I've Got a Secret (and I Don't Even Know What it is)

Keeping secrets out of source code has always been challenging. De-coupling sensitive information like connection strings, certificates and passwords from your development projects means you won't have accidental exposure. .Net Core now provides a rich configuration system that goes far beyond the legacy web.config appSettings. This is great for development and debugging, but how do we manage configuration when it is time to go to production? In this hands-on workshop we will first configure a local application to pull configuration from various sources. Explore in-depth learning of the many features of Azure and Azure DevOps that facilitate bringing together a build and release for production.

Guided exercises include:

• Working with Azure App Services configuration and environment variables.
• How to leverage Managed Identities for Azure Resources to eliminate a whole class of stored secrets.
• Configure KeyVaults and Access Policies and integrate them with DevOps.
• Setting up Azure DevOps build and release pipelines and experimenting with Tasks and Variables to configure applications for production.
• Connecting Azure DevOps to Azure App Service Deployments.
• Slot deployments and maintaining different configuration versions between them.
• Configuring and obtaining secrets from pipeline Variables, shared Library Variable Groups and Secure Files.
• Transforming json configuration files during release pipelines.

From source code to production, this workshop walks you through the DevOps process with focus on the various powerful ways to configure applications, including how to avoid the need for developers to have access to secrets.

What to bring: A laptop with Visual Studio Code or your favorite .Net Core IDE on either Windows, Mac or Linux.

What to prepare: Sign up for a free trial Azure subscription or use a subscription you already have. Create an Azure DevOps account (https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/devops/) Install the Azure CLI (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/install-azure-cli?view=azure-cli-latest) Install Powershell or Powershell Core and the Azure Powershell Module (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/azure/install-az-ps?view=azps-3.0.0)