Azure Policy support for remediating tags for existing resources

Use Azure policy to remediate tags for existing resources.

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/azure-provides-at-scale-tags-management-through-azure-policy/

Meet compliance obligations using Azure Blueprints

A series of Azure policies as part of this Azure blueprint release helps you meet compliance obligations (Security Control - NIST SP 800-53).

Control Mappings
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/governance/blueprints/samples/nist-sp-800-53-rev4/control-mapping

Blueprint Deploy steps
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/governance/blueprints/samples/nist-sp-800-53-rev4/deploy

Accelerate your cloud Migrations with CAF Blueprints

Looking to get started with Azure Blueprint for your organization. Below is the starting point.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/governance/blueprints/samples/caf-foundation/index

Azure Logic Apps Send embedded image in email body

We had a requirement to send email to multiple recipients, with our image branding embedded in signature.

In this Logic App implementation I have used SendGrid to send email.

Below are the steps at high level.

1. Get the Image from Blob location.
2. Encode the output to Base64
3. Add the tag to the encoded output

Cracking AZ-100: Microsoft Azure Infrastructure and Deployment

This is not one of the exams where you can memorize stuffs and clear the certification. Azure new role based certifications does justice by testing your real skills. You are thrown with lot of scenarios based questions.

Also......Surprise! Surprise!.... this exam has labs. You are given CRUD tasks for Azure resources.

So if you think just reading the book can get you through this then think again. You need to have hands on experience working on Azure.

Browse to Microsoft site to know about the skills measured.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/exam-az-100.aspx

Enterprise Logic App ARM Template Deployment through PS

We had a requirement for automating integration platform deployment for my customer. The integration layer mainly consists of Logic Apps and azure resources.

The challenge was the number of environments we had. So we came up with the solution structure for different integrations as below. And then utilized our below automation script to deploy these logic apps through PowerShell.

Cracking AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals

I wanted to refresh this year with Azure skillsets. So started with fundamentals.

This exam covers some general knowledge about Microsoft Azure. It targets basic understanding of
- Cloud concepts
- Core Azure services
- Security,- Privacy
- Compliance and trust
- Azure Pricing and support.

The best starting point would be below Microsoft learning training. But i highly recommend to have some hands on play on the azure portal and try out different services.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/paths/azure-fundamentals/

Determining the SID for User Account

Determining the SID for a Local User Account

Here’s a simple script that returns the SID for a local user named mozaid:

Determining the SID for an Active Directory User Account

You can use the exact same approach to determine an Active Directory SID as you do for local user SID; the only thing is to include both the domain (fabrikam) and the user name (mozaid):

ARM Template to create sample PaaS Solution

{
"$schema": "http://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2015-01-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
"contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
"parameters": {
"serverFarmName": {
"type": "string",
"minLength": 1,
"defaultValue": "testlab"
},
"serverFarmSKU": {
"type": "string",
"allowedValues": [
"Free",
"Shared",
"Basic",
"Standard"
],
"defaultValue": "Free"
},

ARM Template to Build vNet and Storage Account

{
"$schema": "http://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2015-01-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",

"contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",

"parameters": {

"storagetemplateType": {

"type": "string",

"defaultValue": "Standard_LRS",

"allowedValues": [

"Standard_LRS",

"Standard_ZRS",

"Standard_GRS",

"Standard_RAGRS",

"Premium_LRS"

]

The Application Virtualization Client could not complete the operation. A device attached to the system is not functioning.

Issue:-

In my environment I sequence the application on App-V 4.6 SP1 and then deploy the application msi on Citrix XenApp Servers.

I sequenced the application successfully but when I was installing the same on Citrix XenApp Servers it gave the below error message.

 “The Application Virtualization Client could not complete the operation.

A device attached to the system is not functioning. “

Then I checked the Event Viewer on the XenApp Server which gave below details:-

SMS_MP_CONTROL_MANAGER failed

Issue:-

On my SCCM server 2007 R3, component SMS_MP_CONTROL_MANAGER status changed to critical.

When I checked the status message for component SMS_MP_CONTROL_MANAGER it said:-“MP could not write settings to WMI. This component stopped“

Powershell execution of scripts is disabled on this system

Issue:-

First time when you launch PowerShell and try to run any PowerShell scripts file, it will not run and gives the below error. Here I am trying to run a simple ps script “directory.ps1” with Get-Chitditem cmdlet inside it.

"File C:\ZAid\Testing\Script.ps1 cannot be loaded because the execution of scripts is disabled on this system. "

When PowerShell is first installed the default execution policy is “Restricted.” This means PowerShell will not run scripts or configuration files. Here is a list of policy levels:

Failed to run the action: Enable BitLocker. Unspecified Error: (80004005)

Issue:-

When you run a Configuration Manager 2007 OSD Task Sequence that has the "Enable BitLocker" task in it, the task fails to run and BitLocker is not enabled on the PC. Looking the SMSTS.log reveals the below error message:

SMSTS.log

Executing command line: OSDBitLocker.exe /enable  /wait:False /mode:TPM /pwd:AD

==============================[ OSDBitLocker.exe ]==============================

Command line: "OSDBitLocker.exe" /enable /wait:False /mode:TPM /pwd:AD

Initialized COM

Command line for extension .exe is "%1" %*     OSDBitLocker   

Set command line: "OSDBitLocker.exe" /enable /wait:False /mode:TPM /pwd:AD

Target volume not specified, using current OS volume

Active Directory Recycle Bin (Part 3)

 In Continuation to my Part 2 post where i discussed about How to Restore Deleted User Account From Recycle Bin, now we will discuss the post on How to Restore Deleted OU.

Procedure to Restore Deleted OU:

In this example we have deleted “Test IT1” User account and we will be restoring the same.

Active Directory Recycle Bin (Part 2)

 In Continuation to my Part1 post where i discussed about How to Enable Recycle Bin, now we will discuss the post on How to Restore Deleted User Account From Recycle Bin.

Procedure To Restore Deleted User Account From Recycle Bin:

In this example we have deleted “Test IT1” User account and we will be restoring the same.

Active Directory Recycle Bin (Part 1)

The Objective of this document is to show the implementation steps for Windows 2008 R2 Active Directory features like Active Directory Recycle Bin.

As per the requirement i have divided the post into 3 parts as below.

Part 1 - How to Enable Recycle Bin

Part 2 - How to Restore Deleted User Account From Recycle Bin

Part 3 - How to Restore Deleted OU

Active Directory Fine Grained Password Policy (Part 2)

The Objective of this document is to show the implementation steps for Windows 2008 R2 Active Directory features like Fine Grained Password Policy. 
We have already discussed How to Create Policy in the Part 1 post, now we will discuss the post to apply the policy to user or group.

How to Apply PSO to User or Group:

In this example we are going to apply the above created “Test IT Pwd Policy” to ITING Group which contains “TestIT1” user account.

Active Directory Fine Grained Password Policy (Part 1)

The Objective of this document is to show the implementation steps for Windows 2008 R2 Active Directory features like Fine Grained Password Policy. 

I have divided the post in 2 parts:-
Part 1 - How to Create Fine Grained Password Policy
Part 2 - How to Apply PSO to User or Group

How to Create Fine Grained Password Policy:

Monitor Disk Space

In the following script, you monitor the disk space on a server to let you know when it falls below 100000000 bytes. If the free space falls below 100000000, a message is echoed to the screen every 5 seconds.