Shaun Wilkinson
@shaundwilkinson.bsky.social
Microsoft Azure & PowerShell MVP | Tech Blogger for Sysadmin Central
Querying App Insights data with keys retires 30th Sept 2026. Here's a read-only PowerShell script to find every key across your Subscriptions before it bites. #Azure #AzureMonitor #PowerShell #MVP
Audit Your Application Insights API Keys Before Entra Auth Takes Over in September
API key querying for Application Insights retires on 30th September 2026. A read-only PowerShell script to find every key across your Subscriptions before it bites.
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I'm incredibly honoured to have been awarded the Microsoft Azure MVP award for PowerShell for the second year in a row. To be one of just 35 current Azure MVPs in the UK is a real privilege, and I'm enormously grateful to everyone who's made it possible! #MicrosoftMVP #Microsoft #Azure #MVPBuzz
Exporting Every Availability Test URL from a Subscription with PowerShell Ping tests retire in September 2026. Here's a read-only PowerShell script to export every Availability Test URL from an Azure subscription, ready to paste elsewhere.
Exporting Every Availability Test URL from a Subscription with PowerShell
Ping tests retire in September 2026. Here's a read-only PowerShell script to export every Availability Test URL from an Azure subscription, ready to paste elsewhere.
sysadmin-central.com
Azure DevOps's WIF issuer was deprecated today. Older Azure Pipelines service connections must convert or they'll eventually stop authenticating. Here's a PowerShell script to bulk-convert them #MVP #Azure #AzureDevOps #WorkloadIdentityFederation #PowerShell #DevOps #MicrosoftEntra
Your Azure DevOps pipelines have a 2027 deadline, and the clock has just started
The Azure DevOps issuer is deprecated and retires in 2027. Here's a PowerShell script to bulk-convert your WIF service connections to the Entra issuer.
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Reaching into other Entra tenants from a Azure Resource? Ditch the per-tenant secrets. One Managed Identity, federated to a multi-tenant app, no secrets to rotate. New post walks the setup + the AADSTS700236 trap that catches everyone. #Azure #MVP #Entra #PowerShell
Cross-tenant Azure auth with no secrets (and the AADSTS700236 trap)
Authenticate across Azure tenants with no secrets using a Managed Identity and a multi-tenant app, and avoid the AADSTS700236 trap that catches everyone.
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Your GPv1 Storage Accounts have a migration deadline, or a "do nothing" option that'll quietly cost you money GPv1 and legacy Blob storage accounts retire 13 Oct 2026. Here's the cost trap in auto-migration to GPv2 and how to migrate on your own terms. #Azure #MVP #Retirement #FinOps #Microsoft
Your GPv1 Storage Accounts have a migration deadline, or a “do nothing” option that’ll quietly cost you money
GPv1 and legacy Blob storage accounts retire 13 Oct 2026. Here's the cost trap in auto-migration to GPv2 and how to migrate on your own terms.
sysadmin-central.com
Migrating Azure Front Door? Traffic stays live, but Key Vault certificates can trip you up across subscriptions. I’ve broken down the safe, zero-downtime approach step-by-step. #Azure #Cloud #DevOps #SysAdmin #MVP
How to Move Azure Front Door to Another Subscription Without Downtime
Migrating Azure Front Door between resource groups or subscriptions can be done without downtime, but customer-managed certificates in Azure Key Vault require special attention. This article walks through a safe step-by-step migration process and explains how to avoid common TLS pitfalls.
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This post will be a short note for myself in the future and hopefully anybody else that may need to figure out how to request a higher Egress, Ingress, Capacity or IOPS on a Storage Account in #Azure. Straight to the content! #MVP #Cloud
How to Request a Higher Azure Storage Account Blob Egress/Ingress/Capacity Limit
This post will be a short note for myself in the future and hopefully anybody else that may need to figure out how to request a higher Egress, Ingress, Capacity or IOPS on a Storage Account in Azure. Straight to the content!
