Hands-On Cloud, AI, and Everything I've Learned Building Products. Notes on Azure, artificial intelligence, and building developer products — by Amit Malik.https://amitmalik.net/https://amitmalik.net/daily-frame-mac-wallpaper-app/https://amitmalik.net/daily-frame-mac-wallpaper-app/I missed the Bing Wallpaper app after switching to Mac, so I built Daily Frame — a tiny, free, open-source menu bar app for daily wallpapers.Mon, 15 Jun 2026 13:24:49 GMTUncategorizedhttps://amitmalik.net/building-ai-agents-practical-framework/https://amitmalik.net/building-ai-agents-practical-framework/A practical guide to building AI agents using Microsoft’s open source tools like AutoGen, Semantic Kernel, and Azure AI Foundry. Learn core patterns,…Mon, 19 Jan 2026 16:25:51 GMTAzureGeneralai agentsartificial intelligenceautogenazure ai foundryazure openaimachine learningpythonsemantic kernelhttps://amitmalik.net/ai-agents-real-world-what-works/https://amitmalik.net/ai-agents-real-world-what-works/What I’ve learned shipping AI agents in production – single agent beats multi-agent, tool calling is the hard part, cost management, gotchas, and why MCP…Tue, 18 Nov 2025 04:30:00 GMTAzureUncategorizedai agentsazure ai foundrymcpsemantic kernelhttps://amitmalik.net/running-global-tech-team-across-time-zones/https://amitmalik.net/running-global-tech-team-across-time-zones/Practical lessons from managing distributed teams across India and the US at Spektra Systems – the 2-hour overlap window, async communication, handoffs,…Mon, 25 Aug 2025 04:30:00 GMTGeneralUncategorizedleadershipproductivityhttps://amitmalik.net/saasify-isvs-cloud-marketplaces/https://amitmalik.net/saasify-isvs-cloud-marketplaces/Why cloud marketplace integration is harder than ISVs expect, and how SaaSify handles the plumbing so engineering teams can focus on their actual product.Thu, 15 May 2025 04:30:00 GMTGeneralUncategorizedcloudlabssaasifyhttps://amitmalik.net/kubernetes-2025-whats-changed-since-aks/https://amitmalik.net/kubernetes-2025-whats-changed-since-aks/What’s changed in Kubernetes and AKS since 2019 – automatic upgrades, GitOps with Flux, KEDA autoscaling, managed Istio, GPU node pools, and what’s still…Mon, 10 Feb 2025 04:30:00 GMTAzureUncategorizedazure kubernetes servicedevopskuberneteshttps://amitmalik.net/rag-patterns-enterprise-what-ive-learned-building-real-solutions/https://amitmalik.net/rag-patterns-enterprise-what-ive-learned-building-real-solutions/Real-world lessons from building RAG systems with Azure AI Search and Azure OpenAI – chunking strategies, hybrid search, embedding models, cost management,…Fri, 22 Nov 2024 04:30:00 GMTAzureUncategorizedartificial intelligenceazure openaimachine learningraghttps://amitmalik.net/how-were-adding-ai-to-cloudlabs/https://amitmalik.net/how-were-adding-ai-to-cloudlabs/How we’re integrating AI into CloudLabs – from intelligent lab guidance and troubleshooting to content generation. What worked, what didn’t, and what we…Wed, 05 Jun 2024 04:30:00 GMTAzureUncategorizedartificial intelligenceazure openaicloudlabshttps://amitmalik.net/microsoft-copilot-for-microsoft-365-early-experience/https://amitmalik.net/microsoft-copilot-for-microsoft-365-early-experience/My honest review of Microsoft Copilot for M365 after 2.5 months of daily use – Teams meeting summaries are great, PowerPoint and Excel need work, and is…Thu, 15 Feb 2024 04:30:00 GMTMicrosoft 365Uncategorizedmicrosoft copilotproductivityhttps://amitmalik.net/build-a-private-chatgpt-for-your-organization-using-azure-and-chat-copilot-app/https://amitmalik.net/build-a-private-chatgpt-for-your-organization-using-azure-and-chat-copilot-app/Why do you need a private ChatGPT for your employees? Hey, you probably already know what ChatGPT is, right? It’s a cool way to generate text, code, images…Sat, 27 Jan 2024 19:14:22 GMTAzureartificial intelligenceazure openaichatgpthttps://amitmalik.net/getting-started-with-github-copilot-practical-guide/https://amitmalik.net/getting-started-with-github-copilot-practical-guide/A practical guide to getting started with GitHub Copilot – setup, first impressions, where it shines, where it falls short, and tips to get real value from…Tue, 28 Nov 2023 04:30:00 GMTGeneralUncategorizeddeveloper toolsgithub copilotproductivityhttps://amitmalik.net/how-to-enable-dark-mode-in-mac-quickly-easily/https://amitmalik.net/how-to-enable-dark-mode-in-mac-quickly-easily/Hello there, The first thing I do when setting up any device is “Enabling Dark Mode”. It’s not just a cool aesthetic switch; it also has a few benefits I’m…Wed, 19 Jul 2023 15:18:28 GMTGenerallinuxmacoshttps://amitmalik.net/how-we-built-cloudlabs-powering-hands-on-tech-training-at-scale/https://amitmalik.net/how-we-built-cloudlabs-powering-hands-on-tech-training-at-scale/The