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Microsoft Intune – Add additional DNS Client Servers across the managed devices

24 Aug

I recently wrote a blog post about adding DNS Client via GPO, highlighting which methods work and which don’t. If you’re interested, you can read more about it on – GPO – PowerShell – Intune – Add additional DNS Client Servers across the enterprise | AskAresh. As promised, here are the steps for performing the same task in Microsoft Intune for all of your managed devices.

Note – The best method of assigning the DNS Servers is through the DHCP server. If you are setting the IP using DHCP, always make sure you add/remove additional DNS Client Servers from there. In my situation, there was no DHCP server, hence the detailed blog post.

Prerequsites

We are going to implement this configuration via Microsoft Intune using the Scripts:

  • The necessary Microsoft Intune permissions to create, the PowerShell Scripts.
  • A device group available within Microsoft Entra with all the devices you want to target this change.

    PowerShell Script for DNSClient (Additional DNS Servers)

    Save the below script and place on the desktop and we shall be uploading it to Microsft Intune portal – “AddDNSClient.ps1″

    • Please enter the proper DNS Server Address within the script based on your environment and requirement. In the example below the existing two DNS servers are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.8.4. We are adding additional two DNS Servers 9.9.9.9 and 9.9.9.4.
    $dnsclient=Get-DnsClient  | Get-DnsClientServerAddress | where{$_.ServerAddresses -contains "8.8.8.8" -or $_.ServerAddresses -contains "8.8.8.4"}
foreach($nic in $dnsclient){
Set-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceIndex $nic.InterfaceIndex -ServerAddresses ("8.8.8.8","8.8.8.4","9.9.9.9","9.9.9.4")
}

    Create a script policy and assign it – Intune

    1. Sign in to the Microsoft Intune admin center.
    2. Select Devices > Scripts > Add > Windows 10 and later.Screenshot that shows creating a new script for a Windows 10 device.
    3. In Basics, enter the following properties, and select Next:
      • Name: AddDNSClientServers
      • Description: Additional DNS Server 3 & 4
    4. In Script settings, enter the following properties, and select Next:
      • Script location: Browse to the PowerShell script. saved previously and upload it (AddDNSClient.ps1)
      • Run this script using the logged on credentials: Select No.
      • Enforce script signature check: Select No 
      • Run script in 64-bit PowerShell host: Select Yes to run the script in a 64-bit PowerShell host on a 64-bit client architecture.
    5. Select Assignments > Select groups to include. Add the AAD group “Win11-P-DG”

    Wait for approx. 15-20 minutes and the policy will apply to the managed devices. (Machine Win11-Intune-15)

    Managed Device

    You can validate that the settings have been applied to the client by going to the path – C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\IntuneManagementExtension\Logs and opening the file IntuneManagementExtension.txt. I copied the policy ID – cf09649b-78b7-4d98-8bcc-b122c29e5527 from the Intune portal hyperlink and searched within the log file. We can see the policy has been applied successfully.

    I hope you will find this helpful information for applying additional DNS servers via Intune – Scripts and PowerShell. Please let me know if I have missed any steps or details, and I will be happy to update the post.

    Thanks,
    Aresh Sarkari

    Tags: , , , , ,

    PowerShell – GPO Analysis – Search for a specific or list of GPO Setting across multiple GPOs within a domain

    20 Jul

    Suppose you’ve ever had to search for a particular or a list of GPO settings across a large number of Group Policy Objects (GPOs) within your domain. In that case, you know how tedious it can be to find specific settings across hundreds or thousands of GPOs. PowerShell comes to the rescue with a powerful script that can search for GPO settings across all your existing GPOs and generate an organized CSV output. In this blog post, we’ll walk you through the process and ensure you have all the prerequisites to get started.

    Usecase

    You have approx. 50 to 60 GPO settings from the Center of Internet Security (CIS) benchmark policies document (CIS Microsoft Windows Desktop Benchmarks/CIS Microsoft Windows Server Benchmarks), which you may want to search against your domain, whether they are already preconfigured\existing available within a GPO or not present in the environment. Instead of searching manually one by one, you may want to use the below PowerShell to get results like a champion.

    Prerequisites

    Before using the PowerShell script, ensure you have the following prerequisites in place:

    1. Windows PowerShell version 5.0 and above
    2. Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell
    3. Permissions: Ensure you have sufficient permissions to access and analyze GPO settings. Typically, you need to be a member of the Domain Administrators group or have equivalent privileges.
    4. Execute the script from a member server that is part of the domain and has the necessary permissions.
    5. Prepare the input file (inputgpo.txt) and enter the GPO setting one per line and save the file. In my situation, it’s present in C:\Temp
    Relax minimum password length limits
Allow Administrator account lockout
Generate security audits
Impersonate a client after authentication
Lock pages in memory
Replace a process level token
Accounts: Block Microsoft accounts
Interactive logon: Machine inactivity limit
Microsoft network server: Server SPN target name validation level
Network access: Remotely accessible  registry paths
Network security: Configure encryption types allowed for Kerberos
Audit Security State Change
Do not allow password expiration time longer than required by policy
Password Settings: Password Complexity
Password Settings: Password Length
Password Settings: Password Age (Days)

    PowerShell Script

    Now that you have the prerequisites in place, let’s dive into the PowerShell script. GitHub – avdwin365mem/GPOSettingsSearch at main · askaresh/avdwin365mem (github.com)

    • Enter the name of your domain (E.g askaresh.com)
    • Make sure the Input file is present in C:\Temp
    #Domain
$DomainName = "askaresh.com"

# Initialize matchlist
$matchlist = @()

# Collect all GPOs
$GPOs = Get-GPO -All -Domain $DomainName

# Read search strings from text file
# A list of GPOs settings you want to search
$SearchStrings = Get-Content -Path "C:\Temp\inputgpo.txt"

# Hunt through each GPO XML for each search string
foreach ($searchString in $SearchStrings) {
    $found = $false
    foreach ($gpo in $GPOs) {
        $GPOReport = Get-GPOReport -Guid $gpo.Id -ReportType Xml
        if ($GPOReport -match $searchString) {
            $match = New-Object PSObject -Property @{
                "SearchString" = $searchString
                "GPOName" = $gpo.DisplayName
            }
            $matchlist += $match
            $found = $true
        }
    }
    if (-not $found) {
        $match = New-Object PSObject -Property @{
            "SearchString" = $searchString
            "GPOName" = "No results found"
        }
        $matchlist += $match
    }
}

# Output results to CSV, Search results

# This step will take time depending how many 100's or 1000's policies present in the enviornment
$matchlist | Export-Csv -Path "C:\Temp\gposearch.csv" -NoTypeInformation

    Output (Results)

    The ouput will look like the following within CSV:

    I hope you will find this helpful information for searching GPO settings across 100’s and 1000’s of GPOs within your domain. Please let me know if I have missed any steps or details, and I will be happy to update the post.

