Web Applications on Azure: Developing for Global Scale

✍ Scribed by Reagan, Rob

• Publisher: Apress
• Year: 2017
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 529
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Build .NET apps on Microsoft Azure services that can grow to Internet scale. Learn how you can make smart application architecture decisions and follow best practices so that your website can handle tens of thousands of concurrent users and deliver your content globally.

Author Rob Reagan takes you through key Azure technologies targeted toward building web applications, and along the way shares his lessons learned in scaling out a real-world web application. After an overview of web application building blocks, the book dives into relational and NoSQL data storage options on Azure, including Azure Table Storage and CosmosDB. You'll then discover how to make best use of Redis Cache, Web Jobs, Messaging Queues, and more, alongside other tips, tricks, and troubleshooting advice for when things go wrong. The book concludes with a thorough exploration of best practices for deployment at scale.

What You'll Learn

Develop scalable architecture patterns on Azure with ASP.NET MVCUnderstand the pros and cons of using SQL Azure vs. NoSQL solutions (Azure Tables, CosmosDB)Perform data migration, backup, and recovery in SQL Azure

Use effective caching

Troubleshoot your web applications

Know best practices for deployment
Who This Book Is For
Professional developers or serious hobbyists with experience developing web applications with ASP.NET MVC or Web API

✦ Table of Contents

Table of Contents......Page 5
About the Author......Page 15
About the Technical Reviewer......Page 16
Acknowledgments......Page 17
Introduction......Page 18
Cloud-Based Compute-on-Demand Services......Page 21
Infrastructure-as-a-Service vs. Platform-as-a-Service......Page 22
Visual Studio 2015 Community Edition......Page 23
SQL Server 2016 Express Edition......Page 24
Step 1: Choose the Installation Type......Page 25
Step 2: Installation Rule Check......Page 26
Step 4: Feature Selection......Page 27
Step 5: Instance Configuration......Page 28
Step 6: Server Configuration......Page 30
Step 7: Database Engine Configuration......Page 31
Redis Desktop Manager......Page 32
Free Trial......Page 33
Upgrading a Free Trial......Page 35
Purchasing a New Subscription Without a Free Trial......Page 36
Purchasing an EA......Page 37
Summary......Page 38
Chapter 2: Web Applications......Page 39
Introducing the Verify App......Page 40
Creating the Database and Person Tables......Page 41
Creating the Web Application......Page 42
Adding a SQL Server Database Project......Page 43
Adding Entity Framework Core to Verify.Web......Page 44
Generating the Entity Framework DbContext and Models Classes......Page 45
Creating the Service Layer......Page 46
Setting Up Dependency Injection......Page 49
Adding the Front-End Controllers......Page 51
Provisioning an Azure SQL Instance......Page 53
Deploying the Verify Database......Page 57
Creating Our App Services Web App......Page 59
Specify a Publish Profile......Page 61
Preview......Page 63
Intelligent Use of Threads......Page 64
App Service Plans......Page 65
Scaling Up......Page 66
Scaling Out......Page 67
Autoscale......Page 70
Load Testing......Page 71
Creating a Load Test......Page 72
Viewing Load Test Results......Page 75
Setting Appropriate Autoscale Rules......Page 78
Summary......Page 79
Data Storage Scenarios......Page 80
Persisted Data......Page 81
Relational Databases......Page 82
Azure SQL......Page 84
Scaling Azure SQL......Page 85
Sharding......Page 86
NoSQL Data Stores......Page 87
Redis Cache......Page 88
Azure Table Storage......Page 90
When to Use Azure Table Storage......Page 91
Cosmos DB......Page 92
Pricing......Page 94
Summary......Page 95
Chapter 4: Azure SQL Databases......Page 96
Introducing Azure SQL Database......Page 97
Licensing......Page 99
Exceeding a DTU Limit......Page 100
Creating the TaskZilla Project......Page 101
