Streaming Non-Persistent Virtual Desktops with Amazon AppStream 2.0 – Create the Image

Overview A fairly common ask in relation to the AWS End-User Computing portfolio had been a non-persistent virtual desktop. That ask was answered in August 2020 when AWS introduced a new feature called Desktop View, which provides a desktop experience through Amazon AppStream. In this multi-part series, I'll go through the process to create and … Continue reading Streaming Non-Persistent Virtual Desktops with Amazon AppStream 2.0 – Create the Image

Why you need Veeam to backup your cloud data

Veeam v10 was released earlier in 2020 and brought with it a slew of new cloud focused products and announcements. Throughout 2020, Veeam has enhanced it's cloud portfolio, including an acquisition of Kasten to bring Kubernetes into the fold. Recent updates to Veeam Backup for AWS, the release of Veeam Backup for Azure and soon … Continue reading Why you need Veeam to backup your cloud data

Is Terraform Cloud the best Terraform backend?

A previous post of mine highlighted the flexibility that Azure DevOps provides for automation across a wide spectrum of products. In that example, I deployed AWS infrastructure via ADO Pipelines using Terraform configured with an Azure backend. That example worked fine for my use case, but just because you can do something doesn't always mean … Continue reading Is Terraform Cloud the best Terraform backend?

Has the Cloud Era Arrived? Thoughts from Cloud Field Day 8 #CFD8

I don't need to explain how crazy this year has been. Everyone realizes that we live in "unprecedented times" and that 2020 has more than likely stamped permanent change to many aspects of our lives. The same can also be said for the corporate IT landscape. Cloud adoption has been steadily increasing over the last … Continue reading Has the Cloud Era Arrived? Thoughts from Cloud Field Day 8 #CFD8

Troubleshooting Amazon WorkSpace Connectivity from an End-User Device

I recently ran into a situation where I was unable to connect to an Amazon WorkSpace.  Though everything looked great on the AWS side in that no problems were displayed within the WorkSpaces console, the Get-WKSWorkspace PowerShell command, and the CloudWatch WorkSpace dashboard, my connection would launch, present me with a black screen, and then … Continue reading Troubleshooting Amazon WorkSpace Connectivity from an End-User Device

Deploying AWS Infrastructure…with Terraform…using Azure DevOps?

Welcome to my first mash-up of cloud providers and tools post! I guess this can be considered some new age "multi-cloud" stuff, but my first venture into the world of Azure DevOps opened my eyes to how powerful and surprisingly accessible this tool can be. Let me frame that comment with some background. More Dev … Continue reading Deploying AWS Infrastructure…with Terraform…using Azure DevOps?

AWS Security Specialty Exam Prep, a Book Review: “AWS Certified Security – Specialty” by Zeal Vora

Recently, I have been studying for and fortunately passed the AWS Certified Security Specialty exam. Unlike the AWS Associate and Professional certifications for which there seems to be no shortage of study material, I found that study material for the AWS Security Specialty, especially a book, is less common. You may be asking and I'll … Continue reading AWS Security Specialty Exam Prep, a Book Review: “AWS Certified Security – Specialty” by Zeal Vora

Deploying Veeam Backup for AWS – Free Edition

Introduction During AWS re:Invent 2019, Veeam released "Backup for AWS", a backup and recovery solution designed, at this time, to protect AWS EC2 instances. In this upcoming (and now here) series of posts, I'll detail how to deploy and use Veeam Backup for AWS to backup and restore data from your AWS EC2 instances. This … Continue reading Deploying Veeam Backup for AWS – Free Edition