Azure vs AWS – Comparing IaaS Resilience

Azure vs AWS – Comparing IaaS Resilience

IaaS Resilience, which cloud platform is better? Azure or AWS?

Azure vs AWS IAAS Resilience

Now this blog post is only going to cover the two largest cloud providers, Microsoft’s Azure and Amazon’s AWS and only focusing on Infrastructure as a Service (Azure VMs for Azure, and EC2 for AWS) offerings they both provide, but with a bit of a deep dive in to the way they both provide resilience. Also with some architecture best practices to ensure your infrastructure and furthermore your applications remains available in the event of failure so that you can still provide applications to your user base and more importantly to your end customers. When designing your cloud IaaS deployments knowing how best to architect for high availability and resilient infrastructure is required, so knowing the in’s and outs of the major cloud providers is a must.

In this first part of a multiple blog overview we will cover off both AWS and Azure’s datacentre construction.

Azure and AWS Data Centre Comparison

Let’s start to look at how they each construct their data centres and provide you with their platforms for your Infrastructure as a Service deployments.

AWS Availability Zones and Regions

AWS Datacentres

First off the bat, let’s see how AWS setup their Datacentres. AWS has 69 Availability Zones dispersed over 22 geographic regions throughout the world (as of August 2019, but we can expect this number to grow as they continue to expand.)


AWS Availability Zones

Amazon Web Services Regions

Each AWS region is separated by geographic location and are totally independent from one another and are also made up of multiple AWS availability zones. Wikileaks actually released the locations of each AWS datacentre (some are AWS owned others are co-located datacentres). This isolation between regions is provided by completely separate infrastructure, that includes cooling, power and water supply. Every AWS region will have a minimum of two availability zones and each Availability Zone will have a minimum of one datacentres within each AZ, with connectivity between each datacentre within the AWS region having redundant low latency network connections between them.


AWS Region and AZ

What is an AWS Region?

In the picture above I have focused on the Sydney Australia AWS Region, which is comprised of three availability zones, multiple data centres (thanks to our wikileaks friends we know there are 8 in the Sydney region) and each with high bandwidth, low latency private redundant fibre connections which allows synchronous replication of services between each AZ.

So what is an AWS Availability Zone?

So what is an Availability Zone? Well by AWS own definition an ‘Availability Zones are the core of our infrastructure architecture and they form the foundation of AWS’s and customers’ reliability and operations. Availability Zones are designed for physical redundancy and provide resilience, enabling uninterrupted performance, even in the event of power outages, Internet downtime, floods, and other natural disasters.’ As stated before each AZ is made up of one or more datacentres but are logically grouped as one datacentre (availability zone) for all intents and purposes.

Having numerous Regions with multiple availability zones all with isolation and fast reliable network connectivity between them provides you with great fault tolerance and stability for your EC2 instances.

Azure and AWS Resilience Comparison

Feature AWS Azure
Regions 25 regions as of 2021 with plans to expand 60 regions as of 2021 with plans to expand
Availability Zones 82 Availability Zones as of 2021 62 Azure regions have 160+ data centers in more than 60 regions
Service Level Agreement (SLA) Offers SLAs for most services, with a 99.99% uptime guarantee for some services Offers SLAs for most services, with a 99.99% uptime guarantee for some services
Disaster Recovery Offers disaster recovery solutions for various scenarios such as site failure, regional disasters, and data loss Offers disaster recovery solutions for various scenarios such as site failure, regional disasters, and data loss
Failover Provides automatic failover for many services Provides automatic failover for many services
Backup and Restore Offers backup and restore solutions for various services Offers backup and restore solutions for various services
Load Balancing Offers load balancing services to distribute traffic across instances Offers load balancing services to distribute traffic across instances
Auto Scaling Provides auto scaling to automatically adjust resources based on demand Provides auto scaling to automatically adjust resources based on demand

It’s worth noting that both AWS and Azure have robust resilience and uptime features, with both offering SLAs and disaster recovery solutions for various scenarios. AWS has more regions and availability zones, while Azure has a larger number of data centers overall. Both providers also offer automatic failover, backup and restore solutions, load balancing, and auto scaling features.

Azure Regions and Availability Zones

Cloud Regions

 Up until recently Availability Zones were not available within Microsoft Azure, but they have recently just come to the party (Availability Zones are currently not available in Australia, but we have four Azure Regions. The first Australian Region to offer Azure Availability Zones will be Sydney with commissioning of this AZ slated for some time in 2020). Previously Microsoft thought  multiple regions was better for their cloud environments over the AWS AZ model, but there are limitations with just using regions.

