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Azure Client Stack Deployment

Azure Client Stack Deployment

CAM Azure Stack utilizes Microsoft Azure services and resources to provide the ability to move documents and content and sync metadata between multiple Document Management Systems (DMS). CAM Content Mover and Data Sync (Content Sync) use Azure storage blobs as an intermediary place while moving content between the supported Document Management Systems.

To deploy the CAM Azure Stack, you need to deploy the Azure template into your Azure environment. The template deploys a complete solution that contains multiple resources such as function apps, MySQL instances, Blob Storages, and others. These resources are provided and hosted by Microsoft Azure in your Azure account to provide more control over moving content.

Azure & CAM Integration Notes

As of January 30, 2021, Azure is not allowing custom token expiry settings. The conditional access policies determine how the token expires are configured. This requires at least a P1 license in Azure. See the Microsoft link here.

 

CAM Azure Stack Architecture

  • Content Mover in CAM uses REST APIs to work with 7 functions, 4 queues, and two triggers to move content.

  • Data Sync (Content Sync) uses REST APIs to work with 3 functions, 1 queue, and one trigger to sync content.

Prerequisites to the CAM Azure Stack Deployment

The following items are needed to begin the Azure Stack deployment process. Without these pieces, your stack deployment may fail or you won’t have the necessary pieces to finish.

  • Administrative access to an Azure subscription where you plan to deploy the CAM Azure stack ( within http://portal.azure.com )- you need this to configure the stack

  • Administrative access to your organization’s CAM instance- you need this to configure CAM modules to use the stack.

  • Your CAM instance Tenant Id, Client Encrypted Key, and CAM Secret Key. You need to contact Litera’s Customer Care team (Support@litera.com) to obtain the above information before you start the deployment process. It may take some time for them to gather this information. Those keys are unique for each CAM instance. If your organization has multiple CAM instances, then you need to request the keys for each instance separately. The Encrypted keys and secret key you can obtain in Microsoft’s Azure panel.

Deploying and Configuring the CAM Azure Stack

 

Create a Resource Group

  1. From the Azure services section, on the Azure portal home page, click on Resource groups to open the resource groups page.

2. Click Create from the Resource groups toolbar.

3. Enter the following resource group details on the Create a Resource group page:

Fields

Description

Fields

Description

Subscription

Select the appropriate Azure subscription from the dropdown list.  A P1 license and Azue Standard must be set as minimal.

Resource groups

Enter a unique name for your resource group in the Resource group field.

Note: Resource group names must have only alphanumeric characters, periods, underscores, hyphens, and parentheses and must not have a full stop (.) at the end.

Region

Select the region where you want to create your resource group from the Region drop-down list.

4. Click Review + Create to validate and create new resource groups.

5. Click Next: Tags > to navigate to the next screen. Please skip entering any tags as they aren’t required.

6. Click Review + Create to validate and create new Resource groups successfully. The Validation passed message is displayed if validation passes successfully.

  1. When validation passes successfully, click Create to add new Resource groups.

Deploying CAM Azure Stack to the Azure Subscription

  1. Using a browser, navigate to the CAM Azure Stack GitHub repository using the URL https://github.com/Prosperoware/cam-azure-deployment -

  2. Navigate to the repository home page and click on the Deploy to Azure button as the image shows in this section.

  3. The link redirects you to the MS Azure Portal and displays the CAM Azure Stack deployment form.

  4. Click the Deploy to Azure button. Log into the Azure user portal. The Custom Deployment screen is displayed.



4. Enter the following project details for your Azure deployment:

Fields

Description

Fields

Description

Project Details

Subscription

Selects the subscription from the dropdown list. Selects the same subscription used to create the resource group.

Resource groups

Pick the resource group that you created from section 1

Instance Details (Template Parameters) - Includes the following parameters

Region

Displays the region automatically on your created Resource group selection.

Litera Tenant Id

Enter the Tenant id from the received mail.

Litera Encrypted Key

Enter Litera Encrypted Key from the received mail.

Litera Secret Key

Enter Litera Secret Key from the received mail.

Features

You can select one of the features while deploying the Azure Stack:

ETL: Deploys Azure Stack for only Content Mover. You can use this feature when you want to move content across DMS systems permanently.
Content Sync: Deploys Azure Stack for only Content Sync. You can use this feature when you want to move content to the Azure blob storage temporarily.
Both: Deploys both Content Mover and Content Sync operations or features with the Azure Stack.

  • For business continuity, one sets the Content Sync option.

Is Production

Selects the Boolean value from the dropdown list.

Tip: Litera recommends to select the True option, if your environment is a production environment. This parameter controls some Azure resources tier.

Environment Stage

Enter the environment stage name. All CAM clients are on a prod environment.

Instance Unique Name

Enter an unique instance name. This is related to your CAM instance URL.

For example, if your CAM instance URL is http://yourenvironment.prosperoware.io, the Instance Unique Name is yourenvironment.

Important:

  • The Instance Unique Name must be unique globally which generates your Azure URL like “(instance_name).azurewebsites.net - test.azurewebsites.net”.

