Orchestrator for Azure : configuration
In a previous post, I explained how to install the Orchestrator Integration Pack for Windows Azure. http://hubertmichel.wordpress.com/2013/03/13/system-center-orchestrator/
Let’s have a look how to configure it.
Firstly, click on the Options Menu / Windows Azure, a dialog box appears:
You have three parameters to fill in : PFX file, PFX Password and your subscription Id. Unfortunately, we don’t have the option to verify if the parameters are correct.
Therefore, we’ll create a simple runbook to verify the connection with your Azure account. In the Runbook Designer, put “Azure Cloud Services” activity, then double-click to configure it:
In the configuration, select your Azure configuration, and select “List Cloud Service” to retrieve your deployed services. It’s a good smoke test!
Now, launch the “Runbook Tester“. If your configuration is not correct, the test will fail:
If you click on “Show Details”, you have the error message: in my example : “Could not open the specified PFX file “….pfx”. Check password…”
After modifying the configuration, the Runbook execution is ok. On “Show Details“, you have some properties, if you click on “Status”, you can read the output of the command:
Finally, I get deployed cloud service. Configuration is Ok!
Next step, implement a runbook to deploy an Azure package….
System Center Orchestrator
System Center Orchestrator (aka Opalis) is a great tool ! Orchestrator is a workflow management solution for the data center. Orchestrator lets you automate the creation, monitoring, and deployment of resources in your environment.
In my projects, I use it to automate Windows Azure deployments and a lot of operations tasks like SQL Azure backups….
This is for me, a must-have tool for IT Pros and a good bridge between developers and IT Pros. A good step for DevOps approach !
Microsoft provides an Integration Pack for Windows Azure. You can download it at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=34611
This integration pack contains several packs for Active Directory, FTP, Azure….
On this webpage, you can download also the Integration Toolkit for Orchestrator that give you the capabilities to create easily your own integration packs. I’ll write a post on this part later.
After downloading and unzipping the integration pack, the next step is to register and deploy it. For more information : http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh420346.aspx.
Now, the Windows Azure Integration Pack is installed !
If you open now the Runbook designer, you can see the new activities :
I’m now ready to implement my runbooks to deploy Azure solutions !
IT Pros : Cloud is made for you !
“Cloud Computing (and mainly Windows Azure) is not only for developers!”
Cloud Computing will not replace IT Pros, but it will change their job. They will be more near business guys and they will be more focused on value added actions. The combination of DevOps and Cloud Computing can be considered as Agility for developers. Since Windows Azure IaaS, Developers and IT Pros have to work more and more together because the border between them is not really clear !
So, I decided to write a series of articles on this subject : DevOps / IT Pros.
The leitmotiv of these articles will be AUTOMATION !
I’ll speak about tools like PowerShell, System Center Operations Manager, System Center Orchestrator….
Stay tuned !
Performance Tests with Windows Azure
I set up the solution on the Benjamin’s post about “Load testing from Windows Azure“. I just want to add some details about the solution configuration.
- First, you need to launch Visual Studio with the same user as the RDP user.
- Second, you need to modify your firewall settings, adding a rule for Visual Studio as illustrated in the following screenshot:
Performance Tests with Windows Azure
I set up the solution on the Benjamin’s post about “Load testing from Windows Azure“. I just want to add some details about the solution configuration.
- First, you need to launch Visual Studio with the same user as the RDP user.
- Second, you need to modify your firewall settings, adding a rule for Visual Studio as illustrated in the following screenshot:
BizTalk 2010 with SQL Server 2012
First of all, I know that BizTalk 2010 with SQL Server 2012 is not officially supported but I wanted to test it on a dev machine.
The purpose was to set up a POC for a client to connect BizTalk Server with the new version of Master Data Services. So, after installing SQL Server 2012, Visual Studio and BizTalk Server 2010, I tried to configure BizTalk Server.
First issue with the BAM component that required DTS 2008 SP1 !
I’ll correct it later because I don’t need it for the moment…
To conclude, the main BizTalk components can be installed correctly…
Stay tuned for my next tests.
