RunAs Radio

It's the end of 2022, and time to reflect on the work coming up in the next year – what will it be like for SysAdmins in 2023? Richard flies solo for his annual year-in-review show, looking back on last year's predictions (including what he got wrong!) and projecting forward into 2023. Security continues to be a top priority, but the situation has evolved. Current economic conditions likely will impact your business – how does it affect your work? How will the cloud continue to evolve, and how can you take advantage of it? 2022 was another unusual year, and 2023 looks even more so – thanks for sticking with us!Links:CycloneDX

Mary Jo Foley moves on! No, not entirely from Microsoft - away from writing several times a week about the latest enterprise topics. MJ is going to Directions on Microsoft, where she will spend more time on analysis but still communicate it to the world. The conversation digs into current subjects like the state of the cloud and Microsoft's focus on building industry-specific cloud implementations, and precisely what is happening with Windows these days? Lots of great thinking from MJ, as usual, and a hint of what's to come!Links:Mary Jo Foley Leaves ZDNetDirections on MicrosoftMicrosoft Industry CloudWindows 10 22H2Windows Server 2022Azure ArcGoogle AnthosRecorded November 11, 2022

You're moving to the cloud; how does your application security look? Richard talks with Carroll Moon of CloudFit about moving applications into the cloud with better security and governance using the Azure Landing Zone approach. Carroll talks about the various patterns that allow existing applications to work in the zero-trust environment, with containerization, platform-as-a-service changes, and even desktop virtualization! The blackhats are improving, and the cloud is less vulnerable than existing on-premises solutions, but only if you embrace the cloud security models. New standards for cybersecurity are emerging - are you up to speed?Links:Azure Landing ZoneCybersecurity Maturity Model CertificationMicrosoft Power PlatformMicrosoft PurviewMicrosoft Defender for the CloudAzure Virtual DesktopRecorded October 31, 2022

Is Excel damaging your company? Richard talks with Jen Stirrup about how Excel gets used far too much in businesses and for too many things. Jen talks about the lack of data integrity in Excel and how it's easy to make small mistakes that can damage data - and give you little to no methods to detect the damage! While Excel can often be a starting point for a new business opportunity, as soon as it becomes essential, it's time to pivot to tools that can protect data quality more effectively! Don't let your company be the next news story about a flawed spreadsheet!Links:Jen's Blog Post on ExcelTransAlta Excel MistakesExcel Inquire Add-InSnowflakeRecorded October 28, 2022

What do SysAdmins want for Christmas? Richard chats with Rick Claus and Joey Snow about their favorite gadgets for SysAdmins. From the gadgets that help us at work to the toys that make us happy at home, it's a shopping spree of goodies! Share this episode with your loved ones to give them ideas on what to get you for Christmas, you impossible-to-shop-for SysAdmin!Links:DalStrong Call of Duty KnivesPhotoStick OmniPermatrackDr Zzs LED ShopBluetooth Beanie HatRosewood BlockStar Wars Ice Cube BlocksEmber Temperature Control MugEdge Lit AcrylicReel ViewGalaxy Tab S8Floppy Disk CoasterAstroRealitySatechi USB Headphone StandAnker LC40 FlashlightLG Laser Projector

The pandemic has put a lot of stress on teams - how do we make them stronger? Richard talks to Stephanie Donahue about strengthening teams and communities as we emerge from the pandemic. Steph talks about the water cooler and happy hour conversations lost the past couple of years and the value they once provided and should again. Does that mean going back to the office? What are the alternatives? Maybe the new tools can help, or we should just have lunch?Links:Weak Ties BBC ArticleChris Voss Negotiation TrainingViva InsightsMeta Quest ProViva EngageRecorded October 25, 2022

How are Azure and AWS Billing different? Richard chats with Corey Quinn of Screaming in the Cloud about his experiences experimenting with all the other clouds. Corey talks about his concerns around the security issues with Azure this past year - not the problems themselves, but how Microsoft handled them. The conversation also digs into using Cognitive Services and being unsure what things will cost until the end of the month. What about GCP and Oracle as well? Corey has tried them all and has thoughts!Links:Last Week in AWSCognitive Services Computer VisionRecorded October 26, 2022

Why do you need Azure Stack? Richard chats with Sarah Lean about the capabilities Azure Stack HCI brings to your organization. Sarah describes the three flavors of Azure Stack, including Hub, Edge, and HCI - short for Hyper-Converged Infrastructure. While all the options act like a part of Azure, they are optimized for different needs, but primarily focus on putting Azure-style compute closer to where you need it, perhaps as part of a machine learning solution, IoT, and so on. Azure Arc plays a role in giving you a broad view of your cloud assets, Stack assets, and regular on-premises resources also!Links:Azure Stack HCIAzure ArcAzure Stack HCI Pro 2FastTrack for AzureRecorded October 24, 2022

What can SQL 2022 do for you? Richard chats with Bob Ward about the upcoming release of SQL Server 2022 and its evolution toward data anywhere. Bob talks about running SQL on edge devices, on-premises, in containers, virtual machines, and, of course, in the cloud. The management tools like Azure Arc make it easy to take care of all the places your SQL data can now live - and let you be the data administrator you can be! Check out Bob's latest book on SQL Server 2022 and all its hybrid data capabilities!Links:SQL Server 2022SQL Server 2022 RevealedMicrosoft PurviewAzure Role-Based Access ControlAzure Data LakesAzure Arc-Enabled SQL Managed InstanceAzure SQL Managed InstanceMicrosoft Intelligent Data PlatformSQL Server 2022 PreviewRecorded October 26, 2022

What is the state of scripting in your organization? Richard talks to Christina Wheeler about Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and its role in the array of tooling in M365 to take existing scripting and wrap it into modern automated workflows. Christina talks about how Power Automate for Desktop can work with an Excel macro to further automation to make an entire process hands-off or reduce the number of touches you need to make. It can be a bit messy at times, but there are lots of tools, and there is always Teams to put a collaborative UI over top of it. Automation has never been easier!Links:Robotic Process AutomationPower Automate DesktopCONA ServicesAzure Logic AppsOffice ScriptsPower Canvas AppsMS LearnM365 Developer PlatformUiPathRecorded September 10, 2022