Category: Azure

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How to Deploy ASP.NET Core Web API on IIS Windows Server

(Tested on windows server 2012r2)

Install the .NET Core Hosting Bundle on Windows Server

The .NET Core Hosting bundle is an installer for the .NET Core Runtime and the ASP.NET Core Module. The bundle allows ASP.NET Core apps to run with IIS.

Current version:.NET Core Hosting Bundle installer (direct download)

(for this test we installed version .Net Core 8 on win 2012r2)

Visual Studio : Publish on Folder

After creating the ASP.NET Core application in Visual Studio, we can use the Visual Studio Publish Tool to deploy and run our app. For this project, choose to publish to a folder. Choose the folder and hit “Finish”.

In the next screen, where you see the settings for this deploy, click on “More Actions” and then on “Edit”.

Select :

  • Deployment Mode : Complete
  • Target Runtime : win-x64 (for our server)
  • File Publish Options : Delete all existing files prior to publish (flagged)
  • Database : Default Connection edit (if yuu need it)

Save this configuration, control it an Publish.

Copy the contents of the folder on the IIS server to the folder dedicated to the new site.

IIS and new site

Create the site on IIS. For the Application Pool you have to use default .NET CLR Version : v4.0.

Open your browser and call up the site. You receive the “page not found” error (404).

Remember that a site that hosts only calls web api. To verify that it works you can use the controller that Visual Studio sets by default when creating a site. Then type:

https://www.mynewapisite.com/WeatherForecast

and you will get a result. The site works!

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Microsoft MFA : Enabled or Enforced

Multi Factor Authentication (MFA)

Microsoft recommends using multi factor authentication for global tenant administrators. If you don’t do this, 60 days after the last reminder from Microsoft, the tenant is deactivated.

Warning: it’s not enough to activate 2-factor authentication … you also have to use it.

Enabled or Enforced

The problem is that activation is not enough. In fact, after activating the user, he must also log in with the MFA: at this point the user’s status changes from Enabled to Enforced.

You don’t have to have Global Admin with MFA in Enabled status but only in Enforced status.

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Register a web application with Azure AD Portal App Registration to connect to a Microsoft 365 tenant

PowerShell Limits

Through Powershell it is possible to connect to a Microsoft 365 tenant to perform operations on users, groups and any other element of the tenant. When you use this tool, Powershell presents you with the mask for entering your account and password. You can write accounts and passwords directly in the Powershell script but it would be a serious security compromise.

Application

An alternative is to build a software that connects directly to the Tenant through customized keys present in the Tenant itself. In other words, it is necessary to communicate to the Tenant that there is a certain application that is authorized to access the Tenant. Furthermore, for each operation that you want to perform on the Tenant it is necessary to specify the appropriate permissions. To create these applications, we recommend that you follow the excellent tutorial “.Net Core console application for calling Microsoft Graph“.  This post proposes the images present in the previous tutorial only to specify how the application must be prepared on the Microsoft Tenant.

Register a web application with Azure AD Portal App Registration

Open a browser and navigate to the Azure Portal. Login using your account. Select the resource “Azure Active Directory”. On the left side menu, select “App regitstration”. Click New registration from the current page.

On the Register an application page, specify the following values:

  • Name = Name of your Application
  • Supported account types
  • Redirect URI
    • Type = Web
    • Value = https://localhost:8080   (*)

(*) The Redirect URI value must be unique within your domain. This value can be changed at a later time and does not need to point to a realy hosted URI.

It is now necessary to store 2 values that will be used in your application:

  • Application (client) ID
  • Directory (tenant) ID

Certificates & secrets

Click Certificates & secrets.

  1. Click New client secret.
  2. On the Add a client secret dialog, specify the following values:
    • Description = Your secret’s description
    • Expires = In 1 year (for example)
  3. Click Add.

After the screen has updated with the newly created client secret copy the VALUE of the client secret. This secret string is never shown again, so make sure you copy it now.

API permissions

Click API permissions.

  • Click Add a permission
  • On the Request API permissions panel select Microsoft Graph.

  • Select Application permissions.

