Slide : Get Started With Microsoft Azure Virtual Machine

 

During MVP Community Day (2015), we have delivered an online session about “Get started with Microsoft Azure Virtual Machine”.

The target audience is for those who are beginner and would like to learn about Azure Infrastructure as a Service.

During an hour session, here is a sneak peak of the system that we use. The system was quite easy to use.

Thanks to the support team that assisting during the session.

Slide

Recording

You can view from MVP Community Portal – Click here and proceed to the our title.

Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint for Android Phone Available (Preview)

 

Great news folk!, we just received news that MS Word, Excel and Powerpoint on Android Platform which supported on tablet has released a preview version which can support on phone as well.

In order to test it, your mobile phone must be running at least Android Kitkat (version 4.4.X) or later version.

We have tested it on

• Google Nexus 5 (running 5.1.1)
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3G (running 4.4.2)

Interested to test it out, please follow below steps:

Join as MS Office Preview community on Google+ – click here.

 Word Preview

 Excel Preview

 PowerPoint Preview

Enjoy!

Configure Site to Site VPN to Microsoft Azure Using RRAS

In our previous post, we have talked on building RRAS to connecting two subnet and network address translation. If you’re interested, feel free to check out here.

Next, we are going to embark a journey to Hybrid Cloud by connecting to Microsoft Azure by using RRAS.

[ Scenario]

Continue from previous post setup. We are changing it to include demand-dial.

[ Before – on Azure]

Create Virtual Network and create dynamic VPN Gateway. Take note and Gateway IP Address and Pre-Shared Key

[ Configuration on RRAS]

1. Modify to include demand dial. Set LAN and demand dial routing on Ipv4 router

2. Add a demand dial interface and modify accordingly

3. Connection type set to VPN

4. VPN Connection set to use IKE v2

5. Enter Azure VPN Gateway IP that you have created on previous step

6. Tick Route IP Packet on this interface and enter destination route detail (enter Azure virtual network information)

7. On Credential, leave it empty. We are going to set pre-shared key later.

8. Modify the demand dial interface. Go to security tab and set to use pre-shared key

[ Verification]

• Try establish connection from RRAS
• Connect on Azure Portal

Yeah! Both reported connected

To make sure that both side can access, perform ping test and tracert.

[ Test result]

From Azure VM to on-prem DC VM

From on-prem DC VM to Azure VM

Easy right!  That’s concluded our configuration to establish site to site vpn to Microsoft Azure by using RRAS.

Configure RRAS to Route Different Network and Network Address Translation

We just setup a new environment on our test lab.

Here is our setup

a) Two different subnet

• 192.168.0.0/24
• 172.16.0.0/24

b) A router/modem

c) Objective was able to route between two different subnet and provide Internet access to both subnet.

Before configure RRAS, we cannot route traffic to both subnet and access Internet.

To do, we have setup RRAS by using Windows Server 2012 R2.

[ Configuration]

• Install Remote Access Roles
• Configure and Enable Routing and Remote Access

• Select Network address Translation

• Select Interface that able to go to Internet. For our case, we selected 192X Interface as this interface connected to our router/modem

Complete the wizard till the end.

[ Perform Verification]

Test 1:- Perform ping from 172.16.0.10 machine to 192.168.0.10 machine. Both was able to ping each other as traffic has routed to RRAS.

Test 2:- On 172.16.0.10 machine, perform ping test to 8.8.8.8 (google dns) and run tracert route.

From the tracert result, we saw the traffic has routed to

• 172.16.0.200 ( RRAS Interface IP)
• 192.168.0.1 (Router/Modem) as the next destination before reach to final destination.

That’s concluded our simple test lab setup for two different subnet and NAT by using RRAS.

Fix Start Button Not Working in Windows 10 Build 10074

 

We just for formatted our laptop to Windows 10 Build 10074 to test it out.

Started with excitement but end up frustrated when the most important START button did not work / freeze. Then we cannot access to application even after perform full Windows Update.

Note:- Since it is still in Preview version, we can’t complain so much and expect more bug. This is our 1st bug that we have encountered after operating system and drivers installation.

