Azure Resource Template Dependencies / Application Insights - azure

Question

I have a chicken and egg problem deploying Application Insights with my web application to Azure. In the ARM template, the Application Insights module is dependent upon the web site for the application id (see dependencies in the ARM templates below). On the other hand, in order to fully instrument the web application, I need the instrumentation key from the Application Insights Module. How does one get around this?
Application Insights View From the Portal
ARM Template for Web App
ARM Template for Application Insights

Answer 1

The solution is to have the connection strings and app settings created as nested child resources of the web site. By using the child resource strategy, one can then make the appsettings dependent upon both the web site and application insights. This allows provisioning to occur in the following order:
Web Site
Application Insights
Web Site config / appsettings
The following two answers were helpful. The first one illustrates how to pull the instrumentation key. The second one illustrates how to nest app settings and connection strings as child resources of the web site.
How to pull the instrumentation key
How to nest app settings as child resources
Here is my final template:
{
"$schema": "http://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2015-01-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
"contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
"parameters": {
"webSiteName": {
"type": "string"
},
"aadTenant": {
"type": "string"
},
"aadAudience": {
"type": "string"
},
"endpoints": {
"type": "string",
"defaultValue": "n/a"
},
"apiEndpoint": {
"type": "string",
"defaultValue": "n/a"
},
"sqlConnStrName": {
"type": "string"
},
"sqlConnStrValue": {
"type": "string"
},
"skuName": {
"type": "string",
"defaultValue": "F1",
"allowedValues": [
"F1",
"D1",
"B1",
"B2",
"B3",
"S1",
"S2",
"S3",
"P1",
"P2",
"P3",
"P4"
],
"metadata": {
"description": "Describes plan's pricing tier and instance size. Check details at https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/app-service/"
}
},
"skuCapacity": {
"type": "int",
"defaultValue": 1,
"minValue": 1,
"metadata": {
"description": "Describes plan's instance count"
}
}
},
"variables": {
"hostingPlanName": "[concat(parameters('webSiteName'), '-hostingplan')]"
},
"resources": [
{
"apiVersion": "2015-08-01",
"name": "[variables('hostingPlanName')]",
"type": "Microsoft.Web/serverfarms",
"location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
"tags": {
"displayName": "HostingPlan"
},
"sku": {
"name": "[parameters('skuName')]",
"capacity": "[parameters('skuCapacity')]"
},
"properties": {
"name": "[variables('hostingPlanName')]"
}
},
{
"apiVersion": "2015-08-01",
"name": "[parameters('webSiteName')]",
"type": "Microsoft.Web/sites",
"location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
"dependsOn": [
"[variables('hostingPlanName')]"
],
"tags": {
"[concat('hidden-related:', resourceId('Microsoft.Web/serverfarms', variables('hostingPlanName')))]": "empty",
"displayName": "Website"
},
"properties": {
"name": "[parameters('webSiteName')]",
"serverFarmId": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Web/serverfarms', variables('hostingPlanName'))]"
},
"resources": [
{
"apiVersion": "2015-08-01",
"name": "appsettings",
"type": "config",
"dependsOn": [
"[parameters('webSiteName')]",
"[concat('AppInsights', parameters('webSiteName'))]"
],
"properties": {
"ida:Tenant": "[parameters('aadTenant')]",
"ida:Audience": "[parameters('aadAudience')]",
"endpoints": "[parameters('endpoints')]",
"apiEndpoint": "[parameters('apiEndpoint')]",
"applicationInsightsInstrumentationKey": "[reference(resourceId('Microsoft.Insights/components', concat('AppInsights', parameters('webSiteName'))), '2014-04-01').InstrumentationKey]"
}
