MVP Shares Accessibility Design Tips

by Contributed | Jan 16, 2021 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

The importance of online accessibility has become even more pronounced for Office Apps & Services MVP Susan Hanley.

In the past four years, the consultant and author specializing in successful collaboration and knowledge management solutions turned 60, became a grandmother, and attended her 40th college reunion.

“These personal milestones are a stark reminder that even though I feel a lot younger and can do a lot more physically than many of my much younger friends, I’ve noticed personally, as people age, they may experience changes in their abilities,” Susan says.

“As an information architect, I care enormously about organizing and presenting information. As a business analyst, I care enormously about generating business value. For the past few years, my professional learning journey has been driven by some personal and professional experiences that have caused me to think a lot about time, or the lack thereof, and inclusion.”

Susan, who is dedicated to creating easier-to-consume SharePoint sites and pages, says one of those instructive professional experiences came in the form of the Intrazone podcast ‘Accessibility from The Start’ and guest Lauren Back, a usability engineer at HCL Technologies who happens to be blind.

In the 2019 episode, Lauren discussed how she imagined that someone who is not blind could quickly scan a webpage to get a sense of what the page is all about. However, Lauren uses a screen reader and, depending on how the page author created the page, she might have to listen to every single word on a page.

“Lauren got me thinking about other things I should be doing to make my SharePoint pages not just more organized and readable, but also more accessible,” Susan says.

There remains an accessibility awareness gap for many information architects and business analysts, Susan says, but it is one which can be overcome with better education and training.

“For example, I think people know in general that it’s good to add alt-text for images, but many people aren’t aware of what exactly you should put in alt-text,” she says. “I took the Accessibility fundamentals courses in Docs.microsoft.com and learned for the first time about the accessibility checker in PowerPoint. I am still working through all of my PowerPoint slide decks to make sure that they are more accessible!”

Ensuring accessibility is an ongoing process, and Susan shares the following three tips in making SharePoint pages and news accessible to all. 

First, write content “upside down.” People scan web pages, they don’t read them, Susan says. To make pages more “scannable” for all readers, put the key information that readers must have to be successful at the top of the page. Try to write more like a journalist with the key points early on the page and less critical information next. Put your conclusion first, instead of at the end.

Second, make sure all images have ‘alt text.’ Susan notes that all images and graphics need alternative text descriptions that allow people who use a screen reader to understand what they represent. Alt text also shows in browsers when images don’t load, so it is helpful for slow internet connections as well.

Third, Susan suggests using headings to make pages easy to navigate. This means using the built-in H1, H2, and H3 styles in text web parts. This allows readers to jump from section to section using keyboard shortcuts such as the Tab key. Heading styles also allow for the creation of “table of contents” for pages using page anchors (bookmarks).

For more tips, check out Susan’s article on Sharepoint accessibility on the Humans of IT Blog. 

Image: Office Apps & Services MVP Sue Hanley and her granddaughter.

Automatic pause all Synapse Pools and keeping your subscription costs under control

by Contributed | Jan 16, 2021 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

As Synapse engineer or Synapse Support Engineer you may need to start and test some Pools, and you want this to be the most cost efficient possible. Leaving some Synapse with a lot of DWU left turned on during the weekend because you forget to pause the DW after you shutdown your computers is not a good approach and we can quickly resolve this by using Powershell + Automation accounts.

Before we get into the procedure on the automation, just want to show you some details.

We currently have two flavors of Synapse

• Dedicated SQL pools (formerly SQL DW)
  
  
  
  • Old mode where the SQL DW lives in an Azure SQL DB Server that can be shared with regular Azure SQL databases.
  
