Most Active Speaker

Loek Duys

Loek Duys

CTO Xebia Microsoft Services NL| Cloud Architect

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

I am CTO at Xebia Microsoft Services NL, Cloud architect, and Microsoft Azure MVP, helping companies modernize their IT all the way; Cloud strategy, SecDevOps practices, and Continuous Delivery. I spend most of my days helping teams by providing advice, hands-on assistance, solving problems and delivering technical training.
A couple of times per year, I like to speak at international conferences and to provide workshops.
By being a consultant, international speaker, trainer, active contributor to open-source projects, and forum participant, I love to share knowledge with the community.

Some of my recent public speaking & workshop engagements:
- NDC & SDD London
- Techorama & Experts Live Netherlands
- KCDC USA
- Update Conf & ESPC Czech Republic
- DevSum Sweden
- NDC Oslo
- VISUG XL Belgium
- MS Dev Summit & DevConf Poland
- Developer Week Germany
Want to know more? Send me a message https://mastodon.nl/@loekd

Awards

Area of Expertise

  • Information & Communications Technology

Topics

  • Azure
  • Application Security
  • Cloud Architecture
  • Open Source Software
  • Community Engagement
  • Containers
  • Continous Delivery
  • Cloud & Infrastructure
  • Intelligent Applications
  • DevOps & Automation
  • microservices
  • Microsoft
  • Mission Critical Services
  • Software Development
  • Kubernetes
  • Customer Identity and Access Management
  • .net dotnet
  • Microsoft Azure

Running containerized workloads on Azure

Using containers is rapidly becoming the new standard. Why? Because it is a great way to deploy workloads. They combine your application with the prerequisites into one package that will run on any server that supports the feature. But what exactly is a container and how does it work under the hood? And when you have created your container, where should you run it and how can you decide which platform to choose?
In this session I will start with an introduction to containers. Next, I will demonstrate some use cases to run containers in Azure; including Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Service Fabric, Azure Container Instances and App Services, so you can choose the best platform for your own situation.

Doing Kubernetes DevOps style with Codespaces

This training introduces you to Docker and container technology for DevOps teams. We will show you how to apply DevOps practices to cloud-based container solutions, complete with hands-on exercises using Kubernetes. The training uses Microsoft tooling and technology, but you can apply the skills you will learn in any technology stack.

This workshop contains hands-on labs to help you gain practical experience with the following topics:
- Getting started with containers and Docker
- Working with Kubernetes
- Canary releases and A/B testing using Istio service mesh
- Becoming familiar with GitHub Codespaces during the Labs

Objectives:
- Get hands-on experience supporting DevOps practices with available tools.
- Understand the implications for DevOps teams to build, deploy and run container-based solutions in a cloud environment.
- Practice finding and fixing bugs without downtime.

Target audience:
This training is intended for developers and architects that want to learn about DevOps practices and tooling for a cloud-based Kubernetes solution.

This workshop is divided in two parts with separate labs and allows you to start at any point given your experience. The first part introduces you to container technology and tooling with .NET Core. The second part covers container clusters and service meshes using Kubernetes and Istio. Throughout the workshop you will gradually improve your DevOps skills for container based solutions.

All courseware is on Github, so you can both prepare for the workshop ahead of time and finish the workshop from home if you are unable to finish the labs during the workshop.
Labs can be executed your laptop, but we prefer using GitHub Codespaces. When using Codespaces, you will only need to bring a modern browser in order to perform the Labs. We will provide you with proper access during the workshop.

Building a modern web application on Azure, using Blazor and Bicep

This workshop will help you get started building Cloud-native software and Infrastructure as Code for your projects!

You will build a modern web application using Blazor and .NET 6. Once completed, you will create Azure infrastructure using Bicep and run the Blazor app in the Cloud.

Required knowledge:

Even though this is an introductory workshop, you will need to bring some experience writing C# code and a basic understanding of the resource model of Azure.

What you will learn:

In the morning, you will learn to create a basic Blazor web app that uses an Identity Provider to authenticate users and integrates with a message queue inside Azure. The source code will also demonstrate some new C# features.
In the afternoon, you will learn how to use Infrastructure as Code to create the Azure resources needed to run the Blazor web app.

Target audience; software developers and architects just getting started with Blazor and/or Bicep.

Five things every developer should know about modern identity platforms

'Oh, by the way, can you make sure everybody can log in to the system using Single Sign-on?'
As a software developer or architect, you may have received this question. Easier said than done! Solving it properly can be challenging.
Admins will want to use their corporate accounts, end-users might want to use a social account or their government ID. How can you do this without introducing complexity within all of your applications? How do you keep your user data safe from attackers? Should you host an Identity Platform or use Software as a Service?
I will show you how you can use a modern identity platform to answer these challenges in this talk.