    Thanks,
    Aresh Sarkari

    Tags: , , , , , , ,

    Extract Highlighted Data from PDF using Python – Example CIS Windows Server 2022 Benchmark pdf

    10 Jul

    In this blog post, we will explore how to extract highlighted data from a PDF using Python. Before we go ahead lets understand what is the usecase, you have the (CIS_Microsoft_Windows_Server_2022_Benchmark_v2.0.0.pdf) which is 1065 pages and you are reviewing the the policy against your enivornment and highlighting the pdf with specific color codes. For example, I use four colors for the following purposes:

    • Red Color – Missing Policies
    • Yellow Color – All existing policies
    • Pink – Policies not applicable
    • Green – Upgraded policies

    Example of the highlighted text:

    You dont have to use the same color codes like I have done but you get the idea. Once you have done the heavy lifting of reviewing the document and happy with the analysis. The next steps is you want to extract the highlighted data into a csv format so that the teams can review and action them.

    Pre-requsites

    We will use the PyMuPDF & Pandas library to parse the PDF file and extract the highlighted text. Additionally, we will apply this technique to the CIS Windows Server 2022 Benchmark PDF as an example.

    Before we begin, make sure you have installed the necessary dependencies. You can install PyMuPDF and Pandas using pip:

    pip install fitz
pip install pandas

    First, I created a small script to go within the document pdf and detect the colors. I had to do this although, to my eyes, the colors are RED, Yellow, etc., the RGD color codes seem slightly different.

    import fitz  # PyMuPDF

# Open the PDF
doc = fitz.open('CIS_Microsoft_Windows_Server_2022_Benchmark_v2.0.0.pdf')

# Set to store unique colors
unique_colors = set()

# Loop through every page
for i in range(len(doc)):
    page = doc[i]
    # Get the annotations (highlights are a type of annotation)
    annotations = page.annots()
    for annotation in annotations:
        if annotation.type[1] == 'Highlight':
            # Get the color of the highlight
            color = annotation.colors['stroke']  # Returns a RGB tuple
            unique_colors.add(color)

# Print all unique colors
for color in unique_colors:
    print(color)

    You will get the following output post executing the script make sure you put the exact name of the PDF file and within the IDE of your choice cd to the directory where the above (CheckColor.py) resides.

    Now we have the color codes it’s time to go ahead and extract the highlighted text. We iterate through each page of the PDF and check for any highlighted annotations. If an annotation is found, we extract the content and accumulate it in the extracted_text variable, followed by export to the csv.

    Main Code

    Replace "CIS_Microsoft_Windows_Server_2022_Benchmark_v2.0.0.pdf" with the actual path to your PDF file. 

    import fitz  # PyMuPDF
import pandas as pd

# Open the PDF
doc = fitz.open('CIS_Microsoft_Windows_Server_2022_Benchmark_v2.0.0.pdf')

# Define the RGB values for your colors
PINK = (0.9686269760131836, 0.6000000238418579, 0.8196079730987549)
YELLOW = (1.0, 0.9411770105361938, 0.4000000059604645)
GREEN = (0.49019598960876465, 0.9411770105361938, 0.4000000059604645)
RED = (0.9215689897537231, 0.2862749993801117, 0.2862749993801117)

color_definitions = {"Pink": PINK, "Yellow": YELLOW, "Green": GREEN, "Red": RED}

# Create separate lists for each color
data_by_color = {"Pink": [], "Yellow": [], "Green": [], "Red": []}

# Loop through every page
for i in range(len(doc)):
    page = doc[i]
    annotations = page.annots()
    for annotation in annotations:
        if annotation.type[1] == 'Highlight':
            color = annotation.colors['stroke']  # Returns a RGB tuple
            if color in color_definitions.values():
                # Get the detailed structure of the page
                structure = page.get_text("dict")

                # Extract highlighted text line by line
                content = []
                for block in structure["blocks"]:
                    for line in block["lines"]:
                        for span in line["spans"]:
                            r = fitz.Rect(span["bbox"])
                            if r.intersects(annotation.rect):
                                content.append(span["text"])
                
                content = " ".join(content)

                # Append the content to the appropriate color list
                for color_name, color_rgb in color_definitions.items():
                    if color == color_rgb:
                        data_by_color[color_name].append(content)

# Convert each list to a DataFrame and write to a separate .csv file
for color_name, data in data_by_color.items():
    if data:
        df = pd.DataFrame(data, columns=["Text"])
        df.to_csv(f'highlighted_text_{color_name.lower()}.csv', index=False)

    After running the script, the extracted highlighted text will be saved under multiple csv files like the below screenshot:

    You can now extract the highlighted text from the PDF using the above technique. Feel free to modify and adapt this code to suit your specific requirements. Extracting highlighted data from PDFs can be a powerful data analysis and research technique.

    I hope you will find this helpful information for extracting data out from any PDF files. Please let me know if I have missed any steps or details, and I will be happy to update the post.

    Thanks,
    Aresh Sarkari

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    PowerShell – Frontline Workers – Create Windows 365 Cloud PC Provisioning Policy

    23 May

    I have a blog post about creating a Windows 365 Cloud PC Provisioning Policy using PowerShell. In this post blog, I will demonstrate how to create the provisioning policy using PowerShell and MS Graph API with beta modules for Windows 365 Cloud PC – Frontline Workers.

    Windows 365 Frontline Worker

    Introduction

    I will not attempt to explain Frontline, but the best explanation is here: What is Windows 365 Frontline? | Microsoft Learn.

    Example – Each Windows 365 Frontline license can be shared with up to three employees. This means that if you have 30 employees, you only need to purchase 10 licenses to provision the CloudPC for all 30 employees with access over the day. However, note you are buying the frontline license based on the active sessions. You must purchase the license accordingly if you have more than 10 active workers in a shift.

    What happens when license are exhausted?

    In my demo tenant, I have two licenses for Frontline workers. When I try to log in to the third one (Note I have already logged into 2 active sessions and running them.) Get the following message.

    Connect to MS Graph API

    Step 1 – Install the MS Graph Powershell Module

    #Install Microsoft Graph Beta Module
PS C:WINDOWSsystem32> Install-Module Microsoft.Graph.Beta

    Step 2 – Connect to scopes and specify which API you wish to authenticate to. If you are only doing read-only operations, I suggest you connect to “CloudPC.Read.All” in our case, we are creating the policy, so we need to change the scope to “CloudPC.ReadWrite.All”

    #Read-only
PS C:WINDOWSsystem32> Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "CloudPC.Read.All" -NoWelcome
Welcome To Microsoft Graph!

OR

#Read-Write
PS C:WINDOWSsystem32> Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "CloudPC.ReadWrite.All" -NoWelcome
Welcome To Microsoft Graph!
    Permissions for MS Graph API

    Step 3 –  Check the User account by running the following beta command.