},
{
"apiVersion": "2015-08-01",
"type": "config",
"name": "connectionstrings",
"dependsOn": [
"[parameters('webSiteName')]"
],
"properties": {
"[parameters('sqlConnStrName')]": {
"value": "[parameters('sqlConnStrValue')]",
"type": "SQLServer"
}
}
},
{
"apiVersion": "2015-08-01",
"name": "logs",
"type": "config",
"dependsOn": [
"[parameters('webSiteName')]"
],
"properties": {
"applicationLogs": {
"fileSystem": {
"level": "Off"
},
"azureTableStorage": {
"level": "Off",
"sasUrl": null
},
"azureBlobStorage": {
"level": "Information",
"sasUrl": "TO DO: pass in a SAS Url",
"retentionInDays": null
}
},
"httpLogs": {
"fileSystem": {
"retentionInMb": 40,
"enabled": true
}
},
"failedRequestsTracing": {
"enabled": true
},
"detailedErrorMessages": {
"enabled": true
}
}
}
]
},
{
"apiVersion": "2014-04-01",
"name": "[concat(variables('hostingPlanName'), '-', resourceGroup().name)]",
"type": "Microsoft.Insights/autoscalesettings",
"location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
"tags": {
"[concat('hidden-link:', resourceId('Microsoft.Web/serverfarms', variables('hostingPlanName')))]": "Resource",
"displayName": "AutoScaleSettings"
},
"dependsOn": [
"[variables('hostingPlanName')]"
],
"properties": {
"profiles": [
{
"name": "Default",
"capacity": {
"minimum": 1,
"maximum": 2,
"default": 1
},
"rules": [
{
"metricTrigger": {
"metricName": "CpuPercentage",
"metricResourceUri": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Web/serverfarms', variables('hostingPlanName'))]",
"timeGrain": "PT1M",
"statistic": "Average",
"timeWindow": "PT10M",
"timeAggregation": "Average",
"operator": "GreaterThan",
"threshold": 80.0
},
"scaleAction": {
"direction": "Increase",
"type": "ChangeCount",
"value": 1,
"cooldown": "PT10M"
}
},
{
"metricTrigger": {
"metricName": "CpuPercentage",
"metricResourceUri": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Web/serverfarms', variables('hostingPlanName'))]",
"timeGrain": "PT1M",
"statistic": "Average",
"timeWindow": "PT1H",
"timeAggregation": "Average",
"operator": "LessThan",
"threshold": 60.0
},
"scaleAction": {
"direction": "Decrease",
"type": "ChangeCount",
"value": 1,
"cooldown": "PT1H"
}
}
]
}
],
"enabled": false,
"name": "[concat(variables('hostingPlanName'), '-', resourceGroup().name)]",
"targetResourceUri": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Web/serverfarms', variables('hostingPlanName'))]"
}
},
{
"apiVersion": "2014-04-01",
"name": "[concat('ServerErrors ', parameters('webSiteName'))]",
"type": "Microsoft.Insights/alertrules",
"location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
"dependsOn": [
"[parameters('webSiteName')]"
],
"tags": {
"[concat('hidden-link:', resourceId('Microsoft.Web/sites', parameters('webSiteName')))]": "Resource",
"displayName": "ServerErrorsAlertRule"
},
"properties": {
"name": "[concat('ServerErrors ', parameters('webSiteName'))]",
"description": "[concat(parameters('webSiteName'), ' has some server errors, status code 5xx.')]",
"isEnabled": true,
"condition": {
"odata.type": "Microsoft.Azure.Management.Insights.Models.ThresholdRuleCondition",
"dataSource": {
"odata.type": "Microsoft.Azure.Management.Insights.Models.RuleMetricDataSource",
"resourceUri": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Web/sites', parameters('webSiteName'))]",
"metricName": "Http5xx"
},
"operator": "GreaterThan",
"threshold": 5.0,
"windowSize": "PT5M"
},
"action": {
"odata.type": "Microsoft.Azure.Management.Insights.Models.RuleEmailAction",
"sendToServiceOwners": true,
"customEmails": ["you#example.com"]
}
}
},
{
"apiVersion": "2014-04-01",
"name": "[concat('ForbiddenRequests ', parameters('webSiteName'))]",
"type": "Microsoft.Insights/alertrules",
"location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
"dependsOn": [
"[parameters('webSiteName')]"
],
"tags": {
