AzureMCTHelper

PowerShell script with WPF GUI for easy usage of Azure tasks during training

1st things first

Do not use this script in production unless you consider your training environment as production. The script is provided as is and no support or warranties are given.

What is the purpose of the tool?

As a trainer, did you ever struggle to get the sample code written while you are teaching? Or did you ever have the feeling, that you are wasting your students time while they are watching you typing code? That is exactly what this tool is trying to help you with. Deployment at your fingertips no matter if it is a azuredeploy.json, a PowerShell or a bash script. All in one place without learning Azure DevOps and pipelines or other sophisticated deployment methods. Snippets of code ready for showing stuff during training.

Installation of the Azure MCT Helper

Place the script and its subfolders in any folder on your system. Make sure that the execution of PowerShell scripts is allowed for the account you are using. There are no administrative rights needed to run the script, although the installation of the Azure Az PowerShell module is required. The script will not work as intended without it. Optionally the installation of the Azure CLI module is required in case the unit contains shell files. Installation instructions for the Azure CLI can be found at the end of this document.

To install the Azure Az PowerShell module follow the instructions provided by Microsoft here: https://learn.microsoft.com/powershell/azure/install-azure-powershell?view=azps-11.2.0

If your PowerShell or Bash scripts require additional modules they need to installed and loaded before using them in the tool.

Initial configuration

There are two configuration files in the folder "Resources", settings.json and tenants.csv. If you are intending to use the settings.json file, ignore the tenants.csv file. You can toggle between these two files through the variable $script:UseSettingsJSON in the actual script file AzureMCTHelper.ps1. The default is to use the JSON file for configuration.

The settings.json file has four sections as well as the version section.

• defaults
• tenants
• accounts
• editors

settings.json

{
    "version": "1",
    "defaults": {
        "formCaption": "Azure MCT Helper v1.1",
        "workdir": "Units",
        "SkipAzModuleStatus": false,
        "DefaultTenant": "Contoso Training",
        "DefaultSubscription": "Azure Pass",
        "DefaultRegion": "northeurope",
        "DefaultRegionLong": "North Europe",
        "DefaultResourceGroup": "AzClass",
        "DefaultAccount": "1",
        "DefaultEditor": "0"
        },
    "tenants": [
        {
            "Name": "Contoso Training",
            "ID": "12345678-1234-5678-abcd-12345678abcd"
        },
        {
            "Name": "Contoso",
            "ID": "12345678-5678-1234-abcd-12345678abcd"
        }
    ],
    "accounts": [
        "[email protected]",
        "[email protected]"
    ],
    "editors": [
        "code",
        "ise",
        "notepad"
    ]
}

Defaults section

In the defaults section, you can pre-configure values to become values of variables used in the script. If you don't want to use the settings.json file you can set default values for the needed variables in the actual script file. These are the variables you need to replace with your own values:

        $script:formCaption = 'Azure MCT Helper v1.1'
        $script:workdir = "Units"
        $script:SkipAzModuleStatus = $false
        $script:DefaultTenant = ""
        $script:DefaultSubscription = ""
        $script:DefaultRegion = "northeurope"
        $script:DefaultRegionLong = "North Europe"
        $script:DefaultResourceGroup = "AzClass"
        $script:DefaultAccount = "1"
        $script:DefaultEditor = "0"

Tenants section

In the tenants section, list the tenants name and IDs you want to authenticate against. Both values, Name and ID, are required for a successful login.The tenants section populates the dropdown list "Tenant selection" in the UI.

Note The script will not work properly without this information and you need at least one entry.

Accounts section

In this section, list the user account names you want to use in your script. There will be no passwords stored. From your list, pick one entry to become your default account by setting the value of the respective variable $script:DefaultAccount to its numbered place in the list.

Note Remember that the numbering starts with zero (0). The DefaultAccount will be added to the login textbox, but you can always overwrite the value in the textbox during the runtime of the script. This is an optional configuration as the script will work properly without this information, unless the value of the variable $script:DefaultAccount is incorrect.

Editors section

In the last section of the settings.json a choice out of three editors for the files is possible. The options are VS Code, PowerShell ISE and notepad. The editors are incorporated in the script and cannot be changed to anything other than the three editors offered. As with the default account the default editor is selected by setting the number of the editors place in the defaults section.

Note Remember that the numbering starts with zero (0). A value of 0 selects VS Code as default editor. A double click with the left mouse button on any file shown in the tabs on the right side of the tool will start the selected editor.

The user interface (UI)

The UI has three separate areas to work with. To the left there is the context area, the middle is the unit area, and the area on the right is the script area.

