App Service (Container) ARM Template

Deploy an App Service app using custom container on AKS using an ARM Template

The following Jumpstart scenario will guide you on how to deploy a “Ready to Go” environment so you can start using Azure Arc-enabled app services deployed on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster using Azure ARM Template.

By the end of this scenario, you will have an AKS cluster deployed with an App Service plan, a sample Web Application (Web App) and a Microsoft Windows Server 2022 (Datacenter) Azure VM, installed & pre-configured with all the required tools needed to work with Azure Arc-enabled app services.

NOTE: Currently, Azure Arc-enabled app services is in preview.

Prerequisites

Clone the Azure Arc Jumpstart repository

git clone https://github.com/microsoft/azure_arc.git

Install or update Azure CLI to version 2.49.0 and above. Use the below command to check your current installed version.
```
az --version
```

Generate a new SSH key pair or use an existing one (Windows 10 and above now comes with a built-in ssh client).

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096

To retrieve the SSH public key after it’s been created, depending on your environment, use one of the below methods:

In Linux, use the cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub command.
In Windows (CMD/PowerShell), use the SSH public key file that by default, is located in the C:\Users\WINUSER/.ssh/id_rsa.pub folder.

SSH public key example output:

ssh-rsa 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 user@pc

Create Azure service principal (SP). To deploy this scenario, an Azure service principal assigned with multiple Role-based access control (RBAC) roles is required:
- “Contributor” - Required for provisioning Azure resources
- “Security admin” - Required for installing Cloud Defender Azure-Arc enabled Kubernetes extension and dismiss alerts
- “Security reader” - Required for being able to view Azure-Arc enabled Kubernetes Cloud Defender extension findings
  
  To create it login to your Azure account run the below command (this can also be done in Azure Cloud Shell.
```
az login
subscriptionId=$(az account show --query id --output tsv)
az ad sp create-for-rbac -n "<Unique SP Name>" --role "Contributor" --scopes /subscriptions/$subscriptionId
az ad sp create-for-rbac -n "<Unique SP Name>" --role "Security admin" --scopes /subscriptions/$subscriptionId
az ad sp create-for-rbac -n "<Unique SP Name>" --role "Security reader" --scopes /subscriptions/$subscriptionId
```
  For example:
```
az login
subscriptionId=$(az account show --query id --output tsv)
az ad sp create-for-rbac -n "JumpstartArcAppSvc" --role "Contributor" --scopes /subscriptions/$subscriptionId
az ad sp create-for-rbac -n "JumpstartArcAppSvc" --role "Security admin" --scopes /subscriptions/$subscriptionId
az ad sp create-for-rbac -n "JumpstartArcAppSvc" --role "Security reader" --scopes /subscriptions/$subscriptionId
```
  Output should look like this:
```
{
"appId": "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
"displayName": "JumpstartArcAppSvc",
"password": "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
"tenant": "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
}
```
  NOTE: If you create multiple subsequent role assignments on the same service principal, your client secret (password) will be destroyed and recreated each time. Therefore, make sure you grab the correct password.
  
  NOTE: The Jumpstart scenarios are designed with as much ease of use in-mind and adhering to security-related best practices whenever possible. It is optional but highly recommended to scope the service principal to a specific Azure subscription and resource group as well considering using a less privileged service principal account

Automation Flow

For you to get familiar with the automation and deployment flow, below is an explanation.

User is editing the ARM template parameters file (1-time edit). These parameters values are being used throughout the deployment.
Main azuredeploy ARM template will initiate the deployment of the linked ARM templates:
- VNET - Deploys a Virtual Network with a single subnet to be used by the Client virtual machine.
- aks - Deploys the AKS cluster where all the Azure Arc app services will be deployed.
- clientVm - Deploys the client Windows VM. This is where all user interactions with the environment are made from.
- logAnalytics - Deploys Azure Log Analytics workspace to support Azure Arc-enabled app services logs uploads.
User remotes into client Windows VM, which automatically kicks off the AppServicesLogonScript PowerShell script that deploy the AKS cluster and will configure Azure Arc-enabled app services Kubernetes environment on the AKS cluster.

Deployment

As mentioned, this deployment will leverage ARM templates. You will deploy a single template that will initiate the entire automation for this scenario.

The deployment is using the ARM template parameters file. Before initiating the deployment, edit the azuredeploy.parameters.json file located in your local cloned repository folder. An example parameters file is located here.
- sshRSAPublicKey - Your SSH public key
- spnClientId - Your Azure service principal id
- spnClientSecret - Your Azure service principal secret
- spnTenantId - Your Azure tenant id
- windowsAdminUsername - Client Windows VM Administrator name
- windowsAdminPassword - Client Windows VM Password. Password must have 3 of the following: 1 lower case character, 1 upper case character, 1 number, and 1 special character. The value must be between 12 and 123 characters long.
- logAnalyticsWorkspaceName - Unique name for the deployment log analytics workspace.
- deployAppService - Boolean that sets whether or not to deploy App Service plan and a Web App. For this scenario, we leave it set to true.
- deployFunction - Boolean that sets whether or not to deploy App Service plan and an Azure Function application. For this scenario, we leave it set to false.
- deployAPIMgmt - Boolean that sets whether or not to deploy a self-hosted Azure API Management gateway. For this scenario, we leave it set to false.
- deployLogicApp - Boolean that sets whether or not to deploy App Service plan and an Azure Logic App. For this scenario, we leave it set to false.
- templateBaseUrl - GitHub URL to the deployment template - filled in by default to point to Microsoft/Azure Arc repository, but you can point this to your forked repo as well.
- adminEmail - an email address that will be used on the Azure API Management deployment to receive all system notifications.
- deployBastion - Choice (true | false) to deploy Azure Bastion or not to connect to the client VM.
- bastionHostName - Azure Bastion host name.
To deploy the ARM template, navigate to the local cloned deployment folder and run the below command:
```
az group create --name <Name of the Azure resource group> --location <Azure Region>
az deployment group create \
--resource-group <Name of the Azure resource group> \
--name <The name of this deployment> \
--template-uri https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/azure_arc/main/azure_arc_app_services_jumpstart/aks/ARM/azuredeploy.json \
--parameters <The *azuredeploy.parameters.json* parameters file location>
```
NOTE: Make sure that you are using the same Azure resource group name as the one you’ve just used in the azuredeploy.parameters.json file

