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ASP.NET Core user application access token management

This article discusses application access token management in an ASP.NET Core web application.
The article explains the use of OAuth client credential flow to generate an application access token.
It highlights the properties of an effective token management system like secure token storage, token expiration, and handling invalid or missing access tokens.
The article provides an implementation example using ApplicationAccessTokenCache and ApplicationUsersService class.
The service is registered as a singleton and runs once for the whole application.
The article adds required services in the program file for application access token management.
The token cache is designed for an in-memory cache but can be persisted in a safe way using a persistent cache.
The access token is persisted per application and the solution must work for multiple instances when deployed to multi-instance deployments.
The article also provides links to different strategies to implement token management in ASP.NET Core web applications.
The article concludes by stating the importance of token management in ASP.NET Core web applications.

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Dev

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Configuring Virtual Network Peering in Azure

Virtual network peering enables us to connect two or more virtual networks in Azure, whether they are in the same Azure region or not. The traffic between peered virtual networks is private, and they appear as one for connectivity purposes.
Azure supports two types of virtual network peering- Virtual Network Peering and Global virtual network peering. Virtual Network Peering is where you connect virtual networks within the same Azure region. Global virtual network peering is where you connect virtual networks across Azure regions.
Virtual network peering gives us a low-latency, high-bandwidth connection between Azure resources that are deployed between different virtual networks. It gives us the ability to securely transfer data between between virtual networks across Azure subscriptions, regions, even Microsoft Entra tenants.
Peering doesn't inflict any extract restrictions on bandwidth within the peering. We can apply network security groups (NSGs) in either virtual network to block access to other virtual networks or subnets.
After peering, one can resize the address space of virtual networks without incurring any downtime. This works for both IPv4 and IPv6 address spaces.
We can use service chaining to direct traffic from one virtual network to a gateway or virtual appliance and vice versa. This helps in deploying hub-and-spoke networks.
Peering between virtual networks allows the next hop in a User Defined Route (UDR) to be the IP address of a virtual machine in the peered virtual network or a VPN gateway. We can't do this if the UDR specifies that the next hop is an Azure ExpressRoute gateway.
If virtual networks are peered globally, resources in one virtual network won't be able to communicate with the frontend IP address of a basic load balancer (whether it's public or internal). Services that use a basic load balancer won't work over global virtual network peering.
In summary, with just a few lines of Bicep, you can create two virtual networks and configure regional VNet peering between them so that resources in one virtual network can communicate with resources in the other without doing so over the public internet.
Understanding how peering works in Azure virtual networks is important, especially when it comes to designing landing zones and figuring out how various resources across different networks, subscriptions, regions etc. will communicate with each other safely.

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Dev

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Microsoft Certifications: Unlock Your Path to Tech Success

Microsoft Learning offers a wide range of courses on popular skills such as Dynamics 365, Microsoft Azure, M365, and Power Platform.
Microsoft certifications are widely recognized and enhance qualifications, showcasing knowledge and dedication to staying current.
Many Microsoft courses focus on hands-on, practical learning, providing job-ready skills for data analysts, cloud engineers, and app developers.
The courses are flexible and modular, allowing learners to complete them at their own pace.

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Serverless360

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25 Azure Cost Optimization Best Practices to Reduce Azure Cost

This article explains what azure cost optimization is and why it is important to monitor usage of resources and the expenses incurred. It also provides 25 strategies and best practices that can be implemented to optimize cost on Azure. The article mentions rightsizing of virtual machines and storage, using reserved instances and automatic scaling to adjust resource capacity, and spot VMs for non-critical workloads. It also advises monitoring costs and acting on unintentional spikes regularly, consolidating subscriptions, and implementing role-based access control. Additionally, it recommends reviewing third-party tools, scheduling resource shutdowns, and regularly reviewing licensing options.
The article highlights the need for identifying and reallocating idle resources, understanding resources by tagging and grouping, and monitoring costs and acting on unintentional spikes. It also suggests monitoring costs and acting on unintentional spikes, consolidating subscriptions, and implementing role-based access control to optimize cost and prevent unauthorized resource provisioning.
Understanding the resources by tagging and grouping can help in cleaning up the resources related to a new solution and managing Azure subscriptions across an organization. Consolidated subscriptions often qualify for volume discounts, reducing the total expenditure. The article advises that rightsizing virtual machines and storage configurations based on needs, using Azure's reserved offer, implementing automatic scaling policies, and using spot VMs are effective cost optimization strategies.
The article also highlights using test pricing, enabling Azure hybrid benefit, optimizing SQL database costs, and implementing role-based access control. Regularly auditing resource usage, scheduling resource shutdowns, and regularly reviewing licensing options can help reduce costs too.
Azure cost optimization is a continuous process that needs regular monitoring and auditing. The article suggests that breaking down costs into something meaningful is crucial to get full control of the Azure cost. The Turbo360 Azure Cost Analyzer is a tool that enables organizations to tackle this problem from both sides by creating all-around better experiences.