Context area

Through the separate controls the Azure context is configured. The context includes the tenant and Azure subscription selection and the resource group, that will be used for the unit deployments if not configured otherwise in the scripts. Depending on the user credentials and subsequent selections in the UI the Azure context will be adjusted. The dropdown list "Resource group(s)" even allows you to create new resource groups based on the information provided.

Unit area

The unit area is the main selection area for the scripts. Each button represent one folder in the units folder. The units folder is defined through the variable $script:workdir which by itself can be configured in the settings.json or the script itself as described earlier.

Each of the folders represents one scenario that can be deployed. Files in each unit folder can be any of the following list:

• info.txt
• azuredeploy.json
• azuredeploy.parameters.json
• azuredeploy.json.github.txt
• azuredeploy.parameters.json.github.txt
• azurescript.ps1
• azurescript.sh

All of the files are optional and the author of the unit can decide which files to use. The names of the files are mandatory though. Each button representing a unit takes its name from the unit folder. A search box is located above the button list to filter the units based on their name. At the bottom of the unit area is a refresh button to load the list of units again, in case unit folders were modified after the launch of the script.

Note The provided unit folders with the scripts are examples of what you can do. For usage in class it is recommended to create your own folders with the scripts you need. Maybe you even want to share them with the other MCTs out there and it can become a repository of scripts to use in Azure classes.

Script area

The main component of the script area are the tabs showing the content of the script files, which are loaded upon selection of one of the unit buttons. Each file is optional and all files are in the responsibility of the author of the unit files. Each file has a defined purpose.

info.txt It can be used to describe the unit and give some background information about what is going to be deployed to Azure. It is an optional file and when it is found in the unit folder its content will be displayed on the top of the script area.

azuredeploy.json As within Azure itself azuredeploy.json files can be used as templates to deploy Azure resources. Under the hood the PowerShell cmdlet New-AzResourceGroupDeployment is used together with the provided template file and the azuredeploy.parameters.json to achieve the same result through this tool.

azuredeploy.parameters.json Together with the above mentioned file azuredeploy.json the resources get the parameter values passed on to customize the deployment to your needs. Together the two files are used by New-AzResourceGroupDeployment to create the resources in Azure.

azuredeploy.json.github.txt If the unit, that should be deployed, already exists on GitHub, the azuredeploy.json.github.txt file provides a way to just point to the URL of the file. So a unit leveraging the Azure storage account QuickStart template on GitHub would contain a file in its unit folder named azuredeploy.json.github.txt with just one line of text in it pointing to this link: https://github.com/Azure/azure-quickstart-templates/blob/master/quickstarts/microsoft.storage/storage-account-create/azuredeploy.json.

azuredeploy.parameters.json.github.txt Following the same principle the file azuredeploy.parameters.json.github.txt can be placed into the unit folder and only contain one line of text representing the URL to the parameters file of the same GitHub example. In the above mentioned case this would be: https://github.com/Azure/azure-quickstart-templates/blob/master/quickstarts/microsoft.storage/storage-account-create/azuredeploy.parameters.json.

Note Deployments using the GitHub files require to run the Azure MCT Helper script with PowerShell 7. The reason behind that is a newer version of the Cmdlet ConvertFrom-Json. This version supports the creation of hash tables which subsequently can be used as parameter objects for the Cmdlet New-AzResourceGroupDeployment instead of pointing to local files.

azurescript.ps1 Another option to deploy resources to Azure is through native PowerShell scripts. They require the Azure PowerShell module to be installed. Once the module is installed and a login in the context area has been successful the scripts can be run.

Note Do not use interactive login or the Cmdlet Get-Credential in the scripts that you place in the unit folder.

azurescript.sh Another option to deploy resources to Azure is through native Bash scripts. They require the Azure CLI to be installed. Once the CLI is installed the script will identify the installation and allow the login to Azure CLI as well as the execution of shell scripts. There is no need to install the Linux subsystem to run the shell scripts to deploy Azure resources.

Azure CLI Installation and login

If the Azure CLI is not already installed on your system you download and install it from here: https://learn.microsoft.com/cli/azure/install-azure-cli.

The script will identify the installed software and show a yellow bulb on the Azure CLI tab in the script section. If the Azure CLI is not installed the bulb will be red. Select the yellow bulb on the Azure CLI tab to open the Azure CLI login page.

There are five options to login with Azure CLI. Only signing in interactively, with a service principal or a managed identity are supported by this tool. Learn about the Azure CLI login options here: https://learn.microsoft.com/cli/azure/authenticate-azure-cli. Provide the needed login information to login with the selected login type. A successful login will be indicated by a green bulb beside the login type and on the main Azure CLI tab.

To log out of Azure CLI select the green bulb.