Showing posts with label chocolatey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chocolatey. Show all posts

Reading Notes #481

Frank's Lego R2D2

Cloud


Programming


Podcast


~Frank


Reading Notes #470

Every Monday, I share my "reading notes". Those are a curated list of all the articles, blog posts, podcast episodes, and books that catch my interest during the week and that I found interesting. It's a mix of the actuality and what I consumed.

You think you may have interesting content, share it!

Cloud

  • How to Display the Current Azure Subscription in your CLI (Sam Cogan) - This is a game-changer for me. Every time I work in the terminal I was checking what was my current subscription (you don't want to deploy things in the wrong one right?) But know it will always be visible. Wonderfull!

Programming

Miscellaneous

Reading Notes #461

Every Monday, I share my "reading notes". This is a curated list of all the articles, blog posts, and books that catch my interest during the week and that I found interesting. It's a mix of the actuality and what I consumed.

The suggestions of the week

Cloud

  • What Is Azure Functions (Mahesh Chand) - The great simple post that explains what is an Azure Function and how to create/ debug/ deploy one

Programming

Podcast

  • Épisode 11 - La famine en Ukraine (Les Pires Moments de l'Histoire) - OMG! I have nothing else to say. I knew that part of the history was dark and complex... but I knew nothing. Great episode.
  • 633 - How to Use Rejection to Your Advantage (Modern Mentor) - In our lives, we will encounter many nos or rejection. This episode talks about how you could use those detours to learn more, and transform them in opportunities.

Miscellaneous


You think you may have interesting content, share it!

~Frank


Reading Notes #362



raquetteSuggestion of the week



Cloud



Programming



Miscellaneous



~

Reading Notes #360

insta-IMG_20181225_135719

Cloud



Programming


Miscellaneous


~


Reading Notes #338

ChocolateyGUI_main_screen

Suggestion of the week




Cloud


    Programming


      Miscellaneous





        Don't install your software yourself

        I don't know for you, but I don't like losing time. This is why a few years ago I started using scripts to install all the software I need on my computer. Got a new laptop? N You just need to execute this script, go grab a coffee and when I'm back all my favorite (and required) softwares are all installed. On Linux, you could use apt-get, and on Windows, my current favorite is Chocolatey. Recently I needed to use more virtual machine (VM) in the cloud and I deceided that I should try using a Chocolatey script during the deployment. This way once the VM is created the softwares, I need is already installed! This post is all about my journey to get there, all scripts, issues and workarounds will be explained.

        The Goal


        Creating a new VM on premises applying the OS update and installing all the tools you need (like Visual Stutio IDE) will takes hours... This solution should be done under 10 minutes (~7min in my case).
        Once the VM is available, it should have Visual Studio 2017 Enterprise, VSCode, Git and Node.Js installed. In fact, I would like to use the same Chocolatey script I use regularly.
        # Install Chocolatey
        Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))
        
        # Install Software
        choco install visualstudiocode -y
        choco install git -y 
        choco install nodejs-lts  -y
        
        
        (Available on gist.github)

        The Tools


        In this post I will use Azure CLI, because it will works on any environment. However, PowerShell can also be use only a few command will be different. The VM will be deploy with an Azure resource Manager (ARM) template. To create and edit the ARM template I like to use VSCode, you don't need it but it's so much easier with it! I use two extension.
        The first one Azure Resource Manager Snippets will help by generating the schema for our needs. In a JSON file you just need to type arm en voila! You ahave a long list of ARM template!

        armSnippets

        The second is Azure Resource Manager Tools. This extension provides language support for ARM and some validate. Very useful...

        toolvalidation

        Creating the ARM Template


        To Get started create a new JSon file. Then type arm and select the first option; to get an empty skeleton. Then add an extra line in resources and type again arm. This time scroll until you see arm-vm-windows.

        step2Here

        A multi-cursor will allow you to edit the name of your VM everywhere in the file in one shot. Hit Tab to navigate automatically to the userName, and Tab again to go to the password.

        createARM
        Now we have a functional ARM template that we could deploy. However, let's add a few things first.

