A Developer's Guide to .NET in Azure: Build quick, scalable cloud-native applications and microservices with .NET 6.0 and Azure

A Developer’s Guide to .NET in Azure

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To my beloved family, consisting of Sreeja, Sidhardh, and Sivaardra, and to my parents, Parameswaran Namboothiri and Saraswathi, I dedicate this book with heartfelt gratitude. Your unwavering support, guidance, and boundless love have been the driving force behind my journey. Thank you for being a constant source of inspiration in my life.

– Anuraj Parameswaran

To my amazing mother and sister, thank you for your unwavering support and resilience. You have inspired me to overcome challenges and reach for greatness. Your love and strength are my endless source of inspiration. I am forever grateful.

– Tamir AlBalkhi

Contributors

About the authors

Anuraj Parameswaran is a seasoned IT expert with over 19 years of experience, starting in 2004, with a strong focus on Azure and .NET technologies. Currently serving as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Socxo Solutions Pvt. Ltd., he has received seven prestigious Microsoft MVP awards. Anuraj actively participates in mentoring programs, delivers speeches at various events, and contributes extensively to both Microsoft and Azure communities. His commitment to sharing knowledge and embracing lifelong learning is exemplified by his involvement as a technical reviewer for Packt books.

I am deeply grateful to my colleagues at Socxo Solutions Pvt. Ltd. for their invaluable support and unwavering encouragement during the creation of this book. Their expertise and collaborative spirit enriched my work, and I extend my heartfelt appreciation to each member of the team. Thank you for inspiring me to strive for excellence.

Tamir Al Balkhi is a technology problem solver with 15 years of experience developing innovative and effective solutions for clients across various industries, including healthcare, finance, and retail. From steering small to medium-sized business projects to overseeing large enterprise implementations, Tamir has consistently demonstrated exceptional leadership and technical prowess. As a cloud architect and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Tamir specializes in designing and delivering best-in-class cloud solutions within the Microsoft Azure ecosystem. His agile-first mindset and commitment to a test-driven delivery approach have been instrumental in his ability to deliver projects on time, within budget, and beyond client expectations.

About the reviewers

Stéphane Eyskens started his career in 1999. Since a bit more than a decade ago, he has been at the forefront of cloud technologies, starting his Azure journey and embracing the emerging K8s platform. As a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional, Stephane contributes a lot by writing blog posts on Microsoft communities, as well as speaking at tech conferences. He has also authored multiple books on Azure and software architecture.

Matt R. Cole has functioned in many different roles over a career of more than 35 years. He was an early pioneer of VoIP. He architected and developed the VoIP system NASA used for all Space Shuttle launches and transmission out to the International Space Station. He worked with Microsoft on Azure Bonsai DRL. Matt led a digital transformation effort for MGM in Las Vegas. He has experience in C, C++, C#, .Net, Python, AI/ML, Swarm Technology, and computational neuroscience.

Matt has authored several books and contributed to several more. His current role is as a senior solutions architect for Dexian, where he works with one of the largest gas and oil companies in the world.

Table of Contents

Preface

Part 1: An Introduction to Your Environment

1

Setting Up Your Development Environment

Creating your Azure subscription

Creating resources in the Azure portal

Configuring your development environment

Installing .NET 6.0

Setting up your local environment for Azure development

Installing Visual Studio Code

Installing Visual Studio Community 2022

Creating your first project

Summary

Part 2: Serverless and Microservices

2

Creating Docker Containers on Azure

Technical requirements

Installing Docker

Exploring Docker and basic Docker commands

Docker architecture

Docker development life cycle

Docker commands

Creating Docker images for your ASP.NET Core application

Containerizing an ASP.NET Core application with the Docker CLI and Dockerfile

Containerizing your ASP.NET Core app with VS Code

Containerizing your ASP.NET Core with Visual Studio

Creating and configuring Azure Container Registry

Deploying web apps to Azure App Service from Azure Container Registry

Configuring CI/CD with ACR

Deploying a Docker image to App service from ACR using managed identities

Summary

3

Building Resilient Applications with Dapr

Technical requirements

Installing Dapr

What is Dapr?

Dapr architecture

Running ASP.NET Core with a Dapr Sidecar

Exploring Dapr’s building blocks

Service-to-service invocation

State management

Publish and subscribe

Enabling Dapr support in Azure Container Apps

Summary

4

Designing Microservices with AKS and Containers in Azure

What is Kubernetes?

