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Migrating Azure DevOps Variable Groups

Howdy Folks, I was working on an application modernization project. And there was a requirement to migrate application deployments from one project to another in Azure DevOps. deployment pipelines were heavily dependent on variable groups. So, we wanted to migrate these variables group to the new project. Couldn't find any solutions in internet for this, so came up with the below scripts. You can grab the scripts from the below GitHub URL. DaniduWeerasinghe911/Migrate-Azure-DevOps-Variable-Groups: This Repo Include PowerShell Scripts relating to Migrating Azure DevOps Variable Groups (github.com) Azure DevOps Variable Groups Azure DevOps Variable Groups are a way to store and manage sets of variables that can be used across multiple pipelines in Azure DevOps. These variables can include secrets, connection strings, and other sensitive information that is needed for builds and releases. Variable Groups provide a centralized way to manage these variables and ensure that they are cons
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Azure IAC Resource Manager Parameter Options

Hey Folks, This time I wanted to talk about different types of parameters passing options and my opinion on each possible method. Having said that, there is no right or wrong answers here. It's purely depending on the solution that you are working on. There are few different parameter options we can use with Bicep especially when you are using Azure DevOps Json Files YML Files Variable Groups In-line Parameters Define Parameters within Bicep In this very blog post I'm not going to go into detail about in-line parameters, parameters within biceps or variable groups in Azure Devops. Cause I assume we are much more familiar with those. and my key highlight on this is yaml parameter files. JSON Parameter Files We all know what Json parameter files are. Following is one of the examples from Microsoft documentation. { "$schema" : "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentParameters.json#" , "contentVersion" : "1.0.0.0&quo
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Deploying an Automation Account with a Runbook and Schedule Using Bicep

Introduction Automation is a key component in many organizations' cloud strategy. Azure Automation allows you to automate the creation, deployment, and management of resources in your Azure environment. In this post, we will walk through the process of deploying an Automation Account with a Runbook and Schedule using Bicep, a new domain-specific language for deploying Azure resources. Intention My intention at the  end is to run a PowerShell  script to start and shutdown Azure VMs based on tag values. PowerShell  script that I have used is from below l ink.  And two  of me   collogue s ( Michael Turnley   and Saudh Mohomad helped to modify the  PowerShell  script. Prerequisites Before we begin, you will need the following: An Azure subscription The Azure CLI installed on your machine. The Azure Bicep extension for the Azure CLI Creating the Automation Account The first step in deploying an Automation Account with a Runbook and Schedule is to create the Aut
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Securing Azure Services with Fetian FIDO

Hey Folks  Here again with another security topic with Fetian Fido. And once again Fetian devices proved their excellent quality and stability. For this I choose Fetian K33 -  AllinPass FIDO Security Key – FEITIAN (ftsafe.com) and  K39 -  Single-button FIDO Security Keys | FEITIAN (ftsafe.com) Use case  In an organization following changes needs to be implemented.  1. Update the password policy 2. Update the user session time out to 30 minutes Once these changes being implemented, the following issues need to be addressed 1. Users' complaint new passwords need to be so long 2. Users complain sessions time out makes them work so much slower with the longer passwords 3. Etc... Solution  One of my friends reached out to me to help solve this problem. All I could think of was using passwordless auth with FIDO devices. We have decided to use Fido2 keys for better security and flexibility for the users. The FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) Alliance helps to promote open authentication stand
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Updating Azure VM Data Disk Sizes

Summary Hope you are doing great, this time I came up with a simple azure DevOps solution for updating VM disk sizes. The current project that I'm in has a bunch of virtual machines. So, we need a way to update the VM disk with minimal administrative effort and changes.  In this scenario, we have used Bicep as the IAC language Azure DevOps pipelines YAML variable files  Here is the high-level workflow for a particular VM in the solution YAML Pipeline file got two workflows, firstly the VM build pipeline, and the second is the disk update one. If you focus on the green arrow and the purple arrow, basically I'm modifying the same bicep module file and passing the same set of variables. You may wonder why we cannot use the same flow to build the VM and update the disk later, that's because for the disk updates VM needs to be in a shutdown state, and other components in the 1st flow need the VM up and running especially the extension modules YAML Variable Files I have decided t
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