• Create a new dotnet Core MVC application
• Install the tools for EF Core 2.0
• Scaffold the database

Create a new dotnet core MVC app

Dotnet core command line tools have built in templates

Install the tools for EF Core 2.0

• Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore
• Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer
• Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer.Design
• Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools.DotNet (dotnet ef commands) or Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools (powershell )

``` Finally Scaffolding the database

1. Once the command is run you will get a verbose output
2. Find the Context we referenced in the Scaffold command, here we called it AdventureWorksCtx Just past the DbSets for each of the tables you will find two important pieces of information
   1. The Tables that could not be created and why
   2. Below the table issues is the connection string we should make into either an Azure Secret or at a minimum move to a settings file

References

•  Azure Quickstarts
• Azure Government Account

The thing that occurred to me as I  was connecting to each environment was the nuances, slight differences of connecting to each one.  At the end of my preparation I had 4 different consoles going and an Integrated Scripting window running. 

More detail on the problem

Connecting to Exchange online

1. Open a PowerShell Command Prompt as an Administrator
2. Create a credential

$Cred = New-Object  PSCredential “UserName@o365domain.onmicrosoft.com”, (ConvertTo-SecureString “<Password>” –AsPlainText –Force)

1. Create an Exchange Online Session

$exchangeSession = New-PSSession –ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange –ConnectionUri https://ps.outlook.com/powershell -AllowRedirect -Authentication Basic -Credential $Cred

1. Import the newly created Exchange session

Import-PSSession $exchangeSession

What this whole process does is loads up in memory the Exchange online cmdlets to the current PowerShell host as well as creates a persistent connection to Exchange online so you can act upon your instance remotely.

Connecting to SharePoint Online

1. Open the SharePoint  Online Management Shell as an Administrator
2. Create a credential

$Cred = New-Object  PSCredential “UserName@o365domain.onmicrosoft.com”, (ConvertTo-SecureString “<Password>” –AsPlainText –Force)

1. Connect to the SharePoint online administration site

Connect-SPOService –Url https://<o365domain>-admin.sharepoint.com –credential $Cred

This whole process does a similar thing as the Exchange Online, however the PowerShell cmdlets are already loaded in the session and available within the management console. 

Connecting to Lync Online

1. Open a PowerShell Command Prompt as an Administrator
2. Create a credential

$Cred = New-Object  PSCredential “UserName@o365domain.onmicrosoft.com”, (ConvertTo-SecureString “<Password>” –AsPlainText –Force)

1. Import the Lync Online connector module

Import-Module LyncOnlineConnector

1. Create an Lync Online Session

$lyncSession = New-CsOnlineSession –Credential $Cred

Import-PSSession $lyncSession

NOTE: I did have problems at one point connecting to the session, I may not have cleaned up after myself, clearing out the session and the credentials got stale.  This was remedied by rebooting the machine. 

Connecting to O365

1. Open the Windows Azure Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell as an Administrator
2. Create a credential

$Cred = New-Object  PSCredential “UserName@o365domain.onmicrosoft.com”, (ConvertTo-SecureString “<Password>” –AsPlainText –Force)

1. Connect to the O365 Service

Connect-MSolService –Credential $Cred

Summary

Four different products to connect to, four slightly different ways to connect.  This is what I call nuance and if I have to do something in a hurry I am less apt to do it through a scripting environment.

A Possible Solution

To ease my pain I setup my profile for the current user all hosts with some commands to get me going. Below is the script and steps to get it done

1.  Open PowerShell ISE as an Administrator, this may not be required, I do this out of habit.
2. Create a new directory

New-Item –ItemType Directory –Path $env:UserProfile\Document\WindowsPowershell

1. Create a new Profile.ps1 file

New-Item –ItemType File –Path $env:UserProfile\Document\WindowsPowershell\Profile.ps1

1. Open the newly created profile in the ISE and paste the next set of scripts, changing the <Password> and <O365Domain> to your respective domains and passwords.