For example:
```
az group create --name Arc-AppSvc-Demo --location "East US"
az deployment group create \
--resource-group Arc-AppSvc-Demo \
--name arcappsvc \
--template-uri https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/azure_arc/main/azure_arc_app_services_jumpstart/aks/ARM/azuredeploy.json \
--parameters azuredeploy.parameters.json
```
NOTE: The deployment time for this scenario can take ~10-20min

NOTE: Since Azure Arc-enabled app services is currently in preview, deployment regions availability is limited to East US and West Europe.

NOTE: If you receive an error message stating that the requested VM size is not available in the desired location (as an example: ‘Standard_D8s_v3’), it means that there is currently a capacity restriction for that specific VM size in that particular region. Capacity restrictions can occur due to various reasons, such as high demand or maintenance activities. Microsoft Azure periodically adjusts the available capacity in each region based on usage patterns and resource availability. To continue deploying this scenario, please try to re-run the deployment using another region.
Once Azure resources has been provisioned, you will be able to see it in Azure portal.

Various options are available to connect to Arc-App-Client VM, depending on the parameters you supplied during deployment.

RDP - available after configuring access to port 3389 on the Arc-App-Client-NSG, or by enabling Just-in-Time access (JIT).
Azure Bastion - available if true was the value of your deployBastion parameter during deployment.

Connecting directly with RDP

By design, port 3389 is not allowed on the network security group. Therefore, you must create an NSG rule to allow inbound 3389.

Open the Arc-App-Client-NSG resource in Azure portal and click “Add” to add a new rule.
Specify the IP address that you will be connecting from and select RDP as the service with “Allow” set as the action. You can retrieve your public IP address by accessing https://icanhazip.com or https://whatismyip.com.

Connect using Azure Bastion

If you have chosen to deploy Azure Bastion in your deployment, use it to connect to the VM.

NOTE: When using Azure Bastion, the desktop background image is not visible. Therefore some screenshots in this guide may not exactly match your experience if you are connecting with Azure Bastion.

Connect using just-in-time access (JIT)

If you already have Microsoft Defender for Cloud enabled on your subscription and would like to use JIT to access the Client VM, use the following steps:

In the Client VM configuration pane, enable just-in-time. This will enable the default settings.

Post Deployment

At first login, as mentioned in the “Automation Flow” section above, the AppServicesLogonScript PowerShell logon script will start it’s run.
Let the script to run its course and do not close the PowerShell session, this will be done for you once completed. Once the script will finish it’s run, the logon script PowerShell session will be closed, the Windows wallpaper will change and the Azure web application will be deployed on the cluster and be ready to use.

NOTE: As you will notices from the screenshots below, during the Azure Arc-enabled app services environment, the log-processor service pods will be restarted and will go through multiple Kubernetes pod lifecycle stages. This is normal and can safely be ignored. To learn more about the various Azure Arc-enabled app services Kubernetes components, visit the official Azure Docs page.

Once the script finishes it’s run, the logon script PowerShell session will be closed, the Windows wallpaper will change, and both the app service plan and the sample web application deployed on the cluster will be ready.
Since this scenario is deploying both the app service plan and a sample web application, you will also notice additional, newly deployed Azure resources in the resources group. The important ones to notice are:
- Azure Arc-enabled Kubernetes cluster - Azure Arc-enabled app services are using this resource to deploy the app services cluster extension, as well as using Azure Arc Custom locations.
- Custom location - Provides a way for tenant administrators to use their Azure Arc-enabled Kubernetes clusters as a target location for deploying Azure services.
- App Service Kubernetes Environment - The App Service Kubernetes environment resource is required before apps may be created. It enables configuration common to apps in the custom location, such as the default DNS suffix.
- App Service plan - In App Service (Web Apps, API Apps, or Mobile Apps), an app always runs in an App Service plan. In addition, Azure Functions also has the option of running in an App Service plan. An App Service plan defines a set of compute resources for a web app to run.
- App Service - Azure App Service is an HTTP-based service for hosting web applications, REST APIs, and mobile back ends.
In this scenario, a Docker, custom container Linux-based sample Jumpstart web application was deployed. To open the deployed web application in your web browser, simply click the App Service resource and the created URL or the Browse button.

Cluster extensions

In this scenario, the Azure Arc-enabled app services cluster extension was deployed and used throughout this scenario in order to deploy the app services infrastructure.