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Dev

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Encrypting EBS Volumes of Amazon EC2 Instances Using Python

The account has hundreds of EC2 instances with EBS volumes that are encrypted with the KMS AWS managed key aws/ebs.
The need to encrypt or re-encrypt EBS volumes is not uncommon, so someone would have developed tools and scripts for it.
To encrypt or re-encrypt an EBS volume that is attached to an EC2 instance, create a snapshot of the volume, create a new volume from the previously created snapshot, detach the original volume from EC2 instance, attach a new volume to EC2 instance with same device name as above.
Given Boto3 and Python are part of my preferred toolset, I decided to leverage the aws_volume_encryption solution as my starting point.
Although developed years ago, the original script remains fully functional, proving its reliability.
The original volume still exits and have some metadata tags added by the script for traceability.
With this improved script, you can (re-)encrypt EBS volumes of any EC2 instance with ease.
If you are encrypting volumes for many instances, you can write another script that reads a CSV file containing EC2 instance information and runs volume_encryption.py on multiple instances in parallel.
This demonstrates how automation and generative AI empower DevOps engineers to tackle complex challenges efficiently.
If your organization’s security policies require that EBS volumes be encrypted, consider using the Amazon EBS encryption by default feature to automatically encrypt any new EBS volumes.

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Dev

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How to Convert Audible AAX Files to MP3 for Free

To convert Audible AAX files to MP3 for free, follow these steps:
Install Python and Audible CLI
Log in to Audible and save your credentials
Get your activation bytes
Convert the AAX file to MP3 using ffmpeg

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Tech Radar

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Quordle today – my hints and answers for Monday, January 20 (game #1092)

Quordle today is game #1092 and offers a genuine challenge.
There are three different vowels in Quordle today, excluding Y.
One of the Quordle answers contains a repeated letter.
Among today's Quordle answers, one of Q, Z, X, or J appears.

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Tech Radar

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NYT Strands today — my hints, answers and spangram for Monday, January 20 (game #323)

Today's NYT Strands theme is Curiouser and curiouser!
Clue words: THAT, TILL, BONE, PART, TONE
Spangram hint: Lewis Carroll fantasy
Spangram position: First side - top, 5th column; Last side - bottom, 1st column
Answers for today's Strands, game #323: HATTER, RABBIT, CROQUET, DORMOUSE, CATERPILLAR, SPANGRAM: WONDERLAND

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Dev

102

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Configure EKS Cluster Security - Pod Security, Network Policies, Pod Identity

This blog post looks at securing EKS clusters with pod security groups and network policies.
To use this guide, the Cluster has been provisioned using Terraform and GitHub Actions.
The process starts by configuring the bastion host using the Session Manager.
The article goes on to define how to create security groups for the cluster and enforce policies that limit access based on these security groups.
The article then details how to configure network policies in EKS to restrict traffic between different pods.
The tutorial then focuses on pod identity management, which enables IAM roles to be assigned across clusters to groups of pods automatically.
By the end of the process, pods can assume IAM Users that interact with AWS services as that User would interact.
The article concludes by explaining how to define and test a policy that would allow a service account to interact with S3.
This guide is useful for anyone managing or deploying applications on EKS and wants to ensure that security is a top priority.
The guide provides commands and configuration examples for those looking to implement the policies outlined in the article.

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Digitaltrends

231

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Mail app for macOS will soon get an overdue AI upgrade

Apple's Mail app for macOS is set to receive an AI upgrade in April.
The upcoming macOS 15.4 update will introduce intelligent categories to the desktop client.
Categories will sort emails into Primary, Promotions, Updates, and Transactions.
Users will have the option to turn off the categorization system if desired.