How does Kubernetes achieve its goals?

Self-hosted Kubernetes versus Azure Kubernetes Service

Self-hosted Kubernetes

Azure Kubernetes Service

Kubernetes Pods

Kubernetes control plane

Kubernetes Service

Nodes

Persistent Volumes

Deployments

Ingress

Setting up an Azure Kubernetes Service cluster

Troubleshooting Pods and Deployments

Introducing containers

Difference between containers and AKS

When to use Azure Container Instances

Container groups

ACI connector for Kubernetes

Summary

5

Building Serverless Apps with Azure Functions and Container Apps

Overview of serverless computing

Monolithic architecture versus microservice architecture

Resource provisioning and management

Scaling

Cost

Deployment and management

Event-driven architecture

Introducing Azure Functions

Azure Functions use cases

Azure Functions runtime

Azure Functions – in-process versus isolated process

Azure Functions plans

Exploring the Azure ASE

Azure Functions triggers

HTTP trigger

Azure Functions bindings

The host.json file

Delving into Azure Functions security

Authentication and authorization

Managed identities for Azure Functions

Azure Functions access keys

Authorization scopes in Azure Functions

Azure Durable Functions

Elements of Azure Durable Functions

Stateful versus stateless workflows

Application patterns

Setting up an Azure function

Getting started with Azure Container Apps

Azure Container Apps overview

Deploying Docker containers to Azure Container Apps

Deploying a container to Azure Container Apps via the Azure portal

Deploying a container to Azure Container Apps via the Azure CLI

Configuring CI/CD from source control to Azure Container Apps

Summary

Part 3: Data and Storage

6

Exploring Azure Blob Storage

What is Azure Blob Storage?

Types of blobs in Azure Blob Storage

Block blobs

Page blobs

Append blobs

Pricing tiers

Lifecycle management

Transitioning between tiers

Automated data expiry

Rule definitions

Creating a Blob Storage account in Azure

Blob Storage availability

Locally-redundant storage

Zone-redundant storage

Geo-redundant storage

Read-access geo-redundant storage

Choosing the right replication type for your application

Avoiding common mistakes and pitfalls

Understanding the .NET client library

Security in Azure Blob Storage

Public access levels

Shared Access Signature

Azure Active Directory

Role-based access control with Azure AD

Encryption in Azure Blob Storage

Summary

7

Creating an Azure SQL Database

Technical requirements

Introducing Azure SQL Database

Creating an Azure SQL database

Creating an Azure SQL database using the Azure portal

Creating an Azure SQL database using the Azure CLI

Creating an Azure SQL database using the Azure ARM template

Writing and reading data from Azure SQL Database using .NET Core and EF Core

Connecting to Azure SQL Database from ASP.NET Core

Configuring security in Azure SQL Database

Connecting to Azure SQL Server using an identity

Working with system-assigned managed identities

Configuring an Azure SQL firewall

Configuring the Azure SQL Server private endpoint

Summary

8

Creating Documents via .NET for Azure Cosmos DB

Introduction to Azure Cosmos DB

The Document API (SQL API)

The Table API

The MongoDB API

The Gremlin API (Graph API)

Request units in Cosmos DB

Performance and scaling in Azure Cosmos DB

What are throughput, latency, and RUs in Cosmos DB?

Optimizing for throughput in Cosmos DB

Optimizing for latency in Cosmos DB

Optimizing for RUs in Cosmos DB

Best practices for performance and scaling in Cosmos DB

Explaining containers in Azure Cosmos DB

Items in Azure Cosmos DB

Consistency in Azure Cosmos DB

Strong consistency

Bounded staleness

Session consistency

Consistent prefix

Eventual consistency

Understanding partition keys in Azure Cosmos DB

Why are partition keys valuable?

Creating partition keys in .NET

Best practices for using partition keys

Exploring indexes in Azure Cosmos DB

What are indexes?

Why are indexes valuable?

