Showing all posts tagged: 'Functions'

A 17-post collection

Azure Functions, Node.js and Environment Variables

Another fun project (yes another one) using 2 of my favourite frameworks: serverless with [Azure Functions](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/functions-reference-node" target="_blank) and Node.js. I'm developing locally using the [Azure Functions Core Tools](https://www.npmjs.com/package/azure-functions-core-tools" target="_blank) (former CLI) and [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/" target="_blank). It's a match made in heaven as I get to be super productive using the CLI and at the same time feel like a proper developer debugging issues in VS Code. I can attest that I …[read more]

Introduction to Azure Functions Deployment Slots

Deployment slots have been an invaluable feature for Azure Web Apps for a long time. To find out how to create slots for Azure Web Apps, you can visit the official documentation [here](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service-web/web-sites-staged-publishing" target="_blank). So what makes deployment slots so useful? I summarize some of the benefits below but this is by no means the exhaustive list: [Testing in Production - A/B Testing](GHOST_URL/azure-websites-testing-in-production/" target="_blank) Hot deployments that allow deployment to production with no downtime UAT testing targeting a near live environment Easy …[read more]

Monitor Azure Web Application backups with Azure Functions

For most of your monitoring and alerting needs, [Azure Monitor](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/monitoring-and-diagnostics/monitoring-overview" target="_blank) should be the tool of choice. It's made the whole process so much easier and streamlined while, for the first time, providing management through the portal. I've already blogged about various monitoring options [here](GHOST_URL/monitoring-applications-and-infrastructure-on-azure/" target="_blank). However, there are a still few edge cases (not for long) for which Azure Monitor can't be the solution. In this instance, I needed a way to monitor and alert on failed backups on Azure Web Apps …[read more]

Azure Functions improvements with WebPack

[Azure Functions](GHOST_URL/devops-with-azure-functions-a-holistic-approach/" target="_blank) are great for creating solutions built on top of serverless architecture. In the past I've talked about the various deployment options but today I want to focus on performance improvements. The team recently introduced pre-compiled Functions which, in my mind, is a fantastic enhancement. Because it promotes good design by allowing you to decouple your implementation from the Function call itself and make your code a lot more testable. Some may digress because this may also cause Function code to explode in size. My answer to this is that you need …[read more]

Deploying Functions with ARM templates and inline code

Last week I started a mini-series that focused on [Azure Functions and DevOps. The tooling is still being worked and in the interim we need a solution in order to do proper CI/CD with Azure Functions. In this post we're looking into how to deploy Azure Functions using ARM Templates only. That's correct. This is a one stop solution but requires that you include your function code inline to the ARM JSON template. This is somewhat undocumented and I had to figure out how do it with help from the Azure PG (product group). The good parts Obviously this …[read more]

Azure Functions custom logging with AppInsights

You can tell I'm working on [Azure Functions](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/functions/" target="_blank) from the frequency of posts. This one focuses on logging. Functions by default generate plenty of logs which you can view in the portal or download using the [Kudu REST API](https://github.com/projectkudu/kudu/wiki/REST-API" target="_blank). This is great and it comes out of the box without you having to configure a single thing. However, what if you have some custom, complex logic that you want to capture and log. And I guess that in …[read more]

Deploying Azure Functions with ARM templates and the Kudu REST API

This approach is by far my preferred and favourite. Ok, it's not perfect but I believe that it provides the most open source, versatile and flexible way to deploy your functions using any tool and any platform. This one does not require you to install any special tools other than the Azure CLI on your build server. In this step, rather than trying to do everything from one file, i.e. the ARM template, I decided to go with the 2 step approach: Deploy the ARM template with the Application Service and Function(s) structure Deploy the Function(s) code. …[read more]

DevOps with Azure Functions - a holistic approach

Azure Functions is Microsoft's answer the serverless architecture. They are very popular due to the incredible integration they provide with Azure Services, SaaS providers and on-premise application. It definitely drives the whole microservice architecture design which is built on top of Azure's established Platform-as-a-Service. And enables developers to think about APIs and integration in a totally different way - serverless (even though there are still servers under the hood). It's even more exciting seeing so many organisations embarking in larger scale projects that take advantage of Functions and LogicApps. If you want to know more about the whole serverless design, …[read more]