/ Recent content on iAutomate Hugo -- gohugo.io en Thu, 27 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/untapping-infrastructure-registry-in-gitlab-part-1/ Thu, 27 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/untapping-infrastructure-registry-in-gitlab-part-1/ Introduction Yesterday I spent a few hours in Infrastructure Registry for my learning. Oh, well, I am not impressed with the implementation work. But I still love the feature. So, here is the blog post to get started. Prerequisites Azure Account. Refer here for free access (12 Months) GitLab Account. Set up your own GitLab instance Requirement Create a Terraform module Publish to Infrastructure Registry Consume the module to create Azure resources Solution Note: For now, let us ignore the quality of the project scaffolding, security, code scanning, process, and protocols. /blog/generate-dynamic-pipeline-for-folder-specific-changes-in-gitlab/ Wed, 31 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/generate-dynamic-pipeline-for-folder-specific-changes-in-gitlab/ Introduction As a DevSecOps focal, I get exciting tasks. Of late, I was battling with mono and multi-repositories. It’s easy to convince many, but few won’t agree to the project scaffolding change. So, we need to identify the best possible way. I am sure this is not a thin-on-the-ground requirement. Yes, you may need this trick to compromise the team who doesn’t wish to go for the mono to multi repository. /blog/publish-pester-test-results-in-gitlab-ci/ Tue, 23 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/publish-pester-test-results-in-gitlab-ci/ Introduction I wasn’t sure about the steps to publish the Pester test results in GitLab CI. So, I continued to search over the internet, and as you all know, the search teaches many things. I got many valuable tips and tricks, and here is my version that may help a few. Requirement Publish the Pester test results as shown below. Consider using the PowerShell script analyzer in the pipeline. Solution . /blog/azure-functions-fails-when-powershell-gallery-is-not-reachable-powershell-worker-runtime/ Wed, 15 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/azure-functions-fails-when-powershell-gallery-is-not-reachable-powershell-worker-runtime/ Introduction It’s essential to keep a backup plan to keep the Azure Functions healthy and working as expected. Twice I experienced the issue and ended up in incidents. Because my function code requires dependent modules that get auto-load from the PowerShell Gallery Environment Azure Functions with a PowerShell worker runtime. Function code requires dependent modules from PowerShell Gallery. Problem When a PowerShell Gallery Fail to work Working intermittently Slower in performance Solution When a developer creates an Azure Function with a PowerShell worker runtime, the requirements. /blog/fuse-function-app-api-with-azure-static-web-app/ Tue, 05 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/fuse-function-app-api-with-azure-static-web-app/ Introduction My friend and I worked on a simple HTML UI to collect user input and process exchange activities in the backend through PowerShell scripts. It was easy using the Pode and PSHTML PowerShell modules. I read about the static web app and thought of burning my night oil, and to my wonder, I made it to work :) . Yes, in this blog post, I walk through the steps to develop a static web app and fuse it with the Azure Function app. /blog/deploy-azure-function-app-with-geo-disaster-recovery/ Thu, 10 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/deploy-azure-function-app-with-geo-disaster-recovery/ Introduction A colleague of mine wasn’t happy with the manual solution that probes the Azure Function endpoints and diverts them to the secondary instance in case of failures. So, he came up with the Microsoft document and asked me to help him with the DevOps approach. For now, hold tight. I don’t have a template for the Front Door. So, I gave him an interim solution. I promise to share the 100% production-ready DevOps steps to deploy Azure Functions in my upcoming blogs and vlogs. /blog/test-and-deploy-bicep-template-for-azure-function-app-using-azure-devops/ Thu, 10 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/test-and-deploy-bicep-template-for-azure-function-app-using-azure-devops/ Introduction As DevOps folks, we all know that deploying code into the infrastructure without testing is not good. Yes, nobody disagrees! When it comes to the infrastructure as a code, the testing rules may differ, but the common factors are applicable. In this blog post, let me walk you through the steps to deploy Azure Function app in multiple regions with proper testing in place. I have a bunch of bicep codes. /blog/store-dynamic-data-in-an-azure-blob-storage-using-powershell-with-dapr/ Tue, 22 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/store-dynamic-data-in-an-azure-blob-storage-using-powershell-with-dapr/ Introduction The detailed documentation on the Azure Blob Storage