"[concat('hidden-link:', resourceId('Microsoft.Web/sites', parameters('webSiteName')))]": "Resource",
"displayName": "ForbiddenRequestsAlertRule"
},
"properties": {
"name": "[concat('ForbiddenRequests ', parameters('webSiteName'))]",
"description": "[concat(parameters('webSiteName'), ' has some requests that are forbidden, status code 403.')]",
"isEnabled": true,
"condition": {
"odata.type": "Microsoft.Azure.Management.Insights.Models.ThresholdRuleCondition",
"dataSource": {
"odata.type": "Microsoft.Azure.Management.Insights.Models.RuleMetricDataSource",
"resourceUri": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Web/sites', parameters('webSiteName'))]",
"metricName": "Http403"
},
"operator": "GreaterThan",
"threshold": 5,
"windowSize": "PT5M"
},
"action": {
"odata.type": "Microsoft.Azure.Management.Insights.Models.RuleEmailAction",
"sendToServiceOwners": true,
"customEmails": [ ]
}
}
},
{
"apiVersion": "2014-04-01",
"name": "[concat('CPUHigh ', variables('hostingPlanName'))]",
"type": "Microsoft.Insights/alertrules",
"location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
"dependsOn": [
"[variables('hostingPlanName')]"
],
"tags": {
"[concat('hidden-link:', resourceId('Microsoft.Web/serverfarms', variables('hostingPlanName')))]": "Resource",
"displayName": "CPUHighAlertRule"
},
"properties": {
"name": "[concat('CPUHigh ', variables('hostingPlanName'))]",
"description": "[concat('The average CPU is high across all the instances of ', variables('hostingPlanName'))]",
"isEnabled": false,
"condition": {
"odata.type": "Microsoft.Azure.Management.Insights.Models.ThresholdRuleCondition",
"dataSource": {
"odata.type": "Microsoft.Azure.Management.Insights.Models.RuleMetricDataSource",
"resourceUri": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Web/serverfarms', variables('hostingPlanName'))]",
"metricName": "CpuPercentage"
},
"operator": "GreaterThan",
"threshold": 90,
"windowSize": "PT15M"
},
"action": {
"odata.type": "Microsoft.Azure.Management.Insights.Models.RuleEmailAction",
"sendToServiceOwners": true,
"customEmails": [ ]
}
}
},
{
"apiVersion": "2014-04-01",
"name": "[concat('LongHttpQueue ', variables('hostingPlanName'))]",
"type": "Microsoft.Insights/alertrules",
"location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
"dependsOn": [
"[variables('hostingPlanName')]"
],
"tags": {
"[concat('hidden-link:', resourceId('Microsoft.Web/serverfarms', variables('hostingPlanName')))]": "Resource",
"displayName": "AutoScaleSettings"
},
"properties": {
"name": "[concat('LongHttpQueue ', variables('hostingPlanName'))]",
"description": "[concat('The HTTP queue for the instances of ', variables('hostingPlanName'), ' has a large number of pending requests.')]",
"isEnabled": false,
"condition": {
"odata.type": "Microsoft.Azure.Management.Insights.Models.ThresholdRuleCondition",
"dataSource": {
"odata.type": "Microsoft.Azure.Management.Insights.Models.RuleMetricDataSource",
"resourceUri": "[concat(resourceGroup().id, '/providers/Microsoft.Web/serverfarms/', variables('hostingPlanName'))]",
"metricName": "HttpQueueLength"
},
"operator": "GreaterThan",
"threshold": 100.0,
"windowSize": "PT5M"
},
"action": {
"odata.type": "Microsoft.Azure.Management.Insights.Models.RuleEmailAction",
"sendToServiceOwners": true,
"customEmails": [ ]
}
}
},
{
"apiVersion": "2014-04-01",
"name": "[concat('AppInsights', parameters('webSiteName'))]",
"type": "Microsoft.Insights/components",
"location": "Central US",
"dependsOn": [
"[parameters('webSiteName')]"
],
"tags": {
"[concat('hidden-link:', resourceId('Microsoft.Web/sites', parameters('webSiteName')))]": "Resource",
"displayName": "AppInsightsComponent"
},
"properties": {
"ApplicationId": "[parameters('webSiteName')]"
}
}
],
"outputs": {
"siteUri": {
"type": "string",
"value": "[reference(concat('Microsoft.Web/sites/', parameters('webSiteName')), '2015-08-01').hostnames[0]]"
}
}
}