The biggest issue with a region only approach is that the network between each region and the large distance between them would only allow asynchronous replication. This translates to data discrepancies as it was impossible to achieve a recovery point objective of zero which means possible data loss should an Azure region have an outage and you need to fail over your application and services. Now dependent on what business you are in this loss of data maybe not such a big problem, but if for example you are a bank, where a loss of 1 millisecond of data could contain millions of dollars of lost transactions that would be a huge problem. Luckily for us, Microsoft is rapidly building more datacentres and availability zones


Azure Datacentre Regions

Microsoft Azure Regions

Microsoft has currently at the time of writing this article 54 Azure regions available worldwide and is available in 140 countries. An Azure region is very similar to an AWS region, being that they are sets of datacentres that are connected with a low latency network between them. Microsoft do have selected Region pairs, depending on the storage replication you choose, your data will be asynchronously replicated to the closest available region. (For example, if your main Azure Region is Melbourne, your data can be replicated to the Sydney Region).


Azure Availability Zones

Microsoft Azure Availability Zones

Microsoft’s Azure Availability Zones are being rolled out over the next few years, so we can expect them to have the same resiliency as AWS for your cloud Azure VM deployments. The Azure AZs are unique physical locations and have independent power, cooling and networking from each other, with the physical separation providing you with protection from datacentre failure. Azure Regions and Availability Zones will provide you with a reliable, resilient and expanding platform for you to utilise for your cloud virtual machines.

So what are the differences between Azure and AWS?

Just focusing on what is discussed above, we can surmise the following;

  • Microsoft Azure currently has 54 regions versus AWS’s 22. Depending where your user or client base is, and to ensure quick response times of your infrastructure, Microsoft’s Azure maybe the only choice.
  • Microsoft have more regions closer to one another than AWS. (In Australia for example, we have four Azure Regions (but not Availability Zones as yet) compared to AWS only having the one). If for example AWS had a major outage that caused an issue to effect their whole Sydney Region, then you could possibly failover to Singapore, but expect lower performance due to the increased distance and latency (could be a problem if you have data sovereignty and need to keep your data within the Australian boundary) compared to Microsoft having four possible regions to utilise should a region have  major failure. (should be noted here that two of the Australia Regions (Central 1 and 2) are only approved for use by Defense, Government and Banking,  if your business does not fall under this category then you will only be able to use either Melbourne or Sydney)
  • AWS has more availability zones per region currently than Microsoft does, but Microsoft plan to roll out the Availability Zones as quickly as they can, so expect them to eventually have the same construct as AWS. Of course they have more regions so eventually they will over take AWS in this number.

All this alludes to two very competitive cloud vendors both trying to convince you to use their services, we really are spoilt for choice.


AWS vs Azure Region Map

Azure and AWS Regions Comparison

Feature AWS Azure
Availability Zones 69 zones in 22 regions Availability zones currently being rolled out
Regions 22 regions 54 regions
Virtual Machines (VMs) Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) Azure Virtual Machines
Load Balancing Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) Azure Load Balancer
Storage Simple Storage Service (S3) Azure Blob Storage
Database Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) Azure SQL Database
Hybrid Cloud AWS Outposts Azure Arc
Pricing model Pay-as-you-go and reserved instances Pay-as-you-go and reserved instances
Support options Basic, Developer, Business, and Enterprise Basic, Developer, Standard, and Premium

Azure and AWS FAQs

What is cloud computing?

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services over the internet, including servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence. It allows organizations to use shared computing resources rather than maintaining their own infrastructure.

What are the benefits of using cloud computing?

Some of the benefits of using cloud computing include:

  • Cost savings: Cloud computing eliminates the need for expensive hardware and maintenance.
  • Scalability: Organizations can easily scale their computing resources up or down based on their needs.
  • Accessibility: Cloud computing allows access to data and applications from anywhere with an internet connection.
  • Reliability: Cloud providers typically offer high levels of uptime and resilience.
  • Security: Cloud providers often have robust security measures in place to protect data.

What is AWS?

AWS (Amazon Web Services) is a cloud computing platform provided by Amazon. It offers a wide range of services, including computing, storage, databases, analytics, networking, mobile, developer tools, and security.

What is Azure?

Azure is a cloud computing platform provided by Microsoft. It offers similar services to AWS, including computing, storage, databases, networking, developer tools, and security.

How do AWS and Azure compare in terms of pricing?

Pricing for both AWS and Azure can vary based on usage, but generally, AWS is considered to be slightly more expensive for some services. However, the pricing models and discounts offered by each provider can be complex, so it’s important to compare specific services and usage patterns to determine which provider offers the best value.

How do AWS and Azure compare in terms of features and functionality?

