Cloud

Azure Hub-and-Spoke Architecture Explained and Automated with OpenTofu

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This is my first blog of the new year (2026)! Since being re-awarded as a Microsoft MVP, Microsoft provided me with a fresh set of Azure credits. One of the first things I wanted to do was rebuild my Azure lab environment. This time, I wanted to do it the right way. I wanted it to mirror how I would design and deploy a real enterprise environment, including running fully on private endpoints and following a proper hub-and-spoke network model.

Just as importantly, I wanted everything defined in Infrastructure as Code (IaC) so I could spin environments up and down whenever I needed. That also aligns perfectly with what my team at Jamf is working on right now. We are making some changes to our underlying Azure architecture, including deeper network isolation, security controls, intergration with Jamf security cloud security products, and a shift from Bicep to OpenTofu. We will also be using AI agents to do a lot of the heavy lifting in that refactor. I will be sharing more about that in future blogs and talks as much as I am able to publicly.

Because OpenTofu is at the center of that work, I decided to build my entire Azure lab using OpenTofu and a full hub-and-spoke architecture. This gives my team a real, working reference base implementation that we can build on for production designs. I also want to share this with the larger tech community.

If you are note familiar with OpenTofu it is an open source infrastructure-as-code engine based on Terraform that lets you define, deploy, and manage cloud infrastructure using declarative configuration files, and you can learn more at https://opentofu.org.

You can access the GitHub Repository of my “OpenTofu Azure Hub and Spoke” solution here: https://github.com/Buchatech/OpenTofu-Azure-HubSpoke-public

Lets break down whats in the solution I built.

Solution Architecture

The solution deploys a production-style Azure network and platform foundation that includes:

  • Hub VNet with Azure Firewall, VPN Gateway, and DNS Private Resolver
  • Spoke VNet with peering and default routes through the firewall
  • Key Vault and Azure Container Registry using private endpoints
  • Optional Jumpbox VM for secure management access
  • GitHub Actions CI/CD pipeline using OIDC authentication

How the Automation Works

This is a multi-part solution built around a bootstrap Bash script (bootstrap.sh) and a fully generated OpenTofu repository.

The bootstrap script creates everything you need to get started:

  1. It creates an Azure Storage Account to store your OpenTofu remote state.
  2. It generates a complete OpenTofu project, including modules, variables, and environment structure.
  3. It configures the backend so OpenTofu uses Azure Storage for state.
  4. It creates a ready-to-use GitHub Actions pipeline for CI/CD.

Once the repository is generated, you can deploy your Azure environment by running OpenTofu locally or by pushing the repo to GitHub and letting the pipeline handle deployments for you. Within minutes, you can have a fully functional Azure hub-and-spoke environment up and running, and you can customize the generated modules to fit your own requirements.

Deployment Modes

The bootstrap bash script supports two deployment modes depending on how advanced and locked-down you want the environment to be.

FULL Mode (Default)
This is the enterprise-grade option.

  • Hub VNet with Azure Firewall, VPN Gateway, and DNS Private Resolver
  • Spoke VNet with peering and default route through the firewall
  • Private endpoints for Key Vault and Azure Container Registry
  • Optional Jumpbox VM for secure management
  • GitHub Actions CI/CD pipeline with OIDC authentication

BASIC Mode
This is a simpler version for learning or labs.

  • Hub VNet with Azure Firewall only
  • Spoke VNet with peering and default route through the firewall
  • Public access for Key Vault and Azure Container Registry
  • No Jumpbox, VPN Gateway, or DNS Private Resolver
  • GitHub Actions CI/CD pipeline with OIDC authentication

What the bootstrap.sh Script Does

When you run the bootstrap script, it will:

  1. Prompt you to select FULL or BASIC deployment mode
  2. Create an Azure Storage Account for OpenTofu remote state in rg-tfstate
  3. Generate the full OpenTofu repository structure based on your choice
  4. Configure the OpenTofu backend to use the storage account
  5. Create GitHub Actions workflow files for CI/CD
  6. Output the storage account details and the GitHub secrets you need to configure

From there, you are ready to deploy and customize the script and OpenTofu based on your Azure hub-and-spoke environment entirely through code.

Here is the Readme from the repo. It goes even more in depth into my “OpenTofu Azure Hub and Spoke” solution. I hope you find it useful!

********************************************************************************

Azure Hub-Spoke with OpenTofu

Azure base network architecture solution

This repository contains a production-ready, modular OpenTofu configuration that deploys Azure hub-spoke network topology with two deployment modes (private or public) to match your requirements and budget.