    #Beta APIs
PS C:WINDOWSsystem32> Get-MgBetaUser -UserId admin@wdomain.com

    Create Provisioning Policy (Frontline Worker)

    We are creating a provisioning policy that involves the following: avdwin365mem/win365frontlineCreateProvPolicy at main · askaresh/avdwin365mem · GitHub

    • Azure AD Joined Cloud PC desktops
    • The region for deployment – Australia East
    • Image Name – Windows 11 Enterprise + Microsoft 365 Apps 22H2 (from the Gallery)
    • Language & Region – English (United States)
    • Network – Microsoft Managed
    • Cloud PC Naming format – FLW-%USERNAME:5%-%RAND:5% (FLW – Frontline Worker)
    $params = @{
	displayName = "Demo-FrontLine"
	description = "Front Line Workers Prov Policy"
	provisioningType = "shared"
	managedBy = "windows365"
	imageId = "MicrosoftWindowsDesktop_windows-ent-cpc_win11-22h2-ent-cpc-m365"
	imageDisplayName = "Windows 11 Enterprise + Microsoft 365 Apps 22H2"
	imageType = "gallery"
	microsoftManagedDesktop = @{
		type = "starterManaged"
		profile = $null
	}
	enableSingleSignOn = $true
	domainJoinConfigurations = @(
		@{
			type = "azureADJoin"
			regionGroup = "australia"
			regionName = "automatic"
		}
	)
	windowsSettings = @{
		language = "en-US"
	}
	cloudPcNamingTemplate = "FLW-%USERNAME:5%-%RAND:5%"
}

New-MgBetaDeviceManagementVirtualEndpointProvisioningPolicy -BodyParameter $params

    Note – Post provisioning, you need to add the assignment of a AAD group consisting of all the frontline users. In the future I can demonstrate the API call for assignments. You can also use Andrew Taylors post around using Graph to create the Windows 365 Group – Creating Windows 365 Groups and assigning licenses using Graph and PowerShell

    Powershell Output

    Policy will show up in the MEM Portal

    Optional Properties

    If you are doing on-premise network integration (Azure Network Connection) , then the following additional property and value is required. In my lab, I am leveraging the Microsoft Managed Network, so this is not required.

    OnPremisesConnectionId = "4e47d0f6-6f77-44f0-8893-c0fe1701ffff"

    I hope you will find this helpful information for creating a frontline worker provisioning policy using PowerShell. Please let me know if I have missed any steps or details, and I will be happy to update the post.

    Thanks,
    Aresh Sarkari

    Tags: , , , , , , ,

    PowerShell – Microsoft Security Vulnerabilities with CVE ID and details as a monthly report for Windows 10\11 or Windows Server OS

    27 Mar

    Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) publishes a monthly consolidated report for all the Critical, Important, Moderate and Low security vulnerabilities affecting Microsoft products. The information posted there helps organizations manage security risks and keep their systems protected.

    https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide

    The monthly release notes provide https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/releaseNote/2023-Mar lot of additional information for all affected products.

    Requirements (What are we trying to solve?)

    Looking at the overall release notes for all the affected products (30+ products) and filtering the OS you are interested in can become overwhelming. E.g. You are only interested in products Operating Systems – Windows 11 22h2 or Windows Server 2016/2019/2022. Not saying other information is not essential, but imagine you are only responsible for the Operating Sytems. In such situations, you can use the below script to get a monthly report of CVE (Critical & Important) for a particular OS over to you in an email.

    Prerequsites

    You will need the MSRCSecurity PowerShell module. Run the command to install the module; further, you can import the module within the script.

    #Install Module
Install-Module MSRCSecurityUpdates -Force

#Import Module
Import-Module MSRCSecurityUpdates

    Following are the Operating System (OS) products you can fetch the information against. If you want details for any other operating systems, copy that value and, in my script, paste it under the variable $ClientOS_Type. In my demonstration, we used “Windows 11 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems”

    $ID = Get-MsrcCvrfDocument -ID $Month

$ID.ProductTree.FullProductName

ProductID Value                                                                                 
--------- -----                                                                                 
10049     Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 1 (Server Core installation)
10051     Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 1                           
10287     Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems Service Pack 2 (Server Core installation)      
10378     Windows Server 2012                                                                   
10379     Windows Server 2012 (Server Core installation)                                        
10407     Microsoft Outlook 2013 RT Service Pack 1                                              
10483     Windows Server 2012 R2                                                                
10543     Windows Server 2012 R2 (Server Core installation)                                     
10601     Microsoft Office 2013 Service Pack 1 (32-bit editions)                                
10602     Microsoft Office 2013 Service Pack 1 (64-bit editions)                                
10603     Microsoft Office 2013 RT Service Pack 1                                               
10611     Microsoft Office Web Apps Server 2013 Service Pack 1                                  
10612     Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2013 Service Pack 1                                   
10654     Microsoft Excel 2013 Service Pack 1 (32-bit editions)                                 
10655     Microsoft Excel 2013 Service Pack 1 (64-bit editions)                                 
10656     Microsoft Excel 2013 RT Service Pack 1                                                
10729     Windows 10 for 32-bit Systems                                                         
10735     Windows 10 for x64-based Systems                                                      
10739     Microsoft Excel 2016 (32-bit edition)                                                 
10740     Microsoft Excel 2016 (64-bit edition)                                                 
10753     Microsoft Office 2016 (32-bit edition)                                                
10754     Microsoft Office 2016 (64-bit edition)                                                
10765     Microsoft Outlook 2016 (32-bit edition)                                               
10766     Microsoft Outlook 2016 (64-bit edition)                                               
10810     Microsoft Outlook 2013 Service Pack 1 (32-bit editions)                               
10811     Microsoft Outlook 2013 Service Pack 1 (64-bit editions)                               
10816     Windows Server 2016                                                                   
10852     Windows 10 Version 1607 for 32-bit Systems                                            
10853     Windows 10 Version 1607 for x64-based Systems                                         
10855     Windows Server 2016 (Server Core installation)                                        
10950     Microsoft SharePoint Enterprise Server 2016                                           
11099     Microsoft SharePoint Enterprise Server 2013 Service Pack 1                            
11568     Windows 10 Version 1809 for 32-bit Systems                                            
11569     Windows 10 Version 1809 for x64-based Systems                                         
11570     Windows 10 Version 1809 for ARM64-based Systems                                       
11571     Windows Server 2019                                                                   
11572     Windows Server 2019 (Server Core installation)                                        
11573     Microsoft Office 2019 for 32-bit editions                                             
11574     Microsoft Office 2019 for 64-bit editions                                             
11575     Microsoft Office 2019 for Mac                                                         
11585     Microsoft SharePoint Server 2019                                                      
11600     Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 version 15.9 (includes 15.0 - 15.8)                      
11605     Microsoft Office Online Server                                                        
11655     Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based)                                                       
11664     Microsoft Dynamics 365 (on-premises) version 9.0                                      
11726     OneDrive for Android                                                                  
11762     Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise for 32-bit Systems                                  
11763     Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise for 64-bit Systems                                  
11800     Windows 10 Version 20H2 for x64-based Systems                                         
11801     Windows 10 Version 20H2 for 32-bit Systems                                            
11802     Windows 10 Version 20H2 for ARM64-based Systems                                       
11902     Microsoft Malware Protection Engine                                                   
11921     Microsoft Dynamics 365 (on-premises) version 9.1                                      
11923     Windows Server 2022                                                                   
11924     Windows Server 2022 (Server Core installation)                                        
11926     Windows 11 version 21H2 for x64-based Systems                                         
11927     Windows 11 version 21H2 for ARM64-based Systems                                       
11929     Windows 10 Version 21H2 for 32-bit Systems                                            
11930     Windows 10 Version 21H2 for ARM64-based Systems                                       
11931     Windows 10 Version 21H2 for x64-based Systems                                         
11935     Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 version 16.11 (includes 16.0 - 16.10)                    
11951     Microsoft Office LTSC for Mac 2021                                                    
11952     Microsoft Office LTSC 2021 for 64-bit editions                                        
11953     Microsoft Office LTSC 2021 for 32-bit editions                                        
11961     Microsoft SharePoint Server Subscription Edition                                      
11969     Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 version 17.0                                             
11987     Azure HDInsights                                                                      
12051     Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 version 17.2                                             
12085     Windows 11 Version 22H2 for ARM64-based Systems                                       
12086     Windows 11 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems                                         
12097     Windows 10 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems                                         
12098     Windows 10 Version 22H2 for ARM64-based Systems                                       
12099     Windows 10 Version 22H2 for 32-bit Systems                                            
12129     Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 version 17.4                                             
12137     CBL Mariner 1.0 x64                                                                   
12138     CBL Mariner 1.0 ARM                                                                   
12139     CBL Mariner 2.0 x64                                                                   
12140     CBL Mariner 2.0 ARM                                                                   
12142     Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based) Extended Stable                                       
12155     Microsoft Office for Android                                                          
12156     Microsoft Office for Universal                                                        
12167     Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 version 17.5                                             
12169     OneDrive for MacOS Installer                                                          
12170     OneDrive for iOS                                                                      
12171     Azure Service Fabric 9.1 for Windows                                                  
12172     Azure Service Fabric 9.1 for Ubuntu                                                   
12173     Snipping Tool                                                                         
12174     Snip & Sketch for Windows 10                                                          
9312      Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems Service Pack 2                                 
9318      Windows Server 2008 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 2                              
9344      Windows Server 2008 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 2 (Server Core installation)

