Error when Granting Access to the User at tenant root scope “/” to deploy Enterprise-Scale

Description:

You want to deploy Enterprise-Scale Architecture at your Azure Environment.

One of the prerequisite is to explicitly provide roleAssignment (RBAC) at the tenant root scope via CLI or PowerShell (Note: There’s no portal UX to make this roleAssignment)

However several error occurred when you try to run the following command at Azure CLI to provide the role Assignment.

• az login

Error message: The following tenants don't contain accessible subscriptions. Use 'az login --allow-no-subscriptions' to have tenant level access.

• az role assignment create --scope '/'  --role 'Owner' --assignee-object-id $(az ad signed-in-user show --query  objectId)

Error message: Failed to query --assignee-principal-type for "7786a679-034b-42cc-a23a-xxxxxxxxxxxx" by invoking Graph API. RBAC server might reject creating role assignment without --assignee-principal-type in the future. Better to specify --assignee-principal-type manually. The Principal ID '"7786a679-034b-42cc-a23a-xxxxxxxxxxxx"' is not valid. Principal ID must be a GUID.

Resolution:

To fix the issue, the command needs some small changes. Instead of using the above command, try to use the following command:

• az login -t yourdomainname.onmicrosoft.com

• az role assignment create --scope '/'  --role 'Owner' --assignee-object-id "7786a679-034b-42cc-a23a-xxxxxxxxxxx"

How to connect to RDP with Azure AD account?

Description:

You have an Azure AD joined machine in the network. You want to use the Azure AD credentials to remote desktop that machine.

You try to enter the Azure AD username and password when prompted, however the login process is always fail.

Resolution:

1. Open Control Panel and go to System, then open Remote settings.

2. Uncheck the Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication.

3. Edit the RDP connection file in notepad.

4. Add a line to the file and type "enablecredsspsupport:i:0". Save the File.

5. Use the RDP connection file to connect to the Azure AD  joined machine.

Azure Service Endpoints vs Private Link

Virtual Network (VNet) service endpoint provides secure and direct connectivity to Azure services over an optimized route over the Azure backbone network. Endpoints allow you to secure your critical Azure service resources to only your virtual networks. Service Endpoints enables private IP addresses in the VNet to reach the endpoint of an Azure service without needing a public IP address on the VNet.

Service Endpoints do have some limitations or downsides. Firstly it is key to remember that traffic to a Service Endpoint is still leaving your virtual network, and the Azure PaaS resource is still being accessed on its public address. Service Endpoints cannot be used by traffic originating on-premises, through VPN or Express Route, only for traffic coming from your Azure Virtual Network.

Private Link is a newer solution than Service Endpoints, introduced about a year ago. The key difference between Private Link and Service Endpoints is that with Private Link you are injecting the multi-tenant PaaS resource into your virtual network. With Service Endpoints, traffic still left you vNet and hit the public endpoint of the PaaS resource, with Private Link the PaaS resource sits within your vNet and gets a private IP on your vNet. When you send traffic to the PaaS resource, it does not leave the virtual network.

Private Link also allows access from resources on your on-premises network through VPN or ExpressRoute, and from peered networks. You can also connect to resources across region.

How to choose?

According to https://samcogan.com/service-endpoints-and-private-link-whats-the-difference/

Service Endpoints are more straightforward and easier to set up than Private Link. You can enable Service Endpoints with a couple of clicks in the portal, and there is no requirement for any additional services. Private Link, however, requires you to implement DNS changes and possibly use Azure Private DNS, it also requires deciding where the service will attach to your Virtual Network. So if you need some additional access restriction for your PaaS Services quickly, or don’t have the rights or knowledge to make changes to DNS, then Service Endpoints are probably the way to go.

Other than complexity, Private Link is superior to Service Endpoints in nearly every other way.

Azure Load Balancing

There are various option that Azure provides for load balancing services that you can use to distribute your workloads across multiple computing resources.

• Application Gateway
• Front Door
• Load Balancer
• Traffic Manager

So how to choose? From https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/guide/technology-choices/load-balancing-overview we can see the flowchart that can help us making the right choice.

Azure Private Endpoint, Private Link, and Private Link Service

Azure Private Endpoint

Azure Private Endpoint is a network interface that connects you privately and securely to a service powered by Azure Private Link. Private Endpoint uses a private IP address from your VNet, effectively bringing the service into your VNet. The service could be an Azure service such as Azure Storage, Azure Cosmos DB, SQL, etc.

Azure Private Link

Azure Private Link enables you to access Azure PaaS Services (for example, Azure Storage and SQL Database) and Azure hosted customer-owned/partner services over a private endpoint in your virtual network

Azure Private Link Service

Azure Private Link Service is the reference to your own service that is powered by Azure Private Link. Your service that is running behind Azure Standard Load Balancer can be enabled for Private Link access so that consumers to your service can access it privately from their own VNets. Your customers can create a private endpoint inside their VNet and map it to this service.