AWS and Azure offer many similar services, but there are some differences in their offerings. For example, AWS has a wider range of services overall, while Azure has more specialized services for certain industries, such as healthcare and government.

How do AWS and Azure compare in terms of uptime and resilience?

Both AWS and Azure have high levels of uptime and resilience, but there are some differences in their approaches to these areas. AWS typically uses a global network of data centers and multiple availability zones to provide high availability and resilience, while Azure uses a similar approach with its own global network of data centers and availability zones.

In the next blog post in this series, I will delve deeper in to AWS and Azure around the best practices for each vendor and how to ensure the uptime of your Virtual Machines, and since you are here dont forget to check out just some of our software designed specifically for Azure.

Update SCCM to Version 1906 – Easy Update Instructions

Update SCCM to Version 1906 – Easy Update Instructions

Step by Step guide on how to update to SCCM 1906​

SCCM 1906 upgrade

Hi all, Microsoft has just recently released their latest iteration to SCCM, version 1906. With this update of SCCM comes quite a few welcome features and to find out more go to this link on the Microsoft site.

But you are here to see how easy it is to upgrade your SCCM to the current branche 1906.

So let’s get started on the upgrade process for SCCM 1906.


  1. As always when performing any upgrades, make sure that you have a good known valid backup or snapshot of the servers you are targeting. Once you have confirmed you have both or either of these in place, open your SCCM console with your SCCM administration account.
    SCCM Console Main Window


  2. Now click on Administration then highlight Updates and Servicing.
    SCCM Administration Pane


     

  3. Now in the main Window you should hopefully see the SCCM 1906 update is Ready to Install. If not, click on Check for Updates and allow for sometime for SCCM to download the latest branch update from the Microsoft site. Remember to refresh your window as it wont show up automatically.SCCM 1906 download ready

  4. As you can see from the prior picture, our environment has the SCCM 1906 update all ready to install and that our previous SCCM 1902 updates had been installed. First thing we need to do is to Run prerequisite check. Highlight the Configuration Manager 1906 update, right click and choose Run prerequisite check.SCCM 1906 Run Prerequisite Check

  5. This check will take a little time, you can see the status of the check by refreshing the window.
    SCCM 1906 checking prerequisites
    You can also select Monitoring in the SCCM console Window, navigate to Updates and Servicing, highlight the Configuration Manager 1906 update, right click that and choose show status for a more detailed display of the status of the prerequisite check of SCCM 1906.
    (now this may take sometime to allow the 1906 upgrade to confirm that your SCCM environment is ready for the install, so always be patient)
    SCCM 1906 checking prerequisites detailed

  6. OK, hopefully your SCCM environment passed all the checks to confirm it is ready for the SCCM 1906 installation. Now go back to the Administration and you should see that the Prerequisite Check Passed for the Configuration Manager 1906 update as below.
    SCCM 1906 checking prerequisites passed

  7. Now to the gritty stuff, we are ready to start the upgrade process for SCCM 1906. Again, highlight the Configuration Manager 1906 update, right click and choose Install Update Pack.SCCM 1906 install update pack

     

  8. You are now presented with the Configuration Manager Updates Wizard. Click on Next when you are ready to start the installation, this will take around 30 – 45 minutes to complete so make sure you have a big enough change window for the update process.SCCM 1906 Configuration Manager Updates Wizard

  9. On the second windows of the SCCM updates wizard, carefully choose any options / features  that you require and then click on Next.SCCM 1906 Configuration Manager Updates Wizard Options

     

  10. Client Update Settings window allows you to choose if you would like to validate the client update on members of a Pre-Production collection so that you can test there are no issues with the update. As this is one of SmiKar’s software test environments, I am going to just Upgrade without Validating. When you are ready to proceed click on Next.SCCM 1906 Configuration Manager Updates Wizard Client Updates

     

  11. We are almost ready to start the installation and upgrade to SCCM 1906. On the License Terms window, you can read the License Terms if you wish to do so, click on Next when you are ready for the next step.
    SCCM 1906 Configuration Manager Updates Wizard License Acceptance

  12. Now the last step before the upgrade process starts off. On the Configuration Manager Updates Wizard Summary Window, check the settings and details you want have been selected and then finally click on Next. This will start the upgrade to SCCM 1906 so make sure you want to do this.SCCM 1906 Configuration Manager Updates Wizard Summary

     

  13. The last window you can now close and the SCCM 1906 update will complete in the background.SCCM 1906 Configuration Manager Updates Wizard Completed

  14. Now what if you dont want to refresh the SCCM console window and wish to see more details about what is happening with the update to SCCM 1906. Well you can easily get a more detailed view of the upgrade process by going to the local C Drive of your SCCM server and opening the ConfigMgrSetup.log file. If you have Trace32 installed to read your log files, it will display this in a nice and easy to read fashion.SCCM 1906 ConfigMgrSetup Log

