Azure CLI improvements for Azure Database for PostgreSQL – Single server

by Contributed | Nov 24, 2020 | Azure, Microsoft, Technology

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

With the new changes to the Azure CLI, building applications has become much easier. This blog post walks you through key changes that can help enhance your productivity.

Some major changes include:

1. A simplified single command for creating a new Postgres single server on Azure.


2. The ability to use contextual information between CLI commands to help reduce the number of keystrokes for each command.


3. New values for the parameter –public to create firewall rules as a part of the create experience.


4. New command – list connection strings.


5. Improved readable tabular formatted output for sku list and server list commands.

Note: Download the latest official release of the Azure CLI from the Azure CLI page or the dev build from the GitHub Azure CLI homepage.

Important: While this post focuses on Azure Database for PostgreSQL Single server, the changes described apply equally to our Flexible server deployment model.

1. Single command for creating a single server instance

Login to your Azure account using  `az login`, select your subscription (if different from default), and then run the command `az postgres server create’ to create a Postgres Single Server Instance on Azure.

Note the following key points:

• A resource group with a random name is created for you in the default region.


• A server-name, admin username, and password are auto-generated for you.


• The text in yellow indicates what is going on behind the scenes. The server gets created with the defaults which can be found using `az postgres server create –help`.


• Two new fields (password and connection-string) are introduced in the output.


• To override a default value, pass that parameter with the value of your choice.

2. Support for param-persist

Azure Database for PostgreSQL server CLI commands now support persisting values of parameters with the `az config param-persist` command , which locally stores information such as location, resource group, administrator login and server name for every sequential CLI command you execute. You can easily turn on param persist to store information using `az config param-persist on`. With param persist turned on, you can see the contextual information using `az config param-persist show`. You can always turn off support for param persist by using `az config param-persist off`.

A summary of points that you might find helpful is listed below:

• Fields commonly stored in param persist are location, resource group, server name and administrator login.


• The param persist is designed to hold only one value for any parameter – which is always from the latest executed command.


• Turning off the param persist does not automatically clear the stored fields. You can clear up all or specific values in the param persist using the commands in `az config param-persist delete`.


• An example of how param persist can reduce the effort is shown below.

• Note how there is no longer a need to supply the server name and resource group in the firewall creation command when you add a new firewall rule to the server you just created. 

az postgres server firewall-rule create -n firewall-rule-1 --start-ip-address 107.223.9.21 --end-ip-address 107.223.9.27

•  When in confusion about the values fetched from param persist – look for the text ‘Command argument values from local context’ field in the command output as shown below.

Local context is turned on. Its information is saved in working directory /home/aritra. You can run `az local-context off` to turn it off.
Command argument values from local context: --resource-group: group2029187709, --server-name: server905314632
{- Finished ..
  "endIpAddress": "107.223.9.27",
  "id": "/subscriptions/<your-subscription-id>/resourceGroups/group2029187709/providers/Microsoft.DBforPostgreSQL/servers/server905314632/firewallRules/firewall-rule-1",
  "name": "firewall-rule-1",
  "resourceGroup": "group2029187709",
  "startIpAddress": "107.223.9.21",
  "type": "Microsoft.DBforPostgreSQL/servers/firewallRules"
}

3. New values for the –public parameter in az postgres server create command

When creating a Postgres server using our managed database service on Azure, you want to get started quickly. You can now let the create experience take care of the accessibility based on the value you pass for the –public parameter in the create command. When a server is created with any of these newly supported values, a new field `firewallName` will show up in the output of the create command. In addition to the existing values of ‘Enabled’ and ‘Disabled’, we are now supporting the below values:

4. New command – az postgres server show-connection-string

`az postgres server show-connection-string`: Lists the connections string for connecting your Postgres database to applications such as ADO.NET, JDBC, JDBC Spring, Node.JS, PHP, Python, and Ruby.

az postgres server show-connection-string -s server905314632 -u flexibleHorse

All placeholder fields within {} in the connection string can be substituted with actual values when you pass them as parameters in the above command. 

