Use Directory.Packages.props to Centralize Version Management of Consumed NuGet Packages in a .NET Solution

 Using NueGet packages and keep the versions upto date is a requirement as well as a challange if the versions are defined all over in many projects, in a given dotnet solution. We can limit the reference to packages to refer only in one project for a solution as consuming projects will inherently get the references. However, when it comes to using unit test projects we must reference the packages in all test projects to ensure test dicoverability in pipelines as well as in Test Explorer of the Visual Studio. Therefore, centralize Nuget Package management is essential in a complex and large solutions.

The Directory.Packages.props is the saviour for this requirement which allows us to define all the package versions centrally in the solution, by adding a Directory.Packages.props to the root of the repo, similar to using nuget.config.

Use DefaultAzureCredential with C# to Work with Azure Cosmos DB Data Using "Cosmos DB Built-in Data Contributor" RBAC

 We have discussed "Add Cosmos DB Built-in Roles to Resource Identities via Terraform to Allow Role Based Access to Data in Cosmos DB" in the previous post. Now that the data constributor roles are setup in Azure Cosmos DB, let's look at how to write a simple code to access,  create Cosmos DB data using DefaultAzureCredential with C#.

The expection is to get document data created in Cosmos DB as similar to shown below.

Add Cosmos DB Built-in Roles to Resource Identities via Terraform to Allow Role Based Access to Data in Cosmos DB

 Azure Cosmos DB can be used with DefaultAzureCrentials in C#. However, for enabling usage of DefaultAzureCrentials  with Azure Cosmos DB requires special data roles to be added to the  Cosmos DB account. There are two built in roles data reader and data contributor. Unlike other RBAC roles in Azure these roles cannot be assigned via Azure portal and they must be added programatically. They have to added via Azure CLI, Bicep, Powershell, REST API or Terraform.

Expose AKS Deployed RabbitMQ AMQP Access for Local Development via Load Balancer

 We have discussed "Setting Up RabbitMQ Cluster in AKS Using RabbitMQ Cluster Operator" in a previous post. Within the AKS cluster apps can access RabbitMQ with AMQP with rabbitmq-cluster.rabbitmq.svc.cluster.local using cluster IP service. However it is important to expose the rabbitmq cluster for local development. For this purpose we have to setup a load banacer service as Rabbit MQ AMQP protocol is not supported via Nginx. Let's look at how to setup a load balancer service to enable local development of applications using a RabbitMQ cluster deployed in an AKS cluster in this post.

Setting Up Azure Storage Blob Backups with Azure Backup Vault Using Terraform

 To create automated daily backups of Azure storage account blobs we can use Azure Backup Vault resource. It is possible to configure operational backups and vaulted backups for Azure storage blobs with the backup vault backup policies and instances. We need to consider the limitations specified for operational backups and the limitations in vaulted backups, specially the limitation of only 100 blob containers are allowed to be backed up for a given Azure storage account. Another issue with vaulted backups is the newly created containers in an Azure storage will not automatically included in the backups. Therefore, the Azure vaulted backups are working well only when you have predefoined set of blob containers in your implementation, that are configured for vaulted backups. 

Route to Management Dashboard Locally for a RabbitMQ Cluster Deployed in AKS via Azure App Gateway and Nginx Ingress Controller

We have discussed "Setting Up RabbitMQ Cluster in AKS Using RabbitMQ Cluster Operator" and how to expose dashboard with "Access Management Dashboard Locally for a RabbitMQ Cluster Deployed in AKS via Port Forwarding or Nginx Ingress Controller Inside VNet". Using the same Nginx route we can setup app gateway route rule so that the RabbitMQ dashboard can be accessed public url.

The expectation  is to route via App Gateway as shown below..

Access Management Dashboard Locally for a RabbitMQ Cluster Deployed in AKS via Port Forwarding or Nginx Ingress Controller Inside VNet

 We have discussed "Setting Up RabbitMQ Cluster in AKS Using RabbitMQ Cluster Operator" in a previous post. RabbitMQ management dashboard is a useful tool to have simple monitoring and inspecting the setup, connections etc. in the deployed RabbitMQ cluster (It is better to implement proper monitoring and alerting, which we will discuss in a next post). let' look at how to enable access to the dashboard of RabbitMQ deployed in the AKS cluster via port forwarding as well as setting up ingress via nginx.

Run a Test on RabbitMQ Cluster in AKS with perf-test

 Once a RabbitMQ cluster is deployed on AKS as described in "Setting Up RabbitMQ Cluster in AKS Using RabbitMQ Cluster Operator" it would be grat to test if the deployment is working as expected. For this purpose we can use a perf-test . Let's run a perf-test step by step for RabbitMQ in AKS cluster using wsl in this post.

Expectation is to run a performance test as shown below.