Connect-PnPonline using certificate

Question

I have created a azure release pipeline. In order for that to work I have made app registration and created certificate. The method I am using to connect right now is as following: Connect-PnPOnline -Url $sharepointside -ClientId $id -Tenant $Tenant -CertificateBase64Encoded $encoded -CertificatePassword $password

I went this method because this way I don't have to upload the certificate to my azure devops. But I have some concern about storing the certificate password in the variable. Is there way I can connect to sharepoint from azure pipeline without using password variable? Or any idea on other options I can use?

Answer 1

I can only suggest you 2 ideas.

First, the easiest, you can use the Get-PnPStoredCredential command which you need to use the Windows Credential Manager in Control Panel safely.

$cred = Get-PnPStoredCredential -Name myCredential
#supply the $cred.Password to the command

Secondly, you can use the command that I have used a lot, convert from and to SecureString. But it's also best to keep the current Windows account password safe, as it'll be encrypted with the current username as the key.

$ssPassword = Read-Host -AsSecureString
#Then type your password
$ss = ConvertFrom-SecureString $ssPassword
Set-Content -Path ".\password.pwd" -Value $ss

Then you can store the $ss in a text file. To use it, see below.

$ssPassword = ConvertTo-SecureString (Get-Content -Path ".\password.pwd")
#supply the $ssPassword to the command

That's all. Hope it helps.