How to create indexes in .NET

Best practices for using indexes

Creating an Azure Cosmos DB database with the Azure CLI

Querying and managing data in Azure Cosmos DB with the .NET SDK

Querying data with the .NET SDK

Using the SQL API

Using LINQ

Managing data with the .NET SDK

Inserting data

Updating data

Deleting data

Managing containers and databases

Using the change feed

Developing with Azure Cosmos DB

Working with the .NET SDK

Cosmos DB cold start problem

Gateway versus direct mode connection

Designing efficient data access patterns

Considerations for performance and cost optimization

Cost optimization

Performance optimization

Monitoring and performance tuning

Summary

Part 4: Messaging Mechanisms and Security

9

Utilizing Azure App Configuration

Technical requirements

Introducing Azure App Configuration

Creating Azure App Configuration instance using the Azure portal

Creating an Azure App Configuration instance using the Azure CLI

Using Azure App Configuration in ASP.NET Core

Dynamic configuration in ASP.NET Core

Exploring feature toggles

Implementing feature toggles from ASP.NET Core

Using features from Azure App Configuration

Summary

10

Processing Data with Azure Event Hubs

Key concepts of Azure Event Hubs

Events

Event producers

Event consumers

Partitions

Event Hubs namespaces

Event ingestion and processing with Azure Event Hubs

Scaling and availability in Azure Event Hubs

Integrating Azure Event Hubs in the Azure ecosystem

How Azure Event Hubs handles event ingestion

Event storage and retention

How Azure Event Hubs handles larger retention periods

Fault tolerance and reliability

Replication, high availability, and disaster recovery capabilities

Setting up an Azure Event Hubs client in .NET

Establishing a connection to an Event Hub

Sending events to an event hub using the Event Hubs client

Processing and handling events in a .NET application

Routing, load balancing, and error handling

Routing events to different partitions

Balancing the load among multiple consumers

Handling failures

Understanding common failure scenarios in event processing

Dead-lettering and handling poison messages

Dead-lettering

Handling poison messages

Monitoring and alerting for failures and errors

Azure Monitor

Azure alerts

Building robust applications with Azure Event Hubs

Configuring access control and permissions for Event Hubs

Using Azure Active Directory for authentication and authorization

Encrypting data in transit and at rest

Best practices to secure Event Hubs in a production environment

Scaling and performance optimization

Techniques to scale event hubs horizontally and vertically

Summary

11

Designing Ready-Made Solutions with Azure Service Bus

Understanding Azure Service Bus

Message queues

Topics and subscriptions

Dead-letter queues

Scheduled delivery

The unique capabilities of Azure Service Bus

Azure Service Bus versus other messaging technologies

Considerations for designing enterprise solutions using Azure Service Bus

Message patterns and communication models

Scalability and throughput requirements

Message durability and reliability

Security and access control considerations

Monitoring, diagnostics, and error handling

Delving into topics and subscriptions

Publishing and subscribing to topics

Filters and rules for message routing

The Competing Consumers pattern with subscriptions

The fan-in and fan-out pattern

Handling dead-letter messages

Scaling and high availability in Azure Service Bus

Scaling out and partitioning with Service Bus

Load balancing and message distribution across namespaces

Availability and disaster recovery considerations

Using geographic redundancy and zone redundancy

Optimizing Service Bus performance

Design considerations for optimal performance

Azure Service Bus best practices

Cost management and pricing tiers

Integrating Azure Service Bus with enterprise architectures

Service Bus and event-driven architectures

Real-world use cases and examples of Azure service bus integration

Message versioning

Creating an Azure Service Bus via the CLI

Summary

12

Enhancing Data Protection with Azure Key Vault

Technical requirements

Introducing Azure Key Vault

Creating an Azure Key Vault service

Creating a key vault from the Azure portal

Creating a key vault using the Azure CLI

Setting up secrets, certificates, and keys

Configuring RBAC permissions for Azure Key Vault

Setting and retrieving a secret from Azure Key Vault

Setting and retrieving a certificate from Azure Key Vault

Setting and retrieving a key from Azure Key Vault

Setting up authentication in Azure Key Vault

Using a system-assigned identity

Using a user-assigned managed identity

Summary

13

Managing Access with Azure Active Directory B2C

Technical requirements

Introducing Azure AD B2C

Different authentication flows

Creating and configuring Azure AD B2C instance

Creating an Azure AD B2C resource

Registering a web application to Azure AD B2C

Creating and configuring user flows

Using Azure AD B2C in ASP.NET Core applications

Different types of tokens

Using Azure AD B2C in single-page applications

Configuring social media login with Azure AD B2C

Summary

Index

Other Books You May Enjoy

Preface

Unlock the power of the cloud and propel your .NET development skills to new heights with this must-have guide to building cloud-native applications and services on Azure. In a world where over 95% of advanced digital workloads are shifting to cloud-native platforms by 2025, now is the time to equip yourself with the knowledge and expertise to stay ahead of the curve. Immerse yourself in a captivating journey as this comprehensive book takes you step-by-step through the exhilarating process of creating and deploying your cloud-native applications on Azure.

