Ctrl+Alt+Azure

Hosted by Tobias Zimmergren, Jussi Roine

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Episodes

355

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Aug 2026

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About the show

Weekly conversations for cloud architects, developers, CIOs, and CISOs navigating Microsoft Azure, cloud adoption strategy, security governance, identity, and agentic AI. Hosted by industry experts Tobias Zimmergren and Jussi Roine.

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60 recent

August 19, 2026Episode 35634 min

356 - Renewing our understanding of Microsoft Global Secure Access

This week we take a look at Microsoft Global Secure Access (GSA). It's been a few years since it was announced, and it's time to refresh our thinking on what GSA is today, how companies can use it, and what a rollout in 2026 would look like. Join us in discussing GPUs, VPNs, and what a delivery project would include! (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (03:56) - Show content starts. Show links - Global Secure Access deployment guide - Private Access deployment plan - Global Secure Access operations guide - Enable Intelligent Local Access - Configure Private Access for Active Directory domain controllers (preview) - What is Global Secure Access (licensing overview) - Break-glass script for compliant network policies - Our previous take: Episode 201 - Give us feedback!

August 12, 2026Episode 35528 min

355 - Microsoft Tech Updates

In this week's episode, we look at recent Microsoft Tech updates. By popular request, we're expanding our scope beyond Azure to include Microsoft 365, Power Platform, and related Microsoft platforms and capabilities. What's new? What's interesting? What's retiring? (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (02:18) - Show content starts. Show links - Microsoft Entra Backup and Recovery - Agent identities in Conditional Access policies - Project Perception and Microsoft Learn documentation - Azure Firewall Explicit Proxy - Microsoft Agent Framework – multi-agent orchestration SDK (GA) - Public Preview: AI Gateway in APIM - Public Preview: Protect sensitive generative AI telemetry in Application Insights - Foundational CSPM becomes opt-in for new subscriptions - Give us feedback!

August 5, 2026Episode 35430 min

354 - A look at the new Azure Front Door edge actions

Azure Front Door just got programmable. Edge actions run your own JavaScript at Microsoft's edge, so A/B splits, token checks and origin routing happen before requests hit your backend. We cover what they do, where static rules run out, how they compare to Cloudflare Workers, and how to try them. (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (03:56) - Show content starts. Show links - Edge Actions - Azure Front Door | Microsoft Learn - Introducing Azure Front Door edge actions | Microsoft Community Hub - Give us feedback!

July 29, 2026Episode 35330 min

353 - The Microsoft AD Tier Model explained

Microsoft has put the Active Directory Tier Model on GitHub, MIT-licensed, with a deployment engine, a drift auditor, and around 1,700 tests. This used to be consulting material that Microsoft deployed to you as a paid engagement, so the obvious question is: why now? We start with that question, and also consider whether Active Directory is still worth your attention. (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (03:55) - Show content starts. Show links - Repository - FAQ - What's new in Windows Server 2025 (the AD DS section) - Microsoft Learn - Enterprise access model - Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2025 - Give us feedback!

July 22, 2026Episode 35234 min

352 - So long, SMS and voice authentication

Microsoft is retiring natively provided SMS and voice authentication in Entra ID, and the clock is ticking: passkeys become the default experience on September 1, 2026, and Microsoft-provided telecom delivery is fully retired on February 1, 2027. We walk through the timeline, what admins should do now to find and migrate affected users, and when the new Security Store telecom providers make sense. We also cover the everyday struggle: moving Microsoft Authenticator to a new phone without locking yourself out. (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (05:00) - Show content starts. Show links - Passkeys by default | MS Learn - Transfer Authenticator to a new phone - SMS/voice usage analyzer script - Plan a passkey deployment - End-user communication templates - Give us feedback!

July 15, 2026Episode 35132 min

351 - Building and hosting a static site in 2026

In this week's episode, we talk about recent experience in moving away from Ghost and WordPress for blogs, and building a static site with Astro. Since it will be hosted in Azure, we will talk about the experience, the AI-assisted build, and the overall experience. Join us to learn how many mistakes we made, and learn from our failures! :) (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (03:00) - Show content starts. Show links - 046 - Azure Static Web Apps with Elio Struyf | Ctrl+Alt+Azure - Astro - Azure Static Web Apps hosting plans - Tobi’s blog - Jussi’s blog - Give us feedback!

July 8, 2026Episode 35028 min

350 - Microsoft Tech Updates

In this week's episode, we look at recent Microsoft Tech updates. By popular request, we're expanding our scope beyond Azure to include Microsoft 365, Power Platform, and related Microsoft platforms and capabilities. What's new? What's interesting? What's retiring? (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (01:55) - Show content starts. Show links - Retirement: Azure Blueprints - Public Preview: Document PII playground sample in Microsoft Foundry NextGen - GA: Document PII NextGen Playground in Azure AI Language - Public Preview: Azure Migrate with GitHub Copilot modernization integration for code assessments - GA: Client-side data integrity protections in Azure Blog Storage - GA: ICMP support for Azure Standard V2 NAT Gateway - GA: Log Analytics Summary Rules experience - Microsoft certification updates - Give us feedback!

July 1, 2026Episode 34940 min

349 - Back to basics: Managed identities vs. Service Principals vs. App Registrations

In this week's episode, we go back to basics to discuss ways to access resources secured by an Entra tenant. This is the bread and butter of Azure, and it's a good time to revisit these basics to understand why they are more relevant than ever in 2026. Join us in refreshing your knowledge on App Registrations, Service Principals, and Managed Identities! (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (03:20) - Show content starts. Show links - Application and service principal objects in Microsoft Entra ID - What are managed identities for Azure resources? - Managed identities FAQ (system vs user-assigned, no app object) - Give us feedback!

June 24, 2026Episode 34830 min

348 - Updates to Azure Files in 2026

In this week's episode, we look into what's new with Azure Files in 2026. We touch on the usefulness of Azure Files, the past limitations and challenges in deploying it, and how things have evolved since the latest preview capabilities, all the way to the new general availability. Join us in modernizing your on-premises file shares for a cloud-first future! (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (03:58) - Show content starts. Show links - Entra-only identities GA announcement - Secure, modern access to Azure Files on macOS with Entra ID - Enable Entra Kerberos for Azure Files on macOS with Platform SSO, preview - FSLogix containers on Azure Files using Entra ID - Give us feedback!

June 17, 2026Episode 34730 min

347 - Microsoft's Security Adoption Model: a map for security modernization

In this week's episode, we dig into Microsoft's Security Adoption Model, the attempt to pull a decade of scattered security guidance under one roof. It's a role-aware way to plan security modernization across on-prem and multicloud, built on three layers: the business scenarios that explain why, the nine disciplines that define who's accountable, and the technology pillars that cover the how. We talk through what's genuinely new, the single front door and the disciplines framing, versus what's just been folded in like the MCRA and the CISO workshop. (00:00) - Intro and catching up. (03:48) - Show content starts. Show links - Security Adoption Model overview - Business scenarios - Disciplines overview - Technical solutions - Give us feedback!