
Let's Talk Azure!
Listen with Alan Armstrong and Sam Foot as we talk about all things Microsoft Azure!
We are both technical consultants working with Azure day in, day out. Alan focuses on Identity and Security automation while Sam is a .NET developer deploying PaaS and SaaS solutions on Azure.
Each episode we have a topic we cover and we highlight some key news that we are interested in. No fluff, sales or products here, just two technical people having a light hearted chat.
Latest episodes

Apr 12, 2024 • 36min
S5E13 - Microsoft Cloud PKI - deploy your user and device certificates from the cloud
Alan and Sam discuss Microsoft's new Cloud PKI service, which enables the management and deployment of device and user certificates through Intune.
Below are some key points we addressed:
What are user and device certificates and how are they used
How would you normally manage PKI services
What is Microsoft’s Cloud PKI
How much does it cost?
What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.Read transcript

Apr 5, 2024 • 34min
S5E12 - Microsoft updates April - new products and features released
This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.
Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:
Copilot for Security and M365
Syslog and CEF AMA connector for Microsoft Sentinel
Lots of Azure changes, new features and retirements!
What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.Read transcript

Mar 29, 2024 • 48min
S5E11 - Azure Keyvault - A managed key, certificate and secret storage solution
Alan and Sam discuss Azure Key Vault, it is a centralized cloud service designed for securely storing and managing cryptographic keys, certificates, and secrets used by cloud applications and services. It offers robust access control, encryption, and auditing capabilities to safeguard sensitive information and streamline key management processes.
What is Azure Key Vault?
What are the common use cases for Azure Key Vault?
What does it integrate with?
How much does it cost?
What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.Read transcript

Mar 22, 2024 • 33min
S5E10 - Microsoft Customer Connection Programs (CCP)
Alan and Sam talk about the Microsoft Connection Program (CCP). A Community of Technical professional from Customers, to Partners and MVPs that interacts with Microsoft Product groups around new features.. Here are a few things we covered:
What is the Customer Connection Program?
What are the benefits of being in the CCP?
What is my experience being in the various CCPs?
How do you get involved?
What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.Read transcript

Mar 8, 2024 • 29min
S5E9 - Microsoft updates March - new products and features released
Discussions on new Microsoft updates including Dark Mode in Defender XDR, Cloud PKI, Azure Key Vault enhancements, and Configuration-as-code customizations. Insights into upcoming plans and cybersecurity measures against system tools. Updates in Azure with NFS support and improvements in Azure Key Vault, along with new Microsoft tools like Azure SQL migration assessment in Azure Arc and Defender for SQL.

Mar 1, 2024 • 41min
S5E8 - Azure Event Grid - Managed event routing service for event-driven architectures.
Alan and Sam discuss Azure Event Grid. It simplifies event-driven architectures by providing a fully managed service for routing events from various sources to multiple destinations in near real-time, enhancing agility and scalability in cloud-based applications. It enables seamless communication between Azure services, custom applications, and external sources while offering features like event filtering, routing, and dead-lettering for reliable event handling at scale.
What is Azure Event Grid?
What are the common use cases for Azure Event Grid?
How can you get started?
What are the licensing options?
What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.Read transcript

12 snips
Feb 23, 2024 • 49min
S5E7 - Vulnerability Management - Reducing risk of compromise in your organisation
Alan and Sam discuss vulnerability management, importance of Microsoft security solutions, tracking vulnerabilities with CVEs, centralizing data for streamlined patching, Microsoft Defender features, licensing details, and exploring Azure Event Grid in this insightful episode.

Feb 16, 2024 • 58min
S5E6 - Azure AI Studio - First Look - Build your own copilot with Microsoft's end to end solution
Azure AI Studio is an all-in-one AI platform that simplifies the development, evaluation, and deployment of generative AI solutions and custom copilots1. It provides a unified hub for building, managing, and fine-tuning AI models, making it easier for developers of all skill levels to create and deploy intelligent applications. Whether you’re working on natural language processing, computer vision, or other AI tasks, Azure AI Studio streamlines the process and offers a comprehensive suite of tools and services to support your AI projects.
Sam takes the lead covering:
What is AI and what do organizations use large language models for?
What is Azure AI studio, and what problems is it solving?
Sam's initial impressions of using Azure AI studio for the first time
What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.

Feb 9, 2024 • 40min
S5E5 - Microsoft updates Feb- new products and features released
This week, Alan and Sam talk about new features and services that have gone into Public Preview or General Available status in the last month. We dive into a couple of these updates that peaked our interest.
Some of the Microsoft product features and update we covered:
Microsoft Defender XDR
MDA / MDI / Defender for Cloud
Azure API Center
Azure Containers Apps Multiple Ports
Azure API Management
Azure Gen1 to Gen 2 Migration
Azure Arc Visual Studio Code Extension
What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.Read transcript

Feb 2, 2024 • 57min
S5E4 - Microsoft Defender for Endpoint - An integrated AV and EDR solution
Alan and Sam discuss all things Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE). Alan goes through the history of MDE, what its capabilities are, and the platforms it covers. Here are a few other areas we cover:
What capabilities does MDE provide.
How is it different from other AV and EDR solutions.
How is it licensed.
What did you think of this episode? Give us some feedback via our contact form, Or leave us a voice message in the bottom right corner of our site.Read transcript
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