With a laser focus on .NET, you’ll dive into the captivating world of containerization with Docker, harness the full potential of Azure Kubernetes Service, and master the art of building serverless apps with Azure Functions. But that’s just the beginning. Prepare to be amazed as this guide unlocks the secrets of Azure’s remarkable container technologies, paving the way for running microservices and containerized apps effortlessly.

Discover the sheer power and flexibility of Dapr, empowering you with APIs for building portable and rock-solid microservices. Resilience becomes your middle name as you explore a plethora of patterns and best practices, leveraging messaging services such as Azure Service Bus and Azure Event Hubs to construct robust applications that never falter. Delve into the world of SQL and NoSQL databases, mastering the art of storing and retrieving data with finesse.

Security takes center stage as you navigate the intricate realm of service implementation, APIs, and authentication with Azure AD B2C. With meticulous attention to detail, this book guides you through proper implementations, ensuring your applications are fortified against potential threats.

But it doesn’t stop there. Unlock the secrets of the 12-factor app methodology as you delve into the realms of configuration and secrets management. Unearth the hidden gems of Azure Key Vault and configuration services, and witness their transformative power in creating harmonious and cohesive applications.

By reaching the final page, you will have conquered a myriad of Azure services, empowering you to construct awe-inspiring, scalable, manageable, and resilient applications and microservices with .NET and Azure. Take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity to embark on a journey that will elevate your skills and propel your career to new heights. Get your copy of A Developer’s Guide to .NET in Azure today and unlock the limitless potential of the cloud-native world!

Who this book is for

Calling all .NET developers and architects ready to embark on an extraordinary journey into the realm of scalable and resilient applications. This book is tailor-made for you, equipping you with the skills and knowledge to develop and deploy awe-inspiring applications using .NET and Azure. With a basic understanding of .NET, you’ll be guided through the enchanting world of Azure, unlocking the full potential of these cutting-edge technologies. Whether you’re a seasoned developer or an aspiring enthusiast, this book is your gateway to mastering the art of building remarkable applications with .NET and Azure.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Setting Up Your Development Environment, shows you how to set up your development environment for .NET and Azure, ensuring a smooth and efficient workflow.

Chapter 2, Creating Docker Containers on Azure, covers the power of containerization as you dive into creating and deploying Docker containers on the Azure platform.

Chapter 3, Building Resilient Applications with Dapr, explores the world of Dapr and harnesses its APIs to build highly resilient and portable microservices in your applications.

Chapter 4, Designing Microservices with AKS and Containers in Azure, teaches you how to master the art of designing and deploying microservices using Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) for scalability and efficiency.

Chapter 5, Building Serverless Apps with Azure Functions and Azure Container Apps, shows you how to unleash the potential of serverless computing as you learn to build and deploy serverless applications on Azure.

Chapter 6, Exploring Azure Blob Storage, shows you how to efficiently store and retrieve data using Azure Blob storage for your application’s data storage needs.

Chapter 7, Creating an Azure SQL Database, dives into the world of Azure SQL Database and discovers how to create and manage robust relational databases in the cloud.

Chapter 8, Creating Documents via .NET for Azure Cosmos DB, shows you how to unlock the power of Azure Cosmos DB and its document database capabilities as you build and manage documents using .NET.

Chapter 9, Utilizing Azure App Configuration, explores Azure App Configuration and shows you how to manage and control your application’s configuration with ease.

Chapter 10, Processing Data with Azure Event Hubs, delves into the world of event-driven architectures and shows you how to process and manage data using Azure Event Hubs.

Chapter 11, Designing Ready-Made Solutions with Azure Service Bus, explores the capabilities of Azure Service Bus and shows you how to design robust and scalable enterprise solutions with ease.

Chapter 12, Enhancing Data Protection with Azure Key Vault, shows you how to master the art of securing sensitive data by leveraging Azure Key Vault and implementing robust data protection measures.

Chapter 13, Managing Access with Azure Active Directory B2C, explores the world of identity management and teaches you how to utilize Azure Active Directory B2C for secure access control.

To get the most out of this book

If you are using the digital version of this book, we advise you to type the code yourself or access the code from the book’s GitHub repository (a link is available in the next section). Doing so will help you avoid any potential errors related to the copying and pasting of code.

