PowerShell – Azure and beyond

How to securely deploy Azure infrastructures with Terraform

Recently, I have intensely been using Terraform for infrastructure-as-code deployments. Since I’m always looking for security in automation I decided to start a blog series in which I explain how to configure and use Terraform to get the best out of it. This article describes the initial config of an Azure storage account as Terraform remote backend. Happy reading.

Howdy folks,

if you have recently attended one of my talks or workshops you know that in my opinion, DevOps, infrastructure as code, and automated deployments are essential for security in cloud environments. For example, you can only access an Azure KeyVault secret during your VM deployment if you do not use Azure portal. You can chose whatever tool you want, however, in this post I’m going to focus on PowerShell, ARM templates and Terraform. Continue reading “How to securely deploy Azure infrastructures with Terraform”

Azure Archive Blob Storage is generally available

Azure Archive Blob Storage and blob-level tiering is GA so I updated my script and published it on GitHub. Happy testing!

Hey folks,

last week, Kumail Hussain announced GA of Azure Archive Blob Storage, an announcement that seems like a christmas present to me. Those of you who had already read my blog on the preview phase know how to use this new storage tier in Azure. All the rest: go on reading! Continue reading “Azure Archive Blob Storage is generally available”

Azureandbeyond on Github.com

Hey folks,

in the past I’ve provided several PowerShell code snippets related to Azure infrastructure and security topics on my blog. As things are getting more and more complex and maintaining code in blog posts is really anoying, I’ve decided to move on. As of now, I’m going to provide all my PowerShell code on my Github.com AzurePS repository. Make sure to follow the repo in order to always get up to date information when things change.

As a first item I’ve published a short PowerShell code snippet that enables you to request Just-in-Time VM Access to any VM in any eligible ARM subscription.

Happy testing and stay tuned,
Tom

Resize your ARM VMs via PowerShell

Howdy folks,

I have several VMs running in my Azure demo environment. As resizing them is a common task for me and doing it in Azure portal can be really anoying, I usually use a PowerShell one-liner that manages it all for me. Continue reading “Resize your ARM VMs via PowerShell”

Customize your Azure VMs with Custom Script Extensions

Custom Script Extensions are a possibility to customize ARM VMs without using ARM templates. All you need is PowerShell. Sounds great? Then give it a try!

Howdy folks and a happy new year to all of you,

today I’m gonna show you a way to automatically deploy and customize virtual machines in Azure Resource Manager without using ARM templates. Custom Script Extensions can help you to achieve your goal by only leveraging PowerShell.

Continue reading “Customize your Azure VMs with Custom Script Extensions”