Architecture Overview

This solution deploys a hub-and-spoke network architecture (visual shows full-private deployment):

Enterprise-grade Azure network architecture lab environment with Site-to-Site VPN, Azure Firewall, DNS Private Resolver, and core services

This repository contains a production-ready, modular OpenTofu (Terraform) configuration that deploys a complete Azure hub-spoke network topology designed for hybrid cloud scenarios, connecting your on-premises network (e.g., UniFi network) to Azure.

Architecture Overview

This lab deploys a hub-and-spoke network architecture following Azure best practices (visual shows full private deployment):

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                            AZURE CLOUD                                │
│                                                                        │
│  ┌─── HUB VNet (rg-lab-hub-network) ────────────────────────┐        │
│  │ 10.10.0.0/16                                              │        │
│  │                                                            │        │
│  │  ┌──────────┐  ┌───────────┐  ┌────────────┐  ┌───────┐ │        │
│  │  │  Azure   │  │    VPN    │  │    DNS     │  │Jumpbox│ │        │
│  │  │ Firewall │  │  Gateway  │  │  Private   │  │  VM   │ │        │
│  │  │(10.10.1.0│  │(10.10.2.0)│  │  Resolver  │  │(Mgmt) │ │        │
│  │  │)+ DNAT   │  │           │  │(10.10.4-5.0│  │subnet │ │        │
│  │  │SSH:2222  │  │           │  │)           │  │       │ │        │
│  │  └─────┬────┘  └─────┬─────┘  └────────────┘  └───────┘ │        │
│  │        │             │                                     │        │
│  │        │             │  Site-to-Site VPN                  │        │
│  └────────┼─────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┘        │
│           │             │                                               │
│           │  VNet Peering + Gateway Transit                            │
│           │             │                                               │
│  ┌────────▼─ SPOKE VNet (rg-lab-spoke1-network) ──────┐               │
│  │ 10.20.0.0/16                                        │               │
│  │                                                      │               │
│  │  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────────────┐ │               │
│  │  │   Apps   │  │   APIs   │  │   Data/Services  │ │               │
│  │  │ Subnet   │  │ Subnet   │  │     Subnet       │ │               │
│  │  │          │  │          │  │  - ACR (Private) │ │               │
│  │  │          │  │          │  │  - Key Vault     │ │               │
│  │  └──────────┘  └──────────┘  └──────────────────┘ │               │
│  │                                                      │               │
│  │  Traffic routed through Azure Firewall ─────────────┘               │
│  └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────               │
│                                                                         │
│  ┌─── Management RG (rg-lab-management) ────────────┐                 │
│  │  - Azure Container Registry (ACR)                 │                 │
│  │  - Azure Key Vault                                 │                 │
│  │  - Private Endpoints in Spoke Data subnet         │                 │
│  └────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘                 │
│                                                                         │
└─────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                      S2S VPN Tunnel (IPsec)
                              │
              ┌───────────────▼──────────────┐
              │   ON-PREMISES NETWORK        │
              │   (e.g., UniFi Router)       │
              │   192.168.1.0/24             │
              │                              │
              │   SSH → Azure Firewall:2222  │
              │   → DNAT → Jumpbox:22        │
              └──────────────────────────────┘

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“Building Apps with OpenAI” my 29th Pluralsight Course!

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I am excited to share that my 29th Pluralsight course is now live titled Building Applications with OpenAI. This course guides developers through creating modern AI powered applications using OpenAI APIs. Whether you are just getting started with generative AI or looking to integrate it into real projects, you will walk away with practical skills you can use right away.

This was a fun course to build. In this course you will learn how to integrate OpenAI into real world applications from end to end. We begin by setting up the OpenAI API, handling authentication, and designing effective prompts. Then we build a full stack web app that uses AI to analyze and classify data while exploring best practices for deployment, performance monitoring, and error handling. By the end you will have the confidence to build, deploy, and scale your own AI driven solutions.

🧠 Why This Course Matters

Generative AI is reshaping how software gets built and developers are expected to know how to integrate these capabilities into applications. This course gives you the foundational and practical knowledge to do that. You will see how to handle prompt refinement, token limits, deployment tradeoffs, and optimization strategies.

