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Effortlessly Manage and Keep Your Virtual Machines Up to Date with Azure Update Manager

Azure Update Manager is a service offered by Microsoft on the Azure cloud platform and allows you to centrally manage updates for operating systems such as Windows Server. This service is very useful for keeping your servers and virtual machines up to date, closing security gaps and ensuring compliance. With Azure Update Manager, you can do the following:

  1. Update Distribution: Azure Update Manager helps you automatically distribute updates to your servers and virtual machines. This ensures that your servers are current and secure.
  2. Compliance Checks: Azure Update Manager checks your servers for specific compliance requirements and reports non-compliance. This way you can meet compliance requirements.
  3. Scheduling and Planning: You can configure your update policies and schedules. You can set custom schedules to determine when and how updates will be applied.

We have some information about what Azure Update Manager does. Now let’s move on to the installation part.

  • Sign In to Azure Portal: Sign in to your Azure account or create one.

  • Enable Azure Update Manager: Find “Azure Update Manager” or “Update Management” from the left menu and enable the service.

  • Azure Update Manager panel recognition:
Azure Update Manager (Preview)
Azure Update Manager (Preview)
  1. Total Machines: Shows the total number of virtual machines in Azure.
  2. Update Status for Machine: Shows the update status (current, pending, failed, etc.) of each virtual machine.
  3. Patch Orchestration Configuration of Azure Virtual Machines: Contains settings for determining how to configure update management of virtual machines in Azure.
  4. Update Installation Status: Shows how updates are installed on virtual machines and their success status.
  5. Check for Updates: Used to instantly check the update status.
  6. One-time Update: Allows you to initiate a one-time update at a specific time.
  7. Schedule Updates: Sets whether updates are automatically applied at a specific time or periodically.
  8. Settings: Contains configuration settings related to update management. This is used to edit update policies and other preferences.

Now let’s look at the process of manually updating one of the VMs in our panel;

  • First of all, we select the “Machines” section from the left panel,
Machines
Machines
  • We select a server (VM) from the opened panel and click on the “Check for updates” option,
Azure Update Manager (Preview) | Machines
Azure Update Manager (Preview) | Machines
  • Checks the VM for updates and completes the process,

  • As a result of the check on the same panel, we see that there is a pending update process in the VM,
VM Status
VM Status
  • There is one update visible in the given VM,

  • We continue by selecting the incoming update.

  • We continue by selecting the incoming update.

  • In the “Properties” section, there are options for after the update, here we choose the one suitable for us.

  • In the last stage, we start the one-time update process.

  • By going to the “History” section on the left, we see that our transaction has been completed successfully.

Now, let’s make the installation of the available updates at the time and time we want;

  1. In the Azure Update Manager (Preview) interface, click on the “Machines” section from the left menu.

2. Click “Select all” in this section to select all virtual machines, and then click “Schedule updates”.

Schedule Updates
Schedule Updates

3. Create a “Resource Group” on the screen that opens and specify a name for the process in the “Configuare name” section.

4.There are three different options in the “Maintance Scope” section. These options determine how updates are applied. Make your choice here.
Maintance Scope
Maintance Scope
5.The “Reboot Setting” section is where you determine what action the virtual machine should take after the update.
6.The “Schedule” section is the screen where you configure when updates start, downtime, and other settings. Set the specified schedule.
7.Then, by clicking the “Next” button, we select the relevant virtual machines from the resources.

8. Then, in the “Updates” section, you select the “Include update classification” option, select the update classifications that are important to you, and complete the creation process.

9. Finally, when the updates are finished, we can see the operations performed on the main screen and in the “History” section.

Bu adımları takip ederek Azure Update Manager ile sanal makinelerinizi güncelleyebilir ve yönetebilirsiniz.

 


If you have any questions or details you would like to add, feel free to write me.
Categories
Articles Azure

Disabling the Windows Firewall of the Virtual Machine via the Azure Portal

When you enable Windows Firewall, in some cases, you might lose Remote Desktop access to the virtual machine. In such situations, you can follow the steps outlined below in the Azure portal to make the Windows Firewall inactive and regain access:

Firstly;

Step 1: Let’s create a PowerShell script with the following codes and name it:
DisableWindowsFirewall.ps1

Set-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\DomainProfile' -name "EnableFirewall" -Değer 0

Set-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\PublicProfile' -name "EnableFirewall" -Değer 0

Set-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\Standardprofile' -name "EnableFirewall" -Değer 0

Step 2: Let’s go to the relevant virtual machine on the Azure portal;

  • Let’s select Extensions + applications and go;

  • Let’s find “Custom script extension” from the screen that opens by clicking Add and continue by selecting it;

  • On the screen that opened, I created a storage and transferred the PowerShell script I had previously prepared into it;

 

  • Afterwards, the relevant virtual server needs to be restarted.

  • Afterwards, the relevant virtual server needs to be restarted.

  • When the reboot process is completed, we check the windows firewall by making a remote connection to the virtual machine and the process is completed.

If you have any questions or details you would like to add, feel free to write me.

Categories
Articles Azure

What is Azure Repos?

Azure Repos is a version control system that is part of Microsoft’s Azure DevOps service family. This service is used to manage source code in software development projects. Azure Repos supports team-based software development processes, providing developers with a platform to collaborate, track code changes, and manage version history.

Key features of Azure Repos include:

1. Git and Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC): Azure Repos supports popular version control systems such as Git and Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC). Developers can choose the version control system that best suits their projects.

2. Collaboration and Teamwork: Azure Repos facilitates effective collaboration among multiple developer teams. It supports teamwork with features such as collaborative coding, code review processes, and feedback mechanisms.

3. Branching and Merging Operations: Developers can use branches to make parallel developments in their projects and later merge these branches into the main project. This ensures orderly code management.

4. Integration: Azure Repos can be integrated with other Azure DevOps services. This enables teams to plan, track, and deploy projects according to their requirements.

5. Web-Based Interface: Azure Repos provides a web-based user interface, allowing developers easy access to their code, historical changes, and feedback from team members.

Azure Repos is commonly used by developer teams aiming to enhance software development processes and improve collaboration within the team.


If you have any questions or details you would like to add, feel free to write me.