This talk is based on experiences from real-world consultancy projects with Dutch enterprises. Target audience: software developers, architects.

Five things every developer should know about using JSON Web tokens

As APIs and web applications continue to grow in popularity, the need for secure and efficient ways to authenticate and authorize users becomes increasingly important. JSON Web Tokens, or JWTs, have emerged as a popular solution for this purpose, but they can be confusing if you are new to them.

In this talk, I will delve into the ins and outs of JWTs, covering five key concepts that every developer should understand when working with tokens, using lots of demos.

1. What JWTs are, and how they work
2. Different types of tokens
3. How to use them for authentication and authorization
4. How to you prevent token abuse.
5. Security best practices for handling JWTs in your applications

By the end of this talk, you will have a good understanding of JWTs and the confidence to use them to secure your applications.

Target audience: Software developers and architects.

Brand new talk.

Learning Objectives
1:
Gain a solid understanding of the structure and function of JWTs, including how they are created and validated.
2:
How JWTs can be used for both authentication and authorization.
3:
Security best practices for handling JWTs in applications, including how to properly store and refresh them, and common pitfalls to avoid.

Preventing Identity crisis in Azure

As your organization moves more operations to the Azure cloud, it's essential to ensure that they run securely.
We can use complex passwords and multi-factor authentication for added safety for human accounts. However, dealing with system accounts requires a different approach.
The Azure environment provides many options for identity, like Service Principals, Managed Identities, and Federated & Workload Identity.
Which type should you use when? How can you apply 'least-privilege principles' to identities? Or, how do you deal with credentials of identities? What if a part of the workload is running outside of Azure? It can get very complicated very quickly.

In this talk, I will explain the various options to use identity in Azure, and provide practical examples.
By the end of this talk, you will better understand how to secure workloads running in Azure and how to prevent an identity crisis in Azure.

Target audience: Cloud software developers, architects.

Key learning points:
1. To learn about the different identity options available in Azure, for authenticating and authorizing one resource to access another.
2. Understanding which identity option to use when.
3. How to combine multiple system identities and Azure Role Based Access Control to apply the principle of 'least-privilege'.

The Future of Cloud-Native Application Development with Radius

The Cloud-native landscape has revolutionized the way applications are built and deployed, but it has also introduced complexities in managing infrastructure, operations and security.

In this session, we will explore Microsoft's new Radius project, an open-source Cloud-native application platform designed to empower developers and platform engineers to collaborate on a common definition of an application and an environment. Leveraging them, teams can easily understand, deliver and manage applications that follow corporate best practices for operations and security by default. We will delve into the key features, benefits, and potential use cases of Radius, and discuss how it addresses the challenges of building and managing Cloud-native applications across multiple environments

Target audience: Cloud software developers and architects.

Key Takeaways:
- Understanding the challenges and opportunities in Cloud-native application development
- Exploring the features and benefits of Microsoft's Radius project
- Learning how Radius addresses complexities in managing Cloud-native applications across multiple environments

Running a DevOps style production Docker cluster using the Microsoft platform

Getting your .NET Core application to run in a Docker cluster is only the beginning of a journey. It takes more to build and run your application in Azure using DevOps practices. In this session I will show you how we created a mission critical .NET Core application in a Kubernetes cluster in Azure using Visual Studio 2019 and the Azure DevOps platform. You will learn how to design your .NET application architecture to run on Azure, which software patterns to implement for environment flexibility, how to build Continuous Integration and Deployment pipelines for zero-downtime, provision your Infrastructure declaratively using ARM templates and what to do to integrate metrics and instrumentation in your application for real-time monitoring. I will share our lessons learned, so you can get a jump-start running your own application in a similar way.

Running a real world, mission-critical system on Azure

Deploying a single container to the Azure cloud is easy; running a mission-critical system is not. To run your ever-changing software reliably, you’ll need to think ahead about a range of things. For example, controlled deployment and testing of not only software but infrastructure as well. How can you use redundancy and cut dependencies to make both infrastructure and software resilient to failure? What do you do to monitor system health?

In this talk 'from-the-trenches', I'll show you what you need to know, using Docker, Azure Kubernetes Service, Azure SQL, useful design patterns, and more. I'll explain how we chose to do it, what went wrong and how we fixed it.

Target audience: Cloud software developers, architects.
Featuring a real project, real mistakes and a nice story.

