5 Office 365 admin settings you must get right

Ensure a solid foundation for your Office 365 deployment with these essential setup tips

Microsoft has every incentive to ease your business into Office 365. Setup wizards, help videos, live telephone support -- your transition to the cloud will be met with helping hands from the mothership all along the way. But the process isn't necessarily foolproof. It's still very possible to end up with an unsecured, minimally functional Office 365 environment even if you followed all of the helpful guides to the letter.

Also, it’s essential to remember that default settings are built for the lowest common denominator. They're designed to get the average admin and the average user active in the system with the least amount of fuss. That doesn't mean these settings are solid decisions, tailored to your optimal environment. They're simply the easy ones.
And when have our jobs ever been about taking the easy route?

To ensure you have a solid foundation for your Office 365 deployment, you have to get the settings just right. If you want email to arrive safely to its destination free of malware or sensitive information, or your admin portal to be hardened against all but the most complex of tasks or your users' mobile devices to be more of a productivity booster than a liability, you’ll have to go beyond Office 365’s defaults.

Here’s how to ensure your Office 365 environment is set up right.

Mail Flow
When you first set up Office 365, you are prompted to configure your domains' DNS to work with Office 365. Microsoft provides records for mail routing (MX), autodiscover (CNAME), and SPF (Sender Protection Framework). Failure to apply the correct settings here can mean complete loss of mail flow or lack of client connectivity.



List all authorized domains, including third-party services, as authoritative domains in Office 365's Exchange admin center to ensure email delivery to all of your recipients.

SPF is a special consideration. This record type is used to inform other mail systems whether email from your domain is coming from an authorized system. The record provided by Microsoft is suitable if the only place your email will ever originate is Office 365. Often this is not the case, however, because you might use third-party tools such as Salesforce or MailChimp to send email on behalf of your domain or apps. In order to ensure delivery to your recipients, be sure to include any of these services in your SPF record. More information on SPF syntax can be found at The SPF Project.

Once you have full access to the Exchange admin center, you should verify that all of your domain names are listed and declared as authoritative (or of the appropriate relay type as necessary) under Mail Flow > Accepted Domains, as shown in the screenshot above.

Secure Mail Flow
You or your clients and vendors may require TLS encryption for email exchanges. Financial and health care providers will often be subject to government regulations that require this additional layer of protection. The default configuration provides opportunistic TLS encryption; in other words, Exchange Online will first try to connect to another mail system with TLS encryption and fail back to plain text if that doesn't work.



If you require enforced TLS encryption, you will need to create two connectors: one for sending mail and one for receiving mail. To do so, open the Exchange admin center and navigate to Mail Flow > Connectors. Creating the sending connector is very straightforward. Click on the + (plus) sign and select "Sending from Office 365 to a partner organization." Give the new connector a name and type an optional description. Finally, you will enter your partner organization's domain name(s) and save the connector.

The connector for receiving mail is slightly more complicated but still rather straightforward. You begin as before by clicking the + sign. This time you will select sending from your partner organization to Office 365. You will then be prompted to specify whether you want to set this connector to apply to specific domain names or IP addresses. Choose whichever is appropriate for your scenario and enter the information on the next screen. Choose to reject any messages not sent using TLS encryption and optionally verify the TLS certificate. If you want to scope this domain to a specific IP range, you can do so here and save the connector.

The full details of configuring these connectors is available on Microsoft's TechNet Library.

Finally, you will want to ensure line-of-business applications, multifunction copiers, ticketing systems, and other applications and devices will be able to send through your new Office 365 account. There are three options available to you, and Microsoft has documented them all with step-by-step guides.

Security settings
Now that all of your email and service settings are stored in the cloud, you must pay very close attention to your security settings. It takes only one lucky phishing attempt or social engineering call to give up the keys to the kingdom.

At a minimum, you should establish and use a separate account from your main mailbox as an administrator account and configure your other administrators in the same fashion. In addition, each administrator account should have an enforced minimum password length and expiration period (Service Settings > Passwords), and use multifactor authentication (Users > Active Users > Set multi-factor authentication requirements > Set up), and only the minimum set of permissions required to do the job through Role Based Access Control (RBAC) settings (Exchange admin center > Permissions > Admin roles).



Administrator accounts should be set with the bare minimum number of permissions required to do the job through RBAC.

The security of your mail is equally important. The built-in Exchange Online Protection offers basic forms of protection against spam and malware but doesn't prevent address spoofing. You should spend some time evaluating third-party products to provide a solid email security foundation for your Office 365 environment.

You should also consider creating transport rules to match against common financial and personal data types. You can do this using Data Loss Prevention (DLP) templates that create transport rules you can tweak, or you can create transport rules directly using sensitive information types. To create a transport rule to block the sending of unencrypted credit card numbers and Social Security numbers, open the Exchange admin center and navigate to Mail Flow > Rules. Click on the + sign and choose "Generate an incident report when sensitive information is detected ..." Choose the type of sensitive information you want to detect, select a recipient to notify and the information included in the notification, and (optionally) add an extra action to block the message with or without a Non-Delivery Receipt (NDR).

