An Azure Timer Function App to retrieve files via FTP and Remote PowerShell

13th of February, 2017 / / 4 Comments

Introduction

In an age of Web Services and API’s it’s an almost a forgotten world where FTP Servers exist. However most recently I’ve had to travel back in time and interact with a FTP server to get a set of files that are produced by other systems on a daily basis. These files are needed for some flat-file imports into Microsoft Identity Manager.
Getting files off a FTP server is pretty simple. But needing to do it across a number of different environments (Development, Staging and Production) meant I was looking for an easy approach that I could also replicate quickly across multiple environments.… [Keep reading] “An Azure Timer Function App to retrieve files via FTP and Remote PowerShell”

Automate the nightly backup of your Development FIM/MIM Sync and Portal Servers Configuration

31st of January, 2017 / / 6 Comments

Last week in a customer development environment I had one of those oh shit moments where I thought I’d lost a couple of weeks of work. A couple of weeks of development around multiple Management Agents, MV Schema changes etc. Luckily for me I was just connecting to an older VM Image, but it got me thinking. It would be nice to have an automated process that each night would;

  • Export each Management Agent on a FIM/MIM Sync Server
  • Export the FIM/MIM Synchronisation Server Configuration
  • Take a copy of the Extensions Folder (where I keep my PowerShell Management Agents scripts)
  • Export the FIM/MIM Service Server Configuration

And that is what this post covers.… [Keep reading] “Automate the nightly backup of your Development FIM/MIM Sync and Portal Servers Configuration”

How to configure Paged Imports on the Granfeldt FIM/MIM PowerShell Management Agent

28th of January, 2017 / / No Comments

Introduction

In the last 12 months I’ve lost count of the number of PowerShell Management Agents I’ve written to integrate Microsoft Identity Manager with a plethora of environments. The majority though have not been of huge scale (<50k objects) and the import of the managed entities into the Connector Space/Metaverse runs through pretty timely.
However this week I’ve been working on a AzureAD Groups PS MA for an environment with 40k+ groups. That in itself isn’t that large, but when you start processing Group Memberships as well, the Import process can take an hour for a Full Sync.… [Keep reading] “How to configure Paged Imports on the Granfeldt FIM/MIM PowerShell Management Agent”

How to create an AzureAD Microsoft Identity Manager Management Agent using the MS GraphAPI and Differential Queries

25th of January, 2017 / / No Comments

Introduction

In August 2016 I wrote this post on how to use PowerShell to leverage the Microsoft GraphAPI and use Differential Queries. The premise behind that post was I required a Microsoft Identity Manager Management Agent to synchronize identity information from AzureAD into Microsoft Identity Manager. However the environment it was intended for has a large AzureAD implementation and performing a Full Sync every-time is just to time consuming. Even more so with this limitation that still exists today in MIM 2016 with SP1.… [Keep reading] “How to create an AzureAD Microsoft Identity Manager Management Agent using the MS GraphAPI and Differential Queries”

How to embed Power BI Reports into the Microsoft Identity Manager Portal

24th of January, 2017 / / No Comments

About seven years ago at a conference in Los Angeles I attended I remember a session where a consultant from Oxford Computer Group gave a presentation on integrating Quest Identity Manager (now Dell One Identity Manager) with the Forefront Identity Manager Portal. I’ve recently had a requirement to do something similar and Carol pointed me in the direction of her experiments with doing something similar based off inspiration from that same presentation/session.
Well it is now 2017 and FIM and SharePoint have all moved through a few versions and doing something similar has changed.… [Keep reading] “How to embed Power BI Reports into the Microsoft Identity Manager Portal”

How to configure a Graphical PowerShell Dev/Admin/Support User Interface for Azure/Office365/Microsoft Identity Manager

16th of January, 2017 / / No Comments

During the development of an identity management solution I find myself with multiple PowerShell/RDP sessions connected to multiple environments using different credentials often to obtain trivial data/information. It is easy to trip yourself up as well with remote powershell sessions to differing environments. If only there was a simple UI that could front-end a set of PowerShell modules and make those simple queries quick and painless. Likewise to allow support staff to execute a canned set of queries without providing them elevated permissions.… [Keep reading] “How to configure a Graphical PowerShell Dev/Admin/Support User Interface for Azure/Office365/Microsoft Identity Manager”

How to create an Azure Function App to Simultaneously Start|Stop all Virtual Machines in a Resource Group

6th of January, 2017 / / 6 Comments

Just on a year ago I wrote this blog post that detailed a method to “Simultaneously Start|Stop all Azure Resource Manager Virtual Machines in a Resource Group”. It’s a simple script that I use quite a lot and I’ve received a lot of positive feedback on it.
One year on though and there are a few enhancements I’ve been wanting to make to it. Namely;

  • host the script in an environment that is a known state.
… [Keep reading] “How to create an Azure Function App to Simultaneously Start|Stop all Virtual Machines in a Resource Group”

Resolving "The Microsoft Identity Manager server database could not be successfully populated" installation error

3rd of January, 2017 / / No Comments

Here is yet another of those Microsoft Identity Manager installation errors that doesn’t give you much information and when looking for a resolution you can’t find an exact match through Dr Google.
Nearing the end of the Microsoft Identity Manager Service and Portal installation you receive the “The Microsoft Identity Manager server database could not be successfully populated” error.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/76015/BlogImages/MIMDBNotPopulated/MIM%20DB%20Not%20Populated%20-%20Full.png
Looking into the installation log (which I’m in the good practice of always initiating when doing an installation of the MIM Service/Portal these days eg. … [Keep reading] “Resolving "The Microsoft Identity Manager server database could not be successfully populated" installation error”

Microsoft Identity Manager installation error "Internal Error 2337. 0, Microsoft.MetadirectoryServices.host.dll"

2nd of January, 2017 / / No Comments

Today I was doing a fresh installation of Microsoft Identity Manger 2016 with Service Pack 1 into a new development environment. The exact binary is “en_microsoft_identity_manager_2016_with_service_pack_1_x64_dvd_9270854”
Not too far into the installation of the Microsoft Identity Manager Synchronization Server I got the “Internal Error 2337. 0, Microsoft.MetadirectoryServices.host.dll” error as shown below.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/76015/BlogImages/MIM2016SP1InstallError/MIM%202337%20Install%20Error.png
Doing a few searches didn’t throw me any bones. I could see that the installation had added the MIM Sync Server Service Account to the Logins on the SQL Server.… [Keep reading] “Microsoft Identity Manager installation error "Internal Error 2337. 0, Microsoft.MetadirectoryServices.host.dll"”

How to use a Powershell Azure Function to Tweet IoT environment data

29th of November, 2016 / / No Comments

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/76015/BlogImages/FunctionIOTWeather/Azure%20Function%20Twitter.png

Overview

This blog post details how to use a Powershell Azure Function App to get information from a RestAPI and send a social media update.
The data can come from anywhere, and in the case of this example I’m getting the data from WioLink IoT Sensors. This builds upon my previous post here that details using Powershell to get environmental information and put it in Power BI.  Essentially the difference in this post is outputting the manipulated data to social media (Twitter) whilst still using a TimerTrigger Powershell Azure Function App to perform the work and leverage the “serverless” Azure Functions model.… [Keep reading] “How to use a Powershell Azure Function to Tweet IoT environment data”