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Azure Kubernetes Chronicles part 5: Autoscaling with KEDA Autoscaling is a transformative approach for modern cloud-native application architectures, particularly within Kubernetes and microservices environments. As the adoption of these technologies accelerates, implementing automated workload adjustments based on real-time demand becomes imperative. This capability enhances user experience and ensures continuous high availability and cost efficiency. Consider the diverse applications: whether deploying a customer-facing web application, processing extensive data sets, or orchestrating backend task queues, the proficiency in automating workload scaling is essential for operational success and resource optimization. ...

As a cloud professional, I constantly seek ways to streamline application delivery while reducing operational overhead. Whether you’re building APIs, microservices, or event-driven backends, choosing the right platform can significantly impact speed to market and maintainability. Introducing Azure Container Apps (ACA) — a fully managed, serverless platform designed specifically for running containerized workloads without the complexity of orchestrating and managing Kubernetes infrastructure. Built on top of Kubernetes and powered by open-source technologies like Dapr and KEDA (Kubernetes Event Driven Autoscaling), ACA offers the best of both worlds: the power and flexibility of containers with the simplicity and developer focus of a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS). ...

Azure Kubernetes Chronicles part 4: Dataprotection Welcome back to the Azure Kubernetes Chronicles! In previous episodes, we explored network-related topics like container network interfaces, eBPF, and observability in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). But securing an AKS cluster goes beyond networking and runtime security — it extends to protecting, recovering, and managing data. In this episode, we’re shifting gears to focus on a topic that’s equally critical but often underestimated: data protection in AKS. While Kubernetes brings agility and scalability, it also introduces complexities in securing persistent storage, managing sensitive secrets, and ensuring compliance with evolving regulations like NIS2 and DORA. ...

Azure Kubernetes Chronicles part 3: Observability Welcome back to the Azure Kubernetes Chronicles! In our previous posts, we explored the basics of Container Network Interfaces (CNIs) and had a first glance at how eBPF is changing networking within Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, you might want to catch up here. In this episode, we’re diving even deeper into the labyrinth of Kubernetes by shining a light on a topic that’s both critical and fascinating: Observability! ...

Azure Kubernetes Chronicles Networking using eBPF Welcome back to the Azure Kubernetes Chronicles, a blog series dedicated to unraveling the complexities of Kubernetes on Azure. In the first edition, we explored the fundamentals of the Container Network Interface (CNI), its role in Kubernetes networking, and how it powers communication within clusters. Building on that foundation, this next episode delves into the transformative impact of eBPF (extended Berkeley Packet Filter) when integrated with CNI. By combining these technologies, we unlock new possibilities for enhancing networking, security, and observability in Kubernetes environments, particularly on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). ...

Azure Kubernetes Chronicles Container Network Interfaces In today’s cloud landscape, Kubernetes has become one of the backbones of modern application development, empowering businesses to deploy, scale, and manage containerized applications effortlessly. But with great power comes great complexity! That’s where Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) comes into play — a managed Kubernetes service designed to make your container orchestration journey smoother and more productive. This blog series, Azure Kubernetes Chronicles, is here for platform engineers, CloudOps professionals and Cloud architects who are beginning their Kubernetes journey or looking to streamline their operations to guide you through the essentials and beyond, as we dive into some of the tools, features, and best practices for leveraging Azure Kubernetes to its fullest potential.In this first part the focus lies on the Container Network Interface (CNI). ...

Challenging the Cloud Cost-Saving Myth: A Closer Look at Azure and cost control Created by Microsoft Designer Introduction In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, the migration to cloud computing is often heralded as a golden pathway to significant cost savings, increased efficiency, and unparalleled scalability. This popular belief has led countless organisations to embark on cloud migration journeys with the expectation of automatic reductions in IT expenditures. However, the reality of cloud computing costs is far more complex, asking for a closer examination to understand the true impact on cost. ...

Zero Trust in the Cloud A Simple Path to Securing Cloud Infrastructure Created by Microsoft Designer Introduction In the world of cybersecurity, traditional network perimeter security models are no longer sufficient to protect against increasingly sophisticated threats. As cloud adoption continues to grow, ensuring robust security measures for both data and resources is critical. Enter Zero Trust — a security framework that shifts the paradigm from implicit trust to “never trust, always verify.” In this blog post, we will explore what Zero Trust is, the pros and cons of this security approach, and how to implement Zero Trust in both Microsoft Azure (Azure) and Amazon Web Services (AWS) environments. ...

In 2023 a lot has happened. The company I work for Luminis became part of Yuma. I achieved several certifications. Next to attending conferences I also was a speaker at several conferences. This year I was for the first time a guest in a podcast. In the technology space also a lot happened. With ChatGPT, Bard, Dall-E, Copilot and others AI became a very hot topic. There was also a lot of attention for sustainability, how can IT help in reducing the carbon foot print. ...

Introduction In the rapidly changing cloud landscape, security and privacy are key concerns for businesses and individuals alike. Confidential Compute turns out to be a possible solution, ensuring sensitive data remains private and secure even in shared computing environments. In this blog post, I want to explain the concept of Confidential Compute in general and explore the specifics of how Azure has implemented confidential compute and how this can help with cloud sovereignty. ...