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The Ghlinne Bhig Forest Walk, spanning 5 miles with an estimated time of 2-3 hours, features well-maintained trails and boggy ascents. #TrigPoints #IsleOfSkye #Nature #Walks
Beinn a’Ghlinne Bhig Trig Point (Coulnacraggan) – A Calming Forest Trek
Altitude 682 Feet Trail Conditions Well-maintained forest track followed by boggy uphill section Difficulty Low Experience 7/10 Est. Time 2-3 hours Distance 5 Miles Starting Location Ghlinne Bhig Forest Walk Turnoff on B885 History of the Local Area A notable archaeological discovery was made near Loch a' Ghlinne Bhig during the construction of the forestry track in the late 1970s. Workers uncovered a carved wooden bowl preserved in the peat, which was later radiocarbon dated to around 20 AD.
theskye56.com
The walk to Beinn na Boineide begins near the Fairy Bridge, a site steeped in Skye folklore associated with the Clan MacLeod. The trail features challenging, mossy terrain. #Waternish #IsleOfSkye #Skye #TrigPoint #Nature #Walking
Beinn na Boineide (Waternish) – Origin of the Fairy Flag
The walk to Beinn na Boineide begins near the Fairy Bridge, a site steeped in Skye folklore associated with the Clan MacLeod. The trail features challenging, mossy terrain, requiring careful navigation. While the climb is gradual, the route presents hidden difficulties, ultimately rewarding hikers with stunning views of the surrounding landscape.
theskye56.com
You're only ever one bad code deployment away from a cost-related headaches in #Azure! Use this PowerShell script to auto-set Log Analytics Daily Caps based on usage and get alerted when limits are hit. #MVP #CloudAutomation #SysAdminTips
Automatically Configure Log Analytics Daily Cap and Alert Rule Using PowerShell
Automatically configure a Log Analytics Daily Cap using PowerShell based on real ingestion usage, then create an Azure Monitor alert rule to notify when the cap is reached. This guide shows how to calculate the correct quota, apply it safely, and follow Microsoft best practices to prevent unexpected Log Analytics costs.
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Ben Aketil offers a straightforward trig point walk in the north-west of Skye, rewarding those who make the short ascent with wide-ranging views across the surrounding crofting landscape and out towards the sea. #Nature #Hiking #TrigPoints #Skye #IsleOfSkye
Ben Aketil Trig Point – Windmills Slowly Whooshing
Altitude 872 Feet Trail Conditions Gravel road followed by short boggy area Difficulty Low Experience 7/10 Est. Time 3-4 hours Distance 7 Miles Starting Location Ben Aketil Wind Farm Access History of the Local Area There are no widely recorded battles or singular historic landmarks directly on Ben Aketil itself, and the surrounding area is mostly comprised of Shieling Huts and Cairns.
theskye56.com
New Entra admin roles aren’t automatically covered by Conditional Access, leaving real security gaps in #Azure. Now’s the time to review your CA policies and close them. Great callout from Andy Ballard at Quisitive 👏 #EntraID #MVP #IdentitySecurity
New Entra Admin Roles Are NOT Automatically Protected by Conditional Access
I came across a great reminder from Andy Ballard that’s worth calling out because it’s one of those things that’s easy to miss but has serious security impact. If you’re relying on Conditional Access policies scoped to admin roles, new roles added to Entra are not automatically included. That means you could already have privileged roles in your tenant today that are…
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#Azure SQL Managed Instances are great, they make backups and restores simple within Azure, but what if you need to be able to have a completely offsite backup? What if you lose access to your tenant? I'll cover exactly how to handle this sort of scenario in my latest post! #MVP #Cloud #Backups
How to Backup an Azure SQL Managed Instance outside of Azure
This article walks through how to safely perform backups to an offsite location outside of Azure while ensuring that your encryption key is properly managed.
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This post breaks down a practical PowerShell approach to safely renaming an Azure tag across subscriptions. #MVP #Azure #AzureGovernance #SysAdmin #CloudOps
Bulk-Correcting Azure Tag Keys Across Subscriptions
Cleaning up Azure tag sprawl doesn’t need to be disruptive. This post walks through a practical PowerShell script that safely renames an existing tag across subscriptions while preserving values. Designed for real-world Azure environments, it focuses on resource groups and resources
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Perched above the historic Waternish Peninsula, the Ben Geary trig point offers sweeping views over Clan MacLeod territory. Our route follows modern utility tracks, but steps back into the 16th century at the Blacksmith's Hill Memorial Cairn, a powerful reminder of the fierce feuds fought here again
Ben Geary Trig Point (Geary) – The Macleod Blacksmiths Cairn
Perched above the historic Waternish Peninsula, the Ben Geary trig point offers sweeping views over Clan MacLeod territory. Our route follows modern utility tracks, but steps back into the 16th century at the Blacksmith's Hill Memorial Cairn, a powerful reminder of the fierce feuds fought here against the Clan MacDonald.
theskye56.com
Microsoft are retiring Single URL Ping Test in September and your costs are likely to skyrocket if you're not careful. I'll cover why this will happen and how to avoid it. #Azure #MVP #ServiceRetirement #Cloud
Your Azure Single URL Ping Tests are About to Get Expensive
Microsoft has announced that Classic Ping Web Tests will be retired on 30 September 2026, and environments that haven’t migrated to Standard Web Tests by that date may face not only functional failures but also unexpected cost increases across your estate.
