Skip to main content

Azure ARM Infrastructure as code deployment using VSTS - Part 1

Infrastructure as code , at high level is how you can configure and manage your infrastructure the same way that you would manage your application code .It leverages the concepts of continuous integration and deployment to update or provision your environment based on the changes made to the code. In Azure you can leverage ARM template , which is essentially a json file to implement this concept.

 In this blog series we will explore the concepts of Infrastructure as a code deployment for Azure environments using ARM templates. The  Continuous Integration and Deployment pipeline leverages  VSTS for build and deployment and the source code repository will be Git. The code in this case is the ARM template json file and the related parameter files.  The following blog gives a nice explanation on how to get started with VSTS and integrate  it with the Git repository  :https://blog.kloud.com.au/2017/06/24/azure-build-pipeline-using-arm-templates-and-visual-studio-team-services

We will be following an approach for Build and Deployment configuration that provides provide more control over the Release process.The build process will produce an artifact whenever a change is made and committed to the ARM template. The release pipeline will leverage this artifact and deploy it to target environments, which in effect creates/updates your Azure environment.

Let us start with the Build configuration

Build configuration

 Create a new projects and a Build associated with it. Choose the "empty process" option to start with your build



Give a name for the Build and choose agent as hosted.









Add the following tasks in order from  Tasks ->utility












Let's configure these tasks one by one

Copy files configuration:













In this step, the files from the build directory are copied over to a staging directory. The build directory could contain all relevant files required for your deployment, for eg the ARM json and dependent files .


Publishing artifacts configuration:




Here we are publishing the contents of the staging directory as artifacts of the build, which will be used by the release pipeline. Next step is to enable the trigger for continuous integration. Once the trigger is enabled, a build will start as soon as a code commit is made to the repository

















Our build configuration is completed now and the required contents for deployment, ie the json file and the dependent  files are produced as artifacts of the build configuration. If you make any edit in the source files and commit it, the build will be triggered. On successful completion of the build, you can see the artifacts in VSTS. In the build status page, select Artifacts. You can also start creating the release by clicking on the release option in the top pane











We will explore the release process to implement continuous deployment in part 2 of this blog...

PS: If you are interested in Cloud automation, please do check out my book on  Azure Automation available in Amazon : https://www.amazon.com/Azure-Automation-Using-Model-Depth/dp/1484232186/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1513676067&sr=8-2











Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Install nested KVM in VMware ESXi 5.1

In this blog, I will explain the steps required to run a nested KVM hypervisor on  Vmware ESXi. The installation of KVM is done on Ubuntu 13.10(64 bit). Note: It is assumed that you have already installed your Ubuntu 13.10 VM in ESXi, and hence we will not look into the Ubuntu installation part. 1) Upgrade VM Hardware version to 9. In my ESXi server, the default VM hardware version was 8. So I had to shutdown my VM and upgrade the Hardware version to 9 to get the KVM hypervisor working. You can right click the VM and select the Upgrade hardware option to do this. 2)In the ESXi host In /etc/vmware edit the 'config' file and add the following setting vhv.enable = "TRUE" 3)Edit the VM settings and go to VM settings > Options  > CPU/MMU Virtualization . Select the Intel EPT option 4) Go to Options->CPUID mask> Advanced-> Level 1, add the following CPU mask level ECX  ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- --H- ---- 5) Open the vmx...

Virtual fibre channel in Hyper V

Virtual fibre channel option in Hyper V allows the connection to pass through from physical  fibre channel HBA to virtual fibre channel HBA, and still have the flexibilities like live migration. Pre-requisites: VM should be running Windows Server 2008, 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2012 Supported physical HBA with N_Port Virtualization(NPIV) enabled in the HBA. This can be enabled using any management utility provided by the SAN manufacturer. If you need to enable live migration, each host should be having two physical HBAs and each HBA should have two World Wide Names(WWN). WWN is used to established connectivity to FC storage.When you perform migration, the second node can use the second WWN to connect to the storage and then the first node can release its connection. Thereby the storage connectivity is maintained during live migration Configuring virtual fibre channel is a two step process Step 1: Create a Virtual SAN in the Hyper-V host First you need to click on Vir...

Windows server 2012: where is my start button??

If you have been using Windows Server OS for a while, the one thing that will strike you most when you login to a Windows server 2012 is that there is no start button!!.. What??..How am I going to manage it?? Microsoft feels that you really dont need a start button, since you can do almost everything from your server  manager or even remotely from your desktop. After all the initial configurations are done, you could also do away with the GUI and go back to server core option.(In server 2012, there is an option to add and remove GUI). So does that mean, you need to learn to live without a start button. Actually no, the start button is very much there .Lets start looking for it. Option 1: There is "charms" bar on the side of your deskop, where you will find a "start" option. You can use the "Windows +C" shortcut to pop out the charms bar Option 2: There is a hidden "start area"in  the bottom left corner of your desktop...