binding component is super helpful. With that reference, let me walk you through the steps to store dynamic data to Azure blob storage without writing additional code (using blob API) to interact with the blob. Instead, we use the Dapr binding API. Binding Component Format apiVersion: dapr.io/v1alpha1 kind: Component metadata: name: bloboutput spec: type: bindings.azure.blobstorage version: v1 metadata: - name: storageAccount value: icontoso - name: storageAccessKey value: {YOUR_STORAGE_ACCOUNT_KEY} - name: container value: demo - name: decodeBase64 value: true - name: getBlobRetryCount value: 3 Build a web server (Static Blob Content) - app. /blog/bicep-template-for-azure-container-apps/ Fri, 26 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/bicep-template-for-azure-container-apps/ Introduction In my previous blog post, we got basic information about the Azure Container Apps! As we all know, the Azure Container Apps service is in preview, and there is a lot more to add to the features list. Now, let us see how to build a Bicep template to deploy an application in container apps. First, I would like to thank Thorsten Hans for the fantastic blog post How to deploy Azure Container Apps with Bicep. /blog/deploy-multi-container-apps-in-azure-web-app/ Tue, 23 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/deploy-multi-container-apps-in-azure-web-app/ Introduction Cooking is my hobby, and I am interested in learning technologies. I am a great fan of Azure, PowerShell, Web-Framework, Serverless, DevOps, and Cloud Automation. Yes, I have no experience in developing web apps / glossy web pages for production use. But, nothing stopped me from building one for my learning. This blog post walks you through the steps to deploy a multi-container apps in the Azure web app. Yes, let’s make a static site for cooking. /blog/my-first-experience-with-azure-container-apps/ Sun, 21 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/my-first-experience-with-azure-container-apps/ Credits Matthew Kelly | Author of Pode PowerShell module. PowerShell Microservice - Hello World by Doug Finke Stephane Van Gulick | Author of PSHTML PowerShell module. Introduction Azure Container Apps is a super catchy, fantastic serverless container service and won many hearts post the announcement in Microsoft Ignite 2021. This blog post walks you through the simple steps to deploy a PowerShell web application to say hello world. /blog/creating-a-simple-deployment-in-azure-kubernetes-service-using-yaml-less-than-5-min/ Tue, 02 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/creating-a-simple-deployment-in-azure-kubernetes-service-using-yaml-less-than-5-min/ Introduction In my previous blog posts, we have seen imperative approaches for creating pods, deployments, replica sets and exposing them to load balancer service. The links below are for your reference. DEPLOY NGINX APPLICATION IN AKS (LESS THAN 5 MIN) DEPLOY A NEW VERSION OF THE APPLICATION IN AKS (LESS THAN 5 MIN) DRY RUN OF REPLICAS IN AZURE KUBERNETES SERVICE (LESS THAN 5 MINUTES) YAML Basics YAML is a human-readable data serialization language used for configurations and many other purposes. /blog/dry-run-of-replicas-in-azure-kubernetes-service-less-than-5-minutes/ Sun, 24 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/dry-run-of-replicas-in-azure-kubernetes-service-less-than-5-minutes/ Introduction Below two blog posts are to demonstrate creating Pod & Deployment imperatively. 1. Creating Pods 2. Updating the application to a newer version. Disclaimer: This post is to show scaling the application (With no YAML) & not recommended for production. In this post let me walk through the simple steps for creating replicas. In simple words, replicas are nothing but a copy of the pods running to maintain the availability of an application. /blog/deploy-a-new-version-of-the-application-in-aks-less-than-5-min/ Thu, 21 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/deploy-a-new-version-of-the-application-in-aks-less-than-5-min/ Introduction In my previous blog, we described the pod deployment and exposing the app to the internet. Now, let me walk through the steps to release a new version of the application. We have two application versions in the Docker repository and they are listed below Version 1 Version 2 Steps (High Level) Build an HTML static web application – Content is of your choice Dockerize the application Tag and publish to the Docker hub Deploy the containerized application in the AKS Release a newer version of the application in the AKS HTML Code & Dockerfile Content <! /blog/deploy-nginx-application-in-aks-in-5-min/ Thu, 21 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/deploy-nginx-application-in-aks-in-5-min/ Introduction Of late, we did a AKS workshop and a team got stuck in deploying a simple HTML application and get the home page working. It’s not a complex one! Let me walk through the steps to get this sorted. Project Structure & Code HTML application project folder structure The docker