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Siliconangle

257

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Transformation in billing: Metronome offers usage-based tech for the AI era

Metronome, founded by a former employee of Dropbox, offers usage-based billing for AI, simplifying control over spend and tackling the problem of real-time billing at scale. This allows customers far more accurate visibility over costs, as opposed to the traditional batch system for invoicing. Metronome's AWS-powered platform is designed to avoid dropping a single event in the millions of billions it processes daily, relying on Kafka, Flink and other open-source tools to make this possible. The company has attracted $73m in funding from prominent institutions such as Andreessen Horowitz and NEA.
Metronome's founder wanted to introduce a more flexible billing system, allowing customers to self-serve without changing coding in real-time, which works out to be critical for a more in-depth understanding of AI investment and return. To Woody, AI is hugely expensive to run and customers need to adopt flexible business models that can capture any incremental value.
Metronome's service is suitable for any company dependent on real-time usage and, by streamlining billing processes, it facilitates increased visibility. Woody explained that the billing and operational functions are all in real-time and, for OpenAI, Metronome provides the underlying data that makes up part of its AI and machine learning tools.
Metronome helps large established firms to transform their billing systems using design to ensure a better overall experience for customers. The company's approach allows for the development of monetisation experiences built for product-services that incentivise/control consumer spending.
Metronome provides a solution that addresses the lack of understanding of how to achieve a return on investment in relation to AI's most significant expenditures worldwide.
Woody explains that Metronome's platform allows agents' value to shift rather than 'how many people have access to data anymore', which compels agents to control their AI spending via a model that facilitates monitoring and tracking costs.
The recent introduction of Metronome 2.0 enables the billing system to be even more user-friendly, with additional features of configurable spend controls and comprehensive billing dashboards along with enhanced product launch options.
The aim of Metronome in the marketplace is to be the primary billing support system that facilitates the intersection of consumption pricing with AI-based pricing, particularly for industry heavyweights ready to join the inevitable evolution of the sector.
Metronome is quickly gaining traction and has caught the interest of some of the most well-known venture capitalists in the tech industry, e.g. $30m worth of funding came from Andreessen Horowitz in 2022, while a second round of investment worth $43m was led by NEA this year.
Metronome is best described as a systems reinventing billing with design and, by streamlining billing processes, it facilitates increased visibility, which is essential in the world of rapidly expanding AI.

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Dev

235

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Azure Virtual Networks (vNet): Overview 2025

A virtual network in Azure functions similarly to an on-premises network, allowing seamless connectivity between various resources.
Virtual networks in Azure can include multiple subnets, each with its own address range derived from the main network's address space.
Network Security Groups (NSGs) control inbound and outbound traffic for Virtual Machines (VMs) in a virtual network.
Network Interfaces (NICs) enable communication between Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) and the virtual network, supporting multiple NICs per VM.

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Dev

386

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Terraform Session 3: Let's Learn about Terraform State, Variables and Functions

Terraform manages infrastructure by comparing the desired state with the current state of resources.
Variables in Terraform allow you to parameterize configurations.
Terraform can read values from environment variables.
Terraform supports various data types and conditional expressions.

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Digitaltrends

386

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Play games the right way with the Samsung 32-inch Odyssey Neo G8, now just $800

The Samsung 32-inch Odyssey Neo G8 Gaming Monitor is on sale for $800 on various retailers.
It offers a wide color gamut, high contrast levels, and a lightning-fast 240Hz refresh rate.
The monitor has low input lag, fast response times, and is suitable for PC and console gaming.
The sale is available on Amazon, Best Buy, B&H Photo-Video, and other retailers.

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Digitaltrends

342

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Everything you need to know about AI agents and what they can do

AI agents are capable of operating independently and without continuous, direct oversight, while collaborating with users to automate monotonous tasks.
Agentic AI is a type of generative AI model that can act autonomously, make decisions, and take actions towards complex goals without direct human intervention.
AutoGPT, BabyAGI, and Agentforce are some examples of AI agents that solve complex queries with minimal oversight.
Being designed to take action for their users, AI agents are able to perform a staggeringly wide variety of tasks, like reviewing and automatically streamlining computer code.
AI agents are already used in banking systems for fraud detection and automated stock trading tasks, in the logistics industry for inventory optimization and delivery routes, in healthcare for appointment scheduling and prescription refilling, and in manufacturing for equipment monitoring and predictive maintenance.
Top companies like Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Nvidia are all racing to develop and deploy AI agents for the business and consumer markets.
AI agents are prone to hallucinations and can be tricked by malicious actors, making it necessary for users to be vigilant about sharing their information with chatbots and LLMs.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman predicted that in 2025, we may see the first AI agents 'join the workforce' and materially change the output of companies.
Google's automotive AI agent will even provide near-real-time information about local landmarks and restaurants for Mercedes' MBUX entertainment and navigation system starting with the next model year's CLA.
OpenAI recently unveiled its new Tasks feature for ChatGPT, which allows users to set future reminders and regularly-scheduled tasks for the chatbot to perform at a later date.

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