Mobile device settings
Most of your users will probably want to use their own mobile devices to access company email. This benefits the user in that they will only need to carry one device, and it benefits the company in that it doesn't have to purchase and manage devices and contracts for its users. Those mobile devices, however, are now portable access points into your mail system or, if you use line-of-business applications or have a mobile VPN, your entire network.



If your users will be accessing Office 365 or email from their own devices, setting up Office 365 MDM is essential.

Office 365 now offers mobile device management (MDM) as part of your subscription, and you should take full advantage of this. To activate your MDM subscription, click on Mobile Devices and accept the licensing agreement and privacy policy.

Once you have completed MDM setup, click on "Manage device security policies and access rules." Click on the + sign to create a new policy, providing it with a name and optional description. There are a number of options available to you here. You can enforce PIN locking (or more complex passwords), sign-in failure counts, inactivity locks, device encryption, and preventing "rooted" or "jailbroken" devices from connecting.

You should at least configure a six-digit PIN, wipe after 10 tries, force data encryption, and disallow hacked devices. This should prevent the largest number of basic attacks against your devices without greatly inconveniencing your users.

Data and disaster recovery
It’s important to note that Office 365 does not back up your email. Microsoft offers native data protection, which includes multiple passive copies (lagged copies) split between two data centers. That is a fantastic solution for providing availability of existing data, but it doesn’t ensure a point-in-time recovery of data deleted that has gone past the deleted item retention period. In addition, that retention period is 14 days by default and can be extended to 30 days (you read that correctly: 30 days) through a remote PowerShell connection. You should be aware that your data can be lost.

Luckily there are ways to mitigate this. For starters, Microsoft recommends you put all mailboxes on legal hold. To do so requires a more expensive Office 365 plan (E3), which may make this solution prohibitive for some organizations. In addition, it’s not an interactive, read-only archive solution for your users, but it does ensure that all data is held and discoverable. It also doesn’t give you the ability to do a point-in-time restore, so it’s not a backup solution in the traditional or modern sense of the word.

Knowing these limitations may mean you need to look to a third-party backup/recovery solution for Office 365 or a solid online archive solution. You want to know your data is safe and discoverable (for compliance and more). This is another area, like security, where you may need to look to the Office 365 partner ecosystem to find the solution that bolts on and can resolve these concerns.

As you put together your optimal Office 365 environment, remember that the above settings recommendations are merely the basics. Consider them the absolute must-have settings to get you up and running. If your organization has a security operations center, you should consult with them about further improving your security. Compliance team? Check on adding more transport rules and setting up further data loss prevention.

But whatever you do, don’t settle for the default.

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Microsoft tests SharePoint 2016 and enterprise cloud hybrid search

New tools preview Microsoft's upcoming workplace collaboration software upgrades

Microsoft is giving IT administrators a glimpse of the future with two betas the company launched Monday.

SharePoint Server 2016 is the latest version of Microsoft's popular team collaboration software, and the just-released beta is designed to give IT administrators an early portrait of what's coming when Microsoft releases its official update next year.

Key features for SharePoint 2016 include support for large files up to 10GB in size and a new App Launcher that makes it easier for users to open applications from the navigation bar inside SharePoint. Microsoft has also simplified the controls for sharing files.

The release is also focused on improving the experience for smartphone and tablet users with controls that better support using touch to get around SharePoint sites.

Fair warning to early adopters: Microsoft recommends that users not install the beta of SharePoint Server 2016 in a production environment. In part, that's because it's not possible to directly upgrade from the beta to the final version of the software when it's released next year.

On top of the SharePoint beta, Microsoft's new cloud hybrid search feature will allow Office 365 users who also run on-premises SharePoint servers to easily access both the files stored in their company's servers as well as those stored in Microsoft's cloud. This means that Microsoft Delve, which gives users an at-a-glance view of their team members' work, can show files that are stored in a company's servers and in Microsoft's servers side by side.

Indexing for cloud hybrid search is handled in Office 365, which means users can reduce the amount of work their servers do around creating and maintaining search indices.

These new features highlight one of the key focuses of Microsoft's cloud strategy. While the company is encouraging organizations to switch to Office 365, it's also continuing to support products oriented towards businesses that want to maintain on-premises servers.

The cloud hybrid search beta is available as an opt-in feature for companies that use SharePoint 2013 or SharePoint 2016, in addition to Office 365. Users can set up cloud hybrid search now on their on-premises SharePoint servers, but they can't configure it for use with Office 365 until early September.

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Microsoft explains timing of Windows 10 updates

Windows 10's staggered timetable will kick off by early December

If Microsoft follows through on its announced plans for updating and upgrading Windows 10 after the new OS launches in two weeks, it will issue the first update no later than the end of November or early December, then follow with three more in 2016, repeating with a trio each year following.

Lather, rinse, repeat.
The update churn will result in a near-constant patter about upcoming updates and upgrades -- Microsoft itself isn't sure which of those terms apply, using both interchangeably -- for customers to digest.

