Understand machine configuration assignment resources

Artikkeli
02/07/2024

When an Azure Policy is assigned, if it's in the category Guest Configuration there's metadata included to describe a guest assignment.

A video walk-through of this document is available.

You can think of a guest assignment as a link between a machine and an Azure Policy scenario. For example, the following snippet associates the Azure Windows Baseline configuration with minimum version 1.0.0 to any machines in scope of the policy.

"metadata": {
    "category": "Guest Configuration",
    "guestConfiguration": {
        "name": "AzureWindowsBaseline",
        "version": "1.*"
    }
  //additional metadata properties exist
}

How Azure Policy uses machine configuration assignments

The machine configuration service uses the metadata information to automatically create an audit resource for definitions with either AuditIfNotExists or DeployIfNotExists policy effects. The resource type is Microsoft.GuestConfiguration/guestConfigurationAssignments. Azure Policy uses the complianceStatus property of the guest assignment resource to report compliance status. For more information, see getting compliance data.

Deletion of guest assignments from Azure Policy

When an Azure Policy assignment is deleted, if the policy created a machine configuration assignment, the machine configuration assignment is also deleted.

When an Azure Policy assignment is deleted from an initiative, you need to manually delete any machine configuration assignments the policy created. You can do so by navigating to the guest assignments page on Azure portal and deleting the assignment there.

Manually creating machine configuration assignments

You can create guest assignment resources in Azure Resource Manager by using Azure Policy or any client SDK.

An example deployment template:

{
  "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
  "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
  "resources": [
    {
      "apiVersion": "2021-01-25",
      "type": "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/providers/guestConfigurationAssignments",
      "name": "myMachine/Microsoft.GuestConfiguration/myConfig",
      "location": "westus2",
      "properties": {
        "guestConfiguration": {
          "name": "myConfig",
          "contentUri": "https://mystorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/mystoragecontainer/myConfig.zip?sv=SASTOKEN",
          "contentHash": "SHA256HASH",
          "version": "1.0.0",
          "assignmentType": "ApplyAndMonitor",
          "configurationParameter": {}
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

The following table describes each property of guest assignment resources.

Property	Description
name	Name of the configuration inside the content package MOF file.
contentUri	HTTPS URI path to the content package (`.zip`).
contentHash	A SHA256 hash value of the content package, used to verify it hasn't changed.
version	Version of the content package. Only used for built-in packages and not used for custom content packages.
assignmentType	Behavior of the assignment. Allowed values: `Audit`, `ApplyandMonitor`, and `ApplyandAutoCorrect`.
configurationParameter	List of DSC resource type, name, and value in the content package MOF file to be overridden after it's downloaded in the machine.

Deletion of manually created machine configuration assignments

You must manually delete machine configuration assignments created through any manual approach (such as an Azure Resource Manager template deployment). Deleting the parent resource (virtual machine or Arc-enabled machine) also deletes the machine configuration assignment.

To manually delete a machine configuration assignment, use the following example. Make sure to replace all example strings, indicated by <> brackets.

# First get details about the machine configuration assignment
$resourceDetails = @{
  ResourceGroupName = '<resource-group-name>'
  ResourceType      = 'Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/providers/guestConfigurationAssignments/'
  ResourceName      = '<vm-name>/Microsoft.GuestConfiguration'
  ApiVersion        = '2020-06-25'
}
$guestAssignment = Get-AzResource @resourceDetails

# Review details of the machine configuration assignment
$guestAssignment

# After reviewing properties of $guestAssignment to confirm
$guestAssignment | Remove-AzResource

Next steps

Develop a custom machine configuration package.
Use the GuestConfiguration module to create an Azure Policy definition for at-scale management of your environment.
Assign your custom policy definition using Azure portal.
Learn how to view compliance details for machine configuration policy assignments.

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