file content is as follows - Yes, team has a HTML file named ‘home.html’ FROMnginxCOPY home.html /usr/share/nginx/htmlHTML file content for your reference. /blog/retrieve-azure-runbook-job-report-using-rest-api-with-powershell/ Tue, 16 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/retrieve-azure-runbook-job-report-using-rest-api-with-powershell/ Introduction The tile may hit a question WHY? Because automation accounts and runbooks are almost outdated in 2021. Most prefer to use alternative solutions like Logic Apps, Function App Power Automate, or others. Hang On! Runbooks are still in use. Of late, I got a requirement to send a report on runbooks that got invoked in the last one hour. In PowerShell, it’s easy, as shown below $Params = @{ RunbookName = 'MYRUNBOOKNAME' ResourceGroupName = 'MYRESOURCEGROUPNAME' AutomationAccountName = 'MYAUTOMATIONACCOUNTNAME' StartTime = $(Get-Date). /blog/collection-of-azure-resource-graph-query/ Sun, 07 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/collection-of-azure-resource-graph-query/ Introduction This blog post is to share the Azure Resource Graph query I developed at my workplace. I have used this with PowerShell and Azure Monitor. Azure Virtual Machines PowerState Report $Query = "Resources | where type =~ 'microsoft.compute/virtualMachines' | project id, VMName = tostring(name), Location = tostring(location), ResourceGroup = tostring(resourceGroup), SubscriptionId = tostring(subscriptionId), OSType = tostring(properties.storageProfile.osDisk.osType), PowerState = iff( tostring( split( properties.extended.instanceView.powerState.code, '/' )[1] ) != '', tostring(split(properties.extended.instanceView.powerState.code, '/')[1]), 'transitioning' )" $PageSize = 1000 $Iteration = 0 $SearchParams = @{ Query = $($Query) First = $PageSize } [System. /blog/using-azure-monitor-workbook-at-the-workplace-part-1/ Mon, 11 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/using-azure-monitor-workbook-at-the-workplace-part-1/ Introduction Azure Monitor Workbook is one of my favorite services in Azure Cloud. Why? I use to share scripts/queries with the operations team for reportings. During audits, I get more development works. So, I thought of using the Azure Monitor workbooks to serve the purpose. Indeed, the queries I built is tailor-made for my environment. However, through this blog post, I can share the nuances and some ready to use solutions. /itemized/item1/ Sat, 09 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000 /itemized/item1/ App 1 /blog/deploy-azure-function-app-using-project-bicep/ Thu, 07 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/deploy-azure-function-app-using-project-bicep/ References Refer to the below links to know more about the project bicep GitHub Repository Docs Examples Tutorials Specifications YouTube Intro to Azure’s Project Bicep with Brendan Burns and team Project Bicep Demo at Ignite 2020 by Mark Russinovich Project Bicep and ARM Templates November 2020 Update Introduction Project Bicep is growing well, and I am using it at my workplace to build proof of concepts environments. /blog/list-of-azure-vm-which-has-no-jit-enabled/ Mon, 04 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/list-of-azure-vm-which-has-no-jit-enabled/ Introduction I was asked to build a PowerShell script to retrieve Azure virtual machines with no Just In Time (JIT) access enabled. Yes, it’s for the security auditing team. I searched in PowerShell Gallery, TechNet Gallery, and other sources and didn’t find one. So, I developed a script that may help you! Solution First, I thought of retrieving virtual machines and query against the JIT Access Policy REST API endpoint. But it’s not required! /blog/get-started-with-project-bicep/ Sun, 03 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/get-started-with-project-bicep/ References Refer to the below links to know more about the project bicep GitHub Repository Docs Examples Tutorials Specifications YouTube Intro to Azure’s Project Bicep with Brendan Burns and team Project Bicep Demo at Ignite 2020 by Mark Russinovich Project Bicep and ARM Templates November 2020 Update Introduction As a first step, we need to install the bicep tools on our local computer. /blog/logging-service-now-requests-using-event-grid-trigger/ Sat, 01 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/logging-service-now-requests-using-event-grid-trigger/ Introduction A colleague of mine asked a solution for raising a service request in SNOW (Service Now) for each NSG rule creation and deletion. I requested to develop a service now catalog and allow the system to work with NSG. That means, from SNOW to Azure connectivity through REST API. However, the ask is the other way around. If a user creates/deletes the NSG rule in the portal, log a REQ with the minimum information /blog/azure-devops-pipeline-to-send-files-through-email-with-no-marketplace-extension/ Sun, 19 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/azure-devops-pipeline-to-send-files-through-email-with-no-marketplace-extension/ Introduction I was developing a PowerShell script to send Azure inventory through email, which generates a Word output with charts and tables. So, I thought of using Open XML, I used for SharePoint document library reporting (A few years ago), I searched GitHub and found a great PowerShell module PSWriteWord, and docs are super cool. Yes, this blog post is to show you the simple steps to generate a word document through Azure DevOps pipeline. /blog/my-first-experience-with-the-azure-durable-functions/ Sun, 28 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/my-first-experience-with-the-azure-durable-functions/ Introduction Of late, I got a requirement to start the Azure runbooks programmatically (start a runbook through another runbook), and as a PowerShell fan, I said, “Start-AzAutomationAccountRunBook” is one best way to achieve it. An hour later, I got a call to build a script that waits until the job completes and gets the output. Here is a quick way “-Wait” parameter. Solved the issue? Yes! Now, it’s time for us to deliver a REST API endpoint, which is required to invoke in an Azure Pipeline for the business process. /blog/retrieve-unattached-azure-vm-disks-using-powershell-azure-resource-graph/ Fri, 01 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/retrieve-unattached-azure-vm-disks-using-powershell-azure-resource-graph/ Introduction As part of the cost saving project task, I developed a PowerShell script to retrieve UNATTACHED disks. I used JOIN operator in this code to get a few tag information from the respective resource group. Replace value for the {TAGNAME}. $Query = "Resources | where type =~ 'Microsoft.Compute/disks' | where properties.diskState =~ 'Unattached' | project id, name, subscriptionId, resourceGroup, diskInGB = properties.diskSizeGB, diskState = properties.diskState, timeCreated = properties. /blog/create-service-connection-with-certificate-using-rest-api/ Sat, 25 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/create-service-connection-with-certificate-using-rest-api/ Introduction I have no access to my organization DevOps due to unfortunate technical issues, but that didn’t stop me from working. This morning I was on a call with a business owner who asked me to show the steps to create service connections with the certificate. Yes, I have to use the OPEN SSL tool to convert the PFX to PEM, and it was a bit difficult for me to walk him through the steps remotely. /blog/how-azure-devops-rest-api-helped-me-during-outage-of-the-vpn/ Sat, 18 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/how-azure-devops-rest-api-helped-me-during-outage-of-the-vpn/ Introduction There is always an alternative is the apt statement to start this blog post! Yes, I got trouble in VPN and lost connection to most of our internal portal, and one among that is Azure DevOps (Formerly VSTS), where the code resides. Positively, no hindrances in accessing Outlook and Teams over mobile. All I need is to continue the work on code, work items and send status report. REST API is the savior! /blog/deploying-azure-function-app-external-git/ Fri, 17 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /blog/deploying-azure-function-app-external-git/ Introduction I bet most of you don’t need this! Having said that, if your organization has Azure DevOps (Formerly VSTS) in directory A and Azure on directory B. Then, deploying Azure Function App using external git may help you. Why not Zip deploy? Yes, that’s the optimal way to do! In my case, the roller coaster ride for simple requirements is quite common. Consider, Azure Functions source code is available with vendors, and it’s an end to end solution to be deployed at your workplace in a shorter time, and building a pipeline may take a few hours or process may delay the deployment. /itemized/item2/ Thu, 22 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000 /itemized/item2/ App 2 /itemized/item3/ Thu, 22 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000 /itemized/item3/ App 3 /itemized/item4/ Thu, 22 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000 /itemized/item4/ App 4 /about/ Wed, 09 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000 /about/ Dedicated IT professional with a history of meeting company goals utilizing consistent and organized practices, skilled in working under pressure and adapting to new situations and challenges to enhance the corporate brand best. Intrinsic passion for learning and self-development, I come from an infrastructure development background with experiences across a variety of environments and languages; expert-level knowledge of PowerShell, Python, ARM Templates, Terraform, Bicep, Azure, Azure Policy, Serverless, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure CLI, Azure Rest API, Azure Data Explorer, Kusto Query Language, Observaibility, Integrations, Workflows, Orchestrations, Microsoft 365, and Power Platform /contact/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 /contact/