  15. Alternatively to see the update, in your SCCM Console go to Monitoring then Updates and Servicing Status, highlight the Configuration Manage 1906 update, right click and choose Show Status. In the Update Pack Installation Status window, highlight Installation and you can also see the what the SCCM 1906 update is doing.SCCM 1906 Update Status Window

  16. Hopefully after some time (it took around 30 minutes to complete the upgrade to SCCM 1906 in our test environment), everything should have installed and updated your SCCM to the latest branche. You may get a warning that your Configuration Manager console needs to be updated as well.SCCM 1906 Console Update

  17. Close the console then reopen to update. (the SCCM 1906 update took a few minutes to complete in the lab)SCCM 1906 Console Update

  18. Finally after quite a few easy steps, we can confirm that the SCCM environment successfully installed to the current branche, SCCM 1906.SCCM 1906 install successSCCM 1906 Installed

Now that you have updated your SCCM to version 1906, perhaps you use SCCM to patch your virtual server environment. While you are here, check out SnaPatch and see how it allows you to have an easy roll back position should any issues with your patch deployment occurs.

How to clone a Azure VM

How to clone a Azure VM

How to clone a Azure VM

If you ever need to duplicate or clone your Azure VMs or perhaps even migrate your Azure VMs from Azure Service Manager (ASM) to Azure Resource Manager (ARM) you can use one of our Azure Management Tools, Azure VM Cloner (AVMC) to quickly and easily do this for you. (You can download a fully functioning trial here)

In the last blog post I showed you how you could schedule the deployment of Azure VMs. Using those same VMs and Azure Subscription I will now show you how we can clone your Azure VMs.

Why clone your Azure VM?

Use Case Description

Disaster Recovery

In case of a disaster or outage, having a cloned VM in a different Azure region or datacenter can provide a quick failover option and ensure business continuity.

Testing and Development

Cloning a VM can provide a safe and isolated environment for testing and development purposes without affecting the production environment.

Scaling Out

Cloning a VM can help quickly and easily scale out an application or service by creating multiple copies of the same VM to distribute the workload.

Migrating to a New Subscription

When migrating to a new Azure subscription, cloning a VM can help ensure that all the necessary configurations and settings are preserved.

Creating a Backup

Cloning a VM can also serve as a backup option in case the original VM experiences any issues or failures.

Cloning an Azure Virtual Machine

Start cloning your Azure VM

Start up the Azure VM Cloner tool then click on Clone Virtual Machine in the home window


Clone Azure VM

Select the Azure VM to Clone

Next we are presented with a list of the Azure VMs you have in your subscription. Highlight one of the Virtual Machines and then click on Next.


Shutdown your Azure VM to be Cloned

Note if the VM is running you will get the following error. Best to shutdown any virtual machines within Azure that you need to clone.


Clone Azure VM running VM

Choose the Destination for your cloned Azure VM

We are next presented on some destination settings we need to migrate the cloned Azure VM to. Choose your Azure Target Subscription (you can clone your Azure VMs across subscriptions only if you have access)
Select a target Azure Resource Group and then finally the Azure Location for the VM to reside in.
Click on NEXT to continue with the cloning process.

Clone Azure VM Destination

Cloned Azure VM Destination Storage Account

Now we need to choose which Azure storage account to place the cloned Azure VM in.

Highlight the correct storage account then click on NEXT.


Clone Azure VM Storage Account

Cloned Azure VM Destination vNet

The next selection window we are presented with is the Azure Virtual Network that you would like the cloned virtual machine in.

Highlight the correct Azure vNet and again click on NEXT.  The Azure VM Cloner will read the vnet configuration before continuing.


Clone Azure VM vNet

Choose the VM Size for your cloned VM

The last configuration window before the cloning of the Azure VM kicks off is the VM sizing window. Choose an Azure VM size and give the server a name.

You can also select whether to shutdown the cloned VM on completion, Send an email to let you know once done and even convert the disks to Azure Managed Disks if they were in an Azure Storage Account before.
Click on START CLONE to continue.


Clone Azure VM Sizing

Ready to start the cloning of your Azure VM

You are now ready to proceed with the cloning process. The Cloning Warning screen informs you that may have two servers with the same SIDs and computers names after the server has been cloned, this is of course not something you want to have happen in a Production environment.

Read the warning and when you are ready to do so, check the Understood and Accepted then click on START.


Clone Azure VM Warning

Cloning process for your Azure VM

In the Console Output you can see the tasks and status of your Azure VM cloning and as seen in the Azure Portal you can see that the VM has now cloned successfully.

