Implementing Redis Caching Patterns with Azure Functions

Caching is a technique used to store frequently accessed data in a temporary storage location in order to speed up the performance of an application. There are several different caching patterns that can be implemented to improve the performance of an application, and each has its own set of benefits and drawbacks. In this blog post, we will explore the different caching patterns and how they can be implemented using Redis and Azure Functions....

January 2023 · Michael John Peña

Debugging Azure Functions Blob Trigger Locally with Azurite

Debugging Azure Functions locally can be a helpful way to test and troubleshoot your code before deploying it to the cloud. One way to do this is by using a local emulator, such as Azurite, which simulates the Azure storage services in the cloud. In this blog post, we’ll walk through how to set up and use Azurite to debug an Azure Functions Blob Trigger locally, using a sample C# function as an example....

January 2023 · Michael John Peña

Create a File Converter Service in 5 minutes or less using Gotenberg and Azure Container Instances

I’m very surprised that there isn’t a straight forward library out there that is free to use and convenient in terms of file conversion. I think it’s because a lot of these file formats come with proprietary software, specially during the early day: Office by Microsoft, PDF by Adobe, etc. Good thing there is Gotenberg! Gotenberg is an open-source tool that allows you to convert HTML, Markdown, and Office documents to PDF by sending HTTP requests to a server....

December 2022 · Michael John Peña

“CQS (Command Query Separation) in Azure Functions”

Introduction Azure Functions made it very easy to create services on the cloud. It’s very simple to get started just like Logic Apps , but also extensible like a full ASP.NET Core application (if you’re using .NET). You also have a variety of language options to choose from, so it’s not just exclusive to C# or .NET. It uses a serverless architecture so that you don’t need to maintain any runtime dependencies, operating system patches, and infrastructure maintenance as well....

September 2022 · Michael John Peña

Publishing and Consuming Azure Event Hubs with AMQP and Rust

Rust has been gaining a lot of traction lately. Being in the Blockchain space, a lot of chains such as Solana uses Rust to develop smart contracts. There’s also an increase adoption of it in regards to high performance, memory safety, and concurrency benefits to name a few. In my opinion, it’s still a niche market (in terms of size) from both Companies’ adoption and the availability of talent out there....

September 2022 · Michael John Peña

Creating MacOS universal apps in .NET

It’s been a while since the most mind-breaking thing happened to .NET developers who are also Mac users like me - the introduction of .NET Core (of course equally excited with Xamarin and Mono as well). But with .NET core which is supported by Microsoft themselves, we can now create self-hosted applications and deploy it to almost anywhere, including Macs. This means that if you want to create an application that you want to target Macs as the host (not an app), then ....

September 2022 · Michael John Peña

The Hybrid Cloud Journey with Microsoft Azure

Hybrid cloud is the trend right now I see in a lot of companies and enterprises. The term hybrid has grown too in the last couple of years. It used to be just the connectivity between an on-premises data center to public clouds like AWS and Azure. This time, hybrid now also includes multi-cloud and edge computing. It’s about borderless connectivity across different topologies or deployment models happening around. Why hybrid cloud?...

August 2021 · Michael John Peña

AI across the Microsoft Cloud

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are trending topics right now. In 2021, there are countless of ways to have a form of “AI” in your apps and platforms. A lot of companies from startups to software giants offer services that relate to this space. I spent the last 2 years exploring this space, and I still swimming my way as the movements in this area are quick and it’s hard to keep up....

January 2021 · Michael John Peña

Synology NAS Series – Cloud Sync with Azure Storage

Foreword Synology reached out to me to give their new DiskStation DS920+ a review. If you’re not yet aware of Synology, they are the leading NAS (Network-attached storage) provider for home and work use-cases. You can use a NAS for pretty much anything such as backing up files, sharing files in a local network, streaming media files, or have your own “private cloud”. Throughout the years, the concept of NAS has developed and there is now a very thin line between doing things locally in your network and storage capabilities of cloud vendors....

September 2020 · Michael John Peña