story behind CloudLabs – how we went from rough prototypes to powering 400,000+ lab environments for tech training at scale, and the hard lessons along…Tue, 20 Jun 2023 04:30:00 GMTAzureUncategorizedcloudlabsinfrastructure as codehttps://amitmalik.net/azure-openai-service-first-hands-on-experience/https://amitmalik.net/azure-openai-service-first-hands-on-experience/My first hands-on experience with Azure OpenAI Service – setting up, deploying GPT-3.5 Turbo, writing my first API call, and exploring use cases for…Wed, 15 Mar 2023 04:30:00 GMTAzureUncategorizedartificial intelligenceazure openaichatgptcloudlabshttps://amitmalik.net/run-multiple-instances-of-teams-with-different-work-accounts/https://amitmalik.net/run-multiple-instances-of-teams-with-different-work-accounts/Microsoft Teams is all great, but when it comes to using it with multiple accounts it’s a nightmare. I have various work accounts that I need to access all…Wed, 09 Mar 2022 11:40:00 GMTGeneralMicrosoft 365macosmicrosoft teamshttps://amitmalik.net/defender-for-endpoint-delete-device/https://amitmalik.net/defender-for-endpoint-delete-device/Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (formerly known as Defender ATP) allows you to onboard and offboard devices using various tools such as Microsoft Endpoint…Mon, 02 Aug 2021 07:07:25 GMTAzuremicrosoft defendersecurityhttps://amitmalik.net/implementing-hybrid-cloud-with-azure-arc-book-announcement/https://amitmalik.net/implementing-hybrid-cloud-with-azure-arc-book-announcement/I am pleased to announce that my latest book “Implementing Hybrid Cloud with Azure Arc” is now available. This release completes my fourth book in Microsoft…Fri, 16 Jul 2021 08:16:35 GMTAzureazure archybrid cloudproductivityhttps://amitmalik.net/checkpoint-on-azure-webinars/https://amitmalik.net/checkpoint-on-azure-webinars/COVID-19 has changed the way training and workshops are conducted. Virtual workshops are the new normal in the learning industry now. Typically, hands-on…Tue, 22 Dec 2020 17:05:04 GMTAzurecheck pointnetwork securityhttps://amitmalik.net/all-about-azure-automanage/https://amitmalik.net/all-about-azure-automanage/Here is the recording of my talk at AzConf (https://azconf.dev) about Azure Automanage. In this session, I talked about How Azure Automanage can simplify the…Wed, 09 Dec 2020 06:09:50 GMTAzurevirtual machineshttps://amitmalik.net/red-hat-jboss-eap-on-azure-quickstarts/https://amitmalik.net/red-hat-jboss-eap-on-azure-quickstarts/It was a pleasure working with #Microsoft and #RedHat to accelerate JBOSS EAP deployments on Azure with JBOSS Quickstarts and various other options. The…Tue, 17 Nov 2020 17:36:42 GMTAzurejbossred hathttps://amitmalik.net/azure-community-conference-2020/https://amitmalik.net/azure-community-conference-2020/AzConf 2020 is here and I’m super excited for one of the top Azure community conference in India. Azure Community Conference will be a 3 day multi-track…Tue, 17 Nov 2020 17:25:11 GMTGeneralbook releasehttps://amitmalik.net/configure-to-receive-office-365-group-emails-in-the-inbox-for-all-users/https://amitmalik.net/configure-to-receive-office-365-group-emails-in-the-inbox-for-all-users/If you recently converted your Distribution lists in Office 365 to Office 365 Groups, you might be wondering why exactly emails sent to the email address of…Mon, 14 Sep 2020 20:10:30 GMTARM TemplatesAzureUncategorizedwindows virtual desktophttps://amitmalik.net/recover-a-microsoft-dpm-2019-backup-infrastructure/https://amitmalik.net/recover-a-microsoft-dpm-2019-backup-infrastructure/Hardware fails, all the time. We tend to take hardware for granted unless something really bad happens. One of my customers recently had a storage failure in…Mon, 14 Sep 2020 19:47:24 GMTIT Infrastructurebackup and recoverydata protection managerhttps://amitmalik.net/podcasts-from-microsoft-ignite-2019/https://amitmalik.net/podcasts-from-microsoft-ignite-2019/I had an amazing time earlier this month attending Microsoft Ignite in Orlando, Florida. It was a power-packed week with a lot of learning and networking.