I'm trying to figure out the steps to setup CI/CD for an Asp.Net Core web application using AKS with VSTS. Are the steps described in https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/vsts/build-release/apps/cd/azure/deploy-container-kubernetes valid for what I'm trying to do? Are windows container supported in AKS?
If your application is in ASP.Net Core, then you can host it in Linux as your code is platform independent. I have done this using Docker-file where your container is a self hosted app running on AKS.
VSTS provides a Inbuilt task to deploy to your AKS cluster in your build pipeline.
Windows support on k8s is better with Windows Server version 1709 which needs Kubernetes v1.9 (bleeding edge stable). See https://kubernetes.io/docs/getting-started-guides/windows/
Unfortunately, at this time, AKS preview only supports up to 1.8.2.
Frosty, if you can create a docker image out of your Windows machine, it can be pushed to the container registry and then deployed to Kubernetes cluster. Here are some links for reference:
Building and Pushing Windows container images: https://blog.docker.com/2016/09/build-your-first-docker-windows-server-container/
Install Azure CLI: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/install-azure-cli?view=azure-cli-latest
Create Kubernetes cluster in AKS: https://coderise.io/kubernetes-cluster-on-azure-container-service/
Windows containers are in private preview in AKS (reference); you can sign up using this form.. You can run hybrid clusters (Linux+Windows, up to 1803) using acs-engine today.
The VSTS walkthrough you linked is valid; check also this one and this one.
Update: Windows support for AKS is still a work in progress.
Currently Windows container are only in private preview, and you need to enable it using Azure CLI do some steps, please refer this official docs: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/windows-container-cli. After you enable it, then you can check the 'Windows Container' option when you create node pool in your azure kubernete service account.
Related
Is it possible to host/deploy HashiCorp Vault on MS Azure App Services so that I can create, read, update and delete Vault secrets from my apps deployed on Azure App Services?
I can't find any documentation. I only know that I can host it on Windows virtual machine on-prem.
That's seems doable. I could think of a few options (#1 is specifically for AppServices as you have asked)
HashiCorpVault -> Docker -> App Service: I'm assuming you are familiar with Docker which is required for this step. You can create a container locally and deploy on AppService.
To do this, create a docker file and as a part of the build use brew to download Vault.
You will need to create your dockerfile in multi-steps to have Node and brew installed first.
Once that's done, the next step in build process is to get HashiCorp vault via brew https://www.vaultproject.io/downloads.
Alternatively, you could download the packages on your machine using brew, and then package your container.
You can run your container locally, make any configuration changes you prefer and create image once you are ready.
Once you have your image on your preferred repository, you could follow the Microsoft guide to deploy: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/modules/deploy-run-container-app-service/
HashiCorp Integration with Azure: It can be integrated with Azure https://www.hashicorp.com/integrations/microsoft and ready to be used at scale.
I think a better option would be to run Vault in an Azure Container Instance. You can find the official vault container here: https://github.com/hashicorp/docker-vault
The App Service platform execution environment differs from a local execution environment mainly due to multi-tenancy — because a single physical machine in the data center can be concurrently executing apps and services belonging to a large number of differing customers, resources are more constrained than in the case of an app running on a single machine. The sandbox mechanism mitigates the risk of service disruption due to resource contention and depletion in two ways: it (1) ensures that each app receives a minimum guarantee of resources and quality-of-service, and conversely (2) enforces limits so that an app can not disrupt other concurrently-executing apps on the same machine.
More Details on Azure App Service Sandbox: https://github.com/projectkudu/kudu/wiki/Azure-Web-App-sandbox
We have source code with combination of .net 4.0 and C++ (CLI C++). To build this code we use visual studio 2015 and visual studio 2010 both at the same time. To build the C++ source code we using VS 2010. Now as we are migrating to azure devops we need create build pipelines. One way to achieve this is to create a self hosted windows agent and install vs 2015 and vs 2010 on it.
Is there a way to make this containerized? Can we create a custom container image with vs 2015 and vs2010 already installed?
You can use docker inside virtual machine for containerization, You can set up a self-hosted agent in Azure Pipelines to run inside a Windows Server Core (for Windows hosts), or Ubuntu container (for Linux hosts) with Docker. This is useful when you want to run agents with outer orchestration, such as Azure Container Instances.