Answer 2

Alternative and updated answer (2020/03): do what the Azure Portal UX does (can be viewed via "Download template" at a last step of webapp creation).
For application insights resource, you don't necessarily need to wait for website resource to be created. According to applicationInsights ARM the website.Name is used to applicaitonInsights.properties.ApplicationId.
Since you are creating both at the same time, you can pass the name value both to ApplicationInsights and website resources from input:
{
"$schema": "http://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2015-01-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
"contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
"parameters": {
"subscriptionId": {
"type": "string"
},
"name": {
"type": "string"
},
"location": {
"type": "string"
},
"hostingEnvironment": {
"type": "string"
},
"hostingPlanName": {
"type": "string"
},
"serverFarmResourceGroup": {
"type": "string"
},
"alwaysOn": {
"type": "bool"
},
"sku": {
"type": "string"
},
"skuCode": {
"type": "string"
},
"workerSize": {
"type": "string"
},
"workerSizeId": {
"type": "string"
},
"numberOfWorkers": {
"type": "string"
},
"currentStack": {
"type": "string"
},
"netFrameworkVersion": {
"type": "string"
}
},
"resources": [
{
"apiVersion": "2018-11-01",
"name": "[parameters('name')]",
"type": "Microsoft.Web/sites",
"location": "[parameters('location')]",
"tags": {},
"dependsOn": [
"microsoft.insights/components/testapp01",
"[concat('Microsoft.Web/serverfarms/', parameters('hostingPlanName'))]"
],
"properties": {
"name": "[parameters('name')]",
"siteConfig": {
"appSettings": [
{
"name": "APPINSIGHTS_INSTRUMENTATIONKEY",
"value": "[reference('microsoft.insights/components/testapp01', '2015-05-01').InstrumentationKey]"
},
{
"name": "APPLICATIONINSIGHTS_CONNECTION_STRING",
"value": "[reference('microsoft.insights/components/testapp01', '2015-05-01').ConnectionString]"
},
{
"name": "ApplicationInsightsAgent_EXTENSION_VERSION",
"value": "~2"
}
],
"metadata": [
{
"name": "CURRENT_STACK",
"value": "[parameters('currentStack')]"
}
],
"netFrameworkVersion": "[parameters('netFrameworkVersion')]",
"alwaysOn": "[parameters('alwaysOn')]"
},
"serverFarmId": "[concat('/subscriptions/', parameters('subscriptionId'),'/resourcegroups/', parameters('serverFarmResourceGroup'), '/providers/Microsoft.Web/serverfarms/', parameters('hostingPlanName'))]",
"hostingEnvironment": "[parameters('hostingEnvironment')]",
"clientAffinityEnabled": true
}
},
{
"apiVersion": "2018-11-01",
"name": "[parameters('hostingPlanName')]",
"type": "Microsoft.Web/serverfarms",
"location": "[parameters('location')]",
"kind": "",
"tags": {},
"dependsOn": [],
"properties": {
"name": "[parameters('hostingPlanName')]",
"workerSize": "[parameters('workerSize')]",
"workerSizeId": "[parameters('workerSizeId')]",
"numberOfWorkers": "[parameters('numberOfWorkers')]",
"hostingEnvironment": "[parameters('hostingEnvironment')]"
},
"sku": {
"Tier": "[parameters('sku')]",
"Name": "[parameters('skuCode')]"
}
},
{
"apiVersion": "2015-05-01",
"name": "testapp01",
"type": "microsoft.insights/components",
"location": "centralus",
"tags": {},
"properties": {
"ApplicationId": "[parameters('name')]",
"Request_Source": "IbizaWebAppExtensionCreate"
}
}
]
}
The order of creation will be following:
Application Insights resource
App Service webapp

Answer 3

To elaborate on Mikl X answer, you can have the website depend on the application insights resource and set the instrumentation key on the app settings of the website.
Skipping irrelevant parts:
"resources": [
{
"type": "Microsoft.Insights/components",
"name": "[variables('appInsightsName')]"
... more config
},
{
"type": "Microsoft.Web/sites",
"name": "[variables('apiName')]",
"dependsOn": [
"[resourceId('Microsoft.Insights/components', variables('appInsightsName'))]" <-- ensure app insights is created first
],
"properties": {
"siteConfig": {
"appSettings": [
{
"name": "APPINSIGHTS_INSTRUMENTATIONKEY",
"value": "[reference(variables('appInsightsName')).InstrumentationKey]" <-- use key of previously created resource
}
]
}
}
}
... more config
]