Stack{d}
Our thoughts on all things Data, DevOps and Cloud
Meet Our Azure Experts
In May we sat down with some of our Azure experts to do a deep dive into their experience, how they like to work, and discuss current and future...
Azure News April 2020
AZURE NEWS WHAT'S NEW IN THE CLOUD ADOPTION FRAMEWORK (CAF)? April saw a number of updates to the Cloud Adoption Framework documentation. One...
Ansible and the Azure REST API
Over the last few months I have been doing more and more work with Ansible to manage end-to-end deployments in Azure. For the most part Ansible’s...
![CloudStack[d] March 2020](https://n4stack.io/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/CloudStackd-Newsletter-6-400x250.png)
CloudStack[d] March 2020
MICROSOFT AZURE MICROSOFT SEES 775% INCREASE IN CLOUD SERVICES Due to the recent Government advice to work from home where possible,...
Network IDS & Azure Sentinel
I've been starting to use Azure Sentinel recently and explore some of its capabilities - there are currently about 40 built-in data-connectors that...
5 Benefits of Performance Tuning and Optimising Your Database
Does it seem like there is never enough time to optimise and tune your database? Perhaps it is slipping down your to-do list for that elusive moment...
Looking Back On a Decade of Change
It’s 2020 – not only a new year, but a new decade! To help us come to terms with the shock that we blinked, and the past decade flew by we sat down...
![CloudStack[d] December 2019](https://n4stack.io/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CloudStackd-Newsletter-4-400x250.png)
CloudStack[d] December 2019
MICROSOFT AZURE ANNOUNCING THE PREVIEW OF AZURE SPOT VIRTUAL MACHINES Azure Spot Virtual Machines provide access to unused Azure compute...
![CloudStack[d] November 2019](https://n4stack.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Copy-of-CloudStackd-Newsletter-400x250.png)
CloudStack[d] November 2019
MICROSOFT AZURE ANNOUNCING AZURE ARC: UNLOCKING NEW HYBRID SCENARIOS As more business operations and applications expand to include edge...
![CloudStack[d] October 2019 Newsletter](https://n4stack.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/CloudStackd-Newsletter-3-400x250.png)
CloudStack[d] October 2019 Newsletter
MICROSOFT AZURE MICROSOFT ANNOUNCES THE PREVIEW OF DIRECT-UPLOAD TO AZURE MANAGED DISKS Up until now there’s never been a way to...
The Hidden Agenda of Cloud Architecture
The worldwide public cloud services market is projected to grow 17.5% in 2019 to total £170 billion, up from £144.8 billion in 2018*. This is...
Top Tips for Planning an Internal DevOps Day
So, you want to run an internal DevOps Day but not sure where to start? Back in May 2019 I was faced with the same problem. I knew what...
![CloudStack[d] September 2019 Newsletter](https://n4stack.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/CloudStackd-Newsletter-2-400x250.png)
CloudStack[d] September 2019 Newsletter
MICROSOFT AZURE AZURE SENTINEL NOW GENERALLY AVAILABLEMicrosoft Azure Sentinel, a cloud-native SIEM (Security Information and Event Management)...
![CloudStack[d] August 2019 Newsletter](https://n4stack.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/CloudStackd-Newsletter-1-400x250.png)
CloudStack[d] August 2019 Newsletter
MICROSOFT AZURE INTRODUCING AZURE DEDICATED HOSTNow in preview and available in most Azure regions, Azure Dedicated Host acts as a dedicated...
![CloudStack[d] July Newsletter](https://n4stack.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/CloudStackd-Newsletter-400x250.png)
CloudStack[d] July Newsletter
MICROSOFT AZURE SUPPORT FOR MICROSOFT SQL SERVER 2008/R2 COMES TO AN ENDJuly 9th marked the last day of SQL Server 2008/R2 support. In an ideal...
Key Takeaways from the Red Hat EMEA Partner Conference 2019
I recently spent a few days in Prague attending the Red Hat EMEA Partner Conference 2019, where one of the presenters jokingly responded that "Red...
![CloudStack[d] June Newsletter](https://n4stack.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/CloudStackd-June-Newsletter-400x250.png)
CloudStack[d] June Newsletter
MICROSOFT AZURE INTERCONNECTING MICROSOFT AZURE AND ORACLE CLOUD Microsoft and Oracle have partnered up to deliver a highly-optimised,...
![CloudStack[d] May Newsletter](https://n4stack.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Copy-of-CloudStackd-April-Newsletter-400x250.png)
CloudStack[d] May Newsletter
MICROSOFT AZURE GENERALLY AVAILABLE: AZURE RED HAT OPENSHIFT Azure Red Hat OpenShift was announced last year at Red Hat Summit 2018. The...
![CloudStack[d] April Newsletter](https://n4stack.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/CloudStackd-April-Newsletter-400x250.png)
CloudStack[d] April Newsletter
MICROSOFT AZURE THE TIME HAS COME FOR SERVERLESS AUTOMATION IN AZURE FUNCTIONS In April Microsoft announced the preview release of...
![CloudStack[d] March Newsletter](https://n4stack.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/CloudStackd-March-Newsletter-400x250.png)
CloudStack[d] March Newsletter
MICROSOFT AZURE INTRODUCING MICROSOFT AZURE SENTINEL Azure Sentinel has been designed by Microsoft to empower your SecOps team to see...
Key Takeaways from Microsoft Ignite 2019
Food, travel and tech are three of my favourite things so to say I was lucky enough to attend the Microsoft Ignite London Tour last week...
