Quickstart¶

This is the shortest path from a clean workstation to a finished Ranger package.

Ranger operator journey

Step 1: Check Prerequisites¶

Test-AzureLocalRangerPrerequisites

Use -InstallPrerequisites in an elevated session if you want Ranger to install missing RSAT and Az dependencies.

Step 2: Generate a Config Scaffold¶

New-AzureLocalRangerConfig -Path .\ranger.yml

The generated YAML is annotated and marks mandatory values with [REQUIRED].

Step 3: Fill in Required Values¶

At minimum, update:

environment.name
targets.cluster.fqdn or targets.cluster.nodes
targets.azure.subscriptionId
targets.azure.tenantId
targets.azure.resourceGroup
credentials.cluster.username

Step 4: Run Discovery¶

Invoke-AzureLocalRanger -ConfigPath .\ranger.yml

You can override structural values at runtime, for example:

Invoke-AzureLocalRanger \
  -ConfigPath .\ranger.yml \
  -ClusterFqdn tplabs-clus01.contoso.com \
  -EnvironmentName tplabs-prod-01

Step 5: Open the Output Package¶

By default Ranger writes to:

C:\AzureLocalRanger\<environment>-<mode>-<timestamp>\

Key artifacts are:

manifest\audit-manifest.json
package-index.json
ranger.log
reports\*.html
reports\*.docx
reports\*.pdf
reports\*.xlsx
diagrams\*.svg

Step 6: Re-Render Without Live Access¶

Export-AzureLocalRangerReport \
  -ManifestPath .\manifest\audit-manifest.json \
  -Formats html,markdown,docx,xlsx,pdf,svg

That reuses the saved manifest and does not reconnect to the cluster or Azure.

Step 7: Schedule an Unattended Run¶

For recurring runs, use -Unattended so Ranger never prompts for input and emits a scheduler-friendly run-status.json file.

Invoke-AzureLocalRanger \
  -ConfigPath .\ranger.yml \
  -Unattended \
  -OutputPath \\fileserver\AzureLocalRanger \
  -BaselineManifestPath .\baseline\audit-manifest.json

Recommended unattended credential posture:

Azure: service principal, managed identity, or pre-existing Az context
Secrets: keyvault:// references instead of inline passwords
Scheduler templates: see samples/task-scheduler-azurelocalranger.xml and samples/github-actions-scheduled-ranger.yml