        Searching the Image SKUs by Code


        One of my favorite VM images for a DevBox is the one that includes Visual Studio pre-installed. One thing to know is those images are only deployable in an MSDN subscription. To specify wich image you want to use you need to pass a publisher, offer, and sku.
        Here how to do it with Azure CLI commands
        # List all the Publishers that contain VisualStudio (It's case sensitive)
        az vm image list-publishers --location eastus --output table --query "[?contains(name,'VisualStudio')]"
        
        # List all offers for the Publisher MicrosoftVisualStudio
        az vm image list-offers --location eastus --publisher MicrosoftVisualStudio  --output table
        
        # List all availables SKUs for the Publisher MicrosoftVisualStudio with the Offer VisualStudio
        az vm image list-skus --location eastus --publisher MicrosoftVisualStudio --offer VisualStudio --output table
        
        

        Now that all the information is found, search in the ARM template and replace the current values by the one found. In my case, here are the new values.

        "imageReference": {
                            "publisher": "MicrosoftVisualStudio",
                            "offer": "VisualStudio",
                            "sku": "VS-2017-Ent-Win10-N",
                            "version": "latest"
                        }

        Adding our Custom Script


        Great now we have a VM with Visual Studio but our applications are still not installed. That will be done by adding the Custom Script Extension for Windows to our template. documentation page, a sample schema is there ready to be use.
        The last node of your template is currently another extension. For the purpose of this blog post let's remove it. You should have something like this.

        newExtensionPlace

        We will copy/ paste the snippet from the documentation page a change a few little things. Change the type (thank to our VSCode Extension for that catch). Update the dependencies to reflet our demo.

        To use the extension your script needs to be available online. It could be in a blob storage (with some security) or just publicly available. In this case, the script is publicly available from my gist.github page. I created a variable in the variables section that contains the RAW URL of my script, and a reference to that varaibale is used in the fileUris.

        The extension will download the script and then execute a function locally. Change the commandToExecute to call our script with unrestricted execution policy.

        You have a timed window of ~30 minutes to execute your script. If it takes longer then that, your deployment will fail.

        {
                "apiVersion": "2015-06-15",
                "type": "extensions",
                "name": "config-app",
                "location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
                "dependsOn": [
                    "[concat('Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/', 'FrankDevBox')]"
                ],
                "tags": {
                    "displayName": "config-app"
                },
                "properties": {
                    "publisher": "Microsoft.Compute",
                    "type": "CustomScriptExtension",
                    "typeHandlerVersion": "1.9",
                    "autoUpgradeMinorVersion": true,
                    "settings": {
                        "fileUris": [
                            "varaiables('scriptURL')]"
                        ]
                    },
                    "protectedSettings": {
                        "commandToExecute": "[concat('powershell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -File ', './SimpleDevBox.ps1')]"
                    }
                }
            }
        
        `

        The ARM Template


        It's finally time to deploy our VM.

        # First, we need a Resource Group
            az group create --name frankDemo --location eastus
        
            # ALWAYS, always validate first... you will save a lot of time
            az group deployment validate --resource-group frankDemo --template-file /home/frank/Dev/DevBox/FrankDevBox.json
        
            #Finally deploy. This script should take between 5 to 10 minutes
            az group deployment create --name FrankDevBoxDemo --resource-group frankDemo --template-file /home/frank/Dev/DevBox/FrankDevBox.json --verbose
        

        What's Next?!


        We created one template; you could make it better.

        Deploy from anywhere


        By moving the computerName, adminUsername, adminPassword, and the script url in the parameters section, you could then put the template in a public place like GitHub. Then with use the one click deploy!

        Directly from the Github page or from anywhere you just need to build a URL from those two parts: https://portal.azure.com/#create/Microsoft.Template/uri/ and the HTML Encoded URL to your template.

        If my template is available at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FBoucher/SimpleDevBox/master/azure-deploy.json then the full url become:
        https://portal.azure.com/#create/Microsoft.Template/uri/https%3A%2F%2Fraw.githubusercontent.com%2FFBoucher%2FSimpleDevBox%2Fmaster%2Fazure-deploy.json

        Clicking that URL will bring you to the Azure Portal (portal.azure.com) in a customized form to deploy your template.

        DeployForm

        It cannot be easier! You can see mine on GitHub.

        Auto shutdown


        It's very easy to forget to turn off those VM. And whatever you are paying for them or your using the limited MSDN credit it's a really good practice to turn them down. Why not do that automatically!
        That can be very simply done by adding a new resource in the template.