Microsoft has left those customers guessing on answers to a slew of questions about Windows 10 refreshes, ranging from how long the updates and upgrades will appear free of charge to how substantial those changes will be. But it's talked about the schedule, pulling back the curtain in small jerks.

Here's what's known about the timetable and what's still unknown -- or in the infamous words of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, the "known unknowns" -- as the July 29 release date looms.
Updates will come every four months

According to a Microsoft-hosted webinar in late April, Windows 10 will receive updates about every four months, or three times a year.

It's likely that Microsoft won't hew to a set schedule, as does Mozilla, which rolls out a new edition of Firefox at almost-sacrosanct six-week intervals. Microsoft could trim the time between updates or extend the timeline, depending on whether it's satisfied with the quality and composition of the new build, or even on external factors, like the calendar.

If Microsoft wanted to present a newer Windows 10 for the end-of-year holiday sales season, for example, it would like to have that on new devices no later than mid-November, meaning a release -- or, at least, finished code -- in October.

Such flexibility is not guaranteed: We simply don't know because Microsoft won't say, or doesn't know itself.

But on average, expect to see updates/upgrades spaced out every four months.

The first update will appear before year's end

Four months from the July 29 launch date would be November 29, close to the start of winter in the northern hemisphere.

Although that date may not be set in stone, it's clear that to make good on its promises Microsoft must roll out a finished first update/upgrade before year's end.

That alone will be a record for the company: The previous shortest lag has been the six months between Windows 8.1 (launched Oct. 17, 2013) and Windows 8.1 Update (April 8, 2014).

Consumers as guinea pigs get the first update
The first update/upgrade will be primarily, perhaps exclusively, for consumers, delivered to devices running Windows 10 Home by default via the Windows Update service. Microsoft is calling that update cadence or track "Current Branch" (CB), part of the new release lexicon the Redmond, Wash. company's invented.

Those running the more advanced Windows 10 Pro can also adopt the consumer-speed CB track. People most likely to do so are the power users, enthusiasts and work-at-homers with a Pro edition, as companies -- which also widely deploy the various Windows' Professional or Pro SKUs (stock-keeping units) -- will probably play it conservative and instead take updates from the Current Branch for Business (CBB) after they have moved to Windows 10 Pro.

Not everyone on CB will get the first update at the same time
Microsoft has provided some update flexibility (its take) or complicated matters (the cynic's view) by segmenting each "branch" into "rings." The latter is a second release timing mechanism that lets customers receive a branch's update as soon as the build is approved via a "fast" ring, or delay the update's arrival using a "slow" ring.

Rings on the CB were confirmed only this week by Terry Myerson, chief of the company's OS and devices division, and may number more than the two: Again, Microsoft's not elaborated.

The Windows Insider preview program, which will continue to run after July 29, has put devices into the slow ring by default; Microsoft may or may not do the same with the CB.

The one certainty is that not everyone on the CB will get the update immediately. "Some consumers just want to go first. And we have consumers that say, 'I'm okay not being first,'" Myerson said on Monday.

Most business PCs won't get the first update until the Spring of 2016
Because Microsoft will be using its Insider participants, and more importantly the millions of consumers running Windows 10, as testers, it will not release builds to businesses at the same time as those on the Current Branch.

With the four-month stretch between updates/upgrades and the automatic delay built into the Current Branch for Business (CBB), customers on the latter will not receive the first build until next year: On a strict schedule, that will be at the end of March or beginning of April 2016.

Microsoft's doing it this way, it's said, to produce more bug-free code to its most important users, businesses. Microsoft figures that the four months will shake out more bugs so that those running Windows 10 Pro or Windows 10 Enterprise will get a more stable update with a correspondingly lower risk of something breaking.

Users of Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise can stick with the old way of managing updates -- using Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) or another patch-management product -- or go with the new Windows Update for Business (WUB), an analog to the consumer-ish Windows Update service.

Those on WUB must deploy a given build within four months of its release or Microsoft will shut off the patch spigot: That means CBB users applying updates/upgrades with WUB must have the first build on their devices by approximately Aug. 1, 2016.

Businesses can delay the first update only so long

Microsoft's not giving anyone a choice: Either take the updates and upgrades or face a security patch drought. (The one exception: Windows 10 Enterprise.)

The longest delay allowed for CBB will be eight months from a specific build's release to the branch, or 12 months after the same build has hit the consumers via the CB.

Customers using WSUS or another Microsoft (or third-party) patch management solution must have the first build deployed no later than late November, early December 2016.

Microsoft has talked about rings on the CBB since the May announcement of Windows Update for Business, but as with rings on the CB, details remain muddled. How long the slow ring follows the fast, for instance, is unclear.
Only Windows 10 Enterprise can ignore the updates and upgrades

The only Windows 10 edition that can pass on the constant updates and upgrades is Enterprise, the SKU available solely to organizations that have a volume licensing agreement tied to the annuity-like Software Assurance (SA) program.