📘 Official Course Description

“Generative AI is changing how software is developed, and developers are now expected to integrate AI features into modern applications. In this course, Building Applications with OpenAI, you’ll gain the skills to build, deploy, and maintain AI-powered web applications. First, you’ll explore how to configure the OpenAI API, manage authentication, and craft effective prompts. Next, you’ll build a full-stack expense tracking app that uses OpenAI to analyze and categorize expenses. Finally, you’ll learn how to deploy your app using platforms like Render or Google Cloud, monitor performance, and handle challenges such as token limits, error handling, and prompt optimization. When you’re finished with this course, you’ll have the knowledge and tools to confidently integrate OpenAI into your own applications and bring AI capabilities to your development projects.“

This course is a part of the “OpenAI for Developers Path” on Pluralsight. The path can be found here: https://app.pluralsight.com/paths/skills/openai-for-developers and has many courses that will teach you various aspects of bringing OpenAI into your applications.


If you’re building applications and need to add AI, this course will help you. Check out the course here:

https://www.pluralsight.com/courses/building-applications-openai

I hope this course serves as a valuable resource in your AI journey. Thank you for your continued support, and Be sure to follow my profile on Pluralsight so you will be notified as I release new courses! 

Here is the link to my Pluralsight profile to follow me:

https://www.pluralsight.com/authors/steve-buchanan

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Guest on Code To Cloud Podcast – AI, Cloud, Career Resilience, and Farming

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I’m excited to share that I recently sat down again with former colleuage at Microsoft Kevin Evans on the “Code to Cloud” podcast for a conversation titled “AI, Cloud, and Career Resilience.” It has been a couple of years since I was on as a guest on his podcast. This discussion was super fun and goes all over the place from personal finance (Dave Ramsey we are coming for the top spot!), leaving tech to farm, to the recent layoffs at Microsoft, what AI means for all of us, and more.

You can listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or watch the full episode on YouTube.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1jMf7mRZNxew6trsWt8e96

Apple Podcasts link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ai-cloud-and-career-resilience-with-steve-buchanan/id1788423999?i=1000729123487

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmo7MdmGj-s

In this post, I wanted to share some of the highlights, key takeaways, and a few behind-the-scenes thoughts from recording.

On the podcast, Kevin and I dug into several topics, especially in today’s rapidly evolving tech landscape. Some of the themes we touched on are:

Leadership & owning your narrative
I shared lessons I’ve learned in leadership like how to set vision, how to manage through change, and how leaders can help their teams navigate ambiguity.
We also talked about taking control of your narrative rather than letting circumstances or others define it for you.

My journey in tech
We walked through my career path over the years. The ups, the challenges, the moments of uncertainty. And I shared about recently being laid off from Microsoft, pivoting roles, and how those moments shaped and continue to shape my approach to owning my career.

Career resilience and mindset
One of the things I emphasized is that resilience is not just bouncing back, it’s proactively preparing, adapting, and taking charge of your trajectory. We talked about strategies to stay relevant: continuous learning, building a network, personal branding, and leaning into uncertainty instead of resisting it.

AI + Cloud: Opportunities and disruption
We explored how AI is weaving into cloud-native infrastructure and application stacks, and what that means for technologists.
We also addressed how to stay grounded amidst hype and understanding what’s real, what’s emerging, and how to plug into it in a practical, impactful way.

Key Takeaways and Advice for You

If you are reading this, here are a few of the ideas I hope will stick with you:

Do not wait for perfect context. The ideal job or environment might not exist yet. Instead, start shaping it yourself. Build the skills, forge relationships, and create momentum where you are.

Be purposeful in how you show up. Your personal brand is not about vanity. It is a vector for opportunities, trust, and alignment. Share your journey, your thinking, your work, even when it feels vulnerable.

Stay curious with humility. In fields like AI and cloud, change is constant. Curiosity keeps you relevant and humility keeps you open to learning when you do not know the answer.

Focus on bridges, not walls. Whether you are navigating careers, organization changes, or technical disruption, build bridges between peers, between domains, and across teams. Avoid insulating yourself.

Your resilience is in your habits. It is not just how you react in a crisis. It is how you cultivate consistency, reflection, incremental growth, and adaptability.

Behind the Mic; A Few Reflections

Recording with Kevin is always fun. His questions push guests to think more deeply than just the “what happened” stories. It was gratifying to revisit earlier chapters in my career after recently being laid off and exploring themes like uncertainty, adaptation, and ownership recurred over time.
I always find it special when conversations like these inspire me as much as I hope they inspire listeners and the host as well! Preparing, sharing, and telling stories helps us all get a little more confident in this unknown tech market.

