This Website

Overview

This portfolio serves as a live demonstration of cloud infrastructure management and secure CI/CD practices. While the site itself is a lightweight implementation using Jekyll and the Minima theme, the underlying architecture is a purpose-built Azure Static Web App (SWA) integrated with GitHub Actions. The goal was to move beyond “one-click” deployments and build a repeatable, transparent pipeline.

Technical Challenges & Engineering Solutions

The deployment process presented several critical hurdles that required deep-dive troubleshooting of the cloud handshake:

  • Authentication & Identity Handshake: The native Azure setup defaults to an OIDC-based GitHub integration. However, due to configuration mismatches in the automated identity provider link, the deployment consistently failed during the “Event Info” validation. I diagnosed the failure by isolating the authentication function, eventually pivoting to a Manual Deployment Token method. This secured the link between GitHub and the Azure resource without relying on brittle automated wizards.

  • Pipeline Orchestration (Jekyll Integration): The auto-generated GitHub Actions YAML lacked the necessary environment for a static site generator. I manually refactored the workflow to include Ruby 3.4 initialization and Jekyll build steps.

  • Artifact Routing: Following the build, the Azure engine failed to locate the index.html entry point. I resolved this by remapping the app_location and output_location paths within the YAML, ensuring the “delivery truck” was looking at the compiled _site folder rather than the raw source code.

Problems Overcome

  • Credential/Handshake Mismatch: Resolved by auditing SWA authorization policies and implementing direct API token authentication.

  • Workflow Schema Gaps: Manually injected build dependencies (Ruby/Bundler) into the CI/CD pipeline.

  • Database Config Noise: Eliminated “Data API” misconfiguration errors by explicitly defining null paths for non-existent backend resources.

The Path Forward

  • Shift-Left Validation: Transition from a “Push-to-Live” model to an Azure DevOps environment with a dedicated staging sandbox to validate builds before production deployment.

  • Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Develop Terraform modules to automate the provisioning of the SWA, ensuring that infrastructure is version-controlled and reproducible.

  • Structured Troubleshooting: Developing a repeatable “Cloud Triage Algorithm” to accelerate the identification of identity vs. connectivity issues in multi-cloud environments.