Now the last things you will need to do if it is a Microsoft Windows virtual machine that you cloned, is to login with its local Administrator account and password and possibly run a Sysprep to change the server name and SSID before you rejoin it to the domain.


Clone Azure VM Azure Portal

Download a Trial of Azure VM Cloner today.

To trial our Azure VM Cloner, fill in the form below to get access to download the trial software.


The cost of our Azure VM Cloner is $500 USD.


 

FREE DOWNLOAD

Send download link to:

I confirm that I have read and agree to the End User License Agreement.

Download a trial of the Azure VM Cloner and see all of our Azure Management Tools.

Cloning an Azure VM is an important process that can save you a lot of time and effort. With Azure VM Cloner (AVMC), you can easily and quickly clone your Azure VMs, ensuring that you have an exact replica of the original virtual machine. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can clone your Azure VMs with ease, without any errors or issues.

How to Schedule Azure VM Deployment – Step-by-Step Guide

How to Schedule Azure VM Deployment – Step-by-Step Guide

How to schedule the deployment of Azure VMs

Automate Azure VM Deployment

If you need to schedule the regular deployment of your Azure VMs, you can do this easily with one of our Azure tools, AVMD (Azure VM Deployer). With the Azure VM deployer you can deploy single and multiple Virtual Machines quickly, easily and repeatably.

AVMD is completely FREE, you can download it from here and start using it right away.

Hopefully you have AVMD all setup and an azure admin account with the appropriate permissions to your Azure tenant to start the scheduled deployment of your Azure VMs.

Azure VM Deployment Use Cases

Use Case Description

Dev/Test Environments

Scheduling Azure VM deployment for development and testing environments allows for efficient use of resources by creating and deleting VMs as needed. For example, a development team might schedule VM deployment during business hours and delete them at the end of the day to avoid wasting resources.

Batch Processing

Scheduling Azure VM deployment for batch processing can help optimize resource utilization by only creating VMs when needed. This can be particularly useful for applications that require large amounts of compute resources for short periods of time, such as data analysis or video encoding.

Disaster Recovery

Scheduling Azure VM deployment for disaster recovery can help ensure that backup VMs are always available and up-to-date. This can be critical in the event of a system failure or other outage.

Scheduled Maintenance

Scheduling Azure VM deployment for scheduled maintenance can help minimize the impact of maintenance on users by automatically redirecting traffic to other VMs while maintenance is performed.

High Availability

Scheduling Azure VM deployment for high availability can help ensure that VMs are always available to users. This can be achieved by automatically creating new VMs when existing ones fail or become unavailable.

Cost Optimization

Scheduling Azure VM deployment can help optimize costs by only creating VMs when they are needed, and deleting them when they are no longer needed. This can be particularly useful for organizations that have variable workloads or need to closely manage their cloud spend.

Launch the Azure VM Deployer

To start automating and scheduling deployment of your Azure VMS, simply open up Azure VM Deployer and let is synchronise with your Azure environment.

Schedule Azure VM Deployment

 

Scan your Azure Tenancy First

First, ensure that you have the AVMD tool downloaded and set up on your machine. You’ll also need an Azure admin account with the necessary permissions to your Azure tenant to deploy VMs. Once you’re ready to begin, launch the Azure VM Deployer and allow it to synchronize with your Azure environment.

Azure VM Deployment Settings

  • You can now start filling out all the settings to deploy your VMs to your Azure subscription.
    Provide a Name for your Virtual Server
    Choose the Servers Operating System
    Azure Subscription
    Azure Availability Zone Location
    Azure Resource Group
    Choose the Azure Virtual Machine size
    Provide a local Administrator account and password
    Join the VM automatically a domain (You will need an account with Domain Join Permissions)
    Which Azure Storage account you wish to deploy the VM to
    Any additional disks you want to add to the VM during deployment
    The Azure vNet and Subnet
    Further additional options if you want VM diagnostics, Azure Log Analytics, a Basic NSG, Public IP, Azure Resource Tags and finally if you want to shutdown the VM post deployment.Click Add to queue when you have filled out all the Azure VM details and it will populate these settings to the Deployment Queue.

Schedule Azure VM Deployment Selection

Provide a name for your Azure VM

For any additional VMs, keep filling out the details and add them to the queue too. If the servers are all the same type and settings you just need to update the server name before adding them to the deployment queue.

Schedule Azure VM Deployment Server

Azure VM Details

Now when you have added all the Virtual Machines you wish to deploy to Azure you are now ready to start deployment, but you may want to just confirm that your VM settings are correct. Simply right click the blue icon next to each Virtual Machine in the Deployment Queue and choose Show Details

Schedule Azure VM Deployment Server Overview 2

Azure VM Deployment Schedule Creation

Now lets start the deployment of your Azure Virtual Machines. Click the DEPLOY button in the bottom left hand corner and you are now presented with the options to deploy right now or schedule the VM deployment of your Azure VMs.

