Did you know that you can use Azure for free for learning purposes? And when I say free, i am not talking about the free account where you need to add your credit card and have 170€ credit. I am talking about a completely free environment to learn the Azure services and resources, but only for Learning purposes.

The Azure Sandbox is offered by the Microsoft Learn platform. Microsoft Learn is a completely free, online training platform that provides interactive learning for Microsoft products and more.

The Microsoft Learn sandbox (sometimes called the Azure sandbox) is a free environment that you can use to explore Azure through Microsoft Learn content.

And the magic here is that you don’t need an Azure account to use a sandbox! All you need is a Microsoft account to sign in with. If you don’t have one, you can create one for free.

Take a look at this. This is the Microsoft Learn home page where you can select whatever learning path or module you want to follow.

When you start a module that needs Microsoft Azure Access, there is an “Activate sandbox” button

When you press is, the only thing that you will be asked is to enter a mobile phone number, just for verification. It will not ask for credit card!

Once you verify your number, it will ask you to Review and accept the permissions to use Microsoft Azure using your Microsoft Account

And the Sandbox environment is ready! You can have 10 Sandboxes per day, for 2 hours each.

You can use Bash, PowerShell and the Azure Poral at will:

Bash:

PowerShell:

Azure Portal:

You can use the Sandbox to complete the specific exercise, but you can also play around with the resources. You can see at the below screenshot, that except the two “webVM”s of the exercise, I have created a “test” VM directly from the portal.

Start your learning path at Microsoft Learn NOW!

And remember: The sandbox may only be used to complete training on Microsoft Learn.

Pantelis Apostolidis

Pantelis Apostolidis is a Sr. Specialist, Azure at Microsoft and a former Microsoft Azure MVP. For the last 20 years, Pantelis has been involved to major cloud projects in Greece and abroad, helping companies to adopt and deploy cloud technologies, driving business value. He is entitled to a lot of Microsoft Expert Certifications, demonstrating his proven experience in delivering high quality solutions. He is an author, blogger and he is acting as a spokesperson for conferences, workshops and webinars. He is also an active member of several communities as a moderator in azureheads.gr and autoexec.gr. Follow him on Twitter @papostolidis.

www.cloudcorner.gr

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My virtual presentation at the #23 Azureheads virtual metup about the Azure Shared Disks feature.

You can view my PowerPoint presentation here

And the video recording at my youtube channel

Pantelis Apostolidis

Pantelis Apostolidis is a Sr. Specialist, Azure at Microsoft and a former Microsoft Azure MVP. For the last 20 years, Pantelis has been involved to major cloud projects in Greece and abroad, helping companies to adopt and deploy cloud technologies, driving business value. He is entitled to a lot of Microsoft Expert Certifications, demonstrating his proven experience in delivering high quality solutions. He is an author, blogger and he is acting as a spokesperson for conferences, workshops and webinars. He is also an active member of several communities as a moderator in azureheads.gr and autoexec.gr. Follow him on Twitter @papostolidis.

www.cloudcorner.gr

The post Azureheads #23 | Clusters in the Cloud appeared first on Apostolidis Cloud Corner.

Thank you all who attented my presentation at Sunday’s 29/3/2020 virtual Greek MVPs in Actions event.

My presentation was about the Azure Front Door Service and how you can use it to accelerate and protect your web applications.

You can view my presentation here

And you can see my video at my Youtube channel

Pantelis Apostolidis

Pantelis Apostolidis is a Sr. Specialist, Azure at Microsoft and a former Microsoft Azure MVP. For the last 20 years, Pantelis has been involved to major cloud projects in Greece and abroad, helping companies to adopt and deploy cloud technologies, driving business value. He is entitled to a lot of Microsoft Expert Certifications, demonstrating his proven experience in delivering high quality solutions. He is an author, blogger and he is acting as a spokesperson for conferences, workshops and webinars. He is also an active member of several communities as a moderator in azureheads.gr and autoexec.gr. Follow him on Twitter @papostolidis.

www.cloudcorner.gr

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I was honored with two sessions, one 15 minutes Theater and one 45 minutes Breakthrough. Although I was very stressed about my presentations, it went very well and I have excellent evaluation scores.

My 15 minute Theater session at Microsoft Ignite The Tour Milan, where I talk about how to accelerate your web applications with Azure Front Door Service. Use the Azure WAN, 130+ edge sites with WAF & Layer 7 Load Balance at a global scale. Session code: THR30089

My 45 minutes Breakthrough session at Ignite The Tour Milan, where I will talk about how to use Azure Platform as a Service (PaaS): Design your apps with Elasticity, Resiliency and High Availability very easy, fast and secure. Session code: BRK30169

Pantelis Apostolidis

Pantelis Apostolidis is a Sr. Specialist, Azure at Microsoft and a former Microsoft Azure MVP. For the last 20 years, Pantelis has been involved to major cloud projects in Greece and abroad, helping companies to adopt and deploy cloud technologies, driving business value. He is entitled to a lot of Microsoft Expert Certifications, demonstrating his proven experience in delivering high quality solutions. He is an author, blogger and he is acting as a spokesperson for conferences, workshops and webinars. He is also an active member of several communities as a moderator in azureheads.gr and autoexec.gr. Follow him on Twitter @papostolidis.

www.cloudcorner.gr

The post Speaking at Microsoft Ignite The Tour Milan 2020 appeared first on Apostolidis Cloud Corner.