    Variable Region

    Delcare all the variable within this section. Lets take a look at what we are declaring within the script:

    • The MSRC website releases the montly report in the following yyyy-MM format
    #Month Format for MSRC
$Month = Get-Date -Format 'yyyy-MMM'
    • The operating system we want to focus on and leave the rest. If you are interested in any other OS, change the value from the above prerequisites, and it will give you Critical/Import vulnerabilities for that OS or product.
    # Enter the Operating System you specifically want to focus on
$ClientOS_Type = "Windows 11 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems"
    • Enter the details for sending the email (subject line, to and from etc.) for the report
    #Email Details
$Recipients = "askaresh@askaresh.com", "someone@askaresh.com"
$Sender = "cve-report@askaresh.com"
$SMTP_Server = "smtp.askaresh.com"
$Subject = 'CVE List for Windows 11 22H2 on '+$Month
    • HTML report formatting (CSS, Title of the report, Logo and Header) information
    $Css="<style>
body {
    font-family: cursive;
    font-size: 14px;
    color: #000000;
    background: #FEFEFE;
}
#title{
    color:#000000;
    font-size: 30px;
    font-weight: bold;
    height: 50px;
    margin-left: 0px;
    padding-top: 10px;
}

#subtitle{
    font-size: 16px;
    margin-left:0px;
    padding-bottom: 10px;
}

table{
    width:100%;
    border-collapse:collapse;
}
table td, table th {
    border:1px solid #000000;
    padding:3px 7px 2px 7px;
}
table th {
    text-align:center;
    padding-top:5px;
    padding-bottom:4px;
    background-color:#000000;
    color:#fff;
}
table tr.alt td {
    color:#000;
    background-color:#EAF2D3;
}
tr.critical {
    color: white;
    background-color: red;
}
</style>"
$Title = "<span style='font-weight:bold;font-size:24pt'>CVE List for Windows 11 22H2 on " + $Month + "</span>"
$Logo = "<img src='C:\Scripts\WinSvr\askareshlogo.png' alt='Logo' height='100' width='100'>"
$Header = "<div id='banner'>$Logo</div>`n" +
          "<div id='title'>$Title</div>`n" +
          "<div id='subtitle'>Report generated: $(Get-Date)</div>"

    Execution block

    Execution code block within this section. Lets take a look at what we are we executing within the script:

    • We are quering the MSRC using the powershell module and getting all the vulnerablity only for my OS – Windows 11 22H2
    • I am filtering only Critical/Important as I am not interested in Moderate and Low
    • Add additional tables for Base and Temporal scores
    • Adding the HTML formatting to highlight the Critical vulnerabilities in RED
    #Main Script Logic
$ID = Get-MsrcCvrfDocument -ID $Month
$ProductName = Get-MsrcCvrfAffectedSoftware -Vulnerability $id.Vulnerability -ProductTree $id.ProductTree | Where-Object { $_.Severity -in 'Critical', 'Important' -and $_.FullProductName -like $Server_Type }

$Report = $ProductName | Select CVE, FullProductName, Severity, Impact, @{Name='KBArticle'; Expression={($_.KBArticle.ID | Select-Object -Unique) -join ', '}}, @{Name='BaseScore'; Expression={$_.CvssScoreSet.Base}}, @{Name='TemporalScore'; Expression={$_.CvssScoreSet.Temporal}}, @{Name='Vector'; Expression={$_.CvssScoreSet.Vector}} | ConvertTo-Html -PreContent $Css -PostContent "</table><br>" -As Table -Fragment | ForEach-Object {
    if($_ -match "<td.*?Critical.*?>") {
        $_ -replace "<tr>", "<tr class='critical'>"
    }
    else {
        $_
    }
}

    Final Script

    Here I will paste the entire script block for seamless execution in a single run. Following is the link to my GitHub for this script – https://github.com/askaresh/avdwin365mem/blob/main/Win11VulnMSRCReport

    ### Install the module
#Install-Module MSRCSecurityUpdates -Force

### Load the module
Import-Module -Name MsrcSecurityUpdates

#Email Details
$Recipients = "askaresh@askaresh.com", "someone@askaresh.com"
$Sender = "cve-report@askaresh.com"
$SMTP_Server = "smtp.askaresh.com"
$Subject = 'CVE List for Windows 11 22H2 on '+$Month

#Month Format for MSRC
$Month = Get-Date -Format 'yyyy-MMM'

# Enter the Operating System you specifically want to focus on
$ClientOS_Type = "Windows 11 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems"

# Environment Variables
$Css="<style>
body {
    font-family: cursive;
    font-size: 14px;
    color: #000000;
    background: #FEFEFE;
}
#title{
    color:#000000;
    font-size: 30px;
    font-weight: bold;
    height: 50px;
    margin-left: 0px;
    padding-top: 10px;
}