 #region Setup Credentials 

        $password = ConvertTo-SecureString "<Password>" -AsPlainText -Force

    # Read-host -prompt "What is the password" -AsSecureString

        $Cred = New-Object pscredential "admin@<o365Domain>.onmicrosoft.com", $password # (ConvertTo-SecureString "pass@word1" -AsPlainText -Force)

#endregion

#region connections

function Connect-O365Plus {

    #region Setup for O365

        Import-Module msonline

        Connect-MsolService -Credential $Cred

    #endregion

    #region Setup for SharePoint Online

        Import-Module Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.Powershell

        Connect-SPOService -Url https://<o365Domain>-admin.sharepoint.com -Credential $o365Cred

    #endregion

    #region Setup for Lync Online

        Import-Module LyncOnlineConnector

        $lyncSession = New-CsOnlineSession -Credential $Cred

        Import-PSSession $lyncSession

    #endregion

    #region Setup for Exchange Online

        $exchangeSession = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://ps.outlook.com/powershell -Credential $Cred -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection

        Import-PSSession $exchangeSession

    #endregion

}

function Connect-LyncOnline  {

    Import-Module LyncOnlineConnector

    $lyncSession = New-CsOnlineSession -Credential $Cred

    Import-PSSession $lyncSession

}

function Connect-ExchangeOnline {

    #region Setup for Exchange Online

        $exchangeSession = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange `

                    -ConnectionUri https://ps.outlook.com/powershell `

                    -Credential $Cred -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection

        Import-PSSession $exchangeSession

    #endregion 

}

function Connect-SharePointOnline {

  #region Setup for SharePoint Online

        Import-Module Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.Powershell

        Connect-SPOService -Url https://marcusfdemo-admin.sharepoint.com -Credential $Cred

    #endregion

}

function Connect-O365 {

    #region Setup for O365

        Import-Module msonline

        Connect-MsolService -Credential $Cred

    #endregion

}

#endregion 

1. Save and close the ISE and now when you open up a PowerShell console as an administrator you can connect to SharePoint Online (Connect-SharePointOnline), Exchange Online (Connect-ExchangeOnline), Lync Online (Connect-LyncOnline), O365 (Connect-O365), or the entire suite (Connect-O365Plus).  Without having to recall the nuances. 

Hope everyone enjoys and let me know if you have any feedback. 

References

Connect to Office 365 by using a single Windows PowerShell window:  https://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/library/dn568015.aspx

As I was going through all the trouble to setup my environment, get spun up on remoting, and finally fumbling through making my connections, this question occurred to me. 

I found the following:

More Information

The console was limited in what information I could see. 

What I got here is a quick side by side compare the properties I have accessible from O365 admin console and what I am able to pull up by running a quick Get-MSOLUser | Get-Member –MemberType Properties command. 

Features only PowerShell Can Configure

As a former SharePoint administrator\developer this is very common.  In SharePoint there are tons of features and modifications that can be made only through PowerShell.  The following example is looking at what is available through the Lync Admin center vs. PowerShell.  Specifically modifications to the default meeting settings, who are presenters by default, recording capability, and admission of anonymous users. 

Online the only options I have are to make modifications to the URLs, display of presence information, and authorize users, on the left I within PowerShell I am able to modify the meeting configuration to deny anonymous users, designate presenters, and disable recording with the following command:  Set-CsMeetingConfiguration –AdmitAnonymousUsersByDefault $false –AllowConferenceRecording $false –DesignateAsPresenter “None”.

Bulk Operations

In SharePoint online, as on premises to remove a users access from one or more sites can be a nontrivial event.  Using PowerShell this operation can be performed as follows:

More Advanced Filtering

Exchange Online Admin site allows you to lookup users add columns to the mailbox and do some basic filtering.  I was curious about finding users in certain cities.  After about a dozen clicks I was able to find the users mailboxes, add the city column and sort, that was it.  Restricting down to certain locations I was not able to do.  PowerShell it was a one line command

Print and Save

PowerShell provides the ability to print and save data, which you could then open as a spreadsheet to do some basic or advanced reporting your choice.

In this example we get all Lync Users filter down to Display Name, User Principal Name, and Usage Location, send it to a comma delimited file.

