Martin Rylko
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Martin Rylko

Senior Cloud Architect & DevOps Engineer. Specializing in Microsoft Azure, IaC, Cloud Security and AI.

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#azure

27 articles on this topic

9/3/2026

Azure Reservation Exchanges End 1 February 2027: Rethinking Your Commitment Strategy

From 1 February 2027, new reservations for savings-plan-eligible services are not exchangeable. The worst trap is auto-renewal, which manufactures a non-exchangeable reservation silently. A decision matrix and a CLI audit.

8/24/2026

Azure Blueprints Ends 31 January 2027: A Migration Plan to Deployment Stacks and Template Specs

The Blueprints wind-down is already running and locks in phases. On 31 January 2027 the API disappears, unexported data is permanently deleted, and blueprint locks stop working. Artifact mapping to Deployment Stacks and an export via REST.

8/11/2026

Foundational CSPM Stops Being Default: What to Add to Your Subscription Vending Before 27 October 2026

From 27 October 2026, Foundational CSPM no longer switches itself on for new Azure subscriptions. This is not a security team problem — it is a landing zone factory problem. Bicep, policy, and an ARG audit query.

7/30/2026

MCP Went Stateless: What the 2026-07-28 Rewrite Breaks, and How to Migrate

The largest MCP revision since the protocol began removes sessions, the handshake, and SSE resumability. For hosting that is good news — a remote MCP server is now an ordinary stateless HTTP workload. Blast radius and what it means in Azure.

7/9/2026

Ingress-NGINX Ends on AKS in November 2026: A Gateway API Migration Playbook

Managed NGINX on AKS gets its last security patch in November 2026. The replacement is App Routing with Gateway API and Envoy. Annotation mapping, an audit script, and the three annotations with no equivalent at all.

6/25/2026

Azure Private Endpoints Everywhere: Refactoring a Serverless Pipeline From APIM to PE-Only

A practical refactor of a serverless email pipeline from APIM-fronted architecture to a private-endpoint-only end state. Shared PE subnet, Function Apps Premium, Service Bus, and Log Analytics with no public surface.

6/15/2026

Azure Cosmos DB Cost Optimization: 8 Levers to Cut Your RU/s Bill

A practical guide to reducing Azure Cosmos DB costs. Provisioned vs Serverless, autoscale tuning, indexing policy, TTL, and multi-region trade-offs with real numbers from running CostSentry.AI.

5/30/2026

Azure Functions Flex Consumption: When to Replace the Premium Plan in 2026

Flex Consumption is the third path between the Consumption and Premium plans for Azure Functions. A practical breakdown of the pricing model, VNet integration, and when to switch off the Premium plan.

5/20/2026

Microsoft Build 2026: Foundry, FOCUS 1.3, and Agent Cost Trace

My Microsoft Build 2026 recap from a cloud architect's perspective. The Foundry rebrand, FOCUS 1.3 GA, Agent Cost Trace for AI workloads, and three practical takeaways for enterprise customers.

4/28/2026

Bicep Deployment Stacks: Lifecycle Management Without Manual Cleanup

Deployment Stacks in Bicep are a way to manage Azure resources as a coherent unit with denyAssignments, auto-cleanup, and controlled deletion. Practical guide with a migration plan from classic deployments.

4/15/2026

Bicep Shared Modules: Skip-if-Exists Pattern Instead of --force

How to publish Bicep modules to ACR in enterprise environments without risking overwriting existing versions. Skip-if-exists pattern, PR validation, and semver hygiene.

3/15/2026

AKS Breaking Changes: What Is Retiring in March 2026 and How to Migrate

Windows Server 2019, Azure Linux 2.0, and kubelet certificate rotation – three AKS retirements with March 2026 deadlines. Practical migration guide with CLI commands and Bicep templates.

3/2/2026

AKS Cilium NetworkPolicy: Migrating From Calico Without Production Downtime

Practical playbook for migrating an AKS cluster from the Calico Network Policy engine to Azure CNI Powered by Cilium. Zero-downtime procedure, eBPF benefits, and typical rollout traps.

2/26/2026

Azure FinOps: 7 Steps to Cut Cloud Costs by 30%

Practical Azure FinOps guide – from Cost Management through VM right-sizing to Reserved Instances and auto-scaling. Real savings from enterprise projects.

2/10/2026

Azure Container Apps vs AKS: A 2026 Decision Matrix

When to choose Azure Container Apps and when AKS – cost, operations overhead, networking, and typical use cases. Real decision examples from three different projects.

1/20/2026

Azure Data Collection Rules: Ingestion-Time PII Masking in Log Analytics

How to mask personal data in Azure Monitor before it is written to Log Analytics. DCR transformations, KQL limitations, and a real lab from a retail environment.

12/15/2025

Azure Reserved Instances and Savings Plans: A Fiscal Year-End Strategy

A complete guide to buying Azure Reserved Instances and Savings Plans before fiscal year-end. Coverage analysis, exchange rules, and real-world math from enterprise projects.

11/15/2025

Kubernetes AKS Production Checklist for Architects

Kubernetes AKS production readiness checklist covering Azure CNI networking, Workload Identity RBAC, cluster autoscaling, monitoring, and DR strategy.

10/1/2025

Zero Trust Azure: Conditional Access Policy Design

Design Zero Trust identity architecture with Entra ID Conditional Access policies. MFA enforcement, device compliance, session controls, and named locations for Azure environments.

9/1/2025

NIS2 Azure Compliance: Checklist for Architects

NIS2 Azure compliance checklist with concrete steps: Azure Policy governance, Defender for Cloud CSPM, centralized logging, and Zero Trust identity.

8/15/2025

Terraform Azure Modules: Private Registry and Testing

Build reusable Terraform modules for Azure with private registry publishing, automated testing with Terratest, and versioned module consumption in production.

7/1/2025

Azure Landing Zone Governance: Policy at Scale

Implement Azure Policy governance for Landing Zones at scale. Custom policy definitions, initiative assignments, compliance dashboards, and cost management guardrails.

6/1/2025

Terraform Azure Best Practices: Modules & CI/CD

Terraform Azure best practices for production projects. Covers remote state locking, module structure, drift detection, naming conventions, and testing.

5/15/2025

Microsoft Defender for Cloud: CSPM Setup Guide

Configure Microsoft Defender for Cloud CSPM for Azure Landing Zones. Secure Score optimization, attack path analysis, regulatory compliance dashboards, and real cost breakdown.

4/15/2025

Azure Landing Zone Networking: Hub-Spoke with Firewall

Deploy hub-spoke network topology for Azure Landing Zone with Azure Firewall, Private DNS Zones, and VNet peering automation using Bicep modules.

3/15/2025

Azure Landing Zone with Bicep: Enterprise Setup

Deploy an enterprise-ready Azure Landing Zone using Bicep modules. Covers hub-spoke networking, policy governance, and CI/CD pipeline integration.

2/15/2025

Bicep CI/CD: GitHub Actions Pipeline for Azure

Build a production Bicep deployment pipeline with GitHub Actions. Covers what-if previews, environment approvals, OIDC authentication, and rollback strategies.