The branch available only to Windows 10 Enterprise, dubbed Long-term Servicing Branch, or LSTB, mimics the traditional way Microsoft has handled its OS: Only security patches and critical bug-fixes will reach systems on the LTSB.

Every two to three years, Microsoft will create another LTSB build, integrating some or all of the feature changes released to CB and CBB in the intervening time, then offer that to customers. They will have the option to move to that build -- it won't be mandatory -- and can skip at least one build, passing on LTSB 2 (or whatever Microsoft names it), then years later adopting LSTB 3 with an in-place upgrade.

The code released on July 29 will be considered LTSB 1, Microsoft has said, so a second, optional LTSB won't appear until 2017 at the earliest.
By December 2016, there will be multiple update/upgrade builds being used

The staggered releases Microsoft plans will create a situation where multiple builds are in use at any one time, each by a segment of the Windows 10 device population.

Come December 2016, Microsoft will have issued its fourth build to the CB, and the third to the CBB. But there will be some still using the second build (those on the CBB managing updates with WSUS).

Analysts, however, have largely discounted fragmentation as a factor, arguing that while the delays offered to businesses on the CBB may be disruptive, Windows 10 will ultimately be a more uniform ecosystem than the current mix of vastly different editions of Windows.
What Microsoft gets out of this stretched, staggered release schedule

Microsoft may pitch the Windows 10 update and upgrade schedule as all about customers, but there's something in it for the company, too.

"Rings will be more about controlling the rate at which the updates flood out into market," said Steve Kleynhans, an analyst at Gartner, in a recent interview. "With potentially a billion devices ... eventually ... getting an update, you need some level of flow control or else you could crush your servers and a large part of the Internet. By using rings, Microsoft can stagger the release over the period of days or weeks."

In fact, the entire cadence, not just the rings, can be envisioned as Microsoft's way of reducing stress on its update servers. Although the second build for the CB -- slated for late March-early April 2016 -- will coincide with the launch of the first build for the CBB on Computerworld's timeline, it will not be a surprise if Microsoft staggers the two by launching first one, then the other.

Microsoft is clearly concerned about server load and the possibility that something could go awry: It's not releasing the free Windows 10 upgrade to all eligible customers on July 29. Instead, it plans to give the several million Insiders the code first, then gradually trigger upgrades on others' devices in an unknown number of "waves" that could run weeks or months.

The company will also control demand for the upgrade another way by silently downloading the bits in the background to eligible PCs and tablets, then notifying them on its own schedule that the upgrade is ready to process locally.

It may do the same with later updates and upgrades, Kleynhans speculated.

"I wouldn't be surprised if under the covers Microsoft uses a separate ring for each week after an OS is released, or maybe even one for each day immediately after it is out," said Kleynhans. "But these will be mostly invisible to users and really isn't all the different from the way some updates roll-out today."
The naming problem

Computerworld has used generic place holders to identify the various update/upgrade releases Microsoft will distribute to Windows 10 -- "first build" and "LTSB 2," for instance -- because Microsoft hasn't talked about how it's going to name each build.

That will have to change.

"Another factor that Microsoft has yet to discuss is how it will identify each update," Kleynhans said. "We know that the OS will be called Windows 10 regardless of what updates have been delivered and installed.... But as for identifying the state after each update, we don't know if Microsoft will stick with the build number, as it has during the preview program, opt for a simplified numbering scheme -- something similar to the build number but without the holes in the numbering scheme -- go back to point identifiers [like] Window 10 v 10.1 and Windows 10 v 10.2, [as] Apple does with OS X, or maybe use something more date oriented [such as] 'Windows 10, July 2016.' There will have to be something to help developers understand what they are facing in the field."

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Migrating to the cloud? Start with a readiness assessment

This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter’s approach.

After careful consideration you’ve decided it’s time to migrate a major on-premise software solution to the cloud. But how do you create and execute a plan to make sure your migration stays on time, on budget, and delivers on your expectations? Effective planning is critical, and it should start with a thorough assessment of your infrastructure by an experienced vendor who understands your specific objectives.

Usually available as a service engagement from a hosting vendor or, better yet, from the software vendor whose solution is being migrated to the cloud, this cloud readiness assessment is part checklist and part roadmap. It audits the entire environment so you can plan and execute an efficient and effective migration.

Why should you consider such a service? It takes the pressure off. Too many organizations attempt to go it alone, which usually means asking overworked IT staff to try to “fit it in.” Today, the average IT department is already responsible for multiple systems, often as many as seven or eight. Trying to add a project as large and complex as an enterprise cloud migration to is simply not realistic. Not only is that approach a disservice to those tasked with making it happen, it also sends the wrong message about the size and importance of the project. Future problems are usually inevitable.

A cloud readiness assessment may also help you achieve a faster time to value. Remember, when you go to a SaaS model, ROI has a completely different meaning. For example, you are no longer looking to recover your long-term capital investment, but instead, expecting to gain instant value from your new OpEx spending. A cloud readiness assessment can help you carefully plan the migration so you can achieve a faster time to value.