#subtitle{
    font-size: 16px;
    margin-left:0px;
    padding-bottom: 10px;
}

table{
    width:100%;
    border-collapse:collapse;
}
table td, table th {
    border:1px solid #000000;
    padding:3px 7px 2px 7px;
}
table th {
    text-align:center;
    padding-top:5px;
    padding-bottom:4px;
    background-color:#000000;
    color:#fff;
}
table tr.alt td {
    color:#000;
    background-color:#EAF2D3;
}
tr.critical {
    color: white;
    background-color: red;
}
</style>"
$Title = "<span style='font-weight:bold;font-size:24pt'>CVE List for Windows 11 22H2 on " + $Month + "</span>"
$Logo = "<img src='C:\Scripts\WinSvr\askareshlogo.png' alt='Logo' height='100' width='100'>"
$Header = "<div id='banner'>$Logo</div>`n" +
          "<div id='title'>$Title</div>`n" +
          "<div id='subtitle'>Report generated: $(Get-Date)</div>"


#Main Script Logic
$ID = Get-MsrcCvrfDocument -ID $Month
$ProductName = Get-MsrcCvrfAffectedSoftware -Vulnerability $id.Vulnerability -ProductTree $id.ProductTree | Where-Object { $_.Severity -in 'Critical', 'Important' -and ($_.FullProductName -match $ClientOS_Type) }


$Report = $ProductName | Select CVE, FullProductName, Severity, Impact, @{Name='KBArticle'; Expression={($_.KBArticle.ID | Select-Object -Unique) -join ', '}}, @{Name='BaseScore'; Expression={$_.CvssScoreSet.Base}}, @{Name='TemporalScore'; Expression={$_.CvssScoreSet.Temporal}}, @{Name='Vector'; Expression={$_.CvssScoreSet.Vector}} | ConvertTo-Html -PreContent $Css -PostContent "</table><br>" -As Table -Fragment | ForEach-Object {
    if($_ -match "<td.*?Critical.*?>") {
        $_ -replace "<tr>", "<tr class='critical'>"
    }
    else {
        $_
    }
}

#Send Email
Send-MailMessage -To $recipients -From $Sender -Subject $Subject -Body "$Header $Report" -SmtpServer $SMTP_Server -BodyAsHtml

    I recommend you create a schedule task for running this report on every 2nd Tuesday of the month.

    Report

    After you finish running the script, you will receive an email which should be like the following:

    Useful LinksCredits
    Security Update Guide – https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guideMicrosoft
    Release Notes for Security Updates – https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/releaseNote/2023-Mar (Simply replace the last three letter of the Month for previous reports)Microsoft
    Original Script and Credits of this work – How to Get Latest CVE from MSRC with PowerShell – AventisTechAventis Technologies

    I hope you will find this helpful information to gather Microsoft Security vulnerability reports for a specific operating system using PowerShell. Please let me know if I have missed any steps or details, and I will be happy to update the post.

    Thanks,
    Aresh Sarkari

    Tags: , , , , ,

    Consolidated Scripts – All configurational task via PowerShell for Windows 365 Cloud PC under Microsoft Intune Portal (MEM)

    18 Jan

    I have written various individual blog posts on PowerShell creation of all configurational task for Windows 365 Cloud PC under Microsoft Endpoint Portal (MEM).

    Based on public demand, I want to create a consolidated post for all the scripts and configuration items that can get you started with Windows 365 Cloud PC using PowerShell: (Of course all the below features can also be configured using the UI, however below is the guidance strictly using PowerShell)

    PowerShell links to my blog post

    Following are the links to my blog post for each and individual task:

    PowerShell – Create Windows 365 Cloud PC Provisioning Policy https://askaresh.com/2022/10/11/powershell-create-windows-365-cloud-pc-provisioning-policy/

    PowerShell – Assign a AAD group to the Windows 365 Cloud PC Provisioning Policy
    https://askaresh.com/2022/10/12/powershell-assign-a-aad-group-to-the-windows-365-cloud-pc-provisioning-policy/

    PowerShell – Unassign/Delete the Windows 365 Cloud PC Provisioning Policy
    https://askaresh.com/2022/10/14/powershell-unassign-delete-the-windows-365-cloud-pc-provisioning-policy/

    PowerShell – Create a custom Windows 11 Enterprise (22H2) + Microsoft 365 Apps golden image for Windows 365 Cloud PC using Marketplace Image
    https://askaresh.com/2022/12/01/powershell-create-a-custom-windows-11-enterprise-22h2-microsoft-365-apps-golden-image-for-windows-365-cloud-pc-using-marketplace-image/

    PowerShell – Create Azure Network Connection (ANC) for Windows 365 Cloud PC
    https://askaresh.com/2023/01/16/powershell-create-azure-network-connection-anc-for-windows-365-cloud-pc/

    PowerShell – Create and Assign Windows 365 Cloud PC – User Settings
    https://askaresh.com/2022/11/08/powershell-create-and-assign-windows-365-cloud-pc-user-settings/

    PowerShell – Report – Get Cloud PC Windows 365 with low utilization
    https://askaresh.com/2022/11/24/powershell-report-get-cloud-pc-windows-365-with-low-utilization/

    I promise you once you have done the hard work, you can get up and running in a few hours using all the above PowerShell scripts with Windows 365 Cloud PC.

    Here is the repo with all the scripts and more – askaresh/avdwin365mem (github.com). A big thanks to Andrew Taylor for collabrating and updating the Provisioning policy script with the SSO details that was release in late Nov 2022.

    I hope you will find this helpful information for all things PowerShell w.r.t Windows 365 Cloud PC. I will update the post if I publish or update more information.

    Thanks,
    Aresh Sarkari

    Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

    PowerShell – Create a Windows 11 Multi-session golden image for Azure Virtual Desktop using Marketplace Image

    28 Nov

    Do you want to deploy an Azure Virtual Desktop – Host pools quickly and want a starting point for a golden image? Look no further in this blog post. I will show you how to create a golden image using PowerShell in no more than 10 min.

    I will break down the code block into smaller chunks first to explain the critical bits, and in the end, I will post the entire code block that can be run all at once. In this way, explaining block by block becomes easier than pasting one single block.

    Pre-requisites

    Following are the pre-requisites before you begin

    • PowerShell 5.1 and above
    • Azure Subscription
    • Permissions within the Auzre Subscription for Azure Compute
    • Assumption
      • You have an existing Resource Group (RG)
      • You have an existing Azure Virtual Network (VNET)
      • You have an existing workload subnet within the VNET
      • Identify the VM Size you will be using for the golden image
    • Azure PowerShell Modules

    Sign to Azure

    To start working with Azure PowerShell, sign in with your Azure credentials.

    Connect-AzAccount

    Identify the Windows 11 Multi-session (Marketplace Image)

    There are many different versions of Windows 11 marketplace images from Microsoft. Let’s identify what is available within the gallery.

