendors can say, “Hey look at me! I do containers too!” This is particularly true of database…
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Blogs|Apr 7, 2017

NG-CONF 2017 Day One Highlights

I’m glad to be back again at ng-conf in Salt Lake City. I’ve used Angular since the very beginning and it continues to get better. Here are some of the highlights that stood out to me from the first day of the conference. Keynote During the keynote, there was discussion about gauging the success of…
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News|Mar 29, 2017

Windows 10 Creators Update Will Ship April 11

Windows 10 will get its next major update on April 11, Microsoft announced Wednesday. Already in preview for a number of months, the Creators Update contains features aimed at creative professionals as well as the average user, and will roll out in waves to the general public via Windows Update. What’s In It The Creators…
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news|Feb 24, 2017

How a Single-Character Coding Error Led to a Major Data Leak

If you don’t follow the tech Twitter-verse as obsessively as we do, you may not be aware that a major data breach at Cloudflare has put user passwords, messages and other information at risk all over the internet. Cloudflare provides web security and performance services for companies like Uber and OkCupid, among many, many others.…
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News|Feb 22, 2017

Skype Lite Launches In India

Microsoft is debuting a lightweight version of Skype made for locations where internet connectivity is spotty, and India is its first test market. Announced Wednesday at Microsoft’s Future Decoded event in Mumbai, the Skype Lite Android app weighs in at 13 MB, is optimized for 2G networks and supports eight languages. It also includes chatbots…
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news|Feb 10, 2017

Microsoft’s Privacy Suit Against Department of Justice Will Go Forward

A federal judge ruled Thursday that a lawsuit Microsoft filed against the U.S. Department of Justice to protect customer privacy can continue. At issue are so-called ‘gag orders’ that DOJ sometimes imposes on tech companies who have provided customer emails and other data to the department as part of an investigation. Microsoft says its customers…
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