Now you have to choose between the permissions to authorize your app. For example, to create an application to read alla information about Tenant’s users, in the “Select permissions” search box type “User”.Select User.Read.All from the filtered list. At the end, on the API permissions content blade, click Grant admin consent for the Tenant.

Summary of the data necessary for the application

Let’s see what data your application needs to connect and operate on the Microsoft Tenant.

  • applicationId = “xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx”;
  • applicationSecret = “xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx”;
  • tenantId = “xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx”;
  • redirectUri = “https://localhost:8080”;
  • domain = “yourtenant.onmicrosoft.com”;

Permissions

  • User.Read.All : Read all users’ full profiles
  • User.ReadWrite.All : Read and write all users’ full profiles
  • Group.ReadWrite.All : Read and write all groups
  • Notes.ReadWrite.All : Read and write all OneNote notebooks

Documentation

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How to check the execution of Microsoft Agent Backup

To check the outcome of Microsoft Azure Backup execution we can take advantage of the fact that, if the backup fails, some events are generated.

Prepare script to send email

Copy and paste the following code in a new file and modify it with your data (mail server, user, password, messages).

$SMTPServer = "YOUR SMTP SERVER"
$SMTPPort = "25"
$Username = "USERNAME TO ACCESS SERVER"
$Password = "PASSWORD"

$to = "Email recipient"
# $cc = "cc email recipient"
$subject = "Error Backup MyServer"
$body = "backup failed"
# $attachment = ""

$message = New-Object System.Net.Mail.MailMessage
$message.subject = $subject
$message.body = $body
$message.to.add($to)
# $message.cc.add($cc)
$message.from = $username
# $message.attachments.add($attachment)

$smtp = New-Object System.Net.Mail.SmtpClient($SMTPServer, $SMTPPort);
$smtp.EnableSSL = $true
$smtp.Credentials = New-Object System.Net.NetworkCredential($Username, $Password);
$smtp.send($message)
write-host "Mail Sent"

Save it as file with extension .ps1

Creating a new Task

  1. Open the Task Scheduler : Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Task Scheduler
  2. Right-click the “Task Scheduler Library” branch, and select the New Folder option.
  3. Type a name for the folder. For example, MyTasks.
  4. Expand the “Task Scheduler Library” branch, and select the MyTasks folder.
  5. Click the Action menu.
  6. Select the Create Task option.

Task to check Azure Backup

  1. In the Name field you can write something like “Check Micrososft Agent Backup”.
  2. Click the Triggers tab.
  3. Click the New button.
  4. Use the “Begin the task” drop-down menu to select “On a Event”
  5. Click custom option under the Settings section.

  1. Click the Edit Event Filter… button.
  2. Go the XML tab and at the bottom of the menu press the edit query manually button.
  3. Copy and paste the below XML and OK the changes.
<QueryList>
<Query Id="0" Path="CloudBackup">
<Select Path="CloudBackup">*[System[(Level=1 or Level=2) and (EventID=5 or EventID=10 or EventID=11 or EventID=12 or EventID=13 or EventID=14 or EventID=16 or EventID=18)]]</Select>
</Query>
</QueryList>
  1. Click the Actions tab.
  2. Click the New button.
  3. Browse on the previous powershel script
  4. Clicck OK to save the task

From now on, an email should be sent to you when the backup fails.

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Configure a Point-to-Site VPN connection via Openvpn on Azure

Create a virtual network

  1. Sign in to the Azure portal.
  2. In Search resources, service, and docs , type virtual network.
  3. On the Virtual Network page, select Create.
  4. On the IP Addresses tab, configure the values

Subnet: If you use the default address space, a default subnet is created automatically.

  • Subnet name: In this example, we named the subnet “FrontEnd”.
  • Subnet address range: The address range for this subnet.

On the Security tab, at this time, leave the default values:

  • DDos protection: Basic
  • Firewall: Disabled

So we will have this configuration (as example) :

  • Address space: 10.1.0.0/16
    Subnet name: FrontEnd
  • Subnet address range: 10.1.0.0/24

Create a virtual network gateway

  1. In the Search the Marketplace field, type ‘Virtual Network Gateway’

SKU: Select the gateway SKU from the dropdown. For Openvpn you need to select VpnGw1 because

Gateway subnet address range: This field only appears if your VNet doesn’t have a gateway subnet. If possible, make the range /27 or larger (/26,/25 etc.)

