Speaker

Elkhan Yusubov

Elkhan Yusubov

Microsoft Azure MVP, MCT, Cloud Architect Manager

Maryland City, Maryland, United States

Elkhan is a cloud architect, tech trainer, and mentor with experience in enterprise healthcare systems and Microsoft Azure.
He is an active Microsoft MVP and MCT, a member of the Microsoft Tech Community, and an Azure SME (Architecture, DevOps, Security) - who is leading the cloud and infrastructure group.

He is a community speaker and has volunteered for local and global events; Global Azure, Cloud Lunch and Learn, Azure Back to School, Azure Spring Clean, Festive Tech Calendar, Give Camps, Azure Data Fest, SQL Saturdays, and others.

Over the years, Elkhan proudly contributed to Microsoft Azure, Security, and HL7 FHIR communities to advance data interoperability, secure design, and help communities move forward.

Awards

Area of Expertise

  • Information & Communications Technology
  • Health & Medical
  • Government, Social Sector & Education

Topics

  • Microsoft Azure
  • Microsoft Azure DevOps
  • Microsoft 365 Security
  • Microsoft MVP
  • Microsoft
  • Microsoft Technologies
  • What is Microsoft Azure
  • Cloud Computing on the Azure Platform
  • Infrastructure as Code
  • Infrastructure as code (IaC) security and policy-as-code
  • Azure Infrastructure
  • Cloud Native Infrastructure
  • Cloud & Infrastructure
  • Cloud Containers and Infrastructure

Zero to Hero: Secure IaC with Bicep

In this session, we will explore how to organize Azure Security Services using the IaC approach with Azure Bicep.
We will look into how you could declaratively define and deploy your Azure security resources including Azure Policies to tackle real-world business problems.

We will have a super express introduction to a new IaC language to get you up to speed on its fundamentals.

Building your IaC with private Azure Bicep modules

In this session, I will share the challenges in sharing compliant cloud infrastructure code across projects. It is not a secret that Azure Bicep simplifies the IaC authoring and management for Azure environments. 
Thus, we will look into how you could get started in building a centralized, common company IaC repository of modules and reuse those compliant assets in your projects.

What to expect on an upcoming Azure Bicep version 1.0?

The Azure Bicep language is a relatively new IaC language created to simplify the management of your Microsoft Azure infrastructure. It has huge improvements in usability and community support that aims to simplify infrastructure authoring and managing tasks for cloud engineers and systems administrators.

In this session, I will introduce the newest features and capabilities of Azure Bicep language. You will experience simple yet powerful demos on how you can leverage the tools and language features in your day-2-day cloud infrastructure management.

Exam prep session for AZ-305: Microsoft Azure Architect

In this lightning talk, I will share bits and tips on how to focus on the AZ-305 Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions exam objectives and help you to get informed and prepared before your upcoming exam date.

I will share official and community learning resources that will boost your knowledge, and help you get prepared for this important exam with more confidence.

Exam prep session for AZ-220: Microsoft Azure IoT Developer

In this IoT Developer exam preparation session, you will learn about the latest updates on the exam. In addition, I will share my tips on how to focus on the AZ-220 D Microsoft Azure IoT Developer exam objectives and help you to get well-informed and prepared before your upcoming exam date.

At the end of the session, you will be knowledgeable about the official and community learning resources that will boost your knowledge, and help you get prepared for your exam date.

Zero to Hero: Secure IaC with Bicep

In this session, we will explore how to organize Azure Security Services using the IaC approach with Azure Bicep. We will look into how you could declaratively define and deploy your Azure security resources including Azure Policies to tackle real-world business problems. Thus, get yourself ready for simple yet powerful demos that will turn you into a hero.

And don't worry, if you are new to Azure Bicep as we will have a super express introduction to this new IaC language to get you up to speed on its fundamentals.

Why should you be managing cloud resource hygiene in your environment?

Securing the cloud resources of your environment is an error-prone and time-consuming task when performed manually. In fact, there are many examples of data breaches caused by misconfiguration of the cloud resources like S3 buckets or Cloud storage accounts.

But, there are better ways to automate this process with a couple of technical approaches that you can use to mitigate these risks including cloud resource hygiene with infrastructure-as-code (IaC).
In fact, by eliminating manual configuration and shifting to infrastructure-as-code (IaC) your organization can minimize this threat and improve the security posture of the workloads.