  
  • Internally is a resource of type (Microsoft.SQL)
  
  
  • Sample: /subscriptions/xxxxxx/resourceGroups/yyyyyyy/providers/Microsoft.Sql/servers/yyyyyyyy/databases/olddwpool
  
  
  
  


• Azure Synapse Analytics – Dedicated SQL pool
  
  
  
  • SQL DW database inside a workspace
  
  
  • Internally is a resource of type (Microsoft.Synapse)
  
  
  • Sample: /subscriptions/xxxxxx/resourceGroups/yyyyyyy/providers/Microsoft.Synapse/workspaces/yyyyyyyy/sqlPools/dwpool
  
  
  
  

This is important to know because we are going to use 2 different scripts to pause the pool

• Suspend-AzSynapseSqlPool (Az.Synapse)


• Suspend-AzSqlDatabase (Az.SQL)

There are 2 versions of the script

1. Powershell to run from your machine


2. Using Azure Automation Account

1. Powershell to run from your machine

This script you can run from your machine and you can get last version of script at ScriptCollection/Synapse – Pause all DWs.ps1 at master · FonsecaSergio/ScriptCollection · GitHub

You are going to need the modules installed

• Az.Accounts


• Az.Sql


• Az.Synapse

• Introducing the Azure Az PowerShell module | Microsoft Docs


• PowerShell Gallery | Az


• PowerShell Gallery | Az.Synapse
  
  
  
  • At this point in time, the Az Module (5.3.0) does not include Az.Synapse by default. You need to install both
  
  
  
  

For below script I’m considering that your user is same that you use to admin your Azure Subscription

Find a sample below

Context exists
Current credential is sefonsec@microsoft.com
Current subscription is SEFONSEC Microsoft Azure Internal Consumption
—————————————————————————————————
Get SQL / Synapse RESOURCES
—————————————————————————————————
—————————————————————————————————
Loop through all Synapse Workspaces
—————————————————————————————————
Checking Azure Synapse Workspace [xxxxxxxxxxx_synapse] for Synapse SQL Pools
-> Synapse SQL Pool [dwpool] found with status [Online]
-> Pausing Synapse SQL Pool [dwpool]
-> Synapse SQL Pool [dwpool] paused in 0 hours, 2 minutes and 32 seconds. Current status [Paused]
—————————————————————————————————
Loop through all SQL Servers (former SQLDW)
—————————————————————————————————
Checking SQL Server [xxxxxxxxxxx-eastus] in Resource Group [CSSAzureDB_OtherRegions] for Synapse SQL Pools
Checking SQL Server [xxxxxxxxxxx-eastus2] in Resource Group [CSSAzureDB_OtherRegions] for Synapse SQL Pools
Checking SQL Server [xxxxxxxxxxx-northeu] in Resource Group [CSSAzureDB_OtherRegions] for Synapse SQL Pools
Checking SQL Server [xxxxxxxxxxx-southcentralus] in Resource Group [CSSAzureDB_OtherRegions] for Synapse SQL Pools
Checking SQL Server [xxxxxxxxxxx-uksouth] in Resource Group [CSSAzureDB_OtherRegions] for Synapse SQL Pools
Checking SQL Server [xxxxxxxxxxx-ukwest] in Resource Group [CSSAzureDB_OtherRegions] for Synapse SQL Pools
Checking SQL Server [xxxxxxxxxxx] in Resource Group [CSSAzureDB] for Synapse SQL Pools
-> Synapse SQL Pool [SQLDW] found with status [Paused]
Checking SQL Server [xxxxxxxxxxx-byok] in Resource Group [CSSAzureDB_OtherRegions] for Synapse SQL Pools
Checking SQL Server [xxxxxxxxxxx-demo] in Resource Group [CSSAzureDB_OtherRegions] for Synapse SQL Pools
Checking SQL Server [xxxxxxxxxxx_synapse] in Resource Group [synapseworkspace-managedrg-5da694c3-ae72-4f25-9cc6-626adcf858e6] for Synapse SQL Pools
-> This DB is part of Synapse Workspace – Ignore here Should be done above using Az.Synapse Module
Checking SQL Server [xxxxxxxxxxx-westeu] in Resource Group [CSSAzureDB_OtherRegions] for Synapse SQL Pools
Checking SQL Server [xxxxxxxxxxx-westus] in Resource Group [CSSAzureDB_OtherRegions] for Synapse SQL Pools