{
  "connectionStrings": {
    "C++ (libpq)": "host=server905314632.postgres.database.azure.com port=5432 dbname={database} user=flexibleHorse@server905314632 password={password} sslmode=require",
    "ado.net": "Server=server905314632.postgres.database.azure.com;Database={database};Port=5432;User Id=flexibleHorse@server905314632;Password={password};",
    "jdbc": "jdbc:postgresql://server905314632.postgres.database.azure.com:5432/{database}?user=flexibleHorse@server905314632&password={password}",
    "node.js": "var client = new pg.Client('postgres://flexibleHorse@server905314632:{password}@server905314632.postgres.database.azure.com:5432/{database}');",
    "php": "host=server905314632.postgres.database.azure.com port=5432 dbname={database} user=flexibleHorse@server905314632 password={password}",
    "psql_cmd": "postgresql://flexibleHorse@server905314632:{password}@server905314632.postgres.database.azure.com/{database}?sslmode=require",
    "python": "cnx = psycopg2.connect(database='{database}', user='flexibleHorse@server905314632', host='server905314632.postgres.database.azure.com', password='{password}', port='5432')",
    "ruby": "cnx = PG::Connection.new(:host => 'server905314632.postgres.database.azure.com', :user => 'flexibleHorse@server905314632', :dbname => '{database}', :port => '5432', :password => '{password}')"
  }
}

5. Improved readable tabular format

For the commands below, the latest version of the Azure CLI supports viewing output in a tabular format, which provides you with a snapshot view.

• `az postgres server list-skus -l eastus -o table`


• `az postgres server list [-g <group_name>] [-n <server_name>] -o table`
  
  
  
  • Not supplying -g and –n would list all servers in the subscription.
  
  
  • Supplying -g and -n would list the details of a single server.
  
  
  • Supplying only -g would list the details of all servers in the resource group.
  
  
  
  

Use powerful Azure CLI utilities with single server CLI

Azure CLI has powerful utilities that can be used with PostgreSQL Server CLI commands from finding right commands, getting readable output or even running REST APIs.  

• az find to find the command you are looking.


• Use the –help argument to get a complete list of commands and subgroups of a group.


• Change the output formatting to table or tsv or yaml formats as you see fit.


• Use az interactive mode which provides interactive shell with auto-completion, command descriptions, and examples.


• Use az upgrade to update your CLI and extensions.


• Use az rest command that lets you call your service endpoints to run GET, PUT, PATCH methods in a secure way.

The improvements have been designed to support the best possible experience for developers to create and manage their PostgreSQL servers. We’d love for you to try out the improvements and share your feedback for new CLI commands or issues with existing ones.

SAP S/4HANA Fully activated appliance installation in Azure

by Contributed | Nov 24, 2020 | Azure, Microsoft, Technology

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

The traditional method of installing SAP is using Software Provisioning Manager (SWPM using SAPInst). SWPM takes a long time to install the system. And, even after the installation, you have just a shell system, which still requires a technical and functional configuration before you can use it – this is a cumbersome process and based on your requirements, this configuration process may take days to weeks.

Generally, when you are in a pilot or proof of concept phase, where you want to evaluate a specific feature, you can’t wait weeks!

One of the quick and easiest method of deploying SAP is via SAP Cloud Appliance Library,  which gives you trial license as well. To unlock the CAL solution, along with the SAP product licenses, you also need CAL subscription (as mentioned in the Figure1 below).

Figure1: Unlock solution using SAP CAL

Another option to get fully configured SAP S/4HANA system with sample data in hours, is using the S/4HANA Fully-Activated Appliance.

In this blog, you can explore how to install this fully activated SAP S/4H appliance in Azure. At the end of this blog, you will be able to successfully install the fully configured SAP S/4HANA 1909 SPS02 Fully Activated Appliance in Azure.

The overall process is very simple. You install the system which comes with pre-configured SID, and hostnames. Then you rename the SID, and hostnames to your desired nomenclature.

The process is divided into the following seven sections:

1. What the end-results looks like?


2. Infrastructure in Azure


3. SAP Download


4. Installation Process


5. Register and rename the HANA system


6. Rename the SAP system


7. Post install activities

1.     What the end-result looks like?

After the installation, you will have the following three clients pre-installed.

Following products will be Installed:

2.     Infrastructure in Azure

Here are the VMs and storage configurations used for the VMs in Azure for this installation.

Jump box VM: used for software download, SAPGUI, SAPMMC, Putty etc.