  • For subsequent Azure Stack deployments, enter the same instance name that you used during your first deployment in case you are deploying the Azure Stack again. If you enter a different name subsequently, the Azure Stack deployment fails.

Top Level Domain

Enter the Top Level Domain.

The Top Level Domain is at the end of your URL: yourenvironment.prosperoware.io.

Top level domains are based on your region:

  • US: https://yourenvironment.prosperoware.io

  • EU: https://yourenvironment.prosperoware.eu

  • UK: https://yourenvironment.prosperoware.co.uk

Administrator Login

Enter a new username for Azure CAM Stack MySQL Database admin user.

Administrator Login Password

Provide a password for Azure CAM Stack MySQL Database admin user.

Tip: The password must contain at least 9 characters with 2 upper case and 2 numbers. The following special characters are allowed:

 ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ - + = { } [ ] / < > , . ; ? ' : | (space)

  1. For additional VNet settings based on the part of the stack (MySQL, Cosmos) visit the following section for the vnet security setup:

6. Click Review + Create - Validates and create the template if the validation passes as displayed in the following screen.

7. If the form is valid, then the message Validation passed will be displayed. Now, click the Create button to start the deployment process.

  1. Click Previous to navigate to the previous screen.

2. The deployment process takes a few minutes to complete. The resources are created one after the other.

 

Fields

Description

Fields

Description

Resource

Displays the name of the created resources.

Type

Displays the type of the resources.

Status

Displays the status of resource creation.

Operation details

You can view the details against created resources.

Information: By deploying this template, Microsoft can identify the installation of CAM with the deployed Azure resources. Microsoft can correlate these resources used to support the CAM software. Microsoft collects this information to provide the best product experience and for business operations. Data is collected and governed by Microsoft's policies. Such policies are located at https://www.microsoft.com/trustcenter .

3. Once the deployment is completed successfully, you can see the following screen.

Options

Description

Options

Description

Delete

Click Delete to remove the deployment.

Important - DO NOT delete the deployment, Litera or the firm might need the log information in the future to troubleshoot.

Cancel

Click Cancel to cancel the deployment.

Warning: Once the deployment is completed successfully, you cannot cancel the deployment. The Cancel option will be disabled.

Redeploy

Click Redeploy to redeploy the template, if the deployment isn’t successfully completed.

Refresh

Click Refresh to re-load all the resources.

Flexible Server from Single Server Configuration

These steps are used to convert a single server deployment to the flexible server as designated by Azure.


1. Follow the Microsoft tutorial steps. Tutorial: Migrate Azure Database for MySQL - Single Server to Flexible Server online using DMS via the Azure portal - Azure Database Migration Service | Microsoft Learn

Those steps we need to do are:

a. Update the compute tier to General Purpose from Burstable S2 by:

b. Go to the MySQL Resource in the Resource Group in Azure.

c. Open Overview.

 

image-20241017-151756.png
image-20241017-151818.png

c. Click On Configuration.

 

image-20241017-151903.png

d. Pick Compute Tier General Purpose. Pick Compute Size Standard_D2ads_v5 if staying on the Standard tier.

e. Finish the wizard upgrade.

 

Update the server configuration within the CAM config yml file next.

  1. Go to Storage account container.

  2. Find application config container (<instanceUniqueName-topLevelDomain>-application-config eg:tenantname-io-application-config).

  3. Go to yml folder.

  4. Update 3 attributes (host, username, password) with the new flexible server configuration in appconfig yml (appconfig-<environmentStage>.yml) which is in the yml folder.

Note: Single server username format is username@servername eg: abc@mysql-clientname-io

 

Flexible Server FAQs

 

  1. Why do I need to create a new resource for flexible server and migrate the data?
    Azure Database for MySQL - Single Server is on the retirement path and is scheduled for retirement by September 16, 2024. For more details see this article: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/mysql/migrate/whats-happening-to-mysql-single-server

  2. How is the connection established to this sql instance?
    CAM Azure functions connect to this SQL instance using the connection string stored in the YML config file.

  3. I can’t find any relevant config in the account?
    In the storage account, there should be a bucket with a name ending with “-application-config”, in that bucket, there should be a file with a name that follows the convention “appconfig-<environmentStage>.yml”, that is the file they need to update.

Initialize CAM Azure Stack Configuration

  1. After the deployment is completed successfully, CAM Azure Stack needs to be initialized. The initialization URL is in the template deployment output.

Tip: if you have closed the template deployment page, you can still access it by navigating to the created resource group > Click Deployments > Click the link with the name “Microsoft.Template-{deployment_date_time}”.

2. Click Outputs, from the template deployment page left panel.

3. The following screen is displayed. Copy the initializeFunctionUrl and paste it into your Internet browser’s URL address bar.

 

4. The initialization function process URL will respond with the initialization status in JSON format. A successful response looks like the following:

5. Display the bucketname.

6. Display the apiEndPointBaseUrl.

Tip: If Azure resources are not responding in a timely manner or if you receive an error message, then you can retry the initialization process via the same URL after few minutes.

Updating the Client Stack

Updating MySQL 7 to 8

For Existing Clients Stacks:

  1. We can't upgrade the MySQL version in single server configurations. We need to upgrade to flexible server configurations first if you are not on a flexible server, then we can update the MySQL version afterwards.

