I'm moving my new blog posts to Github pages to keep sharing my knowledge on different IT related topics I find interesting. Please update your RSS feed if you are using RSS to follow my blog posts. Hope you to see you there. Thanks for all comments and feedback on my TechNet blog. Stefan Stranger ..read more

This week there was a conversation on Twitter about creating a WorldCup PowerShell Module using PSSwagger. I never let a good opportunity slip to learn something new, so I started to investigate the PowerShell PSSwagger module first. But first what is Swagger? Swagger Swagger is a powerful yet easy-to-use suite of API developer tools for teams and individuals, enabling development across the entire API lifecycle, from design and documentation, to test and deployment. Swagger consists of a mix of open source, free and commercially available tools that allow anyone, from techn ..read more

Scenario: Use an Access Token from an Azure Service Principal to connect to an Azure SQL Database. We used this in the following scenario: With a VSTS Extension Task we wanted to create/add an Azure SQL Database to an existing Azure SQL Server. During the create SQL Database Action we want to assign DBOwner permissions for an AAD Group to the SQL database. Steps: Create Service Principal Create AAD Group Add SPN as member to AAD Group Create SQL Server in Azure Add AAD Group as Active Directive admin for SQL server Connect with Azure SQL Server using the SPN Token ..read more

Did you know you can store your ARM template output in a VSTS variable and parse that data for later usage in your VSTS Release Pipeline? If you are using the Azure Resource Group Deployment Task in your VSTS Release Definitions you now have the option to store the output values from your ARM template in the Deployments Output section. In this blog post I explain how you can use the Deployments Output values in the rest of your Release Pipeline. ARM Template Before we can start, we first need to have an ARM Template which some output. In this example I don't deploy any Azure Resources I ..read more

Yesterday I tweeted about me being able to access my Docker for Windows Kubernetes Cluster from Debian WSL without exposing the Docker Daemon with TLS and I got quite some responses. W00t! I'm able to access my #Docker for Windows #Kubernetes Cluster from #Debian WSL without exposing the #Docker Daemon with TLS. Anyone interested to know how I did this? pic.twitter.com/Dgu3a6aWrO — Stefan Stranger (@sstranger) April 1, 2018 It seems that there are quite some people interested in me sharing how I was able to do this. Background information Let me start with some background informati ..read more

Last week I needed to deploy an Windows 2016 Data Science Virtual Machine from the Azure MarketPlace. The Azure Marketplace is an online applications and services marketplace that enables start-ups and independent software vendors (ISVs) to offer their solutions to Azure customers around the world. The Azure Marketplace combines Microsoft Azure partner ecosystems into a single, unified platform to better serve our customers and partners. This will improve existing experiences and make it easier to search, purchase, and deploy a wide range of applications and services in just a few clicks ..read more

We just released the Debian GNU/Linux for WSL. More information can be found at the following "Debian GNU/Linux for WSL now available in the Windows Store" blog post. After downloading the Debian WSL from the Microsoft Store I wanted to first install the Azure CLI tools. According to the Azure CLI installation documentation one of the first steps is modifying your sources list: AZ_REPO=$(lsb_release -cs) echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/azure-cli/ $AZ_REPO main" | \ sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/azure-cli.list But when running lsb_release -cs on the ..read more

In the latest Edge version (18.02 CE Edge) of Docker for Windows support for Kubernetes is added. If you want to start playing with Kubernetes you need to do the following: Download the latest (18.02 CE Edge) Docker for Windows Edge version from here. Install the Docker for Windows 18.02 CE Edge version you downloaded in step 1. Enable Kubernetes in the settings of the Docker for Windows Edge version. Here are some screenshots made during the configuration of Kubernetes in the Docker for Windows Edge Client. Wait till the Kubernetes cluster is deployed. The Kubernetes cluster is now ..read more

This sprint I've been busy with the implementation of running Kubernetes in Azure. What is Kubernetes? Kubernetes is an open-source platform designed to automate deploying, scaling, and operating application containers. With Kubernetes, you are able to quickly and efficiently respond to customer demand: Deploy your applications quickly and predictably. Scale your applications on the fly. Roll out new features seamlessly. Limit hardware usage to required resources only. Kubernetes on Azure Azure Container Service (ACS) allows you to quickly deploy a production ready Kuberne ..read more