• Name: jumpbox1


• Standard D4as_v4 (4 vcpus, 16 GiB memory)


• Windows Server 2016 Datacenter


• E drive with 128GB

SAP app and DB VM: VM to install SAP S/4HANA. Both Application and database layer are installed on the same VM

• Name: s4h1902f2vm1


• Standard E16ds_v4 (16 vcpus, 128 GiB memory)


• SLES 12 SPS4 for SAP


• SAP S/4HANA 1909 SPS2 Fully Activated Appliance


• Disk layout

3.     SAP Download

You will need the following bits for installation. Download the installation bits from SAP marketplace https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/softwarecenter. Use the SAP download managed to download these files. Download them to Jumpbox VMs. Based on download speed, it may take several hours to download them.

SAP S/4HANA 1909 FPS02 FA APPL INSTALLATION Bits

Software Provisioning Manager

Download SWPM 2 latest version from here: https://support.sap.com/en/tools/software-logistics-tools.html#section_622087154

SAP MMC

Search SAPMMC in download option

https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/softwarecenter/search/sapmmc

SAPGUI

4.     Installation Process

In this phase, we will install the SAP system from fully activated appliance, and then rename the SID and host name to our desired names. Please note, both sap application and database layers are installed on the same VM.

Please note, your VM name in Azure is s4h1902f2vm1.

Adjust /etc/hosts file

You will need to make the following entries in /etc/hosts for the installation. IP 10.x.x.8 is the private IP of the VM s4h1902f2vm1.

10.x.x.8       vhcalhdbdb.dummy.nodomain       vhcalhdbdb      vhcals4hci.dummy                                                                                                                                   .nodomain       vhcals4hci      vhcals4dcs.dummy.nodomain       vhcals4hcs

Copy and extract the SAP installation files.

Copy the 51054504_*.ZIP files from your jump box server (where you had downloaded them) to VM where SAP will be installed (i.e. s4h1902f2vm1). Copy them under the /sapmedia folder.

After copying the files, extract them on VM s4h1902f2vm1

#unzip 51054504_1.ZIP

#unzip 51054504_2.ZIP

#unzip 51054504_3.ZIP

#unzip 51054504_4.ZIP

It takes a while to extract these files.

Note: During this process, it may ask to overwrite label and version files, say Yes to overwrite them.

Once the extraction of zip files is completed, it will have a lot of *tgz* files. We will need to extract these tgz files now.

Let’s move all the tgz files to one location so we can easily extract them.

 # /sapmnt/sapmedia/S4FullyActivatedApplianceBits/51054504_1_1/SAPS4HANA1909FPS02SAPHANADB20basedonSAPNetweaverASABAP754_1

Once all the tgz files are under the above folder, let’s extract those tgz files in below order

# cat dblog.tgz-* | tar -zpxvf – -C /

# cat dbexe.tgz-* | tar -zpxvf – -C / 

# cat dbdata.tgz-* | tar -zpxvf – -C /

# cat usrsap.tgz-* | tar -zpxvf – -C /

# cat sapmnt.tgz-* | tar -zpxvf – -C /

You are done with the installation. You can get the passwords from the file /sapmnt/sapmedia/S4FullyActivatedApplianceBits/SAPS4HANA1909FPS02SAPHANADB20basedonSAPNetweaverASABAP754_4/SAP_Software_Appliance.xml.

5.    Register and rename the HANA system

Register the newly created database, also rename the system to new SID and hostname.

#/hana/shared/HDB/hdblcm/hdblcm –action=register_rename_system

After the registration is completed, HANA instance should come up automatically. You can check the status from the following command

#/usr/sap/hostctrl/exe/sapcontrol -nr 02 -function GetProcessList

6.    Rename the SAP system

Now, it’s a time to rename SAP system from S4H to SGH. Use SWPM to rename the SAP system.

#./sapinst SAPINST_USE_HOSTNAME=vhcals4hci SAPINST_ACCEPT_INTERNAL_SIGNATURE=true SAPINST_SLP_MODE=false

7.     Post install activities

Now, your system is ready to use. Please adjust the following before you use the system:

• Check the RFC connection and change from vhcals* name to s4h1902f2vm1


• Update host name in tCode /UI2/FLP_SYS_CONF


• Apply License. You will need both SAP application and HANA licenses


• Adapt transport configuration

Conclusion

Fully activated appliance is an easy and quick way to install your SAP system with sample data. This is a great solution when you want to perform a rapid prototype. Hope you like the blog.