Join my session to learn how you could eliminate these risks by following DevSecOps principles. Learn how IaC could allow you to version control changes in the Azure cloud environments.

Productivity tips for setting infrastructure-as-code with Azure Bicep

Azure Bicep language brings a new Infrastructure as a Code (IaC) approach to manage your Azure resources in a clean way.
We also have a classic ARM JSON template that traditionally is used to define Azure infrastructure resources in a declarative way.

Azure Bicep language is created to simplify the management of your infrastructure while re-using code.

In this demo-heavy session, we will introduce the latest features and capabilities of the Azure Bicep language.
I will demonstrate how it is simple to create, and manage a modularized Azure infrastructure-as-code while using familiar tools in VS Code.

What is new in Azure Bicep language?

Azure Bicep language brings a new Infrastructure as a Code (IaC) approach to manage your Azure resources in a clean way.
We also have a classic ARM JSON template that traditionally is used to define Azure infrastructure resources in a declarative way.

However, it is not easy to author and maintain ARM JSON templates when your project grows in complexity.
But, I have good news for you. Azure Bicep language is created to simplify management of your infrastructure while re-using code.

In this demo heavy session, we will introduce new features and capabilities of Azure Bicep (v.0.latest) language.
I will demonstrate how it is simple to create, manage a modularized Azure infrastructure-as-code, while using familiar tools.

Getting you ready for Microsoft Azure Architect (AZ-305) exam!

There have been a number of changes in Microsoft Azure Architect exam, and it might be troublesome to get ready for this exam with all the digital distractions around us.
However, in this lightning talk, I will share bits and tips on how to focus on the AZ-305 Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions exam objectives and help you to prepare.

I will share free, official and community learning resources that will boost your knowledge, and hopefully help you pass this important exam with confidence.
In addition, I will also share tips and tricks on how to be laser focused and fit on the day of exam.

Getting you ready for Microsoft Azure Architect (AZ-305) exam!

There have been a number of changes in Microsoft Azure Architect exam, and it might be troublesome to get ready for this exam with all the digital distractions around us.
However, in this lightning talk, I will share bits and tips on how to focus on the AZ-305 Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions exam objectives and help you to prepare.

I will share free, official and community learning resources that will boost your knowledge, and hopefully help you pass this important exam with confidence.
In addition, I will also share tips and tricks on how to be laser focused and fit on the day of exam.

What is new in Azure Bicep language?

Azure Bicep language brings a new Infrastructure as a Code (IaC) approach to manage your Azure resources in a clean way.
We also have a classic ARM JSON template that traditionally is used to define Azure infrastructure resources in a declarative way.

However, it is not easy to author and maintain ARM JSON templates when your project grows in complexity. But, I have good news for you. Azure Bicep language is created to simplify management of your infrastructure while re-using code.

In this demo heavy session, we will introduce new features and capabilities of Azure Bicep v0.5 language.
I will demonstrate how it is simple to create, manage a modularized Azure infrastructure-as-code, while using familiar tools.

Setting up your Biceps for success in Azure

Azure Bicep is a new DSL language that aims to help you in Azure resource authoring and management. This new language comes with a powerful VS Code extension and config file options.

In this session, we will unveil dozens of powerful features in our config file to suit your style of coding on VS Code and cheer up our productivity skills. We will create several Bicep demos in the process.

All you need to know about Azure Bicep configurations

Azure Bicep is a new DSL language that aims to ease Azure resource authoring and management. This new language comes with a powerful VS Code extension and config file options.
In this session, we will unveil dozens of powerful features in our config file to suit your style of coding on VS Code and cheer up our productivity skills. We will apply our fresh skills by creating several Bicep demos in the process. 

What you need to know about Azure AD security defaults?

Getting started with Azure security on right foot is not easy. However, resent cybersecurity developments drive the focus toward building strong Identity and Access in any cloud solution that we are creating for our customers. One simple way to get started is review and adjustment of security default options in Azure AD.
In this session, we will look into the set of practices to get you started with Azure AD setup and learn about the benefits of Azure Security Benchmark.