The TaskZilla Data Model......Page 103
Creating the ASP.NET Identity Tables......Page 104
Creating Our Tasks and Priorities Tables......Page 106
Handling Transient Faults......Page 108
Setting Up Entity Framework......Page 109
Creating the View Models......Page 113
Creating the TaskService Class......Page 116
Controllers and Views......Page 121
Running the Application......Page 126
Deployment to Azure......Page 127
Creating an Azure SQL Database Instance......Page 128
Setting Firewall Rules......Page 130
Connecting to the New Instance......Page 132
Deploying to Azure......Page 133
Publishing Schema Changes......Page 141
Backup and Restore......Page 143
Setting Up Alerts......Page 146
Scale Up......Page 149
Performance Recommendations......Page 150
Automating Performance Tuning......Page 151
Geo-replication......Page 152
Summary......Page 156
How Table Storage Works......Page 157
Types of Queries......Page 159
REST API......Page 160
Local Storage Emulator......Page 161
Table Design Guidelines......Page 162
Restaurant Finder Requirements......Page 163
Designing Our Data Storage......Page 164
Setting Up the Project......Page 165
Creating Our Restaurant Data Class......Page 166
The Data Service Class......Page 169
Project Settings......Page 174
Dependency Injection......Page 175
Loading Demo Data with the RestaurantData Controller......Page 176
Azure Storage Explorer......Page 179
Point Queries......Page 180
Row Range Scan Queries......Page 183
Partition Range Scan Queries......Page 186
Full Table Scan Queries......Page 190
ETags......Page 192
Merge......Page 193
Updating a Restaurant......Page 194
Deleting a Restaurant......Page 196
Provisioning an Azure Storage Service......Page 197
Using Your Azure Storage Service......Page 202
Summary......Page 203
Chapter 6: Cosmos DB......Page 204
Introducing Cosmos DB......Page 205
Congo, the (Hopefully) Up-and-Coming Online Retail Giant......Page 206
Congo Tech Stack......Page 207
The Cosmos DB Resource Model......Page 208
Data Modeling......Page 210
Determining Document Schemas......Page 211
Determining Partition Keys......Page 214
A Single Collection or Multiple Collections......Page 217
Creating a Collection in the Emulator......Page 218
Congo’s Initial Data......Page 222
Querying a Collection......Page 229
Creating the Congo Example Application......Page 230
Creating the Project and Solution......Page 231
Creating the Model Classes......Page 232
Creating View Model Classes......Page 236
Creating the Home Page......Page 239
The Product Details Page......Page 251
Editing a Product......Page 254
Retrieving All Reviews......Page 257
Creating a New Review......Page 260
Deleting a Review......Page 263
Creating a Cosmos DB Account, Database, and Collection......Page 266
Scaling......Page 271
Summary......Page 272
Chapter 7: Redis Cache......Page 273
The Cache Aside Pattern......Page 275
Example Project: TechStore......Page 276
Creating the Project......Page 277
Creating the Database......Page 278
Adding Entity Framework......Page 284
Adding View Models......Page 287
Creating the Service Layer......Page 290
Creating the Controller and Views......Page 294
Running the TechStore Application......Page 298
Create an Azure Redis Cache Resource......Page 300
Implementing the Cache Aside Pattern with Redis Cache......Page 301
Dealing with a Full Cache......Page 310
Viewing Redis Cache Contents......Page 311
Connect to a Redis Cache......Page 312
Viewing Cache Contents......Page 313
Scaling Azure Redis Cache......Page 314
Using Multiple Caches......Page 315
Summary......Page 316
Chapter 8: WebJobs......Page 317
Invoking WebJob Methods......Page 318
Creating Our Solution and WebJob Project......Page 320
Running Our WebJob Locally......Page 323
Creating Our WebJobDemo Web Application......Page 324
Creating Our Model......Page 326
Creating Our Services for WebJobDemo.Web......Page 329
Creating Our MVC Web Controller and View......Page 331
Running Our Web Application......Page 336
Running Our WebJob Locally: Part II......Page 338
