Azure Automation Hybrid Workers with PowerShell Remoting and Credential Resources

This video is a follow-up to a previous one on Azure Automation with Arc-enabled Hybrid Workers.  Hybrid Workers extend runbooks to a private network, but not every computer needs to be a Hybrid Worker.  In this video, we review using PowerShell Remoting with Hybrid Workers to build idempotent runbooks that target computers inside a private network.  Then we use a shared credential resource to authenticate the runbook in the local environment.  Multiple examples showing how to target other systems with PowerShell from the Hybrid Worker are provided.

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Azure Automation Hybrid Worker with Azure Arc Enabled Servers

Azure Arc Automation Hybrid Worker

Azure Automation is not just for Azure!  We can extend it to an on-premises or multi-cloud environment with Hybrid Workers.  This video starts with an introduction to Hybrid Workers and then moves on to installing an Azure Automation Hybrid Worker on Azure Arc enabled severs.  We then test the implementation with a simple runbook.

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Webhooks and Azure Automation Runbooks

Azure Automation

Overview

Azure Automation is Microsoft’s cloud-hosted automation solution.  It uses Python or PowerShell based scripts, referred to as runbooks, to launch automation jobs in Azure or on-premises.  These runbooks are started in multiple ways.  The information below details starting automation jobs with a webhook.

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Start an Azure Automation Runbook with a Schedule or PowerShell

Azure Automation Schedule and PowerShell

This video goes over the steps to create a shared scheduled on Azure Automation.  We review options available to create and edit a schedule.  Then we link the schedule to a runbook to automatically start a runbook based on a schedule.  Next, we view the Azure Automation and Runbook settings with PowerShell, then run and view the progress of a job.

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Link Azure Automation to Log Analytics

Azure Automation Log Analytics

Log Analytics is a great tool for storing and searching log data.  We can link an Azure Automation account to a Log Analytics workspace, but the process may not be as obvious as one would think.  In this video, we create a Log Analytics workspace then link it to Azure Automation account. Next, we configure the Automation account to send diagnostic data to a Log Analytics workspace and verify data goes to the workspace.

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Manage Azure Automation Runbooks with Git Source Control

Storing important automation scripts on a file share or local hard drive?  There is a better way with Azure Automation and Source Control integration.  In this video, we review how to enable source control integration with an Azure Automation account.  We look at the options, then walk-through configuring Source Control with Azure DevOps, identifying where we can specify to use GitHub instead.  Finally, we add, modify, and delete an Azure Automation runbook.

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Introduction to Azure Automation (again)

Azure Automation is a process automation tool hosted in Azure.  It provides the ability to run scripts or Runbooks in Azure, other clouds, or On-premises by a schedule or other event trigger.  In addition, we can manage inventory and change tracking with Configuration Management, keep computers up to date with Update Management, and share resources such as modules, schedules, and credentials with share resources.

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Scheduled Agent Updates in Azure Virtual Desktop

Scheduled Agents Updates AVD

Until now, there has been no options available to schedule when Azure Virtual Desktop Agent updates take place.  Now in preview is an option to set a weekly schedule that defines when agent updates can take place.  This video goes over what components make up the AVD agent and how updates take place.  We then review how to set a schedule for both validation and non-validation host pool environments.

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