Cross product management

Let’s say you want to take some data from Exchange Online, O365, Lync, and SharePoint.  Open several Internet Explorer Windows and bounce around after dozens of clicks and a lot of back and forth you may have the answer in an hour or more.  Or you can just open PowerShell connect to Exchange online, Sharepoint Online, Lync Online, and O365 and run a pretty simple PowerShell query. 

 $users = Get-MsolUser

foreach ($user in $users )

{

    # Get and set the mailbox property

    $mailbox = Get-Mailbox -Identity $user.UserPrincipalName

    $user | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name IsMailboxEnabled -Value $mailbox.IsMailboxEnabled

    # Get and set the Lync Property

    $lync = Get-CsOnlineUser -Identity $user.UserPrincipalName

    $user | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name enabledForLync -Value $lync.enabled

    $sharePoint =  Get-SPOUser -LoginName "alans@<o365Domain>.onmicrosoft.com" -Site https://<o365Domain>.sharepoint.com

    $user | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name SharePointAdmin -Value $sharePoint.IsSiteAdmin

    $user | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name EnabledSharePoint -Value $IsMemberMainSite

    # Display my report who is licensed, has a mailbox and is enabled for lync

    $user | select DisplayName, Islicensed, IsMailboxEnabled, EnabledForLync, SharePointAdmin

} 

References

Six Reasons Why You Might Want to Use Windows PowerShell to Manage Office 365:  https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn568034.aspx

What do I need to get started?

-        Windows 7, 8, 8.1

-        .NET Framework 3.5.1 feature enabled with latest service packs

-        Microsoft Online Services Sign-In assistant

-        Windows Active Directory (Azure AD) modules for the appropriate OS

-        SharePoint Online Management Shell

-        PowerShell Module for Lync Online

Really Remote Remoting

The first thing I learned about managing O365 was PowerShell Remoting is the first thing I had to get comfortable with.  PowerShell remoting or Windows Remote Management (WinRM) has been around since PowerShell 2.0 and allows the ability to remotely administer servers.  This concept is the foundation for working with Azure and O365.  Some great resources on this topic can be found at the following:

-        Scripting Guy:  https://blogs.technet.com/b/heyscriptingguy/archive/2012/07/23/an-introduction-to-powershell-remoting-part-one.aspx

-        PowerShell.Org:  https://powershell.org/wp/2012/08/06/ebook-secrets-of-powershell-remoting/  

So in the process of getting my machine setup I found a few common stumbles and they were all around remoting. 

# 1 Internal Firewall or WinRm not started

In my case the firewall was enabled. 

#2 Bad Username or Password

This was just a fat finger of the password and username on my part, but could happen to anyone.  

References

Microsoft Online Services Sign-In assistant: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39267

Install the Windows Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) module for the appropriate version of your operating system: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj151815.aspx#bkmk_installmodule

SharePoint online management Shell https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35588

PowerShell Module for Lync Online:  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39366

Manage Azure AD using Windows PowerShell:  https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj151815.aspx 

Exchange Online cmdlets: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj200780(v=exchg.150).aspx

Index of Windows PowerShell for SharePoint Online cmdlets: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/fp161364(v=office.14).aspx

Windows PowerShell cmdlets for Office 365 management and deployment: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh974317.aspx

This blog we will walk through the following:

• Setting up machine to publish against Azure
• Ensure Azure is Ready
• Affinity Group
• Storage Account
• Associate Local Machine
• Cloud Service
• Network
• Deploy VM
• Configure and Install Components

Setting up machine to publish against Azure

Two prerequisite will be required:

• Azure Powershell:  https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=320376&clcid=0x409
• MSDN Subscription

Once the Azure PowerShell is installed we can get started.

      
On a computer running at least Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012, you can use the built-in Search. From the Start screen, begin typing power. This produces a scoped list of apps that includes Windows PowerShell and Azure PowerShell. Click either app to open the
console window. (To pin the app to the Start screen, right-click the icon.)

      
On a computer running a version earlier than Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012, you can use the Start menu. From the Start menu, click All Programs, click Azure, and then click Azure PowerShell.

Next up we’ll need your Azure publishing settings file.

This will open up the Azure portal you must sign into the account you wish to associate with this machine.

I use an internal employee Azure so I sign in through a federated page the public should see the regular Azure sig in either way you will see the following page and be prompted to download the subscription file.

