I want to create a web app with node.js where users can schedule tasks that are executed on a specific time entered by the user.
I was thinking to use azure-webjobs or azure-functions for executing said tasks. I understand that scheduling in the azure portal is possible, however I couldn't find an API to schedule a webjob or function programmatically (for example using the Azure REST API).
Is it possible to schedule a azure-webjob or azure-function programmatically?
Azure WebJobs provide a more or less hidden API inside of KUDU called WebJobs API. This API is REST based webservice and it can be used to manage your jobs programmatically.
There are API endpoints available for the Azure WebJob which will be used for triggering the WebJob.
See the following documentation link for details on the list of available endpoints: https://github.com/projectkudu/kudu/wiki/WebJobs-API
Check this article: How to manage Azure WebJobs programmatically?
Also see this article might be helpful.
Related
I have a console application connecting to database and executing DML transactions. This console application is currently scheduled using windows task scheduler. I am planning to migrate this to Azure.
Which is the recommended strategy ?
Should this be moved as Azure webjobs or function apps ?
Since you already have a console project, then it's more easier to use Azure Webjobs to achieve that.
To create a webjob, just create a .zip file which includes the .exe / .dll and other necessary files, then upload to azure. For schedule, please refer to Create a scheduled WebJob. For more details, you can refer to this doc.
Note: there're some limitation of azure webjobs / azure function, see Azure-Web-App-sandbox. But if you only need to connecting to database and executing DML transactions, you can ignore the limits.
And yes, you can also do this via azure function, but since you already have a console project, it's easier to use webjobs.
I have a confusion over differences between using app service alone and app service with web jobs.
I have a computation intense task (2-20 min) that must be triggered manually (user asks for it from time to time). Right now everything happens in one app service. I'm thinking to extract this heavy process to a webjob in another app service. This new app service will be empty (no api served) but host this web job, which I'll trigger from first app service.
I'm bothered that second app service will be empty.
Can I use second app service to do the work without using webjobs (just WebApi project)? Or I should stick to webjobs? What would be pros and cons of these two approaches?
In my opinion, we shouldn't compare the web api and web jobs. Because this two things is used for different environment.
The webjobs feature:
Web Jobs can be configured to be manually triggered or run on a
schedule.
Web Jobs can be configured to be Continuously running (aka running constantly, all the time)
Web Jobs can be setup to be Triggered based on events in other Azure Services, such as a new messaged added to a Storage Queue or Service Buss Queue or Topic
Web Jobs can be long running
Web Jobs can be short running
Web Jobs can be implemented in any language as either a command-line executable or script
Azure Web Jobs can be implemented to fill any background processing need.
So if you want to work with background processing and don't want to return the response to any other application. I suggest you could choose webjobs.
The web api is easy to build HTTP services for the customer to get the response.
So this is used to interact with others. So If you want to get the result and used in any other place. You could choose web api.
The web api feature:
Attribute Routing
CORS - Cross Origin Resource Sharing
OWIN (Open Web Interface for .NET) self hosting
Web API OData
...
All in all, if the computation will not interact with others(return the result to customer), I suggest you could choose web jobs.
Right. So this article: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/web-sites-create-web-jobs/ mentions that you can "You can run programs or scripts in WebJobs in your App Service web app in three ways: on demand, continuously, or on a schedule. There is no additional cost to use WebJobs."
Which is great, the free-alternative is a Scheduler Job Collection
with a job, but you're limited to running it every hour. So being able to run the webjob as part of the webapp, and on a higher frequency is what we need.
However, I'm really struggling to find any way of automating this process. Using the Azure portal to add a web job works fine - but the "automation script" generation tool doesn't generate a json file which includes anything about the webjob - so we'd always have to manually create it.
There are examples of custom templates for automating the creation of webjobs - but they all create said webjob as part of a Scheduler Job Collection, where we are limited to the hourly execution.
To summarise: I'm looking for a way of automating the creation of a webjob, linked to a web-app (such that it doesn't incur extra costs).
Any help would be much appreciated.
WebJobs are deployed by folder convention (as described here), so deploying a WebJob is no different from deploying a Web App. It's simply a matter of getting the files in the right place.
Specifically, triggered WebJobs (manual or scheduled) go under site\wwwroot\app_data\jobs\triggered\{job name} and continuous WebJobs go under site\wwwroot\app_data\jobs\continuous\{job name}.
In order to automate a process in my cloud deployment, I need to stop and start a cloud service (that archives data) very often through code. Currently, I stop and start that cloud service manually using the Azure Management Portal. I want this to be done through my another cloud service that processes the input data.
The azure cloud service that I am trying to stop and start has one deployment (PRODUCTION).
There is only limited information available in google on how to do this.
I tried the following MSDN website(Azure REST API) to toggle the deployment status between "Running" and "Suspended", but, I am getting a "Bad Request" error when I implement exactly as described in this website (MSDN does not allow me to post the website details).
Can any one of you point me to the right direction on how to stop/start azure cloud service through code?
Is this Virtual Machine? If yes, then use REST API/Powershell should do the trick
Start VM using REST API
Stop VM using REST API
Azure Web Jobs are a big time saver in that they solve the plumbing of triggers, continuous running, dashboard, etc. But I've only seen them run in Web sites. It'd be great to be able to move them to a Worker Role. Do you have suggestions about how to do it?
I'd personally love to see how they implement it, so that I can replicate it in my worker role, without reinventing the wheel...
The answer to the main question is No Azure WebJobs are part of Azure Websites and only run in an Azure Website context/host.
But Azure WebJobs SDK which is an SDK that allows you to write code that is triggered on Azure storage blobs/queues and Azure service bus queues including some great logging capabilities, can be used outside of Azure WebJobs and so they can run anywhere (locally, VMs, WebRoles).
It is important to understand that Azure WebJobs are a framework that is part of Azure Websites that allows (almost) any console application (and .bat, .php, .js, ... scripts) to run continuously or triggered (manually/scheduled).
WebJobs SDK and WebJobs are not dependent on each other although they work great together.
Also to see how it's implemented go to https://github.com/projectkudu/kudu as it's open sourced (for now The WebJobs part, SDK may be open sourced in the future).
Yes, you can use Azure WebJobs outside of Azure Web Sites. You use the Azure WebJobs SDK to do so. There is a sample on MSDN on how to use the SDK in an console app. It then goes on to host it in a web site, but you can of course host it in other ways. There is another article, "Hosting Azure webjobs outside Azure, with the logging benefits from an Azure hosted webjob" that explicitly talks about using WebJobs outside of Azure. With a little work this should work in a Worker role as well.
I'll stipulate that I've not actually done this myself, but the SDK does make it possible.
I'd also recommend this treasure trove of resources for WebJobs.