Querying against an Azure SQL Database using Azure Automation Part 1

5th of July, 2018 / / 1 Comment

What if you wanted to leverage Azure automation to analyse database entries and send some statistics or even reports on a daily or weekly basis?
Well why would you want to do that?

  • On demand compute:
    • You may not have access to a physical server. Or your computer isn’t powerful enough to handle huge data processing. Or you would definitely do not want to wait in the office for the task to complete before leaving on a Friday evening.
… [Keep reading] “Querying against an Azure SQL Database using Azure Automation Part 1”

VSTS Build Definitions as YAML Part 2: How?

26th of November, 2017 / / 13 Comments

In the last post, I described why you might want to define your build definition as a YAML file using the new YAML Build Definitions feature in VSTS. In this post, we will walk through an example of a simple VSTS YAML build definition for a .NET Core application.

Application Setup

Our example application will be a blank ASP.NET Core web application with a unit test project. I created these using Visual Studio for Mac’s ASP.NET… [Keep reading] “VSTS Build Definitions as YAML Part 2: How?”

VSTS Build Definitions as YAML Part 1: What and Why?

26th of November, 2017 / / 1 Comment

Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) has recently gained the ability to create build definitions as YAML files. This feature is currently in preview. In this post, I’ll explain why this is a great addition to the VSTS platform and why you might want to define your builds in this way. In the next post I’ll work through an example of using this feature, and I’ll also provide some tips and links to documentation and guidance that I found helpful when constructing some build definitions myself.… [Keep reading] “VSTS Build Definitions as YAML Part 1: What and Why?”

An Approach to DevOps Adoption

17th of October, 2016 / / No Comments
Originally posted at Chandra’s blog – https://fastandsteady.io

DevOps has been a buzzword for a while now in the tech industry, with many organizations joining the bandwagon and working towards embracing DevOps practices.
Wikipedia describes DevOps as “a practice that emphasizes the collaboration and communication of the IT professionals across the value chain while automating the process of software delivery and infrastructure changes. The aim is to deliver the software quickly and reliably.”
However, in an Enterprise scenario with the complexity involved, the journey to implement DevOps comprehensively is evolutionary.  … [Keep reading] “An Approach to DevOps Adoption”

Interacting with Azure Web Apps Virtual File System using PowerShell and the Kudu API

30th of August, 2016 / / 11 Comments

Introduction

Azure Web Apps or App Services are quite flexible regarding deployment. You can deploy via FTP, OneDrive or Dropbox, different cloud-based source controls like VSTS, GitHub, or BitBucket, your on-premise Git, multiples IDEs including Visual Studio, Eclipse and Xcode, and using MSBuild via Web Deploy or FTP/FTPs. And this list is very likely to keep expanding.

However, there might be some scenarios where you just need to update some reference files and don’t need to build or update the whole solution.… [Keep reading] “Interacting with Azure Web Apps Virtual File System using PowerShell and the Kudu API”

Gracefully managing Gulp process hierarchy on Windows

17th of August, 2016 / / No Comments

Process Tree

When developing client side JavaScript, one thing that really comes in handy is the ability to create fully functional stubs that can mimic real server APIs. This decouples project development dependencies and allows different team members to work in parallel against an agreed API contract.

To allow people to have an isolated environment to work on and get immediate feedback on their changes, I leverage the Gulp.js + Node.js duo.

“Gulp.js is a task runner that runs on Node.js … [Keep reading] “Gracefully managing Gulp process hierarchy on Windows”

Creating self-signed certs using OpenSSL on Windows

12th of June, 2016 / / 4 Comments

ssl

Working with Linux technologies exposes you to a huge number of open source tools that can simplify and speed up your development workflow. Interestingly enough, many of these tools are now flooding into the Windows ecosystem allowing us to increase the portability of our development assets across multiple operating systems.

Today I am going to demonstrate how easy it is to install OpenSSL on Windows and how simple it is to quickly create self-signed certificates for our development TLS needs that will work on a range of operating systems.… [Keep reading] “Creating self-signed certs using OpenSSL on Windows”

Access Azure linked templates from a private repository

22nd of May, 2016 / / 1 Comment

I recently was tasked to propose a way to use linked templates, especially how to refer to templates stored in a private repository.  The Azure Resource Manager (ARM) engine accepts a URI to access and deploy linked templates, hence the URI must be accessible by ARM.  If you store your templates in a public repository, ARM can access them fine, but what if you use a private repository?  This post will show you how.

In this example, I use Bitbucket – a Git-based source control product by Atlassian.  … [Keep reading] “Access Azure linked templates from a private repository”

Cloud and the rate of Change Management

15th of April, 2016 / / 1 Comment

At Kloud we get incredible opportunities to partner with organisations who are global leaders in their particular industry.

Listening to and observing one of our established clients inspired me to write about their approach to change management in the cloud around the SaaS model.

Let’s start by telling you a quick story about bubble wrap.

Bubble wrap has taken a very different journey to what it was originally intended for. It was meant to be used as wall paper.… [Keep reading] “Cloud and the rate of Change Management”

Creating Accounts on Azure SQL Database through PowerShell Automation

12th of April, 2016 / / 6 Comments

In the previous post, Azure SQL Pro Tip – Creating Login Account and User, we have briefly walked through how to create login accounts on Azure SQL Database through SSMS. Using SSMS is of course the very convenient way. However, as a DevOps engineer, I want to automate this process through PowerShell. In this post, we’re going to walk through how to achieve this goal.

Step #1: Create Azure SQL Database

First of all, we need an Azure SQL Database.… [Keep reading] “Creating Accounts on Azure SQL Database through PowerShell Automation”