Build and Unit Tests for .NET Apps with GitHub Actions

 Executing unit tests and viewing results in unit tests in a build pipeline is essential to keep high quality in an application deployment via any pipeline system. GitHub actions are the way forward to implement pipelines with repositories in GitHub. Let's explore how to run unit tests and view results in GitHub actions workflow.

Importing a Git Repo with LFS (Large Files) to Azure GIt Repos

 Importing a git repo to Azure DevOps Git is straight forward using the Azure DevOps portal. However, if the importing repo has large files with git lfs then the cloning of the repo after import fails due to the large files are not imported. Let's see how to get the large files fixed for the imported repo.

Using Object Type Azure DevOps YAML Pipeline Parameter in PowerShell Task

 Using a YAML pipeline paramter in a PowerShell task is straight forward for types such as string. For example, if there is a YAML pipeline parameter named env of type string, we can read it in PowerShell task with $envName = '${{ parameters.env }}; without any issue. However, if the parameter is type of object we cannot read, the paramter the same way we do with string parameters. If we try to read object parameter named apps, $apps = '${{ parameters.apps}}; , there will be an YAML validation error staring the pipeline such as below. 

/azure-pipelines.yml (Line: 57, Col: 23): Unable to convert from Array to String. Value: Array

Even if we try to use below it will be same issue.

[String[]]$apps = '${{ parameters.apps}};

[PSObject[]]$apps = '${{ parameters.apps}};

Let's explore the issueand solution in detail.

Mapping SQL Database SKU Bicep Specs with Available SKUs in a Region

 How to fnd SKU information for SQL databses is documented here. The command suggested to use is az sql db list-editions -l region -o table . This would provide available list of SQL database SKU optons to chose form for a given region. However, the headings and parameters required in bicep is bit confusing to figure out intially. Let's look at how to map values for available SKUs provided by az sql db list-editions -l region -o table  command, and parmeters in Bicep SKU for SQL database.

Ensure Azure App Config Refresh for Keyvault Secret Updates in Terraform

Keyvault secrets can be used in Azure app conciguratoins and can be setup with terraform. However, if the secret is modified then modified secret reference is not get updated to the app configuration. There are two ways to fix this issue in terraform. Let's explore them.

Fix Terraform Azure AD App Registration (SPN) Read Permssions Running with Azure DevOps Pipelines

 Azure DevOps use service principals (SPN or Azure AD app registration) to make a service connection to Azure to be able to run Terraform or other IaC based resource deployments targeting Azure. You may run into issue while trying to read another Azure AD app registration information, within terraform. For example consider below code segment.

# aks kv app

data "azuread_application" "akskv" {

  display_name = "${var.PREFIX}-${var.PROJECT}-aks-kv-app"

}

data "azuread_service_principal" "akskv" {

  application_id = data.azuread_application.akskv.application_id

}

Generate KVSet json Format Using appsettings json for Updating Azure App Configurations

 To apply Azure App Configurations including key vault secrets reference key values and normal key values, using a single file requires to use KVSet file as described in the Article here.  With Azure pipelines updating the app config values require, two seperate files to be used in default mode to update, app configs for non secrets and secrets. However, developers of .NET applications would prefer to keep the appsettings file for keeping configurations for development purpose, rather than keeping seperate file to keep references to secret key values. Therefore, in Azure pipline implmentation, it would be required to generate a KVSet file using an app setting file.

Zero Downtime Blue-Green Deployment for AKS with Terraform - Simulation Using a Resource Group with Pipeline Steps

In this post we use a resource group to demo a blue green deployment scenario for AKS with Terraform IaC, to understand the steps required for successful pipline implementation. Same pattern can be applied to deploy other Azure resources well. Instead of two resource groups used here to run demo faster, actual implementation can be two AKS clusters (blue and green) withing a single resource group or in two resource groups. Full pipeline with Terrafrom IaC for AKS blue greeen with application deployments will be dicussed in a future post(s). For now let's loo at the example blue green, using resource group to represent AKS cluster, which is used to validate blue green deployment algorithm for AKS.

Full algorithm test information and terraform files available in below links.

• ReadMe file describing algorithim and test steps in detail.
• Excel file containing algorithm steps and variable behaviour which will help to understand the algorith decribed in ReadMe.
• Terraform files used to simulate the AKS deployment using a resource group.