  1. Schedule Azure VM Deployment Now

Azure VM New Deployment Schedule

In this example we will schedule the deployment of the Azure VMs, so click on schedule, then on OK to start the schedule creation.

Schedule Azure VM Deployment 3

Azure VM New Deployment Schedule

We are now prompted to create the schedule to deploy your Azure Virtual Machines, click on New.

Schedule Azure VM Deployment New

Scheduled Deployment Execution

In this example we will schedule the deployment of the Azure VMs, so click on schedule, then on OK to start the schedule creation.

Schedule Azure VM Deployment 3

Schedule Creation

We are now prompted to create the schedule to deploy your Azure Virtual Machines, click on New.

Schedule Azure VM Deployment New

Schedule Settings

Simply put in the date and time you wish for your Azure VMs to deploy at then click OK. (You can set to schedule this once off, or a reoccurring daily, weekly or monthly schedule.)

Schedule Azure VM Deployment Trigger

Schedule Date and Time Settings

Confirm that the date and time you want to schedule the VMs for deployment to your Azure subscription is correct.

Schedule Azure VM Deployment Trigger 2

Confirm the Schedule is Correct

Click on OK in the scheduler window and the deployment task is now confirmed.

Schedule Azure VM Deployment confirmed

Scheduled Deployment is underway

My scheduled deployment has now kicked off and we can see in my Azure Portal that the machines are now deploying.

Schedule Azure VM Deployment Creation

Scheduled Deployment Alerting

If you had set up your email alerts, you will receive an email letting you know that your VMs have now deployed to Azure.

Schedule Azure VM Deployment Finished Email


  1. After some time your Azure Virtual Machines should have now deployed. As seen in the Azure Portal I can see that our Azure VMs are up and running, in the correct resource group, Azure Subscription and Azure Location.Schedule Azure VM Deployment Complete


Dont forget that the Azure VM Deployer is completely free and one of our Azure Management Tools.

Azure VMs are now deployed

After some time your Azure Virtual Machines should have now deployed. As seen in the Azure Portal I can see that our Azure VMs are up and running, in the correct resource group, Azure Subscription and Azure Location.

Schedule Azure VM Deployment Complete

Dont forget that the Azure VM Deployer is completely free and one of our Azure Management Tools.

Azure FAQs

Question Answer

What is Azure VM deployment?

Azure VM deployment is the process of creating and managing virtual machines in the Microsoft Azure cloud platform.

What are the benefits of using Azure VMs?

Azure VMs offer a wide range of benefits, including scalability, flexibility, security, and cost-effectiveness.

How do I create a new Azure VM?

You can create a new Azure VM through the Azure portal, Azure CLI, or Azure PowerShell.

What operating systems are supported on Azure VMs?

Azure VMs support a wide range of operating systems, including Windows Server, Linux, and various distributions of Unix.

What are the different VM sizes available in Azure?

Azure offers a variety of VM sizes, ranging from small, low-cost instances to large, high-performance instances.

How can I manage and monitor my Azure VMs?

You can manage and monitor your Azure VMs through the Azure portal, Azure CLI, or Azure PowerShell, as well as third-party tools such as Azure Monitor and Azure Log Analytics.

What are availability sets in Azure VM deployment?

Availability sets are used to ensure high availability for VMs by distributing them across multiple physical servers in a data center.

How can I secure my Azure VMs?

You can secure your Azure VMs through a variety of measures, including network security groups, firewall rules, and encryption.

What is Azure Site Recovery and how does it work with VMs?

Azure Site Recovery is a disaster recovery solution that can be used to replicate and recover VMs in the event of a site outage or other disaster.

How can I optimize the performance of my Azure VMs?

You can optimize the performance of your Azure VMs through various means, such as selecting the appropriate VM size, optimizing disk performance, and using caching.
How to update SCCM 1902 Hotfix Rollup KB4500571

How to update SCCM 1902 Hotfix Rollup KB4500571

How to update SCCM 1902 Hotfix Rollup KB4500571

 

SCCM Hotfix rollup KB4500571

SCCM Hotfix rollup KB4500571 bug fix overview

Microsoft has released yet another update for SCCM, hotfix rollup KB4500571.