IT industry-leading conference is going to Milan. Don’t miss the very latest in cloud technologies and developer tools with guest speakers, industry experts, and more.

I will deliver two sessions:

A 45 minutes Breakthrough session, where I will talk about how to use Azure Platform as a Service (PaaS): Design your apps with Elasticity, Resiliency and High Availability very easy, fast and secure. Session code: BRK30169

Session link: https://milan.myignitetour.techcommunity.microsoft.com/sessions/91113?source=sessions

And a 15 minute Theater session, where I will talk about how to accelerate your web applications with Azure Front Door Service. Use the Azure WAN, 130+ edge sites with WAF & Layer 7 Load Balance at a global scale. Session code: THR30089

Session link: https://milan.myignitetour.techcommunity.microsoft.com/sessions/91114?source=sessions

YFeel free to find me at the Microsoft Showcase, where I will answer all your questions, discuss about Cloud Technologies and the future of our industry!

Grab your ticket at https://www.microsoft.com/it-it/ignite-the-tour/milan

See you at Milan!

Pantelis Apostolidis

Pantelis Apostolidis is a Sr. Specialist, Azure at Microsoft and a former Microsoft Azure MVP. For the last 20 years, Pantelis has been involved to major cloud projects in Greece and abroad, helping companies to adopt and deploy cloud technologies, driving business value. He is entitled to a lot of Microsoft Expert Certifications, demonstrating his proven experience in delivering high quality solutions. He is an author, blogger and he is acting as a spokesperson for conferences, workshops and webinars. He is also an active member of several communities as a moderator in azureheads.gr and autoexec.gr. Follow him on Twitter @papostolidis.

www.cloudcorner.gr

The post Excited to be speaking at Microsoft Ignite The Tour in Milan! appeared first on Apostolidis Cloud Corner.

December 14, 2019 we proudly carried out the Global AI Bootcamp, Athens 2019! IT was a day full of AI and Microsoft Azure. The Global AI Bootcamp is a free one-day event organized across the world by local communities that are passionate about artificial intelligence on Microsoft Azure.

After all preparations with the assistance of Stoiximan.gr, our sponsor, the day begun at Athinais Cultural Center, at Athens, Greece. From early morning our sponsor was there with us to prepare the venue.

People start coming at 10:00 am and we checked-in 62 attendees. We started with the keynote and then the presentations. There was time at launch for networking and people looked to have fun.

After launch we have more presentations and then we proceeded with the workshop. We deliver the workshop with the assistance of two AI experts from Stoiximan.

For ending we draw gifts that our vendor Stoiximan.gr provided.

Judging from my personal experience with the attendees that day, and from their excellent evaluations, all had a great time and learn a lot about AI and Microsoft Azure.

Looking forward for our next event!

Pantelis Apostolidis

Pantelis Apostolidis is a Sr. Specialist, Azure at Microsoft and a former Microsoft Azure MVP. For the last 20 years, Pantelis has been involved to major cloud projects in Greece and abroad, helping companies to adopt and deploy cloud technologies, driving business value. He is entitled to a lot of Microsoft Expert Certifications, demonstrating his proven experience in delivering high quality solutions. He is an author, blogger and he is acting as a spokesperson for conferences, workshops and webinars. He is also an active member of several communities as a moderator in azureheads.gr and autoexec.gr. Follow him on Twitter @papostolidis.

www.cloudcorner.gr

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Check out this week’s Friday Five section of the Microsoft MVP Award Program Blog! My blog post about using SendGrid for free SMTP relay from Azure is featured !!!

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-MVP-Award-Program-Blog/Friday-Five-Azure-free-SMTP-relay-using-Sendgrid-Power-Platform/ba-p/894274

Pantelis Apostolidis

Pantelis Apostolidis is a Sr. Specialist, Azure at Microsoft and a former Microsoft Azure MVP. For the last 20 years, Pantelis has been involved to major cloud projects in Greece and abroad, helping companies to adopt and deploy cloud technologies, driving business value. He is entitled to a lot of Microsoft Expert Certifications, demonstrating his proven experience in delivering high quality solutions. He is an author, blogger and he is acting as a spokesperson for conferences, workshops and webinars. He is also an active member of several communities as a moderator in azureheads.gr and autoexec.gr. Follow him on Twitter @papostolidis.

www.cloudcorner.gr

The post Happy Friday! My blog post featured at this week’s Friday Five! appeared first on Apostolidis Cloud Corner.