Finally, a vendor’s cloud readiness team can usually deliver skills and specialized expertise required for the specific solution that you or hosting provider might not have in-house. These teams are truly cross-functional, with a mix of expertise in project management, technical implementations, business processes, industry-specific insights, and more. Additionally, these teams usually have dozens, if not hundreds, of migrations under their belts.

While no one can say they’ve seen it all, these teams are typically astute and can help you identify potential obstacles – challenges you may not have been aware of – before they become unmanageable.

For example, a cloud readiness team will carefully evaluate your existing environment and document all aspects of your infrastructure that could be affected. This includes your entire architecture, including databases, applications, networks, specialized hardware, third-party interfaces, extensions, customizations, and more. Then, they create a comprehensive report that details these findings as well as their recommended action plan to achieve the most successful migration possible.

To better understand how a cloud readiness offering could work – and its ultimate benefits – consider the example of moving an on-premise workforce management solution to the cloud. Workforce management solutions are generally large, enterprise-level implementations that span employee-focused areas such as time and attendance, absence management, HR, payroll, hiring, scheduling, and labor analytics.

The example of workforce management is especially relevant because recent research shows that an increasing number of workforce management buyers are adopting SaaS tools. Research shows that SaaS will be the main driver in growing the global workforce management market by almost $1.5 billion from 2013 to 2018. Additionally, Gartner research indicates, through 2017, the number of organizations using external providers to deliver cloud-related services will rise to 91 percent to mitigate cost and security risks as well as to meet business goals and desired outcomes.

This research demonstrates that a majority of companies will soon be moving their on-premise workforce management systems to the cloud. But will they be successful?

They have to be. Workforce management systems manage processes and data related to paying employees, managing their time and balances, storing sensitive HR information, complying with industry regulations, and other critical functions. Errors can be extremely costly, especially if they lead to missing paychecks, employee morale issues, lost productivity, grievances and compliance, or even potential lawsuits. Failure is simply not an option.

A cloud readiness service is the perfect way to minimize these risks and maximize the results. Specifically, a readiness service is ideally suited to address specialized areas of a workforce management deployment, including:

* Data collection terminals. While many employees still refer to these as “timeclocks,” the fact is that today’s data collection devices are sophisticated proprietary technology consisting of hardware, software, and network/communication capabilities. As part of a migration, a readiness audit would assess the organization’s data collection methods. It would also provide recommendations for transitioning them to a secure network model that meets the organization’s security and performance objectives while ensuring that service is not interrupted when the switchover occurs.

* Interfaces and integrations. Like other enterprise-level technology, workforce management solutions tend to use many different interfaces and custom integrations to feed applications such as ERP systems, outside payroll systems, or third-party analytics applications. In this example, the readiness assessment evaluates the entire integration strategy, including database settings, to make sure mission-critical data continues to flow to support existing business processes.

* Customizations and configurations. Most organizations have custom reports, products, or database tables. Here, the cloud readiness service will thoroughly review existing customizations and configurations, and will provide recommendations to maintain, or even improve, the value they deliver.

When it comes to something as significant — and important — as migrating a major enterprise solution to the cloud, don’t go it alone. Investing in a cloud readiness service can help you assess where you stand today, plan for the migration, and execute against the plan. This helps free up valuable IT resources to focus on what’s really important – implementing strategic initiatives to help the business grow.

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iPhone sales are about to explode

A new report from the Wall Street Journal points to iPhone sales exploding over the next few months.

It's a song and dance that's become somewhat of a routine: just as analysts believe iPhone sales are on the verge of peaking, new evidence suggests that the iPhone is about to become more popular than ever.

According to a report published on Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal, Apple recently asked its suppliers overseas to gear up for a production run of about 85 to 90 million iPhone units. By way of contrast, Apple during the build-up to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus release anticipated orders in the 70 to 75 million unit range. In other words, Apple's iPhone sales during the company's next refresh cycle could skyrocket by upwards of 28%.

As for what features the iPhone 6s will bring to the table, it's been widely reported that Apple's new iPhone models will include a Force Touch display. It remains to be seen, however, how such a feature will translate into real-world usage on a smartphone. As for other features, users can look forward to faster internals, 2GB of RAM, and an improved Touch ID sensor.

Additionally, the Journal adds that the iPhone 6s may come in an additional color to the current lineup of silver, gold, and space gray. While this remains to be seen, some previous rumors on this topic have suggested that Apple is exploring both Rose Gold and Pink color options.

So while Apple Watch sales may be lagging, according to some reports, Apple's primary revenue generator -- the iPhone -- appears to be healthier than ever before.

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How Amazon’s DynamoDB helped reinvent databases

In the earliest days of Amazon.com SQL databases weren’t cutting it, so the company created DynamoDB and in doing so helped usher in the NoSQL market

Behind every great ecommerce website is a database, and in the early 2000s Amazon.com’s database was not keeping up with the company’s business.

Part of the problem was that Amazon didn’t have just one database – it relied on a series of them, each with its own responsibility. As the company headed toward becoming a $10 billion business, the number and size of its SQL databases exploded and managing them became more challenging. By the 2004 holiday shopping rush, outages became more common, caused in large part by overloaded SQL databases.

