As technology changes, so too does the expectation of IT professionals to make the impossible, or at least improbable, possible. In the upcoming edition of TechNet Flash Australia Newsletter, the brilliant Alan Schmarr from Dilignet takes us through a tough task: how to deploy highly available and accessible internal applications from anywhere and on any device. His proposition? Use Azure Active Directory Application Proxy. This is how it works:

The majority of on-premise web applications are created without the intent of being accessed externally and so require application or infrastructure changes, aka. a lot of Red Tape to navigate, to enable the application to be externally accessible.

Microsoft Azure Active Directory (AD) Application Proxy extends Azure AD SaaS (Software as a Service) web management capabilities to on-premise web applications. It provides the ability to manage access to internal web based applications using Azure AD by authenticating users through the application proxy hosted in Azure.

To allow an internal web application to be accessed externally, the only requirement is the installation of Azure Active Directory (AD) Application Proxy. To work, the application proxy requires access to the internal web application and Microsoft Azure services. Fortunately, this is just a once off configuration that, when complete, enables the business to add or remove any internal web application they require with little or no red tape.

Azure Active Directory (AD) Application Proxy is still in Preview at the moment, due for public release soon. Here are some of the planned features to get excited about:

• Pre-authentication services for users
• Workplace join for non-domain-joined machines
• Multi-factor authentication
• Access the application using Microsoft application dashboard

For additional information, visit Alan's blog post on the subject, or have a look at this MSDN article. Each issue of the fortnightly TechNet Flash Australia newsletter features an editorial that solves some form of IT Pro problem, so sign up if you find articles similar to this useful!

Feel free to comment below if there's anything in particular you'd like to see as a How-To editorial (or other).

Best of luck,

Jen Thompson

If you're interested in establishing cloud-style architecture in your datacenter then this Jump Start is great for you!

Once again it's not at a great time to be online for us in Australia (we are working on that), however if you register you will be sent a link to the recording soon after - it's what I will be doing !!. REGISTER NOW!

Cheers,

P@

Here is a quick snippet of what you can expect to hear;

IT Pros, you know that enterprises desire the flexibility and affordability of the cloud, and service providers want the ability to support more enterprise customers. Join us for an exploration of Windows Azure Pack's (WAP's) infrastructure services (IaaS), which bring Microsoft Azure technologies to your data center (on your hardware) and build on the power of Windows Server and System Center to deliver an enterprise-class, cost-effective solution for self-service, multitenant cloud infrastructure and application services.

Join Microsoft’s leading experts as they focus on the infrastructure services from WAP, including self-service and automation of virtual machine roles, virtual networking, clouds, plans, and more. See helpful demos, and hear examples that will help speed up your journey to the cloud. Bring your questions for the live Q&A!

Day One

• Introduction to the Windows Azure Pack
• Install and Configure WAP
• Integrate the Fabric
• Deliver Self-Service

Day Two

• Automate Services
• Extend Services with Third Parties
• Create Tenant Experiences
• Real-World WAP Deployments

Our very own Andrew "Macca" McMurray will be hosting his first MVA Jumpstart on 24th July. It may be very VERY early in the morning for you to jump online in Aus, but you should definitely register anyway to get your hands on a recording in the following 1-2 weeks. Check out the abstract below for an idea of what to expect..... and Register NOW!

Tweet @MaccaMSOz if you have any questions.

Cheers!

P@

Out with the old! Migrate from Windows Server 2003/2008

IT Professionals are faced with a number of unique challenges with the release of a new operating system version. Upgrade paths can often be confusing, and the challenge of moving existing services from versions that cannot be upgraded can carry significant risk. Windows Server 2012 R2 provides many options for upgrading and migrating that the IT Pro can use to ensure seamless transition to this new server platform. Join our latest free Jump Start, “Migrating Legacy Windows Server to 2012 R2 and Microsoft Azure,” on July 24, 2014, from 9am–1pm PDT, to explore these tools. Learn how Windows Server 2012 R2 can ease your transition, not merely in upgrading earlier versions of Windows Server, but also ensuring that your key services can be migrated in an efficient, cost-effective, and safe manner. You can also get a look at how to migrate your on-premises workloads to Microsoft Azure virtual machines to create a truly hybrid cloud environment.

Course Outline

• Introduction to Windows Server On-Premises Migration Tools​

• Active Directory Migration

• Migrating Windows Server 2003 Workloads to Windows Server 2012 R2

• Migrating WSUS to Windows Server 2012 R2

• Migrating Clustering to Windows Server 2012 R2

• Migrating Hyper-V VMs to Microsoft Azure