Do you Kusto? Richard talks to Mark Morowczynski about his new book, The Definitive Guide to KQL, and the power of Kusto to look across your Azure tenant and understand operational and security issues. Mark talks about being able to query across all log sets, telemetry, the M365 graph, and more - to help understand issues. The book provides example queries you could run today, including knowing the first and last time a user logged on and what devices they used. There are examples of calculating baseline behavior for an account so that you can see when unusual activity starts. There are a ton of excellent queries for operational excellence and cybersecurity - get started today! And for RunAs listeners, you can use code KUSTO to get 30% off the book!LinksThreat Intelligence BlogPhishing-Resistant Passwordless AuthenticationKusto Query LanguageMicrosoft SentinelMicrosoft Security CopilotKQL Guide on GitHubRecorded December 19, 2024
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34:07
SQL 2025 and Fabric SQL with Anna Hoffman
What about SQL Server in Microsoft Fabric? Richard chats with Anna Hoffman about the preview release of SQL 2025 in Microsoft Fabric and the power of having your data store where you are doing your analytics and machine learning! Anna talks about new applications being developed using AI technologies like large language models and that often those applications need a data store - so why not keep it with the application in a configuration ideally suited for that work? The conversation digs into the relationship between existing SQL data stores and Fabric, how interconnections can happen, and perhaps a future of motion between them - but for now, it's a preview, so take a look!LinksSQL Database in Microsoft FabricMicrosoft PurviewMicrosoft EntraAzure Private Link for Azure SQL DatabaseMicrosoft Copilot for Azure SQL Databasesp_invokeRecorded December 16, 2024
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34:11
DevOpsDocs with Mattias Karlsson
Are your docs part of your DevOps cycle? Richard chats with Mattias Karlsson about automating documentation for APIs, cloud resources, and more! Mattias talks about using tools to build text files that contain every Azure resource being utilized, hopefully per application, along with API info, NuGet packages, and more. He also digs into the different audiences for that documentation - business wants to know what website exist, both interior and publically facing. Operations need to know what resources are consumed on-premises and in the cloud. Development is always looking for versions of APIs, calling approaches, etc. Maintaining documentation by hand is tedious and perpetually out-of-date. But if you can get up to speed with the tooling, you can make your documentation generate at the speed of deployment!LinksBicepAzure Resource InventoryAzure CLIPulumiRecorded October 29, 2024
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36:15
Least Privilege in 2025 with Bailey Bercik
How is least privilege different in 2025? Richard talks to Bailey Bercik about the ongoing efforts to minimize users, administrators, and applications' privileges in 2025. Bailey talks about the power of Entra Permissions Management to help you see what permissions are going unused on various accounts so that you can tailor rights to individual accounts without things becoming unmanageable. Artificial intelligence is a forcing function for many permission issues, with these new tools potentially creating problems when given unnecessary rights. But those same tools can help you understand where permissions are being underutilized and help protect your systems!LinksPrinciple of Least PrivilegeEnable Permission ManagementEntra Permissions ManagementMicrosoft Security CopilotCopilot in Microsoft EntraSEC545: GenAI and LLM Application SecurityHow Attackers Use Apps to Attack VideoRecorded December 16, 2024
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39:05
Being a SysAdmin in 2025
For the first show of 2025, let's talk about being a sysadmin in the coming year. This is the sixth year of Richard going solo on the show to talk about the things he's seen in the past year and speculate a bit on the next year, at least for sysadmins. Economic uncertainty is still a thing, as is employment. The security situation continues to be tough - and getting worse. But remarkable new tools, including large language models, are on the horizon to make things a bit easier. The adoption rates for LLMs aren't as quick as some people would like, but things are happening, and they can provide value. However, you have to do your homework. Oh, and then there's Windows!LinksMicrosoft CopilotMicrosoft 365 CopilotMicrosoft Security CopilotGitHub CopilotPrivileged Identity ManagementExtended Security Updates program for Windows 10Plan for Windows 10 EOS with Windows 11, Windows 365, and ESULAPSMicrosoft FabricRecorded December 31, 2024
New Zealand