Something needed to change.
But instead of looking for a solution outside the company, Amazon developed its own database management system. It was a whole new kind of database, one that threw out the rules of traditional SQL varieties and was able to scale up and up and up. In 2007 Amazon shared its findings with the world: CTO Werner Vogels and his team released a paper titled “Dynamo – Amazon’s highly available key value store.” Some credit it with being the moment that the NoSQL database market was born.

The problem with SQL
The relational databases that have been around for decades and most commonly use the SQL programming language are ideal for organizing data in neat tables and running queries against them. Their success is undisputed: Gartner estimates the SQL database market to be $30 billion.

But in the early to mid-2000s, companies like Amazon, Yahoo and Google had data demands that SQL databases just didn’t address well. (To throw a bit of computer science at you, the CAP theorem states that it’s impossible for a distributed system, such as a big database, to have consistency, availability and fault tolerance. SQL databases prioritize consistency over speed and flexibility, which makes them great for managing core enterprise data such as financial transactions, but not other types of jobs as well.)

Take Amazon’s online shopping cart service, for example. Customers browse the ecommerce website and put something in their virtual shopping cart where it is saved and potentially purchased later. Amazon needs the data in the shopping cart to always be available to the customer; lost shopping cart data is a lost sale. But, it doesn't necessarily need every node of the database all around the world to have the most up-to-date shopping cart information for every customer. A SQL/relational system would spend enormous compute resources to make data consistent across the distributed system, instead of ensuring the information is always available and ready to be served to customers.

One of the fundamental tenets of Amazon’s Dynamo, and NoSQL databases in general, is that they sacrifice data consistency for availability. Amazon’s priority is to maintain shopping cart data and to have it served to customers very quickly. Plus, the system has to be able to scale to serve Amazon’s fast-growing demand. Dynamo solves all of these problems: It backs up data across nodes, and can handle tremendous load while maintaining fast and dependable performance.

“It was one of the first NoSQL databases,” explains Khawaja Shams, head of engineering at Amazon DynamoDB. “We traded off consistency and very rigid

querying semantics for predictable performance, durability and scale – those are the things Dynamo was super good at.”

DynamoDB: A database in the cloud
Dynamo fixed many of Amazon’s problems that SQL databases could not. But throughout the mid-to-late 2000s, it still wasn’t perfect. Dynamo boasted the functionality that Amazon engineers needed, but required substantial resources to install and manage.

The introduction of DynamoDB in 2012 proved to be a major upgrade though. The hosted version of the database Amazon uses internally lives in Amazon Web Services’ IaaS cloud and is fully managed. Amazon engineers and AWS customers don’t provision a database or manage storage of the data. All they do is request the throughput they need from DynamoDB. Customers pay $0.0065 per hour for about 36,000 writes to the database (meaning the amount of data imported to the database per hour) plus $0.25 per GB of data stored in the system per month. If the application needs more capacity, then with a few clicks the database spreads the workload over more nodes.

AWS is notoriously opaque about how DynamoDB and many of its other Infrastructure-as-service products run under the covers, but this promotional video reveals that the service employs solid state drives and notes that when customers use DynamoDB, their data is spread across availability zones/data centers to ensure availability.

Forrester principal analyst Noel Yuhanna calls it a “pretty powerful” database and considers it one of the top NoSQL offerings, especially for key-value store use cases.

DynamoDB has grown significantly since its launch. While AWS will not release customer figures, company engineer James Hamilton said in November that DynamoDB has grown 3x in requests it processes annually and 4x in the amount of data it stores compared to the year prior. Even with that massive scale and growth, DynamoDB has consistently returned queries in three to four milliseconds.

Below is a video demonstrating DynamoDB’s remarkably consistent performance even as more stress is put on the system.

To see a demo of DynamoDB, jump to the 16:47 mark in the video.
Feature-wise, DynamoDB has grown, too. NoSQL databases are generally broken into a handful of categories: Key-value store databases organize information with a key and a value; document databases allow full documents to be searched against; while graph databases track connections between data. DynamoDB originally started as a key-value database, but last year AWS expanded itto become a document database by supporting JSON formatted files. AWS last year also added Global Secondary Indexes to DynamoDB, which allow users to have copies of their database, typically one for production and another for querying, analytics or testing.

NoSQL’s use case and vendor landscape
The fundamental advantage of NoSQL databases is their ability to scale and have flexible schema, meaning users can easily change how data is structured and run multiple queries against it. Many new web-based applications, such as social, mobile and gaming-centric ones, are being built using NoSQL databases.

While Amazon may have helped jumpstart the NoSQL market, it is now one of dozens of vendors attempting to cash in on it. Nick Heudecker, a Gartner researcher, stresses that even though NoSQL has captured the attention of many developers, it is still a relatively young technology. He estimates revenues of NoSQL products to not even surpass half a billion dollars annually (that’s not an official Gartner estimate). Heudecker says the majority of his enterprise client inquiries are still around SQL databases.