If you have 45 to 60 minutes to spare, I encourage you to give the episode a listen! You will find not just stories from me but hopefully a few ideas or sparks you can take into your own path!

You can also watch the episode right here:

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Im Speaking at BITCON 2025 – Easiest Way to Run LLMs Locally: Meet Docker Model Runner

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🎤 I’m excited to share that I’ll be returning to BITCON in a week! I will be speaking at BITCON 2025, a gathering focused on Black voices in technology, innovation, and community. You can check out the full speaker lineup here: BITCON 2025 Speakers. The conference this year is virtual and its free. You can check out the site here: https://bitcon.blacksintechnology.net

The conference has a ton of great speakers lined up from some of the largest tech companies such as Google, Microsoft, and more. And to top it off the keynote this year is Kelsey Hightower! You dont want to miss this one.

My Session: “The Easiest Way to Run LLMs Locally: Meet Docker Model Runner”
Docker Captain: Steve Buchanan DMR session

At BITCON, I’ll be presenting “The Easiest Way to Run LLMs Locally: Meet Docker Model Runner”. In this session, I’ll look at:

  • Why run LLMs locally? The benefits in terms of cost, privacy, latency, and control
  • How Docker Model Runner simplifies things — containerizing large models, managing dependencies, and lowering friction
  • Demo and walkthrough — showing you step by step how to get a model up and running on your own machine or server
  • Best practices, pitfalls, and tips — what I’ve learned building and deploying these systems
  • Q&A / hands-on help — to get you started with your own setup

My goal is that attendees leave with a concrete, reproducible process they can apply right away.

Why It Matters

Large language models (LLMs) are powerful, but running them locally has often felt out of reach for smaller teams, indie devs, or people in resource-constrained environments. With the right tooling (like Docker Model Runner), we can lower that barrier—unlocking more experimentation, more privacy, and more control over where and how inference happens.

I believe this aligns well with the mission of BITCON: elevating voices, demystifying advanced tech, and making it accessible. I hope this talk helps bridge a gap for folks who want to explore AI locally without getting lost in infrastructure.

I am excited to be speaking at BITCON again. To learn more about my session check it out here:

BITCon Session: The Easiest Way to Run LLMs Locally: Meet Docker Model Runner

BITCON is free! Be sure to register today: HERE

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Recent Blog Posts: MCP Servers, Dev, Multi-cloud Mastery, and Cloud Engineer Resumes

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This is a shorter post, but I wanted to take a moment to share what I’ve been working on lately. Over the past few months I’ve been publishing a steady stream of blog posts on Pluralsight, covering topics across cloud, AI, JavaScript, and beyond. There’s a lot happening in tech right now, and I’ve been fortunate to collaborate with the Pluralsight team to dive into some of these exciting areas:

Check out an overview the blog posts and use the the following links to read more:

Behind the Buzzword: What is MCP (MCP Server)?
A breakdown of MCP servers and why they matter in the evolving landscape of AI.
👉 Read the post

How to Run an LLM Locally on Your Desktop
Exploring why and how you might want to run a large language model on your own machine, with a closer look at Docker Model Runner.
👉 Read the post

What to Emphasize on Your Resume as a Cloud Engineer
Tips on showcasing the skills that make cloud engineers stand out in today’s job market.
👉 Read the post

Multicloud Mastery: How to Train Teams in AWS, Azure, and GCP
Practical advice on enabling engineering teams to work across multiple clouds with confidence.
👉 Read the post

6 Cloud Cost Optimization Strategies and Tools for AWS, Azure, and GCP
A set of proven strategies and tools to help control and reduce cloud spend.
👉 Read the post

How to Add User Authentication to Your JavaScript App
A straightforward guide to securing your JavaScript applications with simple authentication techniques.
👉 Read the post

I’ll be continuing to publish more content in the months ahead, so stay tuned for future posts on cloud-native engineering, AI, and practical developer skills. If you found these articles useful, I’d love for you to check them out and share them with your network.

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My 9th Book – The Modern Developer Experience Published on O’Reilly!

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I’m thrilled to share that my latest book, The Modern Developer Experience (ISBN: 9781098169695), is now available on O’Reilly! 🎉It is a shorter book known as a report with 4 chapters total. You can read the book on O’Reilly’s learning platform.

I am excited about this book because in today’s fast-paced tech world, developers don’t just write code, they navigate cloud platforms, cloud native tools and frameworks, integrate AI, automate workflows, and collaborate across teams to drive innovation. This book is a deep dive into the evolving role of developers and how modern tools, frameworks, and methodologies are shaping the future of software engineering.