Download the example code files

You can download the example code files for this book from GitHub at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/A-Developer-s-Guide-to-.NET-in-Azure. If there’s an update to the code, it will be updated in the GitHub repository.

We also have other code bundles from our rich catalog of books and videos available at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/. Check them out!

Conventions used

There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.

Code in text: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles. Here is an example: We will be using the dotnet new mvc command with some extra parameters for supporting authentication using Azure AD B2C.

A block of code is set as follows:

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

var app = builder.Build();

app.UseStaticFiles();

app.MapFallbackToFile(index.html);

app.Run();

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

> dotnet new mvc -o Chapter13.MVC --framework net6.0 --auth IndividualB2C --aad-b2c-instance https://pakctchapter13.b2clogin.com  --susi-policy-id B2C_1_SignupSignIn --domain pakctchapter13.onmicrosoft.com --SignedOutCallbackPath /signout/B2C_1_SignupSignIn  --client-id 43ce7f01-c5f0-4198-b3bc-fed398f319f9 --tenant-id f5aa067e-157b-4b56-b18b-8197479efea7 --callback-path /signin-oidc

Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see onscreen. For instance, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in bold. Here is an example: Once the Azure AD B2C resource is created, we can click on View resource and view the overview of Azure AD B2C.

Tips or important notes

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Part 1: An Introduction to Your Environment

Kicking off our exploration of Microsoft Azure, this initial chapter aims to help you understand the Azure landscape. We introduce you to the Azure portal, where you can set up every resource that will be discussed in the upcoming chapters. We'll also help you set up your Azure development environment, including selecting and configuring your integrated development environment (IDE) for seamless Azure integration.

This part has the following chapter:

Chapter 1, Setting Up Your Development Environment

1

Setting Up Your Development Environment

Welcome to the first chapter! This chapter will guide you through the steps to set up your development environment and create your first Azure project.

We will start by discussing how to create your Azure subscription, which is the first step in getting started with Azure development. We will provide you with a step-by-step guide on setting up your subscription, including selecting the right subscription type and configuring your account settings.

Next, we will dive into configuring your development environment. This includes setting up your machine with the software, tools, and dependencies required for Azure development. We will guide you through this process, ensuring you have a well-configured environment.

After that, we will set up your Visual Studio for success. Visual Studio is a robust integrated development environment (IDE) that provides the tools to build, test, and deploy your Azure projects. We will show you how to configure Visual Studio for Azure development, including how to set up your project templates and debugging tools.

Finally, we will walk you through creating your first project in Azure. We will provide a hands-on approach, guiding you through creating a new Azure project, setting up your project structure, and deploying your project to the cloud.

In this chapter, we will cover the following main topics:

Creating your Azure subscription

Configuring your development environment

Setting up your Visual Studio for success

Creating your first project

By the end of this chapter, you will have a solid understanding of how to create your Azure subscription, configure your development environment, set up Visual Studio for success, and create your first Azure project. So, let’s get started!

Creating your Azure subscription

You need an Azure subscription to work with examples in this book. In this section, you will learn about how to create an Azure subscription. Let’s get started with the steps:

Open the browser, and navigate to https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/free/.

Figure 1.1 – Create your free Azure account screen

Click on the Start free button. On the second screen, you need to create an account. Click on the Create one! link.

Figure 1.2 – Azure account setup – signing in with a live account/signing up for a live account

You can use either your existing email address or you can create a new email address. We are using the existing email option.

Figure 1.3 – Creating a live account – email address

You need to create a password for your account and complete some CAPTCHA verification to create the account. Once it is completed, you will be redirected to an Azure account creation screen.

Figure 1.4 – Azure account profile creation

On the screen, you need to provide your personal details, contact information, and your credit card information – for verification purposes. For verification purposes, $2 from your card will be charged and it will be credited to your card within one to two days.

Once the signup is successfully completed, you will be able to see the success page as follows. From this screen, you will be able to access the Azure portal.

Figure 1.5 – Azure account creation – success page

Click on the Go to Azure portal button to access the Azure portal and you will be able to see a screen like this.

Figure 1.6 – Azure portal

The preceding screenshot shows the Azure portal where you can create and manage resources.

In the portal, you can search for resources in the middle search bar, which will help you to search for resources have you created; the available Azure services that you can create; the Marketplace, which you can use to access resources from third-party providers; and documentation on the Azure service you are looking for.

In this example, I am searching for Storage since there is no storage account created. It does not show any existing resources, but the portal shows me services such as Azure Storage Account and Storage browser, and then it shows some Marketplace suggestions and finally, the documentation related to the Storage keyword.