Next import the subscription file:

With that you should be ready to publish your first VM to Azure.

Ensure Azure is Ready

Login to Azure and let’s make sure the infrastructure is in place. 

Affinity Group

 
Storage account

 
Associate local machine with azure
subscription

Cloud Service

Azure Service Name, this has to be unique within Azure and can be tested using the Test-AzureName command.

Network

Sample XML Import file

Once that is complete you should be ready for the deployment automation and build your very own Dev environment in Azure. 

Deploying the VM

There are generally two options either way we need an image we will apply to the VM, here I have chosen the most recent Server 2012 R2 image. 

Here we create an Azure VM with the New-AzureQuickVm

Or  creating a configuration then passing it along to New-Azure

I personally like option two because it gives you more control over what resources the VM will consume, network assignments etc…, however for the purposes of this blog just doing a quick VM.  I will attach scripts to do it both ways

In either case we need the following information:

• ServiceName, this is the cloud service we created earlier, mine is marcusf-demotr. 
• Name: this will be the name of the vm we are creating
• ImageName: This is the Azure VM Image we are using to create the machine.  These are updated frequently and can be found by running Get-AzureVMImage this will be a big list so restrict down by running Get-AzureVMImage | Where ImageName –match
  server-2012-r2 | Select Name
• Finally we need a user name and password I usually create credentials for this as follows

These credentials can be consumed as follows:

At this point you should have a fully functional VM in Azure, go ahead and log in and ensure you can reach the internet from this machine, this will be important later when we hit Chocolatey. 

NOTE: So if you are using your MSDN account there may be additional images that have Visual Studio preloaded along with the Azure SDK.  I am using a PFE account so Visual Studio is not included, this may be the same for your customers as well.  

Configuring the VM and Install the components

There is one major prerequisite here as Azure runs everything behind some type of SSL we have to install a Win RM certificate on our local machine here is a script that will do the trick.

Next up get the Uniform Resource Item

We are all set to start acting against our Azure VM remotely.

These may be some antiquated things and perhaps are not truly relevant but as a precaution on my dev environments I like to disable a few things, like User Access Control and Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration.  These two seem to hinder my progress as I am dev and test on a machine. 

So the first configuration is to turn off UAC, the second is disabling IE enhanced security config and the final configuration is setting a DNS server.  What I have had happen in the past is I have a domain on IaaS and turned off the dns server lo and behold my newly created vm could no longer access the outside world, so chocolatey or anything dependent on the internet would fail. 
. 

I start off by installing chocolatey, this is an open source project that allows Nuget type functionality for applications.  After chocolatey and as I have been known to do some web dev in the past I use Fiddler a lot and finally Visual Studio. 

You can find tons more packages at Choolatey.org. 

Enjoy, and don't hesitate to provide some feedback, there is always something to learn

Additional Resources

Chocolatey – https://chocolatey.org

Azure there is a 31 days of Azure series that will walk you through in greater detail Azure VMs among other things:  https://blogs.technet.com/b/chrisavis/archive/2013/01/25/the-31-days-of-servers-in-the-cloud-using-azure-iaas.aspx

More detail on Chocolatey and other goodness check out Matt Wrocks blog:  https://www.mattwrock.com/default.aspx

About Windows Azure Publish Settings File and how to create
your own Publish Settings File:  https://gauravmantri.com/2012/09/14/about-windows-azure-publish-settings-file-and-how-to-create-your-own-publish-settings-file/

What is a storage account? https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/storage-whatis-account/

What is a cloud service? https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/cloud-services-what-is/

Importance of Windows Azure Affinity Groups:   https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/7916.importance-of-windows-azure-affinity-groups.aspx

Windows Azure and the Virtual
Networking – What it is: https://blogs.technet.com/b/bobh/archive/2013/01/09/windows-azure-and-virtual-networking-what-it-is-31-days-of-windows-servers-vms-in-the-cloud-part-9-of-31.aspx

Create a Windows Azure Network
using PowerShell: https://blogs.technet.com/b/kevinremde/archive/2013/01/19/create-a-windows-azure-network-using-powershell-31-days-of-servers-in-the-cloud-part-19-of-31.aspx

OneShot.ps1