    Get-AzVMImageSku -Location australiaeast -PublisherName MicrosoftWindowsDesktop -Offer windows-11

    #Bonus Information

    If you want the Multi-session gallery image with Office, than use the following command

    Get-AzVMImageSku -Location australiaeast -PublisherName MicrosoftWindowsDesktop -Offer office-365

    We are going to use the Windows 11 22H2 Mutli-session – win11-22h2-avd within this script

    Variable Region

    Delcare all the variable within this section. Lets take a look at what we are declaring within the script:

    • Existing Resource Group within the Azure Subscription (AZ104-RG)
    • A location where you are deploying this virtual machine (Australia East)
    • Name of the golden image virtual machine (VM03)
    • NIC Interface name for the virtual machine (VM03-nic)
    • RG of the VNET (In my case they are same AZ104-RG, they can be seperate too and hence a independent variable)
    • Name of the existing subnet within the vNET (AZ104-VDI-Workload-L1)
    • Name of the existing VNET (AZ104-RG-vnet)
    • Mapping of the exisitng VNET
    • Mapping of the existing subnet
    • T-shirt size of the golden image we are deploying (Standard_D2s_v3)
    • Gallery details of the image
      • Published – MicrosoftWindowsDesktop
      • Offer – windows-11
      • SKU – win11-22h2-avd
      • version – Offcourse latest
    • Get credentials – A local admin account is created on the golden image (A input box to capture the uisername and password)
    # Existing Resource Group to deploy the VM
$rgName = "AZ104-RG"

# Geo Location to deploy the VM
$location = "Australia East"

# Image template name
$vmName = "VM03"

# Networking Interfance Name for the VM
$nicName = "$vmName-nic"

# Resource Group for VNET
$vnetrgName = "AZ104-RG"

# Existing Subnet Name
$Existsubnetname = "AZ104-VDI-Workload-L1"

# Existing VNET Name
$Existvnetname = "AZ104-RG-vnet"

# Existing VNET where we are deploying this Virtual Machine
$vnet = Get-AzVirtualNetwork -Name $Existvnetname -ResourceGroupName $vnetrgName

# Existing Subnet within the VNET for the this virtual machine
$subnet = Get-AzVirtualNetworkSubnetConfig -Name $Existsubnetname -VirtualNetwork $vnet

# T-shirt size of the VM
$vmSize = "Standard_D2s_v3"

# Gallery Publisher of the Image - Microsoft
$publisher = "MicrosoftWindowsDesktop"

# Version of Windows 10/11
$offer = "windows-11"

# The SKY ending with avd are the multi-session
$sku = "win11-22h2-avd"

# Choosing the latest version
$version = "latest"

# Setting up the Local Admin on the VM
$cred = Get-Credential `
   -Message "Enter a username and password for the virtual machine."

    Execution block

    Execution code block within this section. Lets take a look at what we are we executing within the script:

    • First its creating the network interface for the virtual machine (VM03)
    • Next, under the variable $VM all virtual machine configurations
      • Tshirt size of the virtual machine
      • Credentials for the local admin (username/password)
      • The network interface assignment along with the delete option (Note delete option is essential or/else during deletion of VM it will not delete the network interface)
      • The gallery image, sku, offer from the Microsoft Market Place gallery
      • The os disk assignment along with the delete option (Note delete option is essential or/else during deletion of VM it will not delete the disk)
      • The configuration around “Trusted Platform” and enabling of TPM and Secure Boot
      • The final command to create the virtual machine with all the above configurations
    # Create New network interface for the virtual machine
$NIC = New-AzNetworkInterface -Name $nicName -ResourceGroupName $vnetrgName -Location $location -Subnet $subnet

# Creation of the new virtual machine with delete option for Disk/NIC together
$vm = New-AzVMConfig -VMName $vmName -VMSize $vmSize 

$vm = Set-AzVMOperatingSystem `
   -VM $vm -Windows `
   -ComputerName $vmName `
   -Credential $cred `
   -ProvisionVMAgent `
   -EnableAutoUpdate 

# Delete option for NIC
$vm = Add-AzVMNetworkInterface -VM $vm `
   -Id $NIC.Id `
   -DeleteOption "Delete"

$vm = Set-AzVMSourceImage -VM $vm `
   -PublisherName $publisher `
   -Offer $offer `
   -Skus $sku `
   -Version $version 

# Delete option for Disk
$vm = Set-AzVMOSDisk -VM $vm `
   -StorageAccountType "StandardSSD_LRS" `
   -CreateOption "FromImage" `
   -DeleteOption "Delete"

# The sauce around enabling the Trusted Platform
$vm = Set-AzVmSecurityProfile -VM $vm `
   -SecurityType "TrustedLaunch" 

# The sauce around enabling TPM and Secure Boot
$vm = Set-AzVmUefi -VM $vm `
   -EnableVtpm $true `
   -EnableSecureBoot $true 

New-AzVM -ResourceGroupName $rgName -Location $location -VM $vm

    Final Script

    Here I will paste the entire script block for seamless execution in single run. Following is the link to my Github for this script – Create Virtual Machine with Trusted Platform and Delete disk/nic options.

    # Step 1: Import module
#Import-Module Az.Accounts

# Connect to the Azure Subcription
#Connect-AzAccount

# Get existing context
$currentAzContext = Get-AzContext

# Your subscription. This command gets your current subscription
$subscriptionID=$currentAzContext.Subscription.Id

# Command to get the Multi-session Image in Gallery
# Details from this command will help in filling out variables below on Gallery Image
# Get-AzVMImageSku -Location australiaeast -PublisherName MicrosoftWindowsDesktop -Offer windows-11

# Existing Resource Group to deploy the VM
$rgName = "AZ104-RG"

# Geo Location to deploy the VM
$location = "Australia East"

# Image template name
$vmName = "VM03"

# Networking Interfance Name for the VM
$nicName = "$vmName-nic"

# Resource Group for VNET
$vnetrgName = "AZ104-RG"

# Existing Subnet Name
$Existsubnetname = "AZ104-VDI-Workload-L1"

# Existing VNET Name
$Existvnetname = "AZ104-RG-vnet"

# Existing VNET where we are deploying this Virtual Machine
$vnet = Get-AzVirtualNetwork -Name $Existvnetname -ResourceGroupName $vnetrgName

# Existing Subnet within the VNET for the this virtual machine
$subnet = Get-AzVirtualNetworkSubnetConfig -Name $Existsubnetname -VirtualNetwork $vnet

# T-shirt size of the VM
$vmSize = "Standard_D2s_v3"

# Gallery Publisher of the Image - Microsoft
$publisher = "MicrosoftWindowsDesktop"

# Version of Windows 10/11
$offer = "windows-11"

# The SKY ending with avd are the multi-session
$sku = "win11-22h2-avd"

# Choosing the latest version
$version = "latest"

# Setting up the Local Admin on the VM
$cred = Get-Credential `
   -Message "Enter a username and password for the virtual machine."

