RunAs Radio

Are you ready to take a look at Richard's home lab? Richard goes solo to share insights about the new infrastructure, hardware, and automation in his seaside home. He discusses the challenges posed by its remote location, including unreliable power and connectivity. You'll find plenty of details about networking, computing infrastructure, automation, telemetry, and experiments with AI technologies. Get an exclusive behind-the-scenes look! Links Kubernetes Ubiquiti Enterprise Campus Aggregation Proxmox nVidia H200 GPU Prometheus Grafana Video Tour of Home Lab Recorded April 1, 2026

Configuration drift is real - how do you control it in your Azure tenant? Richard talks to Nik Charlebois-Laprade about his ongoing work on desired state configuration DSC for Microsoft 365 tenants. Microsoft365DSC has been an open-source tool for managing configuration for some time, but today it has become a preview product called Unified Tenant Configuration in Microsoft Graph. Nik talks about managing multiple tenants, including a single tenant, using reference configurations that help you detect and correct configuration changes. It's early days for the product, but there's a ton of power here to keep your tenant working the way you expect!LinksMicrosoft365DSCUnified Tenant ConfigurationRecorded February 13, 2026

How does artificial intelligence become more sustainable? Richard chats with Darshna Shah about her experiences as Chief AI Officer at Elastic. Darshna discusses the resources required to run large language model experiments, the pressure this has put on the electrical grid, and more. The conversation turns to efficiency - and the idea that there is little incentive in the current land grab around LLMs to be more efficient - that the focus is on growing quickly. But as technologies mature, efficiency becomes a key competitive advantage!LinksRDeepEvalAzure AI Evaluation SDKGitHub Green Software FoundationRecorded January 29, 2026

SQL Server 2025 is released - what's in it, and what happens next? Richard chats with Bob Ward about the huge array of announcements coming out of Ignite around SQL Server 2025, including AI-related features, new reliability and performance options, engine improvements, and more! The tooling for SQL Server also continues to evolve, including making Copilot available through SSMS and as part of the SQL extension to Visual Studio Code. And there's more to come - have a listen!LinksSQL Server 2025SQL Server 2025 UnveiledSSMS with Erin StellatoSQL Server Management StudioJSON Data in SQL ServerManaged Identity for SQL ServerSQL Server in Microsoft FabricMirroring SQL Server in FabricNext-Generation SQL Managed InstanceMSSQL Extension for Visual Studio CodeRecorded January 5, 2026

How can you hire and get hired in 2026? While at NDC London, Richard chatted with Suzi Edwards-Alexander about her experiences recruiting technology folks into companies. Suzi talks about developing interview practices that actually reflect the job, rather than examining esoteric knowledge or certifications - it's possible to have an interviewing experience that is actually enjoyable! The conversation dives into the power imbalance between employers and employees and how to resist being seen as lesser for not being employed. Work should be a mutually beneficial experience - we have to do better!LinksAppartenirRecorded January 29, 2026

What does it take to get your SaaS offering on multiple cloud providers? Richard chats with Steve Buchanan about his new role at JAMF, which focuses on a mobile device management product for Apple devices. Originally built as a SaaS product on AWS, Steve is helping to build out the JAMF stack on Azure to support a broader range of customers. Steve talks about Kubernetes as the common ground among the major cloud players, but you need to dig into the rest of the tooling to minimize differences across implementations. That means cloud-agnostic tools for deployment, identity, instrumentation, and more! The good news is that there are plenty of tools out there to help you, but it does take time to work out your suite of tools to get consistent results, no matter where the backend resides.LinksJAMFOpenTofuElastic Kubernetes ServiceAzure Kubernetes ServiceGoogle Kubernetes EngineMicrosoft IntuneiOS and IntuneOktaPrometheusGrafanaSteve's Pluralsight ClassesKAgentSOC 2 Type 2Recorded January 8, 2026

How have large language models impacted hacking? Richard talks to Erica Burgess about her experiences using LLMs for red team hacking, collecting bug bounties, and identifying vulnerabilities in systems. Erica discusses the power of LLMs to generate a variety of viewpoints on a potential exploit and help the hacker think "out of the box." Coordinating multiple agents to attempt a variety of exploits, retrieve information, and otherwise deal with the drudgery parts of hacking means a skilled operator can move faster - what once would be days of work can be minutes. Where does AI in hacking go? Lots of scary places - but also pointing the way to new ways to protect systems!LinksBurninator SecRecorded January 24, 2026

You're using Active Directory Certificate Services - but is it configured securely? Richard talks to Ron Arestia about his work with organizations implementing their own Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) with ADCS. Ron explains how poorly configured ADCS enables lateral attacks within an organization once an initial breach occurs, allowing black hats to move throughout your network. A well-designed PKI system has tiers of protection, with the top level completely disconnected from the network. Or do you really need your own PKI system? The conversation digs into the various scenarios, including third-party options. Certificates are the top level of security for your organization - you need to get it right!LinksActive Directory Certificate ServicesWindows Hello for BusinessCertified Pre-OwnedMicrosoft Defender for IdentitySecure Privileged AccessPass the HashMicrosoft Cloud PKI for Microsoft IntuneMicrosoft Entra Conditional AccessMicrosoft AutopilotRon's BlogRecorded February 6, 2026