Here is the offical book description:

DevOps has delivered transformative changes to tooling and processes, but with it comes new layers of complexity. More modern frameworks and tools, like containers, Docker, Kubernetes, Platform Engineering, GitOps, and AI can accelerate development, but understanding their unique challenges (and how to address them effectively) can make the difference between a team that struggles and one that thrives.

This report explores how organizations can improve the developer experience (DevEx) by reducing complexity, streamlining workflows, and fostering supportive environments. Whether your organization is deeply invested in DevOps or simply looking to improve team performance, this report highlights strategies to elevate your development practices and outcomes.

Here are the chapters:
1. The Modern Developer Experience

2. Raising the Bar, Providing the Right Developer Environment

3. Using AI to Enhance DevEx

4. Developer Experience and the Secure Supply Chain

📖 Whether you’re a developer, team lead, or engineering manager, this book will help you refine your processes and create an environment where developers can thrive.

🔗 Check it out here: The Modern Developer Experience on O’Reilly

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Lead Developer Career Guide

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Exciting times! I’ve had a lot to share lately, and here’s another update. Shelley Benhoff‘s new book, “Lead Developer Career Guide“, has officially gone to print—huge congratulations to Shelley! 🎉

Published by Manning Publications Co., this book is a comprehensive resource for anyone aspiring to excel as a Lead Developer.

I’m incredibly honored to have written the foreword for this fantastic book!

In the Lead Developer Career Guide you’ll discover:

  • The key responsibilities of a lead developer
  • Techniques for writing effective technical documentation
  • Strategies for improving development processes
  • Best practices for communicating with non-technical clients
  • Methods for mentoring and inspiring a team
  • Approaches for delivering negative feedback constructively

The Lead Developer Career Guide is filled with interviews and real-world case studies from industry professionals and esteemed tech experts. You’ll learn how to become the public face for your development team, gathering feedback from your coworkers and communicating with clients and stakeholders. Plus, you’ll find proven techniques to reliably calculate project estimates, plan a project from scratch, and mentor junior developers and peers alike.

You can check it out here:

https://www.manning.com/books/lead-developer-career-guide?a_aid=shelley&a_bid=8e03047e

and here:

https://www.amazon.com/Developer-Career-Guide-Shelley-Benhoff/dp/1633438074

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1st Course Published on O’Reilly: AKS Essentials

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I am very excited to announce my 1st ever course with O’Reilly has been published. This course is titled: “Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Essentials: Cloud Kubernetes for Developers and IT Professionals“.

It consists of: 9 modules of 4 hours of content, many demos, 7 practice quizes, and 1 final quiz.

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Essentials is a comprehensive video course designed to take IT professionals and developers from beginner level to proficiency in utilizing Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). 

Here are the: Module Learning Objectives:

  • Module 1: Understand the core concepts and benefits of Azure Kubernetes Service.
  • Module 2: Learn how to set up and configure Azure AKS.
  • Module 3: Gain proficiency in deploying containerized applications on Azure AKS using popular tools such as Docker, Kubernetes manifests, and kubectl.
  • Module 4: Explore monitoring and logging capabilities on Azure AKS, leveraging Azure Monitor, Container Insights, and Log Analytics for efficient application management.
  • Module 5: Understand and be able to configure networking components and manage network policies, as well as implement load balancing, Ingress Controllers, and service mesh for microservice architectures on Azure AKS.
  • Module 6: Implement robust security measures, including Azure AD integration, RBAC, network security groups, and secrets management, to protect applications and data within AKS.
  • Module 7: Learn to automate application deployment and updates through continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) pipelines using GitHub Actions and GitOps.
  • Module 8: Discover high availability and disaster recovery strategies for AKS, including multi-region deployments, backups, and restoration techniques.
  • Module 9: Explore best practices and advanced topics, such as autoscaling, cluster management, and service mesh integration with AKS.

This AKS course is for you if:

  • You’re an IT professional who wants to learn how to effectively deploy and manage containerized applications using AKS.
  • You’re a Cloud Architect who designs and implements cloud-based solutions and are interested in incorporating AKS as part of your application deployment strategies.
  • You’re a Kubernetes enthusiast with a basic understanding who wants to explore AKS specifically and deepen your knowledge of managing containerized applications in the Azure ecosystem.
  • You’re a DevOps Engineer who wants to enhance your skills in managing containerized workloads using AKS and integrating CI/CD pipelines for seamless application deployment.
  • You’re a Software Developer or Engineer who is responsible for building and deploying applications and you want to harness the power of AKS for container orchestration, scalability, and automation.