First off, we will cover the update fixes issues with SCCM including; (how to update your SCCM environment to Hotfix rollup KB4500571 is further down the page)

  • The Download Package Content task sequence action fails and the OsdDownload.exe process terminates unexpectedly. When this occurs, the following exit code is recorded in the Smsts.log on the client:
    Process completed with exit code 3221225477
  • Screenshots that are submitted through the Send a Smile or Send a Frown product feedback options cannot be deleted until the Configuration Manager console is closed.
  • Hardware inventory data that relies on the MSFT_PhysicalDisk class reports incomplete information on computers that have multiple drives. This is because the ObjectId property is not correctly defined as a key field.
  • Client installation fails on workgroup computers in an HTTPS-only environment. Communication with the management point fails, indicating that a client certificate is required even after one has been provisioned and imported.
  • A “success” return code of 0 is incorrectly reported as an error condition when you monitor deployment status in the Configuration Manager console.
  • When the option to show a dialog window is selected for app deployments that require a computer restart, that window is not displayed again if it is closed before the restart deadline. Instead, a temporary (toast) notification is displayed. This can cause unexpected computer restarts.
  • If it is previously selected, the “When software changes are required, show a dialog window to the user instead of a toast notification” check box is cleared after you make property changes to a required application deployment.
  • Expired Enhanced HTTPS certificates that are used for distribution points are not updated automatically as expected. When this occurs, clients cannot retrieve content from the distribution points. This can cause increased network traffic or failure to download content. Errors that resemble the following are recorded in the Smsdpprov.log:
    Begin to select client certificateUsing certificate selection criteria ‘CertHashCode:’.
    There are no certificate(s) that meet the criteria.
    Failed in GetCertificate(…): 0x87d00281
    Failed to find certificate ” from store ‘MY’. Error 0x87d00281
    UpdateIISBinding failed with error – 0x87d00281

    The distribution points certificates are valid when you view them in the SecurityCertificates node of the Configuration Manager console, but the SMS Issuing certificate will appear to be expired.
    Renewing the certificate from the console has no effect. After you apply this update, the SMS Issuing certificate and any distribution point certificates will automatically renew as required.

  • A management point may return an HTTP Error 500 in response to client user policy requests. This can occur if Active Directory User Discovery is not enabled. The instance of Dllhost.exe that hosts the Notification Server role on the management point may also continue to consume memory as more user policy requests arrive.
  • Content downloads from a cloud-based distribution point fail if the filename contains the percent sign (%) or other special characters. An error entry that resembles the following is recorded in the DataTransferService.log file on the client:AddUntransferredFilesToBITS : PathFileExists returned unexpected error 0x8007007b
    The DataTransferService.log may also record error code 0x80190194 when it tries to download the source file. One or both errors may be present depending on the characters in the filename.
  • After you update to Configuration Manager current branch, version 1902, the Data Warehouse Synchronization Service (Data_Warehouse_Service_Point) records error status message ID 11202. An error entry that resembles the following is recorded in the Microsoft.ConfigMgrDataWarehouse.log file:
    View or function ‘v_UpdateCIs’ has more column names specified than columns defined.
    Could not use view or function ‘vSMS_Update_ComplianceStatus’ because of binding errors.
  • User collections may appear to be empty after you update to Configuration Manager current branch, version 1902. This can occur if the collection membership rules query user discovery data that contains Unicode characters, such as ä.
  • The Delete Aged Log Data maintenance task fails if it is run on a Central Administration Site (CAS). Errors that resemble the following are recorded in the Smsdbmon.log file on the server.
    TOP is not allowed in an UPDATE or DELETE statement against a partitioned view. : spDeleteAgedLogData
    An error occurred while aging out DRS log data.
  • When you select the option to save PowerShell script output to a task sequence variable, the output is incorrectly appended instead of replaced.
  • The SMS Executive service on a site server may terminate unexpectedly after a change in operating system machine keys or after a site recovery to a different server. The Crash.log file on the server contains entries that resemblie the following.
    Note Multiple components may be listed, such as SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER, SMS_CERTIFICATE_MANAGER, or SMS_FAILOVERMANAGER. The following Crash.log entries are truncated for readability.
    EXCEPTION INFORMATION
    Service name = SMS_EXECUTIVE
    Thread name = SMS_FAILOVER_MANAGER
    Exception = c00000fd (EXCEPTION_STACK_OVERFLOW)Description = “The thread used up its stack.”
  • Old status messages may be overwritten by new messages after promoting a passive site server to active.
  • User targeted software installations do not start from Software Center after you update to Configuration Manager current branch, version 1902. The client displays an “Unable to make changes to your software” error message. Errors entries that resemble the following are recorded in the ServicePortalWebSitev3.log::GetDeviceIdentity – Could not convert 1.0,GUID:{guid} to device identity because the deviceId string is either null or larger than the allowed max size of input
    :System.ArgumentException: DeviceId
    at Microsoft.ConfigurationManager.SoftwareCatalog.Website.PortalClasses.PortalContextUtilities.GetDeviceIdentity(String deviceId)
    at Microsoft.ConfigurationManager.SoftwareCatalog.Website.PortalClasses.Connection.ServiceProxy.InstallApplication(UserContext user, String deviceId, String applicationId)
    at Microsoft.ConfigurationManager.SoftwareCatalog.Website.ApplicationViewService.InstallApplication(String applicationID, String deviceID, String reserved)

    This issue occurs if the PKI certificates that are used have a key length that is greater than 2,048 bits.