Chrontab or Timespan Expressions......Page 341
Creating Complex Schedules by Subclassing TimerSchedule......Page 344
Handling Exceptions with the ErrorTriggerAttribute......Page 347
Throttling the ErrorTriggerAttribute......Page 350
Hosting Requirements......Page 351
FTP......Page 352
Publishing via Visual Studio......Page 354
Monitoring a WebJob in the Cloud......Page 355
Summary......Page 357
Chapter 9: Message Queues......Page 358
Benefits of Using Message Queues......Page 360
Service Bus Queues......Page 361
Azure Storage Queues......Page 363
Provisioning a Service Bus Resource......Page 364
Creating the Sender Console Application......Page 368
Creating Our Common Models Project......Page 369
Getting a Service Bus Connection String......Page 370
Adding Code to Send Queue Messages......Page 371
Viewing Service Bus Message Queue Messages with  Service Bus Explorer......Page 375
Building Our Service Bus Queue Message Receiver......Page 377
Testing Our Service Bus Queue Message Receiver......Page 382
Message Lock Timeout......Page 384
Abandoning a Message Lock......Page 386
Dead Lettering a Message......Page 388
Scaling Out......Page 389
Using Message Queues to Build Azure Web Applications......Page 390
Summary......Page 395
The Turtles Web Application......Page 396
Creating the Solution and Project......Page 397
Adding Turtle Code......Page 399
Initial Page Request......Page 403
Measuring Page Performance......Page 404
Combining and Minifying JavaScript and CSS Files......Page 406
Creating Bundles......Page 407
GZip Compression......Page 410
Using Async/Await......Page 411
Using HTTP Cache......Page 412
Using Appropriately Sized and Optimized Images......Page 413
Moving External JavaScript Files to the Bottom of the Page......Page 414
Using a Content Distribution Network......Page 415
How Azure CDN Works......Page 416
Creating a CDN for the Turtles Web Application......Page 417
Integrating Bundles......Page 422
Integrating Image Files......Page 428
Summary......Page 429
Kudu......Page 430
Application Insights......Page 432
Web Server Logs......Page 433
Using the Kudu Debug Console......Page 434
Application Logs......Page 435
Setting Up Tracing......Page 436
Kudu Process Explorer......Page 437
Diagnostics-as-a-Service......Page 438
Running DaaS......Page 439
Log Stream......Page 440
Failed Request Tracing Logs......Page 441
Auto Heal......Page 444
Setting Up Auto Heal......Page 445
Application Insights......Page 446
Installing Application Insights......Page 447
Debugging Exceptions......Page 449
Alerts......Page 453
Summary......Page 456
Chapter 12: Deployment......Page 457
Follow a Proper Code Promotion Strategy......Page 458
ARM Templates Overview......Page 459
Parameters......Page 462
Resources......Page 463
Creating ARM Templates......Page 465
Downloading ARM Templates for Preexisting Resources in the Azure Portal......Page 466
Creating Templates with a Visual Studio Azure Resource Group Project......Page 470
Creating the Database......Page 472
Accessing the Database......Page 473
The Deployment Web Application......Page 475
The Deployment WebJob......Page 479
Creating the Azure Resource Group Project......Page 482
Adding a SQL Server......Page 484
Deploying from Visual Studio......Page 488
Improving Our ARM Template......Page 491
Adding Other Resources......Page 494
The Completed Template......Page 495
Creating a Production Environment......Page 504
Defining Build Configurations......Page 505
Adding a Staging Transform for Web.config......Page 507
Transforming the Deployment.WebJob’s App.config......Page 508
Setting Up VSTS......Page 509
Defining a Build in VSTS......Page 511
Build Task: Pulling Source from the Repository......Page 512
Build Tasks: Restoring NuGet Packages......Page 514
Build Tasks: Deploy ARM Template......Page 515
Build Tasks: Copy Files Between Directories......Page 517
Build Tasks: Azure SQL Database Deployment......Page 518
Build Tasks: Deploy Web App to Azure......Page 519
Summary......Page 520
Index......Page 521