Tutorial: Deploy your first container app

Article
08/04/2024

The Azure Container Apps service enables you to run microservices and containerized applications on a serverless platform. With Container Apps, you enjoy the benefits of running containers while you leave behind the concerns of manually configuring cloud infrastructure and complex container orchestrators.

In this tutorial, you create a secure Container Apps environment and deploy your first container app.

Note

You can also deploy this app using the az containerapp up by following the instructions in the Quickstart: Deploy your first container app with containerapp up article. The az containerapp up command is a fast and convenient way to build and deploy your app to Azure Container Apps using a single command. However, it doesn't provide the same level of customization for your container app.

Prerequisites

An Azure account with an active subscription.
- If you don't have one, you can create one for free.
Install the Azure CLI.

Setup

To sign in to Azure from the CLI, run the following command and follow the prompts to complete the authentication process.

Bash
Azure PowerShell

az login

Connect-AzAccount

To ensure you're running the latest version of the CLI, run the upgrade command.

Bash
Azure PowerShell

az upgrade

Install-Module -Name Az -Scope CurrentUser -Repository PSGallery -Force

Ignore any warnings about modules currently in use.

Next, install or update the Azure Container Apps extension for the CLI.

If you receive errors about missing parameters when you run az containerapp commands in Azure CLI or cmdlets from the Az.App module in Azure PowerShell, be sure you have the latest version of the Azure Container Apps extension installed.

Bash
Azure PowerShell

az extension add --name containerapp --upgrade

Note

Starting in May 2024, Azure CLI extensions no longer enable preview features by default. To access Container Apps preview features, install the Container Apps extension with --allow-preview true.

az extension add --name containerapp --upgrade --allow-preview true

Install-Module -Name Az.App

Make sure to update the Az.App module to the latest version.

Update-Module -Name Az.App

Now that the current extension or module is installed, register the Microsoft.App and Microsoft.OperationalInsights namespaces.

Bash
Azure PowerShell

az provider register --namespace Microsoft.App

az provider register --namespace Microsoft.OperationalInsights

Register-AzResourceProvider -ProviderNamespace Microsoft.App

Register-AzResourceProvider -ProviderNamespace Microsoft.OperationalInsights

Set environment variables

Set the following environment variables. Replace <PLACEHOLDERS> with your values:

Bash
Azure PowerShell

RESOURCE_GROUP="<RESOURCE_GROUP>"
LOCATION="<LOCATION>"
CONTAINERAPPS_ENVIRONMENT="<CONTAINERAPPS_ENVIRONMENT>"

$ResourceGroupName = '<RESOURCE_GROUP>'
$Location = '<LOCATION>'
$ContainerAppsEnvironment = '<CONTAINERAPPS_ENVIRONMENT>'

Create an Azure resource group

Create a resource group to organize the services related to your container app deployment.

Bash
Azure PowerShell

az group create \
  --name $RESOURCE_GROUP \
  --location "$LOCATION"

New-AzResourceGroup -Location $Location -Name $ResourceGroupName

Create an environment

An environment in Azure Container Apps creates a secure boundary around a group of container apps. Container Apps deployed to the same environment are deployed in the same virtual network and write logs to the same Log Analytics workspace.

To create the environment, run the following command:

Bash
Azure PowerShell

az containerapp env create \
  --name $CONTAINERAPPS_ENVIRONMENT \
  --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP \
  --location "$LOCATION"

A Log Analytics workspace is required for the Container Apps environment. The following commands create a Log Analytics workspace and save the workspace ID and primary shared key to environment variables.

$WorkspaceArgs = @{
    Name = 'myworkspace'
    ResourceGroupName = $ResourceGroupName
    Location = $Location
    PublicNetworkAccessForIngestion = 'Enabled'
    PublicNetworkAccessForQuery = 'Enabled'
}
New-AzOperationalInsightsWorkspace @WorkspaceArgs
$WorkspaceId = (Get-AzOperationalInsightsWorkspace -ResourceGroupName $ResourceGroupName -Name $WorkspaceArgs.Name).CustomerId
$WorkspaceSharedKey = (Get-AzOperationalInsightsWorkspaceSharedKey -ResourceGroupName $ResourceGroupName -Name $WorkspaceArgs.Name).PrimarySharedKey

To create the environment, run the following command:

$EnvArgs = @{
    EnvName = $ContainerAppsEnvironment
    ResourceGroupName = $ResourceGroupName
    Location = $Location
    AppLogConfigurationDestination = 'log-analytics'
    LogAnalyticConfigurationCustomerId = $WorkspaceId
    LogAnalyticConfigurationSharedKey = $WorkspaceSharedKey
}

New-AzContainerAppManagedEnv @EnvArgs

Create a container app

Now that you have an environment created, you can deploy your first container app. With the containerapp create command, deploy a container image to Azure Container Apps.

Bash
Azure PowerShell

az containerapp create \
  --name my-container-app \
  --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP \
  --environment $CONTAINERAPPS_ENVIRONMENT \
  --image mcr.microsoft.com/k8se/quickstart:latest \
  --target-port 80 \
  --ingress external \
  --query properties.configuration.ingress.fqdn

Note

Make sure the value for the --image parameter is in lower case.

By setting --ingress to external, you make the container app available to public requests.

$ImageParams = @{
    Name = 'my-container-app'
    Image = 'mcr.microsoft.com/k8se/quickstart:latest'
}
$TemplateObj = New-AzContainerAppTemplateObject @ImageParams
$EnvId = (Get-AzContainerAppManagedEnv -EnvName $ContainerAppsEnvironment -ResourceGroupName $ResourceGroupName).Id

$AppArgs = @{
    Name = 'my-container-app'
    Location = $Location
    ResourceGroupName = $ResourceGroupName
    ManagedEnvironmentId = $EnvId
    IdentityType = 'SystemAssigned'
    TemplateContainer = $TemplateObj
    IngressTargetPort = 80
    IngressExternal = $true

}
New-AzContainerApp @AppArgs

Note

Make sure the value for the Image parameter is in lower case.

By setting IngressExternal to $true, you make the container app available to public requests.

The create command returns the fully qualified domain name for the container app. Copy this location to a web browser.

Get the fully qualified domain name for the container app.

(Get-AzContainerApp -Name $AppArgs.Name -ResourceGroupName $ResourceGroupName).IngressFqdn

Copy this location to a web browser.

The following message is displayed when the container app is deployed:

Screenshot of container app web page.

Clean up resources

If you're not going to continue to use this application, run the following command to delete the resource group along with all the resources created in this tutorial.

Caution

The following command deletes the specified resource group and all resources contained within it. If resources outside the scope of this tutorial exist in the specified resource group, they will also be deleted.

Bash
Azure PowerShell

az group delete --name $RESOURCE_GROUP

Remove-AzResourceGroup -Name $ResourceGroupName -Force

Tip

Having issues? Let us know on GitHub by opening an issue in the Azure Container Apps repo.

Next steps

Communication between microservices

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Tutorial: Deploy your first container app

Prerequisites

Setup

Set environment variables

Create an Azure resource group

Create an environment

Create a container app

Verify deployment

Clean up resources

Next steps

Feedback

Additional resources