# Create New network interface for the virtual machine
$NIC = New-AzNetworkInterface -Name $nicName -ResourceGroupName $vnetrgName -Location $location -Subnet $subnet

# Creation of the new virtual machine with delete option for Disk/NIC together
$vm = New-AzVMConfig -VMName $vmName -VMSize $vmSize 

$vm = Set-AzVMOperatingSystem `
   -VM $vm -Windows `
   -ComputerName $vmName `
   -Credential $cred `
   -ProvisionVMAgent `
   -EnableAutoUpdate 

# Delete option for NIC
$vm = Add-AzVMNetworkInterface -VM $vm `
   -Id $NIC.Id `
   -DeleteOption "Delete"

$vm = Set-AzVMSourceImage -VM $vm `
   -PublisherName $publisher `
   -Offer $offer `
   -Skus $sku `
   -Version $version 

# Delete option for Disk
$vm = Set-AzVMOSDisk -VM $vm `
   -StorageAccountType "StandardSSD_LRS" `
   -CreateOption "FromImage" `
   -DeleteOption "Delete"

# The sauce around enabling the Trusted Platform
$vm = Set-AzVmSecurityProfile -VM $vm `
   -SecurityType "TrustedLaunch" 

# The sauce around enabling TPM and Secure Boot
$vm = Set-AzVmUefi -VM $vm `
   -EnableVtpm $true `
   -EnableSecureBoot $true 

New-AzVM -ResourceGroupName $rgName -Location $location -VM $vm

    Note – It will give you a pop-up box for entering the username and password for the local account, and in under 10 mins you will see your virtual machine within the Azure portal

    Next Steps on Golden Image

    Now that the virtual machine is ready following are the next steps involved:

    • Using Azure Bastion console and installing all the required applications
    • Generalize and sysprep and shutdown the image
    • Capture the image to the Azure Compute Galleries
    • Deploy within the Azure Virtual Desktop

    I hope you will find this helpful information for deploying a golden image within Azure – Virtual Machine to deploy the Azure Virtual Desktop – Host Pools. If you want to see a Powershell version of the host pool activities, leave me a comment below or on my socials. Please let me know if I have missed any steps or details, and I will be happy to update the post.

    Thanks,
    Aresh Sarkari

    Tags: , , , , , ,

    VMware App Volumes – Tales of the missing Writable Volumes backup

    15 Aug

    You have a large VMware App Volumes environment and have backed up your writable volumes using the capabilities provided in the App Volumes Manager. (You are doing the right thing!)

    AV Manager – WV Backup Config

    We decided to perform an audit on the backup of the writable volumes within the App Volumes Manager 2.18.10 and the VSAN Datastore. You can export all the writable volumes to a CSV using the API. My script here will provide you with a complete outlook for conducting your analysis. Now exclude your group entitlements from the list, leaving you with the total number of writable volumes within your environment. Ideally, you are after the same number of writable volumes on the VSAN datastore. (Of course, if everything is going well in the backup world!)

    In my case, we observed more than 300+ missing writable volumes between the exported CSV and the VSAN datastore. Let the investigations begin – within the production.log, we could see the backup was happening, but the challenge of a large environment is impossible to track all the backup occurring just by looking at the logs. Feature request to VMW – A dedicated backup log showcases the entire environment’s status. We eventually ended up with a GSS case after few months of back and forth and the logs exchange, we finally got a working solution. This closed the mystery of the missing backup of the writable volumes.

    Solution

    Go the the SQL database of the App Volumes Manager. Select the DB and New Query.

    AV Database – Microsoft SQL

    Enter the following query and hit execute. Now this will change the default writable volumes batch size(writables_backup_batch_size) from 5 to 25. Note the value of the batch size was tweaked multiple times, we first went with 10, which drastically reduced the missing backup. However, a few were still missing and not getting backup. The final number for our environment was 25 got all the writable volumes backup.

    INSERT INTO dbo.settings ("key", value, created_at, updated_at) 
VALUES ('writables_backup_batch_size', 25, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP)

    Disclaimer – This tweak was required for a large App Volumes environment. Please consult with VMware Support before making any changes to your setup or Database. If it works for me doesn’t mean it will work for you. The value can differ based on the size of the enivronment.

    I hope you will find this helpful information on your VMware App Volumes backup strategy. Please let me know if you have observed any issues like these, and would like to share your story?

    Thanks,
    Aresh Sarkari

    Tags: , , , , ,

    Script/API – Delete Orphaned Writable Volumes from VMware App Volumes Manager

    10 Nov

    Often within the VMware App Volumes Manager (AVM), Writable Volumes will show up as Status – Orphaned. Let’s take a look at the following topics:

    • What is Orphaned Writable Volumes?
    • Script to delete them from the App Volumes Managers

    What is Orphaned Writable Volumes?

    App Volumes Manager is integrated with Microsoft Active Directory (AD), and it’s in continuous synchronization. Whenever an end-user account gets disabled into the AD during the next sync activity of App Volumes Manager, it will mark the writable volumes with Writable Status = Orphaned.

    Now in the ideal world, these accounts have been disabled and should be okay to delete? Maybe, if you don’t have the obligation of data retention, then you are ready to delete them. If you need to retain them, keep them as-is for compliance purposes.

    Script to delete them for App Volumes Manager

    Before we talk about the script, the deletion is very straightforward within the App Volumes Manager. Select the volumes with Status = Orphaned and select the Delete button. However, when you have to do the same against multiple POD, which becomes challenging, and as always, if it’s not automated, there is the scope of human error.

    Pre-requisites

    • You need the App Volumes Manager URL
    • You need the username and password of the App Volumes Manager
    • You need to enter y/Y to proceed further with the deletion
    • The script was tested on PowerShell V5.x with App Volumes Manager version 2.18.10 (The logic will be the same however, the API call for App Volumes 4.x will be different)
    ###########################################################################
# Get List of Wrtiable Volumes from AppVolumes Manager for Status=Orphaned
# Delete the Orphaned Wrtiable Volumes
# You need username and password for the App Volumes Manager
# Author - Aresh Sarkari (Twitter - @askaresh)
# Version - V5.0
###########################################################################

#App Volumes Manager Name or IP Address
$AVManager = "https://avm001.askaresh.local"

# Run at the start of each script to import the credentials
$RESTAPIUser = "domain\username"
$RESTAPIPassword = "enteryourpassword"

#Ignore cert errors
add-type @"
    using System.Net;
    using System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates;
    public class TrustAllCertsPolicy : ICertificatePolicy {
        public bool CheckValidationResult(
            ServicePoint srvPoint, X509Certificate certificate,
            WebRequest request, int certificateProblem) {
            return true;
        }
    }
"@
[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::CertificatePolicy = New-Object TrustAllCertsPolicy
[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.SecurityProtocolType]'Ssl3,Tls,Tls11,Tls12'

#Login AV Manager Body
$body = @{
    username = “$RESTAPIUser"
    password = “$RESTAPIPassword”
}

#Login API call to the AV Manager
Invoke-RestMethod -SessionVariable DaLogin -Method Post -Uri "$AVManager/cv_api/sessions” -Body $body