In this example :

GatewaySubnet: 10.1.1.0/27

Certificates

Certificates are used by Azure to authenticate clients connecting to a VNet over a Point-to-Site VPN connection. You have two options : use a root certificate that was generated with an enterprise solution (recommended), or generate a self-signed certificate.

Generate and export certificates for Point-to-Site using PowerShell

Two steps : generate root certificate; generate client certificate.

root certificate

From a computer running Windows 10 or Windows Server 2016, open a Windows PowerShell console in Admin mode.

Use the following example to create the self-signed root certificate. The following example creates a self-signed root certificate named ‘TestVPNRootCert’ that is automatically installed in ‘Certificates-Current User\Personal\Certificates’.

$cert = New-SelfSignedCertificate -Type Custom -KeySpec Signature -Subject "CN=TestVPNRootCert" -KeyExportPolicy Exportable -HashAlgorithm sha256 -KeyLength 2048 -CertStoreLocation "Cert:\CurrentUser\My" -KeyUsageProperty Sign -KeyUsage CertSign

You can view the certificate by opening certmgr.msc, or Manage User Certificates.

client certificate

Each client computer that connects to a VNet using Point-to-Site must have a client certificate installed. You generate a client certificate from the self-signed root certificate.

From a computer running Windows 10 or Windows Server 2016, open a Windows PowerShell console in Admin mode. Identify the self-signed root certificate that is installed on the computer. This cmdlet returns a list of certificates that are installed on your computer.

Get-ChildItem -Path "Cert:\CurrentUser\My"

As output you will see a string and a name for every certificate installed on your machine.

For example :

AED812AD883826FF76B4D1D5A77B3C08EFA79F3F CN=MyOldVPNRootCert

7181AA8C1B4D34EEDB2F3D3BEC5839F3FE52D655 CN=TestVPNRootCert

Declare a variable for the root certificate using the string from the previous step:

$cert = Get-ChildItem -Path “Cert:\CurrentUser\My\7181AA8C1B4D34EEDB2F3D3BEC5839F3FE52D655”

Modify and run the example to generate a client certificate. The result of the following example is a client certificate named ‘TestVPNClientCert’

New-SelfSignedCertificate -Type Custom -DnsName TestVPNClientCert -KeySpec Signature  -Subject "CN=TestVPNClientCert" -KeyExportPolicy Exportable  -HashAlgorithm sha256 -KeyLength 2048  -CertStoreLocation "Cert:\CurrentUser\My"  -Signer $cert -TextExtension @("2.5.29.37={text}1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.2")

The client certificate that you generate is automatically installed in ‘Certificates – Current User\Personal\Certificates’ on your computer.

Export the root certificate public key (.cer)

To obtain a .cer file from the certificate, open Manage user certificates. Locate the self-signed root certificate, typically in ‘Certificates – Current User\Personal\Certificates’, and right-click. Click All Tasks, and then click Export. This opens the Certificate Export Wizard.

Select No, do not export the private key, and then click Next

On the Export File Format page, select Base-64 encoded X.509 (.CER)., and then click Next.

For File to Export, Browse to the location to which you want to export the certificate. For File name, name the certificate file. Then, click Next.

Click Finish to export the certificate. You’ll find a file .cer in location selected.

Export the client certificate

To export a client certificate, open Manage user certificates. The client certificates that you generated are, by default, located in ‘Certificates – Current User\Personal\Certificates’. Right-click the client certificate that you want to export, click all tasks, and then click Export to open the Certificate Export Wizard.

Select Yes, export the private key, and then click Next. IMPORTANT!!!!

On the Export File Format page, leave the defaults selected. Make sure that Include all certificates in the certification path if possible is selected

On the Security page, you must protect the private key, using a password.

On the File to Export, Browse to the location to which you want to export the certificate. For File name, name the certificate file. Then, click Next.Click Finish to export the certificate.

Add the client address pool

The client address pool is a range of private IP addresses that you specify. The clients that connect over a Point-to-Site VPN dynamically receive an IP address from this range. Use a private IP address range that does not overlap with the on-premises location that you connect from, or the VNet that you want to connect to.