A sample with error

Checking Azure Synapse Workspace [xxxxxxxxxxx_synapse] for Synapse SQL Pools
Write-Error: -> Checking Synapse SQL Pool [dwpool] found with status [Resuming]

2. Using Azure Automation Account

Now we want this to be automated, like as a sample to shutdown every day at 11PM and send me alerts if error happens

You can find last version at: ScriptCollection/Synapse – Pause all DWs – Automation Acount.ps1 at master · FonsecaSergio/ScriptCollection · GitHub

1 – Lets first create the Automation Account

2 – Make sure to create a Run As Account

3 – By default it already got the contributor permission in the subscription level. You can change that if needed. Or add the any required permissions.

4 – You need to install the Az modules. Just go to modules and look for them in the gallery.

5 – Install first the Az.Account because it’s a prerequisite for others

Wait for it to complete

6 – Do same for 3 modules

• Az.Accounts


• Az.Sql


• Az.Synapse

7 – Now go to runbooks and create a new Powershell runbook

8 – Add code from ScriptCollection/Synapse – Pause all DWs – Automation Acount.ps1 at master · FonsecaSergio/ScriptCollection · GitHub

8.1 – Save and Publish. And click on Start to test it

9 – Check output tab

10 – You can now go to schedules and add a new schedule

11 – You may also want also to be alerted if schedule fail. Just to back to automation account and click on Alerts

12 – You need to add a condition when alert will fire and what actions will be taken. This action could be email to you or run some process or run another script

13 – First configure the condition. You are going to use the metric Total Jobs (Like total jobs failed)

14 – Define

 – runbook name

 – status (Add custom status “Failed“)

 – Threshold > 0

 – Run every hour

15 – Add now the action group. In this case, send email to me

You are now set. So your DW will be stopped at 11PM if some error happen you will be alerted like as a sample when a DW is in a state that could not be paused.

Another last tip is to use the Azure Budget control I got from my colleague @Gonçalo Ventura 

Create a budget and alert

The budget puts a maximum limit on the cost of the subscription, in case some service is left running the subscription will automatically suspend when the budget is reached.

To avoid reaching the max limit and let the subscription go into suspended mode, it is possible to create an alert when the cost reaches a percentage of the budget.

To configure a budget, go to “Subscriptions” or “Cost Management + Billing”, then click on Budgets and fill in the parameters for your budget:

Click next and set an alert:

Because you do not have only Synapse in your subscription, you may have VMs, SQL DBs, etc.

Principle of Least Privilege (POLP)

by Contributed | Jan 16, 2021 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

(part 1 of my series of articles on security principles in Microsoft SQL Servers & Databases)

Principle of Least Privilege (POLP)

The first security principle, one that most System Administrators are familiar with, is the “principle of least privilege” (short: POLP). It demands that the required permissions for a task shall only grant access to the needed information or resources that a task requires. When permissions are granted, we shall grant the least privileges possible.

POLP is so crucial because initially it is the privileges that any attacker is targeting. When developing an application, using a least-privileged user account (LUA) is the first rule of engagement.

Note
User Account Control (UAC) in Windows is a feature that Microsoft developed to assist administrators in working with least-privileges by default and elevate to higher permission only when needed.

You may also know that Microsoft recommends separating service accounts. This security best practice is generally referred to as service account isolation and is related to POLP: Using distinct service accounts prevents increased privileges, which happens easily when you share an account to be used for multiple purposes and as a consequence, the privileges are merged. – This would violate the principle of least privilege.
Both POLP and service account isolation help reducing the attack surface (aka attack surface reduction).

– Read more on this topic here: SQL Server security – SQL Server | Microsoft Docs
and here: Surface Area Configuration – SQL Server | Microsoft Docs

Service account isolation also prevents between services if an attacker gained access to one service. You see how one thing is connected to another in Security?

Note
Lateral movement is a common attack strategy to move from one target to the next: If the main target (for example the database server) cannot be breached into directly, attackers try to gain foothold in some other server in the system within the same network and then launch other attacks to try to get to the final goal, server by server or service by service.