Managing your Azure environment security guardrails with Azure Bicep

Microsoft Azure has ARM templates that are widely used to deploy resources. The Azure Bicep language was created as a next iteration of ARM templates and simplified infrastructure authoring in Azure. Unfortunately, security guardrails like Azure Policy have been an after thought in many projects.

In this session, you will learn about managing your resource deployments with Azure Bicep and Policies in one wholistic approach that will satisfy your organization’s policy.

Transformation journey from Azure ARM into Bicep

Infrastructure as a Code (IaC) is important strategy to manage your digital estate in any cloud environment. Simplifying management of your infrastructure while re-using code is even better.
In Microsoft Azure, we have ARM (Azure Resource Manager) templates that could declaratively define your cloud project infrastructure. However, it is not easy to author ARM JSON templates and maintain them when your project grows and requires changes.

In this demo heavy session, we will introduce the Azure Bicep language and demonstrate how it simplifies authoring ARM templates for your Azure infrastructure. We will author a manageable, readable, and modularized Azure infrastructure code, while using familiar tools.

Transitioning your ARM knowledge into Bicep

In this digital first, cloud first world, the Infrastructure as a Code (IaC) is a trending concept that almost every tech person knows or use it. In Azure, we have ARM (Azure Resource Manager) templates that are used to declaratively define your cloud project infrastructure. They are not easy to understand and have a number of limitations.

In this session, we will refresh our ARM templating knowledge and introduce the Azure Bicep language. We will continue with demos on how to simplify authoring ARM templates for your Azure infrastructure while using Bicep language.

How to up-skill with Azure Data Engineering certification?

Things were different before COVID-19 and accelerated digital transformation requires rapid changes to the data work that we do. However, it is not easy to jump into an ever growing cloud environment and use your existing skills to perform your job securely and efficiently.

In this session, we will investigate how to up-skill our existing data and SQL skills with a new Data engineering mindset.
A recently released Azure Data Engineering learning path (certification) could help us up-skill purposefully in this challenging time. I will share my learning journey and challenges to make you better prepared and ready for this transformation journey.

Sharing story of a cosmic journey with Cosmos DB

In this demo heavy session, i will my experience, challenges and usage of Cosmos DB on multiple projects.
We will get glimpse into Cosmos DB inner-workings and how we could easily get started developing on Cosmos DB while utilizing helpful tooling around it.

Along the line we will cover following topics:
• Deciding on setup & configuration
• Reviewing configuration details
• Back-ups and options for custom back-ups
• Pricing models and de-mystifying RUs
• Consistency models and how to run Cosmos DB for free)
• Other tooling to support your development, and more…

Getting started with data transformation services in Azure

In this lunch and learn session, we will learn about cloud ETL service Azure Data Factory (ADF).

Along the way, we will look into inner-workings and fundamentals of a cloud-based ETL and data integration service that allows you to create data-driven workflows for orchestrating data movement and transforming data at scale.

We will conclude the session with ADF demo and Q&A.

Beginner's journey to a Blockchain Workbench API

We will jump start this session with quick overview of Blockchain technology and will look at Microsoft Blockchain workbench service app. We will provision a sample solidity contract and interact with it in minutes. I will demonstrate new workbench API capabilities which should ease development effort drastically. By the end of session, you should be good to start your own blockchain development project.

Azure automation 101: what you need to know about ARM templates

Let’s start with intro to Azure basics by exploring auto-generated scripts. Learn about Azure resources and providers by decomposing ARM templates. Dive into template parameterization, customization and troubleshooting of potential runtime warnings/errors. By the end of this demo heavy session, we will be fearlessly provisioning our dev environments on demand and feel like a hero.

Cloud Lunch and Learn Weekly Sessions User group Upcoming

January 2022, May 2023, June 2023

Azure Back to School 2022

September 2022

Welsh Azure User Group - Event User group

February 2022

Azure Back to School 2021

September 2021

Global Azure 2021

April 2021

CFS - Global 2020 Summer Azure DataFest

July 2020 Reston, Virginia, United States

Global Azure Virtual

April 2020 Seattle, Washington, United States

Northern VA CodeCamp Spring 2018

April 2018 Reston, Virginia, United States

Elkhan Yusubov

Microsoft Azure MVP, MCT, Cloud Architect Manager

Maryland City, Maryland, United States