        {
                "name": "[concat('autoshutdown-', 'FrankDevBox')]",
                "type": "Microsoft.DevTestLab/schedules",
                "apiVersion": "2017-04-26-preview",
                "location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
                "properties": {
                    "status": "Enabled",
                    "taskType": "ComputeVmShutdownTask",
                    "dailyRecurrence": {
                        "time": "19:00"
                    },
                    "timeZoneId": "UTC",
                    "targetResourceId": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines', 'FrankDevBox')]",
                    "notificationSettings": {
                        "status": "Enabled",
                        "emailRecipient": "frank@frankysnotes.com",
                        "notificationLocale": "en",
                        "timeInMinutes": "30"
                    }
                },
                "dependsOn": [
                    "[concat('Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/', 'FrankDevBox')]"
                ]
            }
        
        

        In Video Please!


        If you prefer, I also have a video version of that post.

        How to Create an Azure VM with Chocolatey


        ~Enjoy!


        References:



        Reading Notes #324

        Cloud

        IMG_20180421_092215


        Programming



        Miscellaneous



        Books


        Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by [Tracy, Brian]Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time

        Author: Brian Tracy

        A short book that pushes to action. I really enjoyed it. A book to read and read again.

        ASIN: B01MYEM8SZ








        Toby, did you see what I just did!

        Today, I was running around with my laptop trying to find someone to show him what I did. My problem was that since I'm working from home, I found no one except my dog... Toby, did you see what I just did! He was looking at me and didn't really care about that I was doing some C# in Atom, a regular text editor. So, here I am now, sharing my discovery with you.

        The "What"

        While reading some article on the Internet, I fall on a video talking about OmniSharp.
        A family of Open Source projects, each with one goal - To enable great .NET development in YOUR editor of choice.
        SO I decide to give it a try in one of my favorite text editors this time called Atom.
        Less than two minutes after, I was running across my house....

        The "How"

        What I like about Atom that it is so easy to install and to customize. The easiest way to install it is via Chocolatey.
        Chocolatey NuGet is a Machine Package Manager, somewhat like apt-get, but built with Windows in mind.
        Assuming that you don't have Chocolatey installed, let's start by that. Open a command prompt (cmd.exe) as Administrator, and execute this command:
        @powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy unrestricted -Command "iex ((new-object net.webclient).DownloadString('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))" && SET PATH=%PATH%;%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\chocolatey\bin

        In a new command prompt again with the administrator permission, let's Install the text editor Atom:
        cinst Atom

        and Git:

        cinst Git

        Now to install the OmniSharp in Atom you have two options. You could do it through the Settings or using a console. For this post, I will use the second option. Let's open a new command prompt, always as Administrator.
        The reason why I use a new prompt every time is to be sure that environment variable gets refreshed.

        Execute these command:
        apm install language-csharp
        apm install autocomplete-plus-async
        apm install omnisharp-atom

        Now open Atom and let's put some code:
        using System;
        
        namespace ConsoleAppDemo
        {
            class Program
            {
                static void Main(string[] args)
                {
                  var myBook = new Book{Title="Get Started with OmniSharp"};
                  Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Here is my review of: {0}", myBook.Title));
                }
            }
        
            public class Book
            {
              private string _review;
        
              public string Title{get;set;}
        
              public string Review{
                get{
                  if(String.IsNullOrEmpty(_review))
                  {
                    _review = "This book is nice";
                  }
                  return _review;
                }
                set{
                  _review = value;
                }
              }
            }
        }

        Nothing special until you start the OmniSharp server with Ctrl-Alt-o.

        Boom!

        Atom_Intellicnse


        As you can see now the intelisense, completion, code navigation and so more! If you click on the little green flame on the bottom left you see details about notification and error message.

        notification


        The end


        OmniSharp is a frontend compiler, not a complete compiler so it doesn't generate CLI code. But It's already a lot. Today, you can use OmniSharp with Sublime Text 3, Atom, Emacs, Brackets, Vim and with command line only. So whether on your old laptop or your new PC, whether you run Linux, Mac or Windows let's do some C#!


        ~Frank Boucher


        Reading Notes #97

        june_26Suggestion of the week


        Cloud


         Databases

        Programming

        • Dojo for jQuery Developers - Incredibly clear tutorial here that compares Dojo with jQuery to explain how things are done with Dojo. The perfect post to get started. 

        Miscellaneous

         
        ~Frank