Tutorial: Using Azure REST API in Ansible to automate Azure resources 

2 min read

Ansible 2.6 was released with more capabilities to provision and manage Azure resources. It includes four new modules for Azure Kubernetes Service and Azure Resource, and many enhancements to existing Ansible modules for Azure (e.g., Virtual Machine, Networking interface). Here I’ll introduce two new modules azure_rm_resource and azure_rm_resource_facts which allow you to directly call the Read more

5 Comments

Tutorial: CI/CD using Apache Subversion, Jenkins in Azure and Tomcat 

4 min read

In this blogpost, we will show you how to provision a Jenkins VM and setup a CI/CD pipeline to connect a code repository in Apache Subversion (SVN) and deploy the application into a Tomcat service. We start from the solution template in Azure Marketplace, since that’s the fastest and easiest path to get Jenkins up and Read more

1 Comment

Tutorial: Immutable infrastructure for Azure, using VSTS, Terraform, Packer and Ansible 

8 min read

This is part 2 of a 2-part series on CI/CD for “infrastructure as code” on Azure. In part 1, we covered a basic pipeline building application and provisioning infrastructure codified as Terraform templates and Ansible playbooks. While it demonstrated how infrastructure is treated as a code – stored, versioned, and audited – there is still Read more

5 Comments

Tutorial: CI/CD for Azure using Terraform, Ansible and VSTS 

6 min read

This is part 1 of a 2-part series demonstrating how to continuously build and deploy Azure infrastructure for the applications running on Azure. The first article will show how open source tools, such as Terraform and Ansible, can be leveraged to implement Infrastructure as Code. The second article in the series will enhance the infrastructure Read more

10 Comments

How to create a custom VSTS agent on Azure ACI with Terraform 

2 min read

Open source tools, like Terraform and Ansible, can be leveraged to implement “infrastructure as code,” making it easier to continuously build and deploy cloud infrastructure across your applications. Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) provides automated pipelines to build, test, and deploy your code to any platform. It uses agents to perform build and release tasks. Read more

7 Comments

Connect with Microsoft at Red Hat Summit (or via the Live Stream!) 

4 min read

We’re headed to San Francisco soon for the Red Hat Summit, where we’re proud to again sponsor and participate in a forum that brings together communities who are passionate about open source in the enterprise. We announced our partnership with Red Hat in 2015, when we started making Red Hat solutions available natively to Microsoft Read more

Deploying and using HashiCorp Terraform Enterprise on Azure 

4 min read

Many Azure customers have adopted HashiCorp Terraform as their infrastructure provisioning tool of choice. We are working closely in partnership with HashiCorp, the company behind Terraform, to ensure that support for Terraform in Azure is first-class, and momentum we are seeing indicates that we are indeed headed in that direction. As individual usage of Terraform Read more

HashiCorp co-founder on simplifying infrastructure management 

10 min read

HashiCorp was founded by Mitchell Hashimoto and Armon Dadgar in 2012 with the goal of revolutionizing datacenter management – application development, delivery, and maintenance. Since then, the company has been in hyperdrive, with a quick release cycle of in-demand open source developer tools and a rapidly growing community of users around the world. In fact, Read more

HashiCorp Vault speaks Azure Active Directory 

2 min read

As an increasing number of customers move to the cloud, including multi-cloud and hybrid environments, securing infrastructure at scale emerges as one of the key challenges. There are many components to working securely in cloud environments, with one of key aspects being properly managing access to services deployed and ensuring these services stay secure as Read more

2 Comments

Automate more Azure resources with Ansible 2.5 and Galaxy 

2 min read

Recently, Microsoft announced several key improvements to the developer experience when using Ansible on Azure, including Ansible in Azure Cloud Shell and Ansible extension in Visual Studio Code. Today, I’d to share with you new Azure content that is available in Ansible 2.5. In total, 13 new Azure modules are now included in the 2.5 Read more

Applying compliance frameworks with Chef InSpec on Azure Government 

2 min read

2-minute read + video In government, compliance and security are critical components of our job function. The current state of compliance frameworks are bulky and unwieldy for those inexperienced with OpenSCAP/XML. The Microsoft Azure Government cloud and Chef InSpec are designed to provide a common language for security, compliance, and automation teams to converge around. Read more

Top questions about Terraform and Azure 

3 min read

3-minute read Recently, I teamed up with HashiCorp’s Nic Jackson to deliver a high-level look at using HashiCorp’s Terraform with Microsoft Azure. We covered a quick background of HashiCorp’s founding, what industry needs inspired Terraform’s creation, and how Terraform helps build an easy-to-follow template of one’s infrastructure – as code! We also demonstrated the use Read more