  2. If you were on MySQL 5.7, a parameter is set that isn’t supported in 5.8 that needs to be removed.

    1. That parameter is NO_AUTO_CREATE_USER

    2. Go into Server Parameter.

image-20241017-152431.png

c. Search for the deprecated config in Parameter-> sql_mode.

d. Deselect the NO_AUTO_CREATE_USER parameter.

  1. Now we can update MySQL. The following shows when clicking into the MySql resource.

 

image-20241017-152732.png

 

  1. Click the MySQL version link that says upgrade. Click 8.0 to upgrade to and hit Upgrade.

For info on what changes in MYSQL 8, visit: https://dev.mysql.com/blog-archive/upgrading-to-mysql-8-0-here-is-what-you-need-to-know/

 

Prerequisites

  1. Azure CLI: Ensure Azure CLI is installed on your machine. You can download it from Microsoft here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/

  2. Administrator Access: Open Powershell with the “Run as administrator“ privilege.

  3. Go to the Github repo: https://github.com/Prosperoware/cam-azure-deployment .

  4. Download functionAppsCodeUpdate.ps1

  5. Function App: The function app should already be created in the Client stack otherwise this Powershell script will fail.

Important notes:
a). Ensure that there is only one function app of each type in the resource group.
E.g. There must be only one {}-contentsync-api Function app.
Having multiple function apps of the same type will cause the script to upgrade the jar file in the incorrect function app.
b) A .log file will be created automatically if you execute this script for the first time.

Executing the Script

Azure login:

  1. If you haven’t logged in via az login , The script will prompt you to log in through a browser. Please use the Azure account associated with your client stack deployment.

    1. If the wrong account is used , you will be prompted to log in again , with up to three attempts allowed.

Resource group Input:

  1. The script will prompt you to enter the resource group name where your stack is deployed.

    1. If an incorrect resource group is entered, you will be prompted to re-enter the correct name, with up to three attempts allowed.

Function App Identification:

  1. The script will list all function apps targeted for the JAR upgrade.

  2. It will automatically determine whether to update ETL (Content Mover), ContentSync (Data Sync), or both options, based on the function apps present in your resource group.

Logging:

  1. The script will maintain a log file named CAM_Azure_Stack_log_timestamp.txt to record the latest operations

  2. Older logs will be deleted each time the script runs.

File Management:

  1. The script will download and upload the ZIP file from the same directory where 'functionAppsCodeUpdate.ps1' is located.

Upgrading Jar Files:

  1. After running the functionappsCodeupdate script the jar files will be updated automatically.

 

Configure CAM Content Mover to Utilize your Azure Stack

Warning: Before starting this process, you need some information from the template deployment output as well as the keys from the email received from Litera Customer Care.

  1. The below steps can be done for Content Mover or Data Sync (Content Sync).

2. Navigate to your CAM instance, click Administration > click Content Mover. The following screen appears:

3. Navigate to the Configuration tab, the following screen appears:

Fields

Description

Fields

Description

Choose Cloud Provider

Selects “Azure“ from the list.

Choose Storage

Displays automatically based on cloud provider value.

Choose Storage Type

Selects the Private Encrypted Storage as storage type.

Bucket Name

Enter the Bucket name.

API Endpoint Base Url

Enter the API Endpoint Base Url.

API Secret Key

Enter the API Secret key which is received in your email.

Validate

Click “Validate” to validate the form data. If the form data is correct, then the message “Validated successfully” will be displayed.

4. Click Save to save the configuration.

5. Click Cancel to close the configuration screen without saving any changes to the fields.

6. If using Data Sync, repeat the above steps but after clicking Administration- Data Sync

Configure CAM Data Sync to Utilize your Azure Stack

Warning: Before starting this process, you need some information from the template deployment output as well as the keys from the email received from Litera Customer Care.

  1. The below steps can be done for Content Mover or Data Sync (Content Sync).

2. Navigate to your CAM instance, click Administration >> click Data Sync, and the following screen appears.

3. Navigate to the Content Sync Settings tab, and the following screen appears:

 

Fields

Description

Fields

Description

Choose Cloud Provider

Selects “Azure“ from the list.

Choose Storage

Displays automatically based on cloud provider value.

Choose Storage Type

Selects the Private Encrypted Storage as storage type.

Bucket Name

Enter the Bucket name.

API Endpoint Base Url

Enter the API Endpoint Base Url.

API Secret Key

Enter the API Secret key which is received in your email.

Validate

Click “Validate” to validate the form data. If the form data is correct, then the message “Validated successfully” will be displayed.

4. Click Save to save the configuration.

5. Click Cancel to close the configuration screen.

Storage Bucket Retention Rules and Deletions

When using Azure Stack, Azure Storage bucket retention rules are used to delete the files from the at rest data using Data Sync or Data Uploader appropriately.

The rules are:

#NameOfRule - Example DeleteAfter30Days#NumberOfDays - 30#BlobContainerName - Example : tenantname-contentsync-cmk-encrypted-bucket

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