  • Audit status messages are not transmitted to the site server in an environment with a remote SMS provider.
  • The Management Insights rule “Enable the software updates product category for Windows 10, version 1809 and later” does not work as expected for Windows 10, version 1903.

SCCM Hotfix rollup KB4500571 additional changes

Further improvements and additional functional changes to SCCM included in the KB4500571 hotfix are;

  • Manager and the Microsoft Desktop Analytics service.
  • Multiple improvements are made to support devices that are managed by using both Configuration Manager and a thirty-party MDM service.
  • Client computers that use IPv6 over UDP (Teredo tunneling) may generate excessive traffic to management points. This, in turn, can also increase load on the site database.
    This traffic occurs because of the frequent network changes that are associated with the Teredo refresh interval. After you apply this update, this data is filtered by default and is no longer passed to the notification server on the management point. This filtering can be customized by creating the following registry string under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftCCM:
    Type: String
    Name: IPv6IFTypeFilterList
    Value: If the string is created without any data (blank), the pre-update behavior applies and no filtering occurs.
    The default behavior of filtering Teredo tunnel data (interface type IF_TYPE_TUNNEL, 131) is overwritten if new values are entered. Multiple values should be separated by semicolons.
  • The Configuration Manager client now handles a return code of 0x800f081f (CBS_E_SOURCE_MISSING) from the Windows Update Agent as a retriable condition. The result will be the same as the retry for return code 0x8024200D (WU_E_UH_NEEDANOTHERDOWNLOAD).
  • The SMSTSRebootDelayNext task sequence variable is now available. For more information, see the “Improvements to OS deployment” section of Features in Configuration Manager technical preview version 1904.
  • SQL database performance is improved for operations that involve a configuration item (CI) that has associated file content by the addition of a new index on the CI_Files table.

How to update your SCCM to Hotfix rollup KB4500571

Now we get to the nitty gritty of the update process for KB4500571.

  1. Open your SCCM Console, and navigate to Administration, then highlight Updates and Servicing.
    KB4500571 Administration
  2. Now with Updates and Servicing highlighted in main window you should hopefully see the KB4500571 update has downloaded and is ready to install.
    (If you cant see it downloaded, right click on Updates and Servicing and choose Check for Updates.)
    KB4500571 Downloaded
  3. Firstly we need to run the prerequisite check for SCCM KB4500571 to ensure your environment is ready for the update.
    Right Click the downloaded update and choose Run Prerequisite Check.
    KB4500571 PrerequisiteCheck
  4. The prerequisite check will take around 10 minutes or so to complete the check.
    You can use the ConfigMgrPrereq.log located in the root of the SCCM server’s C Drive to see the status and it’s completion.
    SCCM KB4500571 Prerequisite Check
  5. Now on to the fun bit, let’s start the installation of SCCM KB4500571. Again right click the update in the main window and choose Install Update Pack.
    SCCM KB4500571 Install Update Pack
  6. The first window of the Configuration Manager Updates Wizard pops up. Choose Next to continue the installation
    SCCM KB4500571 Updates Wizard
  7. The Client Updates Settings window lets you choose whether you want to validate the update against a pre-production collection. We wont bother with that here as this is our test environment. Choose Next to continue when ready to do so.SCCM KB4500571 Client Update Settings
  8. Accept the License Terms – only if you are happy with them 🙂 – and click Next.
    SCCM KB4500571 License Terms
  9. Now the Summary tab of the Configuration Manager Updates Wizard details the installation settings you have chosen. If you are happy to proceed with the installation click Next.
    This did take some time in the SmiKar SCCM lab environment, so best go make yourself a cup of coffee and come back. 🙂
    SCCM KB4500571 Install Confirmation
  10. Hopefully all went well with your upgrade to SCCM KB4500571 and you are presented with a screen similar to this.
    SCCM KB4500571 Completed
  11. If you had any issues or want to view the status (rather than look in the logs) go to Monitoring, then high Updates and Servicing Status. Highlight and Right Click the update and choose Show Status.
    SCCM KB4500571 Updates and Servicing Status