If you use Docker for Windows on Win10 and use both Linux and Windows containers you’ve no doubt have had to switch the docker tools between Linux and Windows containers more than a few times. To do this you have to bring up the tray icon for Docker Tools select the option to switch flavours.
At the recent [Microsoft Connect event](https://connectevent.microsoft.com/ " target=”_blank) (Nov 16-19th) there were a slew of awesome announcements, plenty of love for cross plat development (e.g. [Visual Studio on Mac](https://www.visualstudio.com/vs/visual-studio-mac/ " target=”_blank)), even more Docker, .NET Core 1.1 and the [public preview of SQL server on Linux](https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2016/11/16/announcing-sql-server-on-linux-public-preview-first-preview-of-next-release-of-sql-server/ " target=”_blank).
In the torrent of the announcements I blinked and caught the end of a slide covering the release of [SQL Server 2016 SP1](https://blogs.
Shortly after the GA of the Australian Azure regions I was bitterly disappointed to discover that these regions were only open to users who have a Aus/NZ presence. It was tricky to get a handle on the nature of the restriction, was is due to limited capacity? or perhaps local tax laws?
Wow its been over 9 months since the last blog post, time to get back on the wagon!
I recently ran into an undocumented timeout limit for services hosted in Azure App Service and I struggled to figure out if I was doing something stupid or if the issue was the hosting platform.
Just a quick post to say that I’ve passed the 70-534 Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions exam which means I can use the title Microsoft Specialist: Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions.
I’m not normally a big fan of these kind of certifications and I don’t for one second think I’m now a better architect but I find them a “necessary evil” in order to prove your experience without being filtered out by recruitment agencies who have absolutely no knowledge of the subject so cannot recognise experience from someone’s CV.
I recently attended the London AWSome day (Jan 2016) focussed around the Amazon Web Services platform. As someone who has specialised in Azure for the last few years I think its important to try and keep a broader mindset when it comes to cloud providers (suitably embarrassed that this was my first foray into AWS!
If you’ve been following Microsoft’s journey with their cloud platform you’ll know they have invested heavily in differentiating themselves from the other providers. One of the key facets of this strategy has been to target hybrid clouds by making it simpler to bridge between on-premise and Azure.
The release of the Azure Stack Technical Preview (formerly known as Azure Pack) is an exciting step onwards in the hybrid cloud story.
tl;dr Logic apps with their connectors provide a very low barrier to entry for enterprises/ISVs loooking to bridge the on-premise to cloud gap. At the moment they can be frustratingly clunky at times but if you are pragmatic and keep the workflow simple its amazing how easy you can achieve things which would normally have taken much more time and money in the past.
All of the Azure documentation and marketing materials rightly proclaim the vast global footprint of Azure datacentres. However as it turns out its not always so easy to use this global footprint if you want to host your SaaS product in a region closest to your users.
About a year ago the company I worked for kicked off a new project with an Australian based company and we were delighted to hear the announcement of two new Azure DCs in Australia.