Installing MDS on Windows Server 2012
In order to set up a POC for a client, I’ve installed a new virtual machine with Windows Server 2012. Then I’ve installed SQL Server 2012 to try the new version of “Master Data Services”. When I launched the MDS Configuration Manager, I had the following issue :
So I followed the link http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=226286. And I read : “To fix the issue, open a command prompt and go to the .Net directory. Run the command : aspnet_regiis –i.“.
But in fact, that doesn’t solve the problem as you can see in the following screenshot:
After checking, ASP.Net 4.5 is already installed on my machine but I forgot one feature : “WCF Services / HTTP Activation“.
So, I’ve installed this feature….
And now the prerequisites for MDS are ok !
After configuring MDS, I’ve access to the MDS website :
Billet du jour : Le Cloud Computing, un remède anti-crise ?
La crise que connait l’Europe actuellement est sans précédent. Elle a des impacts sur l’ensemble des secteurs d’activités de manière directe ou indirecte. Les Directions informatiques considérées habituellement comme des centres de coûts ne sont pas épargnées, bien au contraire. Des projets, même stratégiques, sont mis en stand-by, les budgets sont revus à la baisse. Faire des économies est le leitmotiv de l’année 2012.
Le Cloud Computing peut-il aider les Directions informatiques à faire face à ces contraintes économiques ?
Le business model du Cloud Computing basé sur un mode locatif des ressources (paiement à l’usage) évite l’écueil de l’investissement en matériel, licences et infrastructure. De plus, l’entreprise a un accès à des ressources quasi-illimitées et ne paie qu’en fonction de leur utilisation. L’approche on-demand du Cloud Computing réduit considérablement les délais des projets pour la partie mise en œuvre de l’infrastrucutre.
Grâce à ces caractéristiques, il devient véritablement un accélérateur de projets. Pour finir, la tarification du Cloud Computing permet des gains non négligeables pouvant atteindre un coefficient par 10 dans certains scénarios ; il faut bien sûr vérifier que votre scénario est éligible et faire l’exercice de calcul du ROI au préalable.
Mais une stratégie Cloud Computing n’est pas suffisante si elle n’est pas associée à la mise en place d’une politique ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) au sein de la DSI. En effet, le développement d’un site web en mode Cloud prend autant de temps dans un contexte classique. Quels sont les principaux apports d’une ALM ? ALM ou fabrique logicielle va réduire les délais de mise en œuvre des projets côté Dév, recette tout en augmentant la qualité des livrables. L’ALM c’est comme le sexe chez les ados, tout le monde en parle, mais très peu le pratique. En effet, l’ALM ne se réduit pas à l’achat d’outils spécialisés comme Team Foundation Server (TFS), la démarche doit s’accompagner d’une conduite du changement, d’une réorganisation à la fois de la Direction des Etudes mais également de la MOA afin d’adopter l’agilité dans les projets.
Le Cloud Computing associé à une démarche ALM va réduire les coûts, accélérer les projets informatiques, facteurs clés dans un contexte économique fragile. Ainsi les entreprises répondront aux attentes de leurs clients, avantage concurrentiel …
WebMatrix 2.0
I just want to announce WebMatrix 2.0 RTM !
Some features of this version :
- Open your site directly from Azure and publish to Azure
- Streamlined OSS app install
- IntelliSense for all major languages, including ASP.NET, Node.js and PHP
- An amazing set of new templates in ASP.NET, HTML5, PHP and Node.js
- Support for mobile emulators WP7, iPhone and iPad
- New and improved database management with support for creating SQL and MySQL DBs
- Rich extensibility with many extensions ready today (and thousands of downloads!), with more coming
For more information, please read these posts :
- http://www.webmatrix.com
- http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazure/archive/2012/09/06/webmatrix-2-is-released-new-windows-azure-features.aspx
- http://vishaljoshi.blogspot.com/2012/09/webmatrix-2-is-live.html
- http://channel9.msdn.com/Tags/webmatrix
