Showing all posts tagged: 'Azure'

A 66-post collection

Automate login for Azure Powershell scripts with Service Principals

Automation is great. It's the bedrock of any successful IT department and the default solution for any task that has to be repeated more than once. I'm a big proponent of automation and, since I spend most of my time in Azure, I try to automate as many tasks as I can. Today, I'll explain how to automate your Azure login in order to allow your scripts to run without any supervision. Disclaimer: many of these tasks should be running using the [Azure Automation service](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/automation/" target="_blank) because of better integration …[read more]

Copying blob data between storage accounts on Azure. Did you say scale? (part 1)

A couple of weeks ago I [published a post](GHOST_URL/copy-azure-blob-data-between-storage-accounts-using-functions/" target="_blank) for copying data between storage accounts using Azure Functions. The code for the function is quite basic and responds only to upload events. Every time someone uploads blobs to a container monitored by the Function, the blob gets automatically copied across to the destination storage account. That’s great for small workloads. But, what about copying 100k blobs from one storage account to another? And how about making that task super scalable? Challenge accepted! In this post I will explain how to solve this …[read more]

Application logging to Azure using SeriLog

I'm in the process of creating a cloud-based application that needs to scale well and I'm thinking about error management and logging. There will be a follow up post about the application itself, but for now I want to focus on the logging bit. In my quest to find the right tool, I remembered reading about [Serilog](https://github.com/serilog/serilog" target="_blank) some time ago. I've been meaning to try Serilog but I had to find the right project/opportunity. And now I finally got it! The thing I like about Serilog is that it’s …[read more]

Copy Azure blob data between storage accounts using Functions

Microsoft's Azure Functions are pretty amazing for automating workloads using the power of the Cloud. Unlike their predecessor, WebJobs, Functions are an extremely simple yet powerful tool at your disposal. In addition, unlike WebJobs, they don't share the workload with anything else, so you can push them to the limit. They are also extremely scalable and run concurrently, making them ideal for all your back-end processing. I recently used Azure Functions to copy blob storage data from one subscription to another. If you intend to copy data within the same subscription, then your task is even simpler and you can …[read more]

Working with Azure ARM Templates in Visual Studio Code

These days I spend a lot of time working with Azure. I also make a conscious effort to use all the tools available when managing my Azure resources. This helps me get a better understanding of the platform and allows me to move freely between devices. So what are these tools? Let's break it down: Visual Studio Azure CLI The portal PowerShell Add Azure Resource Management (ARM) templates on top of these and you can see how provisioning and managing resources is now a much better experience. In addition, ARM templates allow us to take full advantage of CI/CD …[read more]

Options for Migrating Azure VMs from ASM (v1) to ARM (v2)

Today, the Azure portal allows you to create 2 types of VMs. These types refer mainly to the platform atop which your VMs run. Before I continue with this post, it may be handy establishing what the terminology means: Classic/ASM Classic or v1 VMs run on top of the older Azure Service Management (ASM) technology. ASM infrastructures can be managed through both the old and the new portals and Azure PowerShell/CLI. However, some of the v1 features are not yet, and may never be, available on the new Azure Portal. New/ARM Resource Manager or v2 VMs run …[read more]

How can I migrate my Azure VMs to Azure Resource Management (ARM) stack?

That's a perfectly good question and one that many teams are facing lately. There is a valid reason to want to upgrade. The Azure Resource Manager (ARM) has a lot of advantages over it's predecessor. The biggest one is automation. ARM templates allow you to easily capture, configure and deploy resources and resource groups on Azure using PoSH (PowerShell) and simple Json files. This is great for DevOps! If you're starting with Azure now, then ARM makes absolute sense and is the default option. However, there are many companies that are stuck in v1 i.e the Azure Service Management …[read more]

Joining Microsoft - a new beginning

If the title isn't clear enough, then let me clarify. On March 7th, I'll be joining Microsoft as a Senior Premier Field Engineer on the Azure team! The news couldn't be more exciting, exhilarating and scary at the same time. But let's rewind a little bit. A bit of history I've been working as a software developer for over 12 years. During these years, I was in a permanent role for 7 of them, before becoming a contractor/consultant/one-man band. The first part of my career was all about building my knowledge and experience. I've worked with some really …[read more]