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Historical ties, Viking heritage, and unique rock formations What could be better for a wander through the hills of Skye! #trigpoint
Meall na Suiramach Trig Point (Quiraing) – The Jewel of the Trotternish Ridge
Altitude 1781 Feet Trail Conditions Well-established foot trails Difficulty Medium Experience 10/10 Est. Time 2-4 hours Distance 4-5 Miles Starting Location Quiraing Car Park History of the Local Area The incredible, otherworldly landscape of the Quiraing, which you traverse on this walk, is not the result of ancient glaciers but is the living monument to a more dramatic geological process: the largest landslip in Great Britain.
theskye56.com
A really cool walk up Beinn Edra, one of the many great peaks found on the Trotternish Ridge
Beinn Edra Trig Point (Uig) – The Hidden Side of Uig
Altitude 2004 Feet Trail Conditions Road followed by farm track then bog and grass Difficulty Low Experience 9/10 Est. Time 5-6 hours Distance 9-10 Miles Starting Location Uig History of the Local Area Glen Uig, the valley flanking Beinn Edra, offers more than just stunning views; it holds layers of human history etched into its landscape. The glen has been a vital spot for agriculture since the Medieval period, but its story stretches back even further.
theskye56.com
Want to start automating your environment or just want a clearer idea how to authenticate with Microsoft Graph? Then this is the post for you! Today I'm covering exactly how to authenticate with the Graph API and why you may want to use each type of authentication. #Azure #MVP #PowerShell
A Practical Guide to Connect-MgGraph and Microsoft Graph App Registration via PowerShell
The Connect-MgGraph command is the entry point for automating Microsoft Graph API access using PowerShell. Whether you're writing scripts to manage Entra ID, Intune, or Microsoft 365 services, understanding how this command works and how it relates to app registrations is critical. This post will walk through - What Connect-MgGraph actually does How app authentication works When and how to register an app manually…
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Struggling with Azure Resource Group sprawl? Learn how to quickly identify and export empty RGs using PowerShell to clean up your cloud environment and reduce overhead. #Azure #PowerShell #CloudGovernance #AzureCleanup #DevOps #SysAdmin #CloudOps #MicrosoftAzure #MVP
How to Find Empty Azure Resource Groups
Resource Groups form the backbone of many companies compliance policies, they're often the target of tagging policies and annual reviews, which means that for each Resource Group you're often increasing the amount of maintenance overhead. That's fine if the Resource Group contains something of value, but what if you're wasting effort on Resource Group that no longer need to be maintained?
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Healaval Beg Trig Point (Orbost) – One of the two Macleods Tables Altitude 1601 Feet Trail Conditions Gravel track followed by moorland Difficulty Low Experience 8/10 Est. Time 3-4 hours Distance 5-6 Miles Starting Location Orbost Farm Car Park History of the Local Area Healabhal Bheag which is…
Healaval Beg Trig Point (Orbost) – One of the two Macleods Tables
Altitude 1601 Feet Trail Conditions Gravel track followed by moorland Difficulty Low Experience 8/10 Est. Time 3-4 hours Distance 5-6 Miles Starting Location Orbost Farm Car Park History of the Local Area Healabhal Bheag which is the southern of the two hills that make up the Macleods Tables, roughly translates as simply Little Healabhal from Gaelic. "Healabhal" potentially has its roots in Old Norse or Gaelic however I can find no definitive source that covers it's meaning.
theskye56.com
I often have to convert various file types to .webp for web use and it's always a bit of a pain to do. So I've created a basic Linux right-click menu extension to do just that. Now it's effortless! All code in the linked post! #Linux #SysAdmin #Automation #LinuxTips
Convert Images to WebP with a Right-Click in Linux Mint
Easily convert high-resolution images to the modern WebP format directly from your right-click menu in Linux Mint using a custom Nemo Action. In my test, 2 images were reduced from 3.1MB to just 100.2KB, a 96.8% size reduction with no noticeable quality loss. Learn how to set it up in minutes using just a single configuration file.
