What is Microsoft Flow and how it differs from Logic Apps?

Microsoft Flow is a new cloud based workflow application that will allow business users to automate routine tasks through applications. Other cloud services like IFTTT (If This Then That) and Zapier have similar functionality and also work across many services. Flow also comes with a list of pre-defined templates. I have been using Zapier until now and moving my zaps to Microsoft Flow.

Flow vs. Logic Apps

• Both Flow and Logic Apps are configuration based Integration services which allows users to automate their tasks including integration with SaaS APIs. Flow is built over Logic Apps.

• Flow is targeted against business users while Logic Apps is targeted against IT Pros/Developers.

• Flow is used for small scale integration while Logic Apps are used for mission critical applications.

• Develop a Flow in production directly while with Logic Apps you can use Visual Studio, Source Control, testing, support and Automation.

• Flow has standard security practices like data sovereignty, encryption at rest for sensitive data, etc. while Logic Apps has the security assurance of Azure.

In general if it is a simple integration and doesn't require Enterprise capabilities then go with Flow or use Logic Apps for simple/complex integrations requiring Enterprise capabilities (DevOps, Security, Source Control) and if functionality is not available in Logic Apps then use Azure Functions to write your own transformation code.
Pricing - https://flow.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/
Flow Templates - https://flow.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/
Feedback & Ideas - https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Flow-Ideas/idb-p/FlowIdeas
Release Notes - https://flow.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/release-notes/

Technorati Tags: Microsoft Flow,Logic Apps,Integration,Azure

Logic Apps and why do we need them?

Logic Apps is a integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) to automate and orchestrate integration workflows and provides connectivity to other Software as a Service (SaaS) applications. It provides the ability to build powerful enterprise grade integration solutions. The Visual designer allows any technical user or developer to model and automate business processes.
Why do we need Logic Apps?
Integration with Enterprise, custom or Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) APIs are always considered as complex and time consuming. As business moves towards digitization integrating with Legacy systems and SaaS applications becomes extremely important. With Logic Apps, API Integration is made easy.
Logic Apps has large number of connectors for SaaS APIs and on-premise APIs. The connectors are added regularly to Logic Apps. Full list of the connectors can be found here.

Advantages of Logic Apps

• Logic Apps are metadata driven. Metadata is exposed in a format using Swagger.

• Logic Apps has a simple User Interface and developers can get started using Logic Apps within minutes. Logic Apps are built for faster and agile development. Pre-defined templates allow developers to start developing workflows quickly.

• Scaling APIs based on the demand has been really hard historically. With Logic Apps service being on Azure and is "serverless" you can meet the demands of your client needs easily. Logic Apps will handle scale, availability and performance automatically to meet demand.

• Exception Handling is really key for any Integration solutions and Logic Apps provides tools and patterns to make sure that the integrations are robust and resilient against failures using features like retries, scopes, and results.

Pricing
Always keep an eye on the pricing with Azure solutions. The details around Logic Apps pricing is here.
Ideas & Feedback
You can also provide your feedback or ideas on Logic Apps here.
Release updates
Microsoft updates Logic Apps with new features and enhancements on a regular basis and release updates can be found here.

Technorati Tags: Logic Apps,Integration,API,Azure,Automation

SQL Server vNext – Get Data experience in SSAS Tabular Models

The next version of SQL Server, SQL Server vNext introduces the same experience of “Get Data” like what we see in the Power BI Desktop and Excel 2016. This is mainly applicable for tabular models when the compatibility level is set to “SQL Server vNext (1400)”. Great to see Microsoft trying to unify the UI across different toolsets.

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2016/12/16/introducing-a-modern-get-data-experience-for-sql-server-vnext-on-windows-ctp-1-1-for-analysis-services/

Technorati Tags: vNext,SQL Server,SSAS,Tabular Model

Certified SOA Architect

Last year I attended the courses from SOA School at Melbourne, Australia to become SOA Certified Architect. The course was run by Silver Platyplus. The course comprised of 5 days covering the following 5 modules. You will learn the skills to design and build technology architectures for services and services-based systems.
Exam S90.01: Fundamental SOA & Service-Oriented Computing
Exam S90.02: SOA Technology Concepts
Exam S90.03: SOA Design & Architecture
Exam S90.08: Advanced SOA Design & Architecture
Exam S90.09: SOA Design & Architecture Lab
All the five exams are multiple choice questions where the Lab exam covers off scenarios and multiple choice questions from those scenarios.
The instructor led workshop was useful for me as I was able to discuss and share real world experiences with others and also learn from them. The modules helps you to learn on key SOA Concepts, Architecture, Design Patterns etc. All modules are vendor neutral which was the key feature of this course.
I finished all my 5 exams successfully this year.

Technorati Tags: SOA,SOASchool,Certification

SQL Saturday #614 – South Island 2017

I have been selected to speak at the SQL Saturday Event #614 this year on “On-Premise Reporting - Choosing the Right Strategy (SSRS 2016 & Power BI)”.
Thanks Leila Etaati and Hamish Watson
In today's world Enterprises face challenges in choosing the right Reporting tool that provides great visualisations, easy and secure to use and improves collaboration.
SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) 2016 offers many new features and capabilities that makes it a complete solution for On-Premise Reporting.
In this session, I will walk you through the

• New features of SSRS 2016
• Power BI Integration both in Native and SharePoint modes
• Power BI Mobile Apps to view SSRS Reports
• SSRS Tools

I am really excited to be speaking at SQL Saturday event. It’s really a great community event and looking forward for that. Register here for free for the event.

Technorati Tags: SQL Saturday,SQL,SSRS2016,Power BI