Principle of Least Privilege in the SQL realm

Let’s look at some examples within the SQL Server engine (applying to on-prem as well as our Azure SQL-products):

Example 1, read-access to data

A typical example within SQL Server would be: To allow a User to only read data from a small set of tables, ideally defined by a schema-boundary, we have the SELECT-Permission, grantable at the schema- (or even table-) level. There is no need to grant SELECT at the whole database, or to Grant anything other than SELECT.
In the code-snippet below we see that there are many tables in different schemas (Application, Purchasing, Sales) within the database WideWorldImporters. Instead of granting Select in the whole database, we chose to grant the user Shakti the permission at the schema scope. As long as this schema really contains only objects that Shakti needs access to, this is a best practice as it greatly reduces the management and reporting overhead compared to granting permissions at the object-level.

Tip

An alternative is to use stored procedures for all data access, which would allow even better control and completely hide the schema from Users.

That was easy, wasn’t it?

Example 2, creating user accounts

Unfortunately, not everything is implemented to always ensure POLP.

Let’s take another example:

You want to delegate the ability to create new Logins in SQL Server.
The minimal permission available is ALTER ANY LOGIN. Ok, so now this person can create new Logins, and maybe also Dropping them is ok.

But: With this permission comes the ability to change the password of any SQL Login (“ALTER LOGIN … WITH PASSWORD=’NewPassword’).

This can be an unwanted scenario as this would enable this person to essentially take over other accounts.

Note
This would not work if the Account were a Windows Domain or Azure Active Directory account. This is where a separation of the authenticating system from SQL Server has a real advantage. (This is a great example of Separation of Duties btw.)

Example 3, changing table structures

What about the following?
Say you want to allow a developer to add a set of new columns to the existing tables. (For example, for logging purposes, you need to include the timestamp of any new row.)

The minimal permission to change tables/add new columns is the ALTER-permission on each individual table (it cannot be done on schema-level).

In my example you can see that adding new columns works fine, also dropping the table is not allowed.

But:

Instead of adding new columns this user could also drop existing columns. This is covered under the same least permission/privilege:

Or: You want them to only create new tables but disallow to change existing tables. Since the required permissions for that are: CREATE TABLE on Database + ALTER on the schema, they could also drop tables. With permissions alone this cannot be solved. This is a common reason for the use of DDL Triggers as a preventative control. (I demonstrated an example of a DDL Trigger in this Blog-Article: Logging Schema-changes in a Database using DDL Trigger, which can easily be adjusted to prevent certain statements altogether by rolling them back.)

Conclusion

The more you dive into this subject and real-world implementation, the more you will realize that this apparently basic security principle is much tougher than you may initially have expected.

The permission system of SQL Server is very granular, vast, and continuously growing. (SQL Server 2019 provides 248 permissions and Azure SQL Database exposes 254 permissions as of December 2020.)

While some of the examples above are reasonable, we need to balance every decision for every new permission and look at it from multiple angles whenever a new functionality or command is implemented. For example:

1. Which other commands and tasks are covered under the same permission?


2. How do they relate to the functionality at hand?


3. Is the use of the new functionality/command alone a common scenario?

Having permissions on parts of Table-structures, like adding columns but not dropping them, would increase the complexity of the permission-system and hence the compromise to have just one ALTER-permission on table DDL was made.

That said, I know there are examples where the balance is not right, and SQL Server can be improved, like TRUNCATE TABLE requiring ALTER on the table as well and others.

Feel free to let me know where you believe that POLP is seriously unbalanced and more granularity is required to reach compliance.

Happy securing

Andreas

Resources

• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_least_privilege


• Schema-design for SQL Server: recommendations for Schema design with security in mind


• Security Considerations – SQL Server


• Azure identity & access security best practices


• Understand and use Lateral Movement Paths with Microsoft Defender for Identity


• Detecting threats with Azure Security Center | Azure Blog and Updates


• SQL Server security – SQL Server | Microsoft Docs


• Surface Area Configuration – SQL Server | Microsoft Docs