After google around, found that someone has posted a solution at forum here. It seem this bug has been around since Build 9926. Don’t really understand why still appear in this build version.

Here is the solution that we took:-

1. Right click on Windows Icon and select RUN or press Windows logo + R

2. Type powershell

3. Right the powershell program and select Run as Administrator

4. Execute this command

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

5. Wait till it complete. Don’t worry if got any error. Now try again. Your START button will work after this.

Try it out if you face this issue. Good luck on your adventure on using Windows 10 Technical Preview.

Transfer Large Files to Azure Virtual Machines

[Updated: 27 December 2015]

It is time for us to disclosed news about new beta  GA version Veeam FastSCP that can support for Microsoft Azure Virtual Machine. Previously it was build for Vmware ESX/ESXi File Management which allow user to copy files from ESX to Windows, Windows to ESX, or directly ESX to ESX to ESX. Veeam claimed Veeam FastSCP can copy files 6x faster than WinSCP and other SCP based tools. Hmmm…
Now where does this beta tool fit?
Well, for those who are often copying data into/from Microsoft Azure may find this tool is useful. Prior of this tool, we often use:

• 1st method -use “Copy & Paste” & RDP feature. But this feature has a 2GB limit per file and suitable for smaller file.

How about big data till 900+ GB of data?

• 2nd method - copy a data into an empty virtual disk, upload to Azure Storage and attach virtual disk. But this method is not flexible and may take longer period.

So the solution that come to the rescue is….
“Veeam FastSCP” – It’s FREE! which allow us to secure file copy for Azure VM. Here is some key functionality about the product:

• Reliable copy of file of local files to Azure VM and files in Azure VM to on-premises
• Secure file copy with no independent encryption or VPN needed
• Copying files without UI open until the file copy completes
• Automatic scheduling of file copy jobs for nightly or weekly copies to/from Azure VM
• No scripting needed. (Just a few click inside a wizard driven UI)

Let have a quick walkthrough:
1. Connection to Azure VM is using port 5986 (Powershell port). Therefore it only work on Windows VM.

2. Once connected, able to view Azure VM Volume and you may start your operation.

3.Here is a couple of action that you can perform

4. View progress from Job & History. You can enable pause & resume the job.

5. To configure scheduling, just modify the existing job. It can be everyday copy a backup of database from on-premise/azure back to azure VM/on-premise. It like having an orchestrator that continuously execute a job.

Meanwhile, during our veeam briefing session, there is no limit of size that you can transfer.
Well, you probably would like to give it a test and see does it work as expected.
Do you find this tool handy?  If yes, please feel free to download from here. Enjoy!

More Microsoft Products Preview During Microsoft Ignite 2015 Events

During Microsoft Ignite 2015 events, Microsoft has released a series of preview products. Please feel free to test it on your lab environment and provide feedback to Microsoft.

[Updated 5 May 2015]
1. Microsoft Windows Server Technical Preview ver2, Visual Studio 2015 RC, Windows 10 Enterprise Insider Preview and also Hyper-V Server Technical Preview ver2.

• Download it from http://msdn.microsoft.com [Must has MSDN subscription]
• No MSDN subscription, no worry. Just head to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-server-technical-preview

2. Microsoft Office 2016 Preview

• Get it from https://products.office.com/en-us/office-2016-preview

3. Windows 10 Insider Preview

• Get it from here:- https://insider.windows.com/ [Must join the Insider program]

4. System Center 2016 Technical Preview 2

• System Center Technical Preview 2 Data Protection Manager – Evaluation (VHD)
• System Center Technical Preview 2 Operations Manager – Evaluation (VHD)
• System Center Technical Preview 2 Orchestrator – Evaluation (VHD)
• System Center Technical Preview 2 Service Manager – Evaluation (VHD)
• System Center Technical Preview 2 Virtual Machine Manager – Evaluation (VHD)

Note:
Do take note Preview version is still has some bug and we do not recommend you to use it on production environment.
Happy Testing Folks !