Both Windows and Linux are supported as container hosts. Windows containers should run on a Windows vmImage. To run your agent in Docker, you'll pass a few environment variables to docker run, which configures the agent to connect to Azure Pipelines or Azure DevOps Server. Finally, you customize the container to suit your needs. Tasks and scripts might depend on specific tools being available on the container's PATH, and it's your responsibility to ensure that these tools are available.
Here is the reference doc https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/pipelines/agents/docker?view=azure-devops
As per my knowledge number of container we run inside the VM is completely depends on the VM size( hardware configuration)we choose. we do have different VM size available in azure.
if you want to run more containers, I would recommend to go with AKS,Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) simplifies deploying a managed Kubernetes cluster in Azure by offloading the operational overhead to Azure. As a hosted Kubernetes service, Azure handles critical tasks, like health monitoring and maintenance. Since Kubernetes masters are managed by Azure, you only manage and maintain the agent nodes. Thus, AKS is free; you only pay for the agent nodes within your clusters, not for the masters.
Deploying a multi-container application to Azure Kubernetes Services without using Azure DevOps
We have use case with Java Application (Spring ) with oracle Database as two containers .
We have to try the same in AKS ( Not using Azure DevOps).
Both App (8080) and DB (1521) runs on different Ports
Let me know if you have similar use case implemented.
The point of discussion here might be that whether you want to use a CI/CD Tool other than Azure Devops or not?
If yes, you'll need to setup a pipeline, write some Kubernetes Templates, Build Code, Push Image, and then deploy.
You can always refer Kubernetes Official Docs for more in depth knowledge of Multi-Container Pods, and Jenkins Official Docs for understanding CI/CD Process
I have some experience in using azure app services without docker. I did worked on k8 with docker. Now I am seeing an option to deploy containers in azure app services. As per my understanding app services internally use container and orchestration engine. Now someone can explain why this new docker option in azure app services? How it is going to help? When to use this option? Why I should bundle it as docker(extra effort eventhough it trivial)?
Azure App Service on Linux (Web App with built-in images)
The built-in image option running on Linux is an extension of a current Azure App Service offering, catering to developers who want to use FTP or GIT, deploy .NET Core, Node, PHP or Ruby applications to Azure App Service running on Linux
All of the built-in Docker images are open sourced on GitHub and available on DockerHub
Now someone can explain why this new docker option in the azure app
services?
Web App for Containers is catered more towards developers who want to have more control over, not just the code, but also the different packages, runtime framework, tooling etc. that are installed on their containers.
Customers of this offering prefer to package their code and dependencies into containers using various CI/CD systems like Jenkins, Maven, Travis CI or VSTS, alongside setting up continuous deployment webhooks with App Service.
This way you can easily deploy and run containerized applications that scale with your business.
How it is going to help?
This will make sure that the environment that you use locally, is
exactly the same as the one in the cloud.
Just pull container images from Docker Hub or a private Azure
Container Registry and Web App for Containers will deploy the containerized app with your preferred dependencies to production in seconds.
Automate and simplify your container image deployments through
continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) capabilities
with Docker Hub, Azure Container Registry, and Visual Studio Team
Services
Automatically scale vertically and horizontally based on application
needs. Granular scaling rules are available to handle peaks in
workload automatically while minimizing costs during off-peak times
When to use this option?
If you are so passionate/familiar with Docker/container then you can
use the Azure App service with the container.
If you are planning to host all your container in ACS(Azure Container
Service)/GitHub Repository then this service might be useful
You can refer to this blog for more details
I have problem with Azure - i am missing Docker for azure CE in Microsoft Azure Marketplace. By this tutorial
https://docs.docker.com/docker-cloud/cloud-swarm/link-azure-swarm/#enable-your-azure-subscription-for-docker-cloud
it was there.
I followed the tutorial and i have local swarm running on my OS (which is Ubuntu). How can i deploy my local swarm to Azure some other way?
I cannot continue the tutorial.
Docker Cloud is shutting down in a few weeks, so I don't recommend using it or its custom OS builds. It's quite easy to build a Swarm with the "Docker for Azure" template, or by scratch by just creating Azure resources yourself and installing Docker on Ubuntu.