Open virtual network gateway configuration page, navigate to the Settings section of the virtual network gateway page. In the Settings section, select Point-to-site configuration. Select Configure now to open the configuration page.

In the Address pool box, add the private IP address range that you want to use. VPN clients dynamically receive an IP address from the range that you specify.

For example : 172.16.0.0/24

Tunnel Type : OpenVpn

Authentication Type : Azure certificate

In root certificate section you have to put the root certificate name (in this example TestVPNRootCert).

Open the root certificate file (.cer) with a text editor, such as Notepad. Copy the text as in image and past it in “Public certificate data”

Save Point to Site Configuration.

Download vpn Client clicking on “Download vpn Client” 🙂

Install Openssl

https://slproweb.com/products/Win32OpenSSL.html

Extract the private key and the base64 thumbprint from the .pfx client certificate.

Using OpenSSL on your machine is one way. The profileinfo.txt file contains the private key and the thumbprint for the CA and the Client certificate

openssl pkcs12 -in “C:\myfolder\clientcert_vpn_test.pfx” -nodes -out “C:\myfolder\profileinfo.txt”

Configure openvpn client

Unzip the profile downloaded from virtual network point to site configuration. Next, open the vpnconfig.ovpn configuration file from the OpenVPN folder using Notepad. Open profileinfo.txt in Notepad and copy and paste in vpnconfig.ovpn the sections :

# P2S client certificate
# please fill this field with a PEM formatted cert
<cert>
$CLIENTCERTIFICATE
</cert>
# P2S client root certificate private key
# please fill this field with a PEM formatted key
<key>
$PRIVATEKEY
</key>

IMPORTANT :certificate and kay need to be insert in  openvpncon with  —- begin — and —-end —–

 

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Authentication Developing for Azure Media Service

After creation of your Azure Media Service (AMS) Account (Create a Media Services account using the Azure portal) you need to authenticate your application that your are developing , to manage your video and streaming channels.

Developing with .net

In this article we are using .net framework to develop an app, but the information should be valid for all languages.

To develop an application with .net frameeork, you need to install, via nuget , the package windowsazure.mediaservices.extensions with its derived packages.

You can authenticate in one of two ways :

User authentication

Authenticates a person who is using the app to interact with Azure Media Services resources. The interactive application should first prompt the user for credentials.

For this authentication your app needs two strings :

Azure AD tenant  (“tenant” in example) :  In Azure portal, select your AMS and  select, on the left menu, api page. In the table at the bottom of the page one of the fields is “Domain Tenant ADD”.

Endpoint API REST (“endpoint” in example) : you can read this information directly in main page of your AMS on the right at the top of the page. Should be something like this :

https://yourams.restv2.yourlocation.media.azure.net/api/

In your application you have to write this code :

var tokenCredentials = new AzureAdTokenCredentials(tenant, AzureEnvironments.AzureCloudEnvironment);
var tokenProvider = new AzureAdTokenProvider(tokenCredentials);
_context = new CloudMediaContext(new Uri(endpoint), tokenProvider);

Running the application you should automatically see the Microsoft user credentials form

 

Service principal authentication

Authenticates a service, a specific app, without user interaction. To use this authenticaton in your app, you need four strings :

Azure AD tenant  (“tenant” in example) : As above

Endpoint API REST (“endpoint” in example) : As above

Client ID (“clientid” in example) : Enter in azure portal and look for “applications”. Add new application. After creation, in properties, at the top of the page, you can find the “application ID”.

Client Secret (“secretid” in example): in your AMS select the API page. In the middle of page you can find a little form with two fields. In the first field you ha to select the application created before. Use the second field to create the client secret.

In your application you have to write this code :

AzureAdTokenCredentials tokenCredentials =
new AzureAdTokenCredentials(tenant,
new AzureAdClientSymmetricKey(_clientid, _secreteid),
AzureEnvironments.AzureCloudEnvironment);

var tokenProvider = new AzureAdTokenProvider(tokenCredentials);

_context = new CloudMediaContext(new Uri(endpoint), tokenProvider);