Ευχαριστώ όλη την ομάδα που συνέβαλε για αυτήν την συνέντευξη & φυσικά Read more @netfax

Pantelis Apostolidis

Pantelis Apostolidis is a Sr. Specialist, Azure at Microsoft and a former Microsoft Azure MVP. For the last 20 years, Pantelis has been involved to major cloud projects in Greece and abroad, helping companies to adopt and deploy cloud technologies, driving business value. He is entitled to a lot of Microsoft Expert Certifications, demonstrating his proven experience in delivering high quality solutions. He is an author, blogger and he is acting as a spokesperson for conferences, workshops and webinars. He is also an active member of several communities as a moderator in azureheads.gr and autoexec.gr. Follow him on Twitter @papostolidis.

www.cloudcorner.gr

The post Το Azure εξελίσσεται & οι τάσεις που θα μας απασχολήσουν! @Netfax appeared first on Apostolidis Cloud Corner.

This Saturday, May 11, 18 speakers, 2 concurrent sessions, 10 volunteers and more than 250 attendees gathered at the Gazarte Cultural Club for the greatest Azure event of Greece. A day dedicated to IT pros & Developers.

I am more than proud to be part of the organizing team for one more year, with Konstantinos Pantos & Paris Polyzos. A great team committed to community and technology.

It was a day full of Microsoft Azure and technology, from both IT Pro & Dev perspective. A sunny day at Athens, with a lot of fun. For sure we had a great time!

Getting Ready with Paris & Kostas, Gazarte about 8:30 am

This years banner, with our sponsors and communities

The volunteers dream team!

The first registrations at about 9:30 am

Presentations in a full Gazarte stage

Getting ready for the launch break

Happy me

Break time

So long… until next year!

Pantelis Apostolidis

Pantelis Apostolidis is a Sr. Specialist, Azure at Microsoft and a former Microsoft Azure MVP. For the last 20 years, Pantelis has been involved to major cloud projects in Greece and abroad, helping companies to adopt and deploy cloud technologies, driving business value. He is entitled to a lot of Microsoft Expert Certifications, demonstrating his proven experience in delivering high quality solutions. He is an author, blogger and he is acting as a spokesperson for conferences, workshops and webinars. He is also an active member of several communities as a moderator in azureheads.gr and autoexec.gr. Follow him on Twitter @papostolidis.

www.cloudcorner.gr

The post Athens Azure Bootcamp 2019 appeared first on Apostolidis Cloud Corner.

Some major dates of Azure until now:

• October 2008 (PDC LA) – Announced the Windows Azure Platform
• March 2009 – Announced SQL Azure Relational Database
• November 2009 – Updated Windows Azure CTP, Enabled full trust, PHP, Java, CDN CTP and more
• February 1, 2010 – Windows Azure Platform commercially available! Azure is GA!
• June 2010 – Windows Azure Update, .NET Framework 4, OS Versioning, CDN, SQL Azure Update
• October 2010 (PDC) – Platform enhancements, Windows Azure Connect, improved Dev / IT Pro Experience
• December 2011 – Traffic manager, SQL Azure reporting, HPC scheduler
• June 2012 – Websites, Virtual machines for Windows and Linux, Python SDK, new portal, locally redundant storage
• April 2014 – Windows Azure renamed to Microsoft Azure, ARM Portal introduced at Build 2014.
• July 2014 – Azure Machine Learning public preview
• November 2014 – Outage affecting major websites including MSN.com
• September 2015 – Azure Cloud Switch introduced as a cross-platform Linux distribution.
• December, 2015 – Azure ARM Portal (codename “Ibiza”) released.
• March, 2016 – Azure Service Fabric is Generally Available (GA)
• September 2017 – Microsoft Azure gets a new logo and a Manifesto
• July 16, 2018 – Azure Service Fabric Mesh public preview
• September 24, 2018 – Microsoft Azure IoT Central is Generally Available (GA)
• October 10, 2018 – Microsoft joins the Linux-oriented group Open Invention Network.

Currently Microsoft Azure is available at 54 Regions Worldwide!

Happy Birthday Azure!

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Azure & https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/global-infrastructure/regions/

Pantelis Apostolidis

Pantelis Apostolidis is a Sr. Specialist, Azure at Microsoft and a former Microsoft Azure MVP. For the last 20 years, Pantelis has been involved to major cloud projects in Greece and abroad, helping companies to adopt and deploy cloud technologies, driving business value. He is entitled to a lot of Microsoft Expert Certifications, demonstrating his proven experience in delivering high quality solutions. He is an author, blogger and he is acting as a spokesperson for conferences, workshops and webinars. He is also an active member of several communities as a moderator in azureheads.gr and autoexec.gr. Follow him on Twitter @papostolidis.

www.cloudcorner.gr

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