#Get the list of Writbale Volumes from the AV Manager
$output = Invoke-RestMethod -WebSession $DaLogin -Method Get -Uri "$AVManager/cv_api/writables" -ContentType "application/json"

#Selecting the WV with status Orphaned into a variable
$WVouput = $output.datastores.writable_volumes | Select-Object id, owner_name, owner_upn, title, status | Where-Object {[string]$_.status -match "Orphaned"}

#Output on the console (Validate carefully before proceeding ahead)
$WVouput | Format-Table | Out-String | % {Write-Host $_}

#Confirmation logic to proceed with the deletion
$confirmation = Read-Host -Prompt "Are you Sure You Want To Proceed with the deletion:" 
if ($confirmation -match "[yY]" ) {
    # proceed

# The WV Deletion API call only looks for IDs. We are filtering the ids only
$WVOutputIDs = $WVouput.id

#Looping to delete each Writable Volumes via its ID
foreach ($WVOutputIDss in $WVOutputIDs) {

# Writable Volumes deletion Parameters body
$jsonbody = @{
    bg = "0"
    volumes = "$WVOutputIDss"
} | ConvertTo-Json

#API call to delete the Wrtiable Volumes
#We are using Invoke-webrequest for getting the Content of the deletion (Success) in oneline
$WVdeletecall = Invoke-WebRequest -WebSession $DaLogin -Method Post -Uri "$AVManager/cv_api/volumes/delete_writable" -Body $jsonbody -ContentType "application/json"

}

#Dig into the exception to get the Response details.
Write-Host $WVdeletecall.StatusCode
Write-Host $WVdeletecall.StatusDescription
Write-Host $WVdeletecall.Content

}

    GitHub – scripts/del-writablevolume-status-orphaned at master · askaresh/scripts (github.com)

    Observations

    • When you run the script, it will identify all the end-users with Status = Orphaned. If you like, you can copy and paste the output in an editior (Notepad++) to verify the output.
    • Once you press y/Y it will go ahead and delete the Orphaned writable volumes.

    I hope you will find this script useful to bulk delete orphaned Writable Volumes in App Volumes Manager. A small request if you further enhance the script or make it more creative, I hope you can share it back with me?

    Thanks,
    Aresh Sarkari

    Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

    Script/API – Horizon Reach – Get consolidated Horizon Farms/Desktops pools – Name Health, Image and Snapshot information

    27 Oct

    Horizon Reach is a potent tool, and Andrew Morgan has put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears to develope it. What suprises me is why isnt this fling included into the Horizon product? We haven’t gathered here to talk about the product management and roadmap aspects 😉

    Horizon Reach fling aggregates all the various Horizon POD information into its database. Typically, running Horizon API calls or Horizon Powershell modules might have to run them against individual pods to fetch information about that POD. The beauty with Horizon Reach is it aggregates all the information, we can write scripts/API calls to request information from there instead of writing Horizon POD specific scripts.

    Let’s take a look at the following information from the Horizon Reach fling:

    • What API’s are available with Horizon Reach?
    • What all options are available to interact with Horizon Reach API?
    • Script – Get a consolidated list of Horizon Farm details (Display the Name, Base Image details, Snapshot Version, Health and If provisioning is enabled)
      • Note the above can also be fetched using the old Horizon Powershell modules but trust me it’s pretty tricky to run a foreach loop for every object on the SOAP method.
    • Script – Get a consolidated list of Horizon Desktop Pools details (Display the Name, Base Image details, Snapshot Version, Health and If provisioning is enabled)

    What API’s are avilable with Horizon Reach?

    After you have installed the Horizon Reach fling, go to the following URL to check out all the avilable API’s. Its the UI Swagger interface to simplify and understand each calls.

    URL – https://horzonreach.domain:9443/swagger/index.html

    What all options are avilable to interact with Horizon Reach API?

    You can interact with the API with your preffered method such as Powershell or Postman or something else.

    Postman – https://horzonreach.domain:9443/swagger/v1/swagger.json (You will be able to import all the Horizon Reach API as a collection within Postman)

    Powershell – You can use the built-in modules of Invoke-RestMethod or Invoke-WebRequest method to interact with Horizon Reach API.

    Scripts to get consolidated Horizon Farms/Desktops information

    Pre-requsites:

    • You need the Horizon Reach Server URL
    • You need the password of the Horizon Reach Server
    • The script provides you with the details of all Horizon PODs in your setup.
    • The script was tested on PowerShell V5.x
    #Horizon Reach Server Name or IP Address
$HZReachServer = "https://horizonreach.domain:9443"

#Ignore the self signed cert errors
add-type @"
    using System.Net;
    using System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates;
    public class TrustAllCertsPolicy : ICertificatePolicy {
        public bool CheckValidationResult(
            ServicePoint srvPoint, X509Certificate certificate,
            WebRequest request, int certificateProblem) {
            return true;
        }
    }
"@
[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::CertificatePolicy = New-Object TrustAllCertsPolicy
[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.SecurityProtocolType]'Ssl3,Tls,Tls11,Tls12'


#API Call to make the intial connection to the Horizon Reach Server##
$HZReachLogonAPIcall = "$HZReachServer`/api/Logon"

#The body payload that comprises of the login API request
$body = @{
    username = "administrator"
    password = "enteryourpassword"
} | ConvertTo-Json

$HZReachlogin = Invoke-RestMethod -Method Post -uri $HZReachLogonAPIcall -Body $body -ContentType "application/json"

#Header along with the JWT token is now saved for future API calls
#You need to call this header in all subsequent calls as it has the token
$Headers = @{ Authorization = "Bearer $($HZReachlogin.jwt)" }

#API Call to fetch the consolidated (as many pods you have) Horizon Farm information##
$HZReachFarms = Invoke-RestMethod -Method Get -uri "$HZReachServer/api/Farms" -Headers $Headers -ContentType "application/json" -UseBasicParsing | Format-Table -Property displayname, baseimage, snapshot, enabled, health, isProvisioningEnabled

Write-Output $HZReachFarms

#API Call to fetch the consolidated (as many pods you have) Horizon desktop pool information##
$HZReachPools = Invoke-RestMethod -Method Get -uri "$HZReachServer/api/pools" -Headers $Headers -ContentType "application/json" -UseBasicParsing | Format-Table -Property displayname, baseimage, snapshot, enabled, healthDetail, isProvisioningEnabled

Write-Output $HZReachPools

    GitHub – scripts/HorizonReach-Farms-Pools-Info at master · askaresh/scripts (github.com)

    Observations:

    • Farm Output:
    • Desktop Pool Output:
    • The following information (Display Name, Snapshot, Base Image, Health, Provisioning Mode) is pulled using the above scripts. I was much interested to see the snapshot versions of each Farms/Pools along with Health and provisioning status. Feel free to extract whatever details you are looking for there are plenty of other properties.

    I hope you will find this script useful to fetch helpful information from Horizon Reach. A small request if you further enhance the script or make it more creative, I hope you can share it back with me?

    Thanks,
    Aresh Sarkari

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