Microsoft Workloads on AWS

Category: Technical How-to

Rotate Active Directory credentials stored in AWS Secrets Manager

In this blog post, I will show you how to use AWS Systems Manager (SSM) Automation to keep a service account’s password synchronized in Microsoft Active Directory (AD) and a Secret in AWS Secrets Manager encrypted with an AWS Key Management Service (KMS) customer managed key (CMK). This blog post uses AWS Secrets Manager, but […]

Synchronize Active Directory users to AWS IAM Identity Center using SCIM and PowerShell

In this blog post, I will show you how to use PowerShell to synchronize changes to Microsoft Active Directory (AD) users and groups for federated access to Amazon Web Services (AWS). Introduction Some customers have a well-established Active Directory Federation Service (ADFS) implementation and would like to leverage it for federated access to AWS via […]

Switching Amazon RDS for SQL Server from AWS Managed Microsoft AD to self-managed AD

In this blog post, I will show how to move Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) for SQL Server deployments from AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory (AWS Managed Microsoft AD) to your self-managed Microsoft AD. This blog post is not saying you should move away from AWS Managed Microsoft AD to self-manged AD. Keep […]

Setting up high availability for Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services in Scale Out deployment on Amazon EC2

In this blog post, we’ll dive into two options to set up high availability for Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) in a Scale Out deployment model to help you figure out the best way to achieve SSIS high availability for mission-critical workloads. Introduction When you are deploying mission-critical workloads using Microsoft SQL Server databases, […]

How to upgrade Microsoft Windows Server 2012 with AWS Application Migration Service

This blog post is the fourth of a four-part series on how to upgrade Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2. The focus of this series is to provide options to handle the upcoming end-of-support event in October. Part 1 overviews the end-of-support dilemma itself, plus how to perform an in-place, manual upgrade along with an […]

How to build an automated C# code documentation generator using AWS DevOps

In this blog post, we will show you how to create a documentation solution on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud that automatically generates and publishes a technical documentation website for a .NET project, based on source code comments, API definitions, and Markdown documents included in the project. Having a technical documentation website improves developer […]

Migrate SQL Server database from Azure SQL Managed Instance to AWS

Did you know you can migrate a Microsoft SQL Server database from an Azure SQL Managed Instance to SQL Server on Amazon Web Services (AWS) using a COPY_ONLY backup from Azure SQL Managed Instance? Using this method is straightforward, as it copies/moves all objects in a database and it supports all editions. However, keep in […]

Integrating SAMBA 4 Active Directory with AWS IAM Identity Center

In this blog post, we will show you how to integrate an LDAP open-source solution with AWS IAM Identity Center leveraging either AWS Managed Active Directory or Active Directory Connector. Introduction Microsoft Active Directory has been a widely used identity management solution in Windows networks for decades. It delivers authentication and access protocols, such as […]

How to automate your Microsoft Windows Server upgrades using AWS Systems Manager

This blog post is the second of a four-part series on how to upgrade Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2. The focus of this series is to provide options to handle the upcoming end-of-support event in October. Part 1 overviews the end-of-support dilemma, plus how to perform an in-place, manual upgrade along with an insight […]

How to manually upgrade Microsoft Windows Server 2012 on AWS

How to manually upgrade Microsoft Windows Server 2012 on AWS

This blog post is the first of a four-part series on how to upgrade Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2. The focus of this series is to provide options to handle the upcoming end-of-support event in October. Part 1 overviews the end-of-support dilemma, plus how to perform an in-place, manual upgrade along with an insight […]