Secure Software on Azure Kubernetes Service

By applying some essential security measures, you can make your Azure Kubernetes Service solution a much harder target for hackers. But how do you do that, while still deploying to production multiple times a day?
You can do this by embedding application security into your development process. For example, you model threats your application may face and add countermeasures up front. And inside the delivery pipeline, you monitor your repository for vulnerabilities. But there's more! In this talk, I'll show you what you need to know.

Doing Docker DevOps Style

This training introduces you to Docker and container technology for DevOps teams. We will show you how to apply DevOps practices to cloud-based container solutions, complete with hands-on exercises using Kubernetes. The training uses Microsoft tooling and technology, but the skills you will learn can be applied in any technology stack. After the workshop you will be able to do Docker DevOps style.

Pick on or more of your favorite topics below and get some hands-on experience:
- Getting started with Containers and Docker
- Working with Kubernetes
- Azure DevOps pipelines
- Introduction to Istio (Service Mesh)
- Testing in production

Objectives:
- Get hands-on experience supporting DevOps practices with available tools.
- Understand the implications for DevOps teams to build, deploy and run container based solutions in a cloud environment.
- Practice finding and fixing bugs without downtime

Target audience:
This training is intended for developers and architects that want to learn about DevOps practices and tooling for a cloud-based Kubernetes solution.

All courseware is on Github, so you can both prepare for, and finish the workshop from home if you like.

Workshop: Doing Docker DevOps Style - Part 2/2

This training introduces you to Docker and container technology for DevOps teams. We will show you how to apply DevOps practices to cloud-based container solutions, complete with hands-on exercises. The training uses Microsoft tooling and technology, but the skills you will learn can be applied in any technology stack. After the workshop you will be able to do Docker DevOps style.

Agenda:
Big picture: DevOps with cloud-based container clusters
Accelerating your inner development loop
From development to production in record-time with confidence
Monitoring and feedback while running in production
Automated provisioning of infrastructure

Objectives:
Understand the implications for DevOps teams to build, deploy and run container based solutions in a cloud environment.
Automate everything from infrastructure to deployment
Achieve full traceability from source code to production incidents
Practice finding and fixing a bug without downtime
Get hands-on experience supporting DevOps practices with available tools
Target audience

Audience:
This training is intended for developers and architects that want to learn about the new DevOps practices and tooling for a cloud-based Microsoft solution.

Get a running start with the labs!
This workshop is specific towards Windows as the operating system for your machine. (The labs can also be done on Linux, although this can be a bit more challenging.)

You will need to have a development IDE installed. The preferred IDE is Visual Studio 2017. Alternatively, you can use Visual Studio Code, but keep in mind that the labs are tailored to Visual Studio 2017.
You are also going to need Docker Desktop and git.
For some labs, you'll need an Azure subscription. If you do not have one, you can create a free trial account at Microsoft Azure. It will require a credit card, but it will not be charged.

NDC Oslo 2024 Sessionize Event Upcoming

June 2024 Oslo, Norway

DevSum 2024 Sessionize Event Upcoming

May 2024 Stockholm, Sweden

.NET Developer Conference '23 Sessionize Event

November 2023 Köln, Germany

Update Conference Prague 2023 Sessionize Event

November 2023 Prague, Czechia

Techorama Netherlands 2023 Sessionize Event

October 2023 Utrecht, The Netherlands

Experts Live Netherlands 2023 Sessionize Event

May 2023 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands

NDC London 2023 Sessionize Event

January 2023 London, United Kingdom

Dev-Cloud Conference '22 Sessionize Event

November 2022 Köln, Germany

Update Conference Prague 2022 Sessionize Event

November 2022 Prague, Czechia

VisugXL 2022 Sessionize Event

October 2022 Hasselt, Belgium

Techorama Netherlands 2022 Sessionize Event

October 2022 Utrecht, The Netherlands

Experts Live Netherlands 2022 Sessionize Event

September 2022 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands

KCDC 2022 Sessionize Event

August 2022 Kansas City, Missouri, United States

Developer Week '22 Sessionize Event

July 2022 Nürnberg, Germany

DevSum 2022 Sessionize Event

May 2022 Stockholm, Sweden

VISUG Sessionize Event

December 2020

ContainerDays 2019 Sessionize Event

June 2019 Hamburg, Germany

NDC Oslo 2019 Sessionize Event

June 2019 Oslo, Norway

Intelligent Cloud Conference 2018 Sessionize Event

May 2018 Copenhagen, Denmark

Loek Duys

CTO Xebia Microsoft Services NL| Cloud Architect

Amsterdam, The Netherlands