Welcome to Architect’s Notebook

Introduction Azure Landing Zones provide a strategic foundation for your cloud adoption journey. They represent Microsoft’s recommended approach to setting up your Azure environment with proper governance, security, and operational excellence from day one. What are Azure Landing Zones? Azure Landing Zones are pre-configured environments that implement Microsoft’s Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) best practices. They provide: Governance - Policy-driven compliance and management Security - Defense-in-depth security controls Networking - Hub-and-spoke or Virtual WAN architectures Identity - Centralized identity and access management Operations - Monitoring, logging, and management at scale Key Components Management Groups Hierarchy A well-structured management group hierarchy is the backbone of your Azure governance: ...

Introduction The Zero Trust security model represents a paradigm shift from traditional perimeter-based security. In Azure environments, implementing Zero Trust is crucial for protecting modern, distributed workloads and data. Core Principles of Zero Trust Verify Explicitly Always authenticate and authorize based on all available data points: User identity Location Device health Service or workload Data classification Anomalies Use Least Privilege Access Limit user access with Just-In-Time (JIT) and Just-Enough-Access (JEA): ...

Introduction Microsoft Defender for Cloud (formerly Azure Security Center and Azure Defender) is your unified security management system that provides advanced threat protection across hybrid cloud workloads. Let’s explore how to maximize its value for your organization. Core Capabilities 1. Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) Defender for Cloud continuously assesses your resources against security standards: Secure Score - Quantified security posture (0-100%) Recommendations - Actionable security improvements Compliance Dashboard - Track against regulatory standards Security Policies - Customizable policy frameworks 2. Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP) Advanced threat protection for: ...

Introduction Microsoft Sentinel is a cloud-native Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) solution. In this post, we’ll explore how to build an effective Security Operations Center (SOC) using Sentinel. Why Microsoft Sentinel? Key Advantages Cloud-Native Scale - Ingest and analyze petabytes of data AI and Machine Learning - Built-in intelligence for threat detection Cost-Effective - Pay only for what you ingest Integrated - Native integration with Microsoft ecosystem Extensible - 100+ out-of-the-box connectors Architecture Overview Data Sources → Data Connectors → Log Analytics → Sentinel ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ Azure Office 365 Analytics Incidents AWS Azure AD Workbooks Playbooks GCP Defender Hunting Automation On-Prem 3rd Party Notebooks Response Getting Started Step 1: Create Sentinel Workspace # Create Log Analytics workspace az monitor log-analytics workspace create \ --resource-group sentinel-rg \ --workspace-name sentinel-workspace \ --location eastus \ --sku PerGB2018 # Enable Sentinel on the workspace az sentinel onboard \ --resource-group sentinel-rg \ --workspace-name sentinel-workspace Step 2: Configure Data Retention # Set retention to 90 days Set-AzOperationalInsightsWorkspace ` -ResourceGroupName "sentinel-rg" ` -Name "sentinel-workspace" ` -RetentionInDays 90 Step 3: Enable Data Connectors Key connectors to enable first: ...

Introduction As organizations increasingly adopt cloud services, data sovereignty, residency, and regulatory compliance have become critical concerns. Azure offers several solutions to address these requirements, from sovereign clouds to compliance certifications and data residency controls. What is Cloud Sovereignty? Cloud sovereignty refers to the concept that digital data is subject to the laws and governance structures of the country where it’s located. For organizations, this means: Data Residency - Physical location of data Data Sovereignty - Legal jurisdiction over data Operational Sovereignty - Control over operations and access Digital Sovereignty - National digital infrastructure independence Azure Sovereign Clouds Azure Government (US) Dedicated cloud for US government agencies: ...