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I recently conquered the Trig Point found on Beinn na Bhreaghad, near the Fairy Pools on Skye. A great walk with stunning views of the cuillins and the last great clan battle on Skye. #TrigPoints #Skye #Hillwalking #Nature
Beinn na Bhraghad Trig Point (Fairy Pools) – A Unique View of the World Famous Fairy Pools
Altitude 1505 Feet Trail Conditions Forestry track, boggy uphill section, spongy moss Difficulty Low Experience 8/10 Est. Time 2-3 hours Distance 5-6 Miles Starting Location Forestry entrance or Foresty car park before Fairy Pools History of the Local Area The Fairy Pools found to the south east of Beinn na Bhraghad is today an extraordinarily popular tourist destination due to it's often crystal clear pools surrounded by the dramatic Cuillins as a background, however, in 1601 it was the site of a conflict between the Macleods and Macdonalds which has since been referred to as the "Battle of Coire na Creiche" (translates to "The hollow of the spoil" from gaelic), which was so bloody that it's said the Fairy pools ran red with blood.
theskye56.com
Need to clone secrets between Key Vaults in different subscriptions or tenants without downtime? Microsoft doesn’t make this easy. I built a PowerShell script that can migrate Secrets cross-subscription & tenant, whilst preserving as much metadata as possible. #Azure #PowerShell #DevOps
How to Migrate Azure Key Vault Secrets Across Tenants and Subscriptions Using PowerShell
Effortlessly migrate secrets between Azure Key Vaults across tenants or subscriptions using PowerShell. This guide walks through a robust, script-based solution for cloning secrets with minimal downtime and full reporting. Ideal for DevOps, cloud engineers, and Azure admins.
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Visited one of the most iconic landmarks on Skye recently - the Old Man of Storr! Definitely one of the most rewarding hikes I've completed recently and well worth a visit. #IsleOfSkye #OldManOfStorr #Hiking #TrigPoints
The Storr Trig Point (The Old Man of Storr) – The Highest Point of the Trotternish Ridge
The Old Man of Storr, a prominent Isle of Skye landmark, features a medium to high difficulty trail of 7-8 miles starting at Storr Car Park. With stunning views, the hike takes 3-5 hours. It's surrounded by folklore and geologically significant formations, attracting over 220,000 visitors annually.
theskye56.com
Did you know you can control Music on Linux with a simple keyboard shortcut? 🎧 Learn how to use playerctl to add global media controls in just a few steps. #Linux#YouTubeMusic #playerctl #SysAdminTips #LinuxProductivity #OpenSourceTools #KeyboardShortcuts #TechBlog
Stop/Start Music on Linux with a Keyboard Shortcut Using playerctl
Create a global keyboard shortcut to control YouTube Music and other music apps on Linux using playerctl. This step-by-step guide shows you how to install and configure everything in just minutes.
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Quiet hill, big views. Park at Moll, follow the track by the river, then climb through Coire Mòr’s ancient lazy beds to reach Meall a' Mhaoil. Trig Point and stunning views of Scalpay + the Cuillins await. #IsleOfSkye #SkyeHiking #Hillwalking #HiddenScotland #GetOutside #TrigPointHunt
Meall a’ Mhaoil Trig Point (Moll) – A Short Energetic Uphill Climb in a Hidden Valley
The walk to the Trig Point starts at the forestry access on Moll Road, following a steep, boggy hill track. Covering 2-3 miles in 1-2 hours, the trail ascends to Meall a' Mhaoil, offering stunning views of Scalpay and the Cuillins. Difficulty is low, with a moderate experience level of 6/10.
theskye56.com
Ever needed to audit or migrate Azure App Configuration data? I just documented a clean PowerShell script to export the key-values into a CSV. Useful for compliance, debugging, and automation. #Azure #PowerShell
Exporting Azure App Configuration Values with PowerShell
Azure App Configuration is a powerful service for managing application settings and feature flags centrally, however, I found that the export options were somewhat lacking for my use-case, which was deprecating an old App Configuration resource where I needed ideally a csv file so I could run comparisons against another system. In this post, we’ll walk through a PowerShell script that extracts App Configuration key-values and exports them to a CSV.
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Climb to the Trig Point above Brothers Point and soak in some of Skye’s finest coastal views. A perfect spot for a picnic with ancient history and dinosaur footprints just a short walk away. #IsleOfSkye #BrothersPoint #ScotlandWalks #TrigPointViews #HikingSkye
Culnacnoc Trig Point (Brothers Point) – Panoramic Views of Ancient History
Altitude 354 Feet Trail Conditions Road followed by short grass uphill section Difficulty Low Experience 10/10 Est. Time 30 minutes Distance 1 Mile Starting Location Brothers Point Carpark History of the Local Area According to local tradition, the graveyard known as Kilena was once the site of a large chapel, though no trace of the building remains today unfortunately. While the chapel itself is a mystery, the surrounding area is rich in history and archaeology.
theskye56.com