NoSQL competitors MongoDB, MarkLogic, Couchbase and Datastax have strong standings in the market as well and some seem to have greater traction among enterprise customers compared to DynamoDB, Huedecker says.

Living in the cloud
What’s holding DynamoDB back in the enterprise market? For one, it has no on-premises version – it can only be used in AWS’s cloud. Some users just aren’t comfortable using a cloud-based database, Heudecker says. DynamoDB competitors offer users the opportunity to run databases on their own premises behind their own firewall.

Khawaja Shams, director of engineering for DynamoDB says when the company created Dynamo it had to throw out the old rules of SQL databases.

Shams, AWS’s DynamoDB engineering head, says because the technology is hosted in the cloud, users don’t have to worry about configuring or provisioning any hardware. They just use the service and scale it up or down based on demand, while paying only for storage and throughput, he says.

For security-sensitive customers, there are opportunities to encrypt data as DynamoDB stores it. Plus, DynamoDB is integrated with AWS - the market’s leading IaaS platform (according to Gartner’s Magic Quadrant report), which supports a variety of tools, including other relational databases such as Aurora and RDS.

Adroll rolls with AWS DynamoDB
Marketing platform provider Adroll, which serves more than 20,000 customers in 150 countries, is among those organizations comfortable using the cloud-based DynamoDB. Basically, if an ecommerce site visitor browses a product page but does not buy the item, AdRoll bids on ad space on another site the user visits to show the product they were previously considering. It’s an effective method for getting people to buy products they were considering.

It’s really complicated for AdRoll to figure out which ads to serve to which users though. Even more complicated is that AdRoll needs to decide in about the time it takes for a webpage to load whether it will bid on an ad spot and which ad to place. That’s the job of CTO Valentino Volonghi --he has about 100 milliseconds to play with. Most of that time is gobbled up by network latency, so needless to say AdRoll requires a reliably fast platform. It also needs huge scale: AdRoll considers more than 60 billion ad impressions every day.

AdRoll uses DynamoDB and Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (S3) to sock away data about customers and help its algorithm decide which ads to buy for customers. In 2013, AdRoll had 125 billion items in DynamoDB; it’s now up to half a trillion. It makes 1 million requests to the system each second, and the data is returned in less than 5 milliseconds -- every time. AdRoll has another 17 million files uploaded into Amazon S3, taking up more than 1.5 petabytes of space.

AdRoll didn’t have to build a global network of data centers to power its product, thanks in large part to using DynamoDB.

“We haven’t spent a single engineer to operate this system,” Volonghi says. “It’s actually technically fun to operate a database at this massive scale.”

Not every company is going to have the needs of Amazon.com’s ecommerce site or AdRoll’s real-time bidding platform. But many are struggling to achieve greater scale without major capital investments. The cloud makes that possible, and DynamoDB is a prime example.

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20 best iPhone/iPad games

Star Wars Rebels, Fireworks, Shakespeare and lots of quests are featured in top iPhone and iPad games.

Games
As we head toward summer 2015, it’s time to check in and see how the mobile gaming industry has fared for Apple iOS platforms, the iPhone and iPad. Here’s a look at top rated games issued so far this year, based on App Store user reviews and professional reviewers on Metacritic. We hope you’ll discover a few hidden gems in here.

Legend of Grimrock
Developer: Almost Human
Price: $5
Ratings: 95 of 100 on Metacritic; 4.5 of 5 stars on Apple App Store; Ages 9+

This popular role-playing game for the PC brings its dungeon crawling to iOS. With Legend of Grimrock, enable prisoners who may or may not have committed the crimes for which they’ve been exiled to Mount Grimlock navigate its maze of tunnels and tombs.

Ryan North’s To Be or Not to Be
Developer: Tim Man Games
Price: $6
Ratings: 93 of 100 on Metacritic; 4 of 5 stars on App Store; Rated 12+

Shakespeare meets the iPhone and iPad in Ryan North’s To Be or Not to Be game. As the developer writes: “Play as Hamlet and revenge your father's death. Play as Ophelia and make scientific discoveries. Play as King Hamlet, Sr. and die on the first page!”

Implosion: Never lose hope
Developer: Rayark
Price: $10
Ratings: 93 of 100 on Metacritic; 4.5 stars on App Store; Rated 12+

Implosion transports you here: “Twenty years after the fall of Earth, the remnants of the Human race are once again faced with extinction. The time has come to justify our existence. A mysterious life form known as the XADA squares off against humanity's last weapon - the War-Mech series III battle suit.”

Attack the Light: Steven Universe Light RPG
Developer: Cartoon Network
Price: $3
Ratings: 91 of 100 on Metacritic; 5 of 5 stars on App Store; Rated for ages 9+.

Attack the Light is a role-playing game in which 4 heroes team up for a magical adventure.