Check out the course here:

https://learning.oreilly.com/course/azure-kubernetes-service/0636920982777

Here is the link to my O’Reilly profile to stay up to date on future courses, books, and more:

https://www.oreilly.com/pub/au/8326

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Presenting at Experts Live Europe 2024 (SaaS and AKS)

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I’m thrilled to be returning to Experts Live Europe this year! 🎉 In September 2024, I’ll be back presenting once again—this time with even more to share around Azure and AKS. I’ll be co-leading one of the pre-conference sessions with Jonah Andersson, and I’m also excited to deliver a session during the main conference schedule. 🌍🎤”

You can check out the conference website here: https://www.expertslive.eu

I will be presenting a pre-con session on building a SaaS solution on Azure 🚀 and a session on how to use Chaos Studio with AKS to boost the resiliency of your AKS clusters 🔧. I hope you can make it to the conference 🙌! Here is more info about my sessions:

PRE-CON MICROSOFT AZURE: Laying the Foundation: Building Your SaaS on Azure

Join Steve and Jonah for this pre-conference session where they unravel the mysteries of building a SaaS on Azure. They will start with the basics of running a SaaS in the cloud through the foundations of SaaS, then dive deep into the nitty-gritty of tech side of SaaS on Azure through tech foundations of SaaS. In this session we will take a journey together exploring best practices, patterns, and anti-patterns, along with strategies for managing multi-tenancy, tenant isolation, data isolation, identity in multi-tenancy, and more. Plus, we’ll show you how to turbocharge your SaaS architecture and build with the Azure SaaS Development Kit. Don’t miss out!

Ask The Experts: Data & AI | Business Applications

Join us at the Speakers Booth in the Expo Hall to find your favorite speakers hanging out here during conference breaks and ask your questions. Take this opportunity to get the answers you are looking for!

Azure Kubernetes Resiliency: Safeguarding Your Deployments

Dive into the world of Azure Kubernetes Resiliency in this comprehensive session that delves into crucial aspects of safeguarding your deployments. From robust backup strategies to effective disaster recovery plans and the strategic chaos engineering approach, this session has it all. Join us for a deep exploration of the tools and techniques that ensure your Kubernetes environment remains resilient in the face of challenges. Walk away empowered with the knowledge to fortify your applications and infrastructure against unforeseen circumstances.

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Azure Friday: Safeguard your containerized workloads using AKS backupAzure Friday:

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I am happy to share a new episode of Azure Friday. It was an honor to appear along side Senior Product Manager Rajat Shrivastava in this episode to talk about AKS Backup. I this episode we joined Scott Hanselman to explore the functionality of AKS backup in safeguarding containerized apps and their data on AKS.

Backup is frequently overlooked, only gaining significance when a failure necessitates recovery. In the realm of Containers and Kubernetes, it is often perceived as unnecessary. However, the reality is that backups are essential even for containerized environments. Microsoft has introduced a backup solution for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) and its workloads, leveraging Azure Backup.

In this episode we dove into the importance of backing up containers, even when they are predominantly stateless. The episode sheds light on why safeguarding containers is crucial and provides insights into the workings of AKS backup in ensuring the protection of workloads running on AKS.

In the episode we also explore questions you may have about backing up K8s and we dive into demos showing how to protect AKS with AKS backup and how to do a restore. We even took time to answer this common question “Do I really need to backup my K8s cluster if I am running stateless apps & have everything in code i.e. IaC, CI/CD, or GitOps?”. The answer is yes. In fact one should think of it this way: “GitOps & K8s Backup are like Seatbelts & Airbags”. Here is a graphic to break this down further:

You can check out the episode here:

Addtional resources on AKS and AKS Backup:
■ Backup for AKS: Cloud native, Enterprise ready, Kubernetes aware backup – https://aka.ms/azfr/766/01
■ What is Azure Kubernetes Service backup? – https://aka.ms/azfr/766/02
■ Cluster extensions – https://aka.ms/azfr/766/03
■ Prerequisites for Azure Kubernetes Service backup using Azure Backup – https://aka.ms/azfr/766/04
■ Create a Pay-as-You-Go account (Azure) – https://aka.ms/azfr/766/payg
■ Create a free account (Azure) – https://aka.ms/azfr/766/free

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