…Mon, 14 Sep 2020 18:24:10 GMTGeneralbook releasehttps://amitmalik.net/webinar-recording-artificial-intelligence-with-microsoft-cloud/https://amitmalik.net/webinar-recording-artificial-intelligence-with-microsoft-cloud/Last week, I did a webinar series for devenger community, where i talked about how you can leverage Azure AI’s capabilities for building intelligent…Fri, 14 Aug 2020 19:00:12 GMTAzureartificial intelligencemachine learninghttps://amitmalik.net/145-2/https://amitmalik.net/145-2/With everything going around the world due to the COVID-19 crisis, conducting workshops isn’t the same anymore. I’ve had many in-person workshops scheduled…Thu, 16 Jul 2020 17:06:00 GMTGeneralbook releasehttps://amitmalik.net/unlock-the-true-value-of-artificial-intelligence-online-webinar/https://amitmalik.net/unlock-the-true-value-of-artificial-intelligence-online-webinar/Originally published here – https://skillenza.com/challenge/online-meetup-machine-learning-models Get proven, secure, and responsible AI capabilities on your…Tue, 14 Jul 2020 18:55:20 GMTAzureartificial intelligencemachine learninghttps://amitmalik.net/cloudlabs-architecture-infrastructure-deployments-automation-technical-deep-dive/https://amitmalik.net/cloudlabs-architecture-infrastructure-deployments-automation-technical-deep-dive/CloudLabs is a hands-on lab platform used to plan, provision, and manage the lifecycle of lab environments for various scenarios including technical…Fri, 22 May 2020 16:33:56 GMTAzuredevopshttps://amitmalik.net/build-2020-recap-webinar/https://amitmalik.net/build-2020-recap-webinar/It’s been less than a month since the first-ever virtual Microsoft Build conference concluded. Tons of exciting announcements, new features, and much more.…Sat, 16 May 2020 08:53:13 GMTGeneralbook releasehttps://amitmalik.net/run-your-first-python-program-using-azure-notebooks/https://amitmalik.net/run-your-first-python-program-using-azure-notebooks/In this post, we’ll look at Azure Notebooks; a completely free hosted Jupyter notebooks service from Azure. Jupyter has been quite popular lately among data…Thu, 14 May 2020 18:27:11 GMTAzuremachine learningoffice 365https://amitmalik.net/free-technology-learning-amidst-the-covid-crisis/https://amitmalik.net/free-technology-learning-amidst-the-covid-crisis/We’re living in unique times. Amidst the global situation going around due to COVID, many of the top technology learning companies have come up to free or…Wed, 01 Apr 2020 15:30:37 GMTGeneralbook releasehttps://amitmalik.net/book-launch-migrating-applications-to-the-cloud-with-azure/https://amitmalik.net/book-launch-migrating-applications-to-the-cloud-with-azure/It took a year but’s finally here. I’m excited to announce the release of my next book titled “Migrating Applications to the Cloud with Azure”: Re-architect…Thu, 16 Jan 2020 16:28:17 GMTAzurecloud migrationproductivityhttps://amitmalik.net/developing-arm-templates-7th-dec-microsoft-india/https://amitmalik.net/developing-arm-templates-7th-dec-microsoft-india/Last Saturday, 7th Dec I had the opportunity to talk about developing ARM Templates for Azure deployments in a community event at Microsoft India, Bangalore…Sun, 15 Dec 2019 09:27:23 GMTARM Templatesbook releaseinfrastructure as codehttps://amitmalik.net/hands-on-with-azure-kubernetes-service/https://amitmalik.net/hands-on-with-azure-kubernetes-service/Last month, I conducted a hands-on workshop on AKS at Microsoft, Bangalore. It was a community-driven event where we talked about AKS architecture and what…Wed, 23 Oct 2019 15:20:58 GMTAzureazure kubernetes servicekuberneteshttps://amitmalik.net/hello-world/https://amitmalik.net/hello-world/I am humbled and honored to be a part of the prestigious Leaders Excellence at Harvard Square . Headquartered in Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA, Leaders…Wed, 15 May 2019 12:45:54 GMTGeneralhttps://amitmalik.net/windows-virtual-desktop-is-now-in-public-preview/https://amitmalik.net/windows-virtual-desktop-is-now-in-public-preview/After a long long wait, finally the WVD – Windows Virtual Desktop is available for testing. With WVD, You’d be able to run a remote desktop…Tue, 16 Apr 2019 15:16:42 GMTAzureEUCpythonhttps://amitmalik.net/global-azure-bootcamp-2019-is-coming/https://amitmalik.net/global-azure-bootcamp-2019-is-coming/It’s only 10 days left for one of the largest and greatest technology community-driven event – The Global Azure Bootcamp. Like every year, I’ll be taking…Sun, 14 Apr 2019 18:20:48 GMTGeneralbook releasehttps://amitmalik.net/vmware-and-azure-are-coming-together/https://amitmalik.net/vmware-and-azure-are-coming-together/Back in 2017, I was attending Microsoft Inspire(Also known as Worldwide Partner Conference) in Washington DC. While roaming around, I came across this booth…Fri, 14 Sep 2018 18:19:12 GMTAzurehybrid cloudvmwarehttps://amitmalik.net/deploy-linux-vms-on-azure-with-arm-template/https://amitmalik.net/deploy-linux-vms-on-azure-with-arm-template/In this blog post, we’ll have a look at deploying Linux workload using Azure-QuickStart ARM templates. See this if you are looking to deploy VM using Azure…Fri, 16 Sep 2016 07:00:34 GMTARM Templatesinfrastructure as codenetwork securityvirtual machines