A Couple of SIF Enhancements

SIF can be pretty slick (when you've got the prerequisites set up correctly and it works 100%), and the best part about it is that it's quite easy to extend. You can also easily take advantage of some of the functions that the Powershell module exposes.

Adding HTTPS to Sitecore

For some reason although SIF adds SSL bindings for Identity Server and xConnect it doesn't do it for Sitecore.  I like to generate a cert for *.dev.local and *sc, which we can do by tapping into the Invoke-NewSignedCertificateTask exposed by the Powershell module.

There are a couple of ways you can retrieve the Sitecore root cert (which you'll need for signing), but I prefer to be sure I have the correct one (since I have a couple with the same name) and find the thumbprint manually by going into the Certificate Manager (start->run 'certmgr'). Under Trusted Root Certificate Authorities look for DO_NOT_TRUST_SitecoreRootCert. Double click this, go to details, and scroll down to Thumbprint.  You can then insert your thumbprint into the following Powershell script to generate a new cert (in this case a wildcard for *.dev.local with friendly name 'Local Dev Wildcard' and a password for which it prompts you).

$Signer = Get-ChildItem -Path 'Cert:\\LocalMachine\\Root\\YOURTHUMBPRINT'
$SecurePassword = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter password" -AsSecureString 
$dnsName = "*.dev.local","127.0.0.1"
Invoke-NewSignedCertificateTask -Signer $Signer -Path 'C:\certificates' -CertStoreLocation 'Cert:\LocalMachine\My' -Name "Local Dev Wildcard" -DnsName $dnsName -IncludePrivateKey -Password $SecurePassword

Don't forget to update your identity server Sitecore.IdentityServer.Host.xml to ensure your sitecore URLs have https!

Updating SIF

Ok so it's obviously pretty straightforward to call manually, but in case you want to incorporate the SSL step into SIF, working backwards you'll need:

1. sitecore-XP0.json
   
   • Add a step under CreateBindings with the following:
     

     "CreateBindingsWithThumbprint": {
       "Description": "Configures the site bindings for the website.",
       "Type": "WebBinding",
       "Params": {
         "SiteName" : "[parameter('SiteName')]",
         "Add": [
           {
             "HostHeader": "[parameter('DNSName')]",
             "Protocol": "https",
             "SSLFlags": 1,
             "Thumbprint": "[variable('Security.Sitecore.CertificateThumbprint')]"
           }
         ]
       },
       "Skip": "[not(parameter('SitecoreCert'))]"
     },

   • Add a variable to the Variables section in the middle called Security.Sitecore.CertificateThumbprint with value "[GetCertificateThumbprint(parameter('SitecoreCert'), variable('Security.CertificateStore'))]"
   • Add a parameter to the Parameters section at the top called SitecoreCert (I put it below xConnectCert so it's easy to find)
2. In XP0-SingleDeveloper.json
• Add parameter SitecoreXP0:SitecoreCert type String, Reference SitecoreCertificateName to pass the cert name to the XP0 script above
• Under Includes after SitecoreSolr add:

  "SitecoreCertificates": {
    "Source": ".\\createcert.json"
  },

• Add parameter SitecoreCertificates:CertificateName type String Reference SitecoreCertificateName to pass the cert name to the createcert script above
• Add parameter SitecoreCertificateName type String, defaultValue "" to hold the cert name
3. In XP0-SingleDeveloper.ps1
   • In the $singleDeveloperParams add: SitecoreCertificateName = $SitecoreSiteName to pass the cert name

Sitecore Installation Location

Unfortunately this one is nowhere near is nice :( I have no idea why the location is hardcoded

1. sitecore-XP0.json
   • set Site.PhysicalPath to "[joinpath(environment('SystemDrive'), parameter('InstallLocation'), parameter('SiteName'))]"
   • Add parameter InstallLocation optionally with "DefaultValue": "[joinpath('inetpub','wwwroot')]"
2. IdentityServer.json
   • set Site.PhysicalPath to "[joinpath(environment('SystemDrive'), parameter('InstallLocation'), parameter('SiteName'))]"
   • Add parameter InstallLocation optionally with "DefaultValue": "[joinpath('inetpub','wwwroot')]"
3. xconnect-xp0.json
   • set Site.PhysicalPath to "[joinpath(environment('SystemDrive'), parameter('InstallLocation'), parameter('SiteName'))]"
   • Add parameter InstallLocation optionally with "DefaultValue": "[joinpath('inetpub','wwwroot')]"
4. XP0-SingleDeveloper.json
   • Add parameter SitecoreXP0:InstallLocation type String with "Reference": "InstallLocation"
   • Add parameter XConnectXP0:InstallLocation type String with "Reference": "InstallLocation"
   • Add parameter IdentityServer:InstallLocation type String with "Reference": "InstallLocation"
   • Add parameter InstallLocation type String with "DefaultValue": "[joinpath('inetpub','wwwroot')]"
5. XP0-SingleDeveloper.ps1
   • Under $singleDeveloperParams add InstallLocation = $InstallLocation
   • Define your instllation variable above: $InstallLocation = "\sites\mysite"