Hosting Your Own NuGet PowerShell Repository

Today I want to show you how to host your own NuGet Repository for uploading PowerShell Modules / Scripts.

There is also a method for hosting a NuGet Fileshare, but for production environments it is better to set up a Web Server and host a NuGet Repository.

In this demonstration I use Windows Server 2012 R2 (Nuget) and have another machine (Windows 10 (DEV)) with Visual Studio Community installed.

On the Server Side (Nuget) we need to do the following things:

• Install WMF5 (Windows Management Framework 5 (PowerShell 5))
• Install PackageManagement

You can get this two things from the following site: PowerShell Gallery

If you have Windows Server 2016 or Windows 10 you don’t need to do this because they are already installed.

Furthermore we need to install IIS and IIS Rewrite Tool and .Net Framework 4.5.2.

First Install IIS with the following PowerShell command:

Install-WindowsFeature NET-Framework-Core,NET-Framework-45-ASPNET,Web-Default-Doc,Web-Static-Content,Web-Http-Logging,Web-Stat-Compression,Web-Filtering,Web-Net-Ext45,Web-Asp-Net45,Web-ISAPI-Ext,Web-ISAPI-Filter,Web-Mgmt-Console,Net-Framework-Core -Source D:\sources\sxs

After that install the IIS Rewrite Tool from the following site: Download IIS Rewrite Tool

Before we Build the NuGet Server you have to install the Windows Azure SDK. You can get it via the Microsoft Web Plattform Installer. Install It and search for Windows Azure SDK. In my case i have to install the SDK for Visual Studio 2015.

You also need to install a SQL Server (Express/Std./Enterprise.). I will use SQL Express 2014.

After you installed SQL-Server, we need to create a SQL-login for the Entity Framework to create the database. The SQL-Login needs to have db_creator rights. I will name mine nuget_user.

Right Click on the server and select Properties -> Security -> SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode. I also disable the firewall on the server. You have to restart SQL Server.

To publish a NuGet Server to IIS i use an extra client with visual Studio on it. In this example we use the Nuget Gallery. You can get it from there: Download NuGet Gallery.

Download the Zip File and unblock and extract it and open the .sln-File. If you get any Warnings that you need to install SQL Express Local DB click OK.

Search for the project NuGetGallery and right-click on References -> Manage NuGet-Packages. Then click Restore.

On the menu click Build -> Build Application. The application should build without any errors.

Go to NuGetGallery -> web.config and change (in my case) the following entries:

In web.config go to line 129 and change the connection string like:

<connectionStrings>
  <add name="NuGetGallery" connectionString="Server=MyMachineName\MYSQLSERVERNAME;Initial Catalog=NuGetGallery;User ID=nuget_user;Password=MyNuGetStrongPwd1;" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
</connectionStrings>

Line 107 change “Gallery.ConfirmEmailAddresses” value=”true” to “Gallery.ConfirmEmailAddresses” value=”false”.

Now we need to create the database for the NuGet Gallery. In Visual Studio open the NuGet Package Manager Console (Tools -> NuGet Package Manager -> Package Manager Console).

Type in the following command:

Update-Database -ConfigurationTypeName MigrationsConfiguration

After the database is deployed we can remove the user right “dbcreator” for the nuget_user. Furthermore we select the default database to be NuGetGallery. And in the “User Mapping” dialog I select db_owner but best pratice would be the roles “db_datareader and db_datawriter”.

After that you should see a new database in the management studio called NuGetGallery.

After that we need to create a new website (in my case i stopped the default web site). We then need to create a new Application Pool and assign it to the website. For that i have the following PowerShell script:

# Stop Default Web Site
Stop-Website -Name 'Default Web Site'

# Remove the Website
Remove-Website -Name 'Default Web Site'

# Create a new Application Pool
New-WebAppPool -Name 'NuGetGallery'

# Create the folder for the site
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path 'C:\inetpub\wwwroot\NuGet'

# Create new WebSite
New-Website -Name 'NuGetGallery' -PhysicalPath 'C:\inetpub\wwwroot\NuGet' -ApplicationPool 'NuGetGallery'

Next we need to assign the right permissions to the folders. Therefore I created another PowerShell script:

# User that need to be added
$user_iusr = 'IUSR'
$user_apppool = 'IIS APPPOOL\NuGetGallery'

# Get ACL from C:\inetpub\wwwroot\NuGet
$acl = Get-Acl -Path 'C:\inetpub\wwwroot\NuGet'

# Define Accessrule for AppPool identity
$ar_apppool = New-Object System.Security.AccessControl.FileSystemAccessRule($user_apppool,'Modify','ContainerInherit,ObjectInherit', 'None', 'Allow')
$acl.SetAccessRule($ar_apppool)
Set-Acl -Path 'C:\inetpub\wwwroot\NuGet' -AclObject $acl

# Define Accessrule for IUSR
$ar_IUSR = New-Object System.Security.AccessControl.FileSystemAccessRule($user_iusr,'Modify','ContainerInherit,ObjectInherit', 'None', 'Allow')
$acl.SetAccessRule($ar_IUSR)
Set-Acl -Path 'C:\inetpub\wwwroot\NuGet' -AclObject $acl

Next we need to publish the NuGetGallery to our IIS Server. To do that right-click the solution NuGetGallery in Visual Studio an click publish. Click on custom. Type in a name. Change the publish method to “File System” and type the UNC-Path to the sitepath and publish it.

If you open a Web Browser and Type http://[Your Server Name]. You should see a working NuGet Gallery.

Next you have to register for an account. Click in the upper right corner Register / Sign In.

Now we have to install the PackageProvider Nuget. With the following coomand you install the NuGet Provider.

Install-PackageProvider -Name NuGet -MinimumVersion 2.8.5.201 -Force

After that you can register the PowerShell repository with the following command:

Register-PSRepository -Name NugetRepo -SourceLocation 'http://[SERVERNAME]/api/v2' -PublishLocation 'http://[SERVERNAME]/' -InstallationPolicy Trusted

To upload a PowerShell Module type the following PowerShell command:

Publish-Module -Repository NugetRepo -NuGetApiKey [YOUR API KEY] -Name [YOUR MODULE NAME] [-Verbose]

To upload another version of the same script edit the .psd1 and change the version. Then upload again.

If you want to find a module in a specified repository the following command will help:

Find-Module -Repository [YOUR NUGET REPO] -Name [YOUR MODULE NAME] [-AllVersions]

If you want to install a Module from a Repository type in the following code:

Install-Module -Repository [YOUR NUGET REPO] -Name [YOUR MODULE NAME]

If you want to upload a script to the NuGetGallery you have to perform the following steps:

• You have to create a file with a specified template to upload it to the gallery. You can do that with the following command (The file shouldn’t exist, otherwise you will get an error):

New-ScriptFileInfo -Path [YOUR PATH].ps1 -Description [YOUR DESCRIPTION]

• Paste the code from your script into the file that you have created earlier (Leave at least one line empty between the comments and the actual code).
• Test the ScriptFileInfo with the following command:

Test-ScriptFileInfo -Path [YOUR PATH]

If there is no error than you can upload it to the gallery with the following command:

Publish-Script -Path [YOUR SCRIPT PATH] -Repository [YOUR NUGET REPO] -NuGetApiKey [YOUR NUGET API KEY] -Verbose

If you open the gallery now you should see 2 entries. One Module and one Script.

That’s it for this tutorial.