Tom Hollander's blog
Head in the clouds
Detecting drift between ARM templates and Azure resource groups
In DevOps Utopia, all of your Azure resources are deployed from ARM templates using a Continuous...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 10/16/2017
Get Alerts as you approach your Azure resource quotas
Updated 16/06/2107 to also return Network usage Each Azure subscription has a bunch of limits and...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 06/11/2017
Industrial Scale Onboarding in Microsoft Azure
In my last post on Industrial Scale RBAC, I alluded to the fact that in an enterprise context you'll...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 05/30/2017
Industrial Scale RBAC in Microsoft Azure
If you're building a cloud service with just a few of your closest friends, you can forgiven for not...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 05/29/2017
Exporting details of Azure Virtual Machines to CSV/Excel
In my current role as a Cloud Solution Architect, I'm often asked to take a look at a customer's...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 11/22/2016
Migrating Azure IaaS solutions from ASM to ARM using MigAz
Anyone who has previously deployed Azure IaaS solutions using the older Azure Service Management...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 07/16/2016
Analysing Enterprise Azure spend by Tags
Azure Resource Manager allows you to assign custom "tags" to resources such as VMs or storage...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 03/08/2016
Authenticating to Azure Resource Manager using AAD and Certificates
In a previous post I described how to perform unattended authentication to Azure Active Directory...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 06/18/2015
So, you want to build a cloud service?
Great! Now, you probably have a million questions on which cloud provider, technologies and patterns...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 06/02/2015
Azure QuickStarts: In Visual Studio and on the web
Whether you are a beginner or an experienced developer, learning a brand new API can be challenging....
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 05/10/2015
Changing the server time zone on Azure Web Apps
If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably learned that it’s a bad idea for your...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 04/06/2015
Applying a “Web and Worker Roles” pattern to the Azure App Service
Summary: A common use for Azure Cloud Services is to implement services that utilise a “web...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 03/31/2015
Applying some DevOps Rigour to Azure Websites’ AppSettings
Summary: Configuring Azure Websites Application Settings in the portal is fine for quick and dirty...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 12/09/2014
Unattended authentication to Azure Management APIs with Azure Active Directory
19/06/2015: See also this new post explaining how to authenticate using Certificates to call the...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 11/24/2014
Deploying multiple virtual directories to a single Azure Website
Since the beginning of time, IIS has allowed you to configure multiple virtual directories and...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 09/21/2014
Windows Azure in Australia: Facts and Rumours
Today, Microsoft has made the long-awaited announcement that Windows Azure is coming to Australia!...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 05/20/2013
Keep your Windows Azure applications running with custom health checks
Summary: Even though Windows Azure does a great job of keeping your VMs running, only you know...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 05/17/2013
Running scripts from a Windows Azure role’s OnStart method
Summary: Startup scripts declared in ServiceDefinition.csdef work well in most cases, but if you...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 05/14/2013
Using XPath to set environment variables in ServiceDefinition.csdef
In my last post on zipping IIS log files in Windows Azure, my ServiceDefinition.csdef file included...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 05/13/2013
Using Windows Firewall to restrict access to Windows Azure instances
Summary: If you ever have a need to restrict access to your Windows Azure deployment to known IP...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 05/07/2013
Keeping diagnostics in sync across Windows Azure instances
Windows Azure Diagnostics provides a great way for operations staff, developers and testers to find...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 05/05/2013
Automated Build and Deployment with Windows Azure SDK 1.6
A few months ago I posted on how to automate deployment of Windows Azure projects using MSBuild....
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 12/05/2011
Updates to Windows Azure MSBuild post for SDK 1.5
Just a quick note that I’ve edited my previous post Using MSBuild to deploy to multiple...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 10/19/2011
Using Service Bus Topics and Subscriptions with WCF
Introduction In my last post, I showed how to use Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus Queues with...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 10/08/2011
Using Service Bus Queues with WCF
In 2008 I posted a series of blog articles about how to use MSMQ, WCF and IIS together. I chose to...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 10/06/2011
Environments for Windows Azure development
What is an Environment? Anyone who has worked on a software development project will be familiar...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 09/27/2011
Hosting Services with WAS and IIS on Windows Azure
Many developers choose to use service oriented techniques to break large systems into smaller,...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 06/27/2011
Creating multi-series Bubble Charts in Excel
Bubble Charts are a great way to visualise data that has three numerical values for each point. Two...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 03/27/2011
Using MSBuild to deploy to multiple Windows Azure environments
Update 6 December 2011: Windows Azure SDK 1.6 includes some significant changes to how credentials...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 02/22/2011
Adding a Windows Firewall rule using PowerShell
PowerShell is an amazing technology which I’d love to learn to use properly some day. Unfortunately...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 11/07/2010
The role of an architect in an agile team
I’ve just come back from Microsoft’s Tech.Ed conferences in Australia and New Zealand,...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 09/07/2010
Get logging in Windows Azure with Enterprise Library
Hi again – yes I know it’s been a while. Recently I’ve started a new role in...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 09/06/2010
“Suggested Resources” Visual Studio Plug-In
Today’s post is a quick plug for a new tool developed by my friend Olaf Conijn, who (amongst...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 04/25/2010
What do you think of the EntLib 5.0 configuration tool?
Hello again! It’s been a while, I know. I’ve been busy over the last few months with several...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 03/13/2010
See you at TechEd Australia and New Zealand
Just a quick post for anyone attending TechEd Australia and/or New Zealand, in the first couple of...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 08/24/2009
Beware the perils of local time
Where were you at 2:15am (Sydney time) on 5 April 2009? Other than the fact that your memory is...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 06/20/2009
Protecting against XML Entity Expansion attacks
One of the critical responsibilities of every developer and architect is to understand, and know how...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 05/21/2009
Your guided tour of the Microsoft Solutions Development Centre
When I decided to leave the patterns & practices team to move back to Australia, one of my big...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 05/02/2009
What do you want to see in EntLib 5.0?
As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve been on a bit of a blogging vacation of late. Rest assured that I’m...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 03/30/2009
Enterprise Library 5.0 kick-off! Spend your $100 wisely!
It’s that time again – the kick-off for the next major release of Enterprise Library. I can’t...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 01/27/2009
Just Released: Validation Application Block Hands-On Lab
Reposting Grigori’s announcement in case you missed it: Here’s a gift for the New Year’s. We have...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 01/08/2009
The Joy of Code Reviews
As I mentioned in my recent post about how my team does agile, one of the core ingredients of our...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 01/06/2009
StickyNotes for Visual Studio
Pablo Galiano, one of my friends and colleagues from my patterns & practices days, has just...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 12/22/2008
How my team does agile
As you know, I’m a big fan of agile software development. But what exactly does “agile” mean? If you...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 12/15/2008
Windows Live finally makes sense
Those who have followed my blog for a while should know that I’m not in the habit of using...
Author: Tom Hollander Date: 12/13/2008