azure-utilities

This is a home for a few Azure-specific utilities that I find useful

StartVirtualMachine

Starts a virtual machine by name

• Runs as an Azure Function
• Starts any VM in your Azure subscription by name
• Immediately provides connection information
  • Linux: redirects and/or provides a link to ssh://<username>@<FQDN>
  • Windows: downloads an .rdp file to connect
• Only has access to the permissions you grant to its Service Principal

StartVSTSBuildAgent / StopVSTSBuildAgent

Creates or destroys an Azure Container Instance that runs the VSTS Build Agent

• Dockerfile is in the vsts-build-agent folder
• Creates Container Groups in the vsts Resource Group
• You'll need to provide AppSettings in your Function App for VSTS_AGENT_INPUT_URL and VSTS_AGENT_INPUT_TOKEN
• Places VSTS agents in a pool named AzureContainerInstance
• Uses the same Service Principal as the other Functions to interact with your Azure Subscription

Setup

# Create a Service Principal
az ad sp create-for-rbac -n utility-functions

Update Resources/azuredeploy.parameters.json with your values

• Use the appId value for servicePrincipalClientId
• Use the password value for servicePrincipalClientSecret

...
    "name": {
      "value": "my-utility-functions"
    },
    "servicePrincipalTenantId": {
      "value": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx"
    },
    "servicePrincipalClientId": {
      "value": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx"
    },
    "servicePrincipalClientSecret": {
      "value": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx"
    }
  }
...

Create a function app in Azure

# Create a resource group
az group create -n utility-functions -l westus2

# Deploy the ARM template to create a function app
az group deployment create -g utility-functions --template-file Resources/azuredeploy.json --parameters @Resources/azuredeploy.parameters.json

Click here if you just want to deploy the template in a hurry

Publish the function to Azure

• Open azure-utilities.sln in VS2017
• Right-click the Functions project
• Hit Publish and select your your newly created function app

The azure-functions-core-tools on Linux were very new and weren't working reliably when I wrote this - if it's been a while, I'd try that first instead of full Visual Studio