Sorcery! 3
Developer: Inkle Studios
Price: $5
Ratings: 90 of 100 on Metacritic; 4 of 5 stars on App Store; Rated 12+

Sorcery! 3 is described as “An epic adventure through a cursed wilderness of monsters, traps and magic.” And you don’t need to have played parts 1 or 2.
Video courtesy YouTube.com

Does not Commute
Developer: Mediocre AB
Price: Free
Ratings: 87 of 100 on Metacritic; 4.5 of 5 stars on App Store: Rated ages 4+.

In Does not Commute, “What starts out as a relaxing commute in a small town of the 1970s quickly devolves into traffic chaos with hot dog trucks, sports cars, school buses and dozens of other vehicles. You drive them all.”

Magic Touch: Wizard for Hire
Developer: Nitrome
Price: Free
Ratings: 87 of 100 on Metacritic; 4.5 of 5 stars on App Store; Rated age 9+.

In Magic Touch a wizard is wanted who has proficiency in spell casting for popping intruders’ balloons.

Halo Spartan Strike
Developer: Microsoft
Price: $6
Ratings: 86 of 100 on Metacritic; 4.5 of 5 stars on App Store; Rated for ages 12+.

In Halo Spartan Strike, you are a supersoldier tasked with up to 30 challenging missions in city and jungle settings. Don’t worry, you have plenty of weapons, skills and vehicles with which to pummel and outwit enemies of Earth.

SwapQuest
Developer: Constantin Graf
Price: $3
Ratings: 85 of 100 on Metacritic; 3.5 of 5 stars on App Store; Rated for ages 9+.

SwapQuest mixes easy-to-learn puzzles with role-playing action as you try to save the Kingdom of Aventana from a demon cloud dubbed the Horde.

Silly Sausage in Meatland
Developer: Nitrome
Price: Free
Ratings: 85 of 100 on Metacritic; 4.5 of 5 stars on App Store; Rated for ages 9+.

In Silly Sausage you’re a dog with an infinitely stretchy body, which can be handy but also exposes you to all sorts of meat cutting instruments.

Card Crawl
Developer: Arnold Rauers
Price: $2
Ratings: 84 of 100 on Metacritic; 5 of 5 stars on App Store; Rated for ages 12+.

Card Crawl is solitaire with a dungeon crawler twist, in which you need to say monsters efficiently.

TouchTone
Developer: Mikengreg
Price: $3
Ratings: 84 of 100 on Metacritic; 4 of 5 stars on App Store; Rated ages 12+.

TouchTone is a game that the likes of the NSA and Anonymous would love: decrypt suspicious messages to make the nation safer and stronger.

Flop Rocket
Developer: Butterscotch Shenanigans
Price: Free
Ratings: 84 of 100 on Metacritic; 4.5 of 5 on App Store; Rated for ages 12+.

Next best thing to flying a drone: “Pilot your Flop Rocket through a 5 kilometer cave filled with dragon-like Spaceducks, enormous rock-worms, and other space-time anomalies as you try to prevent an underfunded space program from going bust.”

Fearless Fantasy
Developer: TinyBuild
Price: $4
Ratings: 84 of 100 on Metacritic; 4.5 of 5 stars on App Store; Rated for ages 9+.

Fearless Fantasy is a gesture-based role-playing game in which you are a bounty hunter intent on slaying weird creatures and saving a young woman from an awful marriage.

The Quest Keeper
Developer: Tyson Ibele
Price: Free
Ratings: 83 of 100 on Metacritic; 4.5 of 5 stars on App Store; Rated for ages 4+.

In The Quest Keeper, your mission is to help a peasant become a dungeon master, but you’ll need to dodge spikes, knives and scary creatures to do so.

Star Wars Rebels: Recon Missions
Developer: Disney Interactive Studios
Price: Free
Ratings: 83 of 100 on Metacritic; 4.5 of 5 stars on App Store; Rated for ages 9+.

Star Wars Rebels is based on the TV show, and lets you take on the Empire in this action platform game.

Blokshot Revolution
Developer: Foxhole Games
Price: Free
Ratings: 82 of 100 on Metacritic; 4.5 of 5 stars on App Store; Rated for ages 4+.

In Blokshot Revolution, experience “a beautiful firework display of hypnotic neon destruction” set against a pumping EDM sountrack.

Beast Quest
Developer: Miniclip.com
Price: Free
Ratings: 81 of 100 on Metacritic; 4 of 5 stars on App store; Rated for ages 9+.

The Beast Quest action-adventure game asks whether you are the hero Avantia has been looking for to free the magical beasts of this leand from the spell of a wicked wizard.
best iphone ipad games 20

Marvel Future Fight
Developer: Netmarble Games
Price: Free
Ratings: 81 of 100 on Metacritic; 4.5 of 5 on App Store;

This Marvel role-playing game lets you assemble teams of super heroes for single or multiple player games, as you battle via weapons and skills to keep humanity alive.

MicRogue
Developer: Crescent Moon Games
Price: $2
Ratings: 80 of 100 on Metacritic; 2 of 5 stars on App Store; Rated for ages 4+.

MicRogue does have a weak rating on the App Store based on limited reviews, but Metacritic reviewers gave it some love for packing fun into a small package. Climb a dark tower and avoid monsters with chess-like moves.

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