Top Tips to Approaching DevOps Adoption
So, you're thinking of moving to a DevOps approach but don't know where to start? Concerned about how long it will take? Unsure about how to keep up...
Jack Reacher Should Be In Charge of IT Security | Hope for the Best, Plan for the Worst
Over the past few years the companies either ‘fessing up or being outed by the media for data breaches has dramatically increased, as...
![CloudStack[d] January Newsletter](https://n4stack.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/CloudStackd-January-Newsletter-400x250.png)
CloudStack[d] January Newsletter
MICROSOFT AZURE AZURE DEVOPS SERVER 2019 RC2 NOW AVAILABLE In January Microsoft announced that Azure DevOps RC2, the last planned...
Interview with April Edwards, Azure AppDev Specialist, Microsoft
Recently we sat down with April Edwards, Azure AppDev Specialist at Microsoft, to talk all things Azure. We found out what the blockers for adoption...
The Importance of Scaffolding in Azure Cloud Design
We’ve all heard of scaffolding – used to support people and materials to aid in the maintenance and repair of structures using firm anchor points to...
Oracle OpenWorld Highlights – the Cloud, the Queues, and the Awesome
On the 16th/17th January I was lucky enough to get to attend Oracle Openworld. I’d never been before so didn’t know what to expect, nor a clue about...
Santa chooses an Azure hybrid cloud to support Digital Transformation
CASE STUDY ORGANISATION: Santa & the Elves Ltd SECTOR: Not for Profit Digital now spans across the entire organisation,...
![CloudStack[d] November Newsletter](https://n4stack.io/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/CloudStackd-November-Newsletter-1-400x250.png)
CloudStack[d] November Newsletter
MICROSOFT AZURE MICROSOFT LAUNCHES CONTAINER SUPPORT FOR AZURE COGNITIVE SERVICESThe container support will ‘allow users of Azure Cognitive...
Is Private Cloud Being Replaced By Azure & AWS?
I work for a Managed Services Provider (MSP). We own a UK-centric network, multiple datacentres and have many teams of highly skilled...
Infrastructure & Software Automation: When You Should Use It (And Why)
It’s no secret that I like automation, so much so that I wrote a book called Learn Ansible which, as you may have guessed, covers the basic usage...
Serverless Computing London 2018 – The Low Down
Yesterday I attended Day One of Serverless Computing London. Unsurprisingly the theme of the day was ‘serverless’ and the general gist...
![CloudStack[d] October Newsletter](https://n4stack.io/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/CloudStackd-October-Newsletter-1-400x250.png)
CloudStack[d] October Newsletter
MICROSOFT AZURE HAPPY BIRTHDAY AZURE! We know, we know, Azure turned 8 in February, but 10 years ago at the Professional Developers...
Why Operations-as-a-Service is the Future with Azure
Key Points As technology decision-makers or architects we need to understand the trajectory of modern cloud tools/platforms so we can make...
Extend Microsoft Support of SQL Server 2008 with Azure
The launch of SQL Server 2008 created a significant turning point where Microsoft customers could be confident their critical...
How to Fix Oracle Database Networking Issues
This simple two-part procedure will help to diagnose and fix the most common sqlnet and tnsnames configuration problems. TEST...
![CloudStack[d] August Newsletter](https://n4stack.io/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/CloudStackd-August-Newsletter-400x250.png)
CloudStack[d] August Newsletter
MICROSOFT AZURE NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR APPLICATION MODERNISATION Microsoft have announced that Windows Server Containers in Web App are now...
Oracle on Windows: DLL missing errors
Recently I encountered a DLL issue when trying to log in to Oracle on Windows. It's an issue i've not encountered before and it took a...
Trolling Myself with Azure Logic Apps
Earlier this week we had a session at the office with April Edwards from Microsoft about Azure Logic Apps;...
Automating Deployments Using Ansible AWX & Jenkins
Sharing an office with a development team can be a challenge when you are a system administrator, you are always finding yourself doing...
Migrating Oracle Data to Amazon RDS with GoldenGate
The migration of databases to cloud has increased rapidly in recent years and it’s not hard to see why. Moving your capital expenditure (CapEx)...
N4Stack launches Microsoft Azure services
New DevOps-aligned services and adoption of Microsoft Azure offer comprehensive portfolio of transformational services Derby, UK – 7th August...
![CloudStack[d] July Newsletter](https://n4stack.io/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/CloudStackd-July-Newsletter_SM-1-1-400x250.png)
CloudStack[d] July Newsletter
MICROSOFT AZURE Microsoft has had a busy month releasing new tools and services into public review. They’ve also improved their Azure...
AWS Summit 2018 #London – Key Takeaways
If you weren’t one of the 12,000 attendees or one of the 4,000+ streaming the AWS Summit, London live then let me take 2 minutes of your...
Issues encountered installing Oracle 12c on Windows
Recently I’ve had to install Oracle 12C on Windows Server 2012 for a client. Normally this wouldn’t be blog-worthy but this time the installation...
MongoDB Europe 2017: Key Takeaways
Couldn't make MongoDB Europe in London this year? Don't worry, here are the key takeaways! Only the second year of MongoDB...
Oracle Patch Update Oct 17
Oracle Patch Update October 2017 (Database Server) Oracle have released their latest critical patch update for Database Server yesterday...
Outsourced DBAs can increase the performance of critical databases
Let’s be honest, unless you are a large enterprise, justifying and maintaining an in-house DBA team is expensive and difficult. Databases are...