Figure 1.7 – Searching for resources – the Azure portal

In the portal, after the search bar, you can see a Cloud Shell icon, which helps you execute commands in either PowerShell or Bash shell – you can use this feature to create resources using the command line.

Figure 1.8 – Cloud Shell icon – Azure portal

The Directories + Subscriptions icon will help you switch between different active directories and subscriptions.

Figure 1.9 – Directories + Subscriptions – Azure portal

Once you click on the button, you will be able to see all directories.

Figure 1.10 – Directories + Subscriptions page – Azure portal

In the portal, the notifications icon will show different notifications, such as remaining credit, resource provisioning status, and so on.

Figure 1.11 – Notifications – Azure portal

Next is the settings icon, which helps you to customize the look and feel of the portal.

Figure 1.12 – Settings – Azure portal

Clicking on the settings icon will take you portal settings page where we have the following options:

By default, it will open the Directories + Subscriptions page.

You can click on the Appearance + startup views menu to configure the look and feel of the portal. In this section, you can also configure the first screen in terms of what you see on it when you log in.

Figure 1.13 – Configure appearance and startup view – Azure portal

The Language + region option helps you to configure the currency format and date/time value.

Figure 1.14 - Setting up language, date, and currency format – Azure portal

The My information section displays your email address and helps you to subscribe to different emails from Microsoft. You will be able to Export settings, which helps to export your current Azure portal configuration as a JSON file. The Delete all settings and private dashboards option helps you to remove all the settings and dashboards created.

Figure 1.15 – My information – Azure portal

Finally, the Signing out + notifications page helps you to configure notifications and sign-out options.

Figure 1.16 – Signing out and notifications configuration – Azure portal

Click on the Support + troubleshooting icon to learn about the health status of different Azure services. Also, you will be able to see different links to access billing FAQs, documentation, and the technical community.

Figure 1.17 – The Support and troubleshooting option – Azure portal

Click on the Feedback icon to share your experience with the Azure portal.

Figure 1.18 – Send feedback – Azure portal

Click on the Show Portal Menu option to see the Azure portal menu.

Figure 1.19 – Azure portal

You can customize this menu, which will help you to access different services quickly. The Azure portal comes with a Dashboard view as well. You will be able to create different dashboards and share them with your other team members.

Figure 1.20 – Azure portal

Click on the Dashboard button to see your private dashboard – by default, it will show as My Dashboard.

Figure 1.21 – Dashboard view – Azure portal

You can customize the dashboard. You can click on the Edit button, and on the screen, you can remove existing widgets and add different widgets.

Figure 1.22 – Customizing the dashboard – Azure portal

Upon completing the customization, you can preview the changes, and then you will be able to save the changes by clicking on the Save button. You can share the dashboard with other users in the subscription using the Share button.

Figure 1.23 – Share dashboard – Azure portal

In this section, we learned about creating an Azure account and how to customize and configure the Azure portal. You will be able to create and manage different Azure resources from the Azure portal.

Creating resources in the Azure portal

Next, you will learn how to create a resource in the Azure portal:

You need to click on the + Create a resource button.

Figure 1.24 – Azure portal – + Create a resource

On the next screen, you need to choose the resource you want to create.

Figure 1.25 – Azure portal – Create a resource

For demo purposes, I will create a resource group. It’s a container that contains related resources in an Azure solution. It is a best practice to create resources related to a project or product in the same resource group. You can search for resource group and click on the first result. Then, you will be able to see the details of the service/resource you’re about to create.

Figure 1.26 – Azure portal – new resource group

Click on the Create button.

On the Create a resource group screen, provide the name of the resource group – HelloWorld – set Subscription to Free Trial, and set Region to a region near your location.

Figure 1.27 – Azure portal – Create a resource group – Basics screen

Click on the Review + create button to view the details of the resource you’re going to create, and then create the resource upon confirmation by clicking the button again. In the case of a resource group, you will only see the configuration values you created, but in the case of certain resources such as virtual machines or app services, you need to configure mandatory fields – then, you can click on Review + create – in such a scenario, you will be able to see the default values on this screen.

Or you can assign tags to the resource on the Tags tab. Tags are key-value pairs that act as metadata for Azure resources, which helps you to identify resources. Tags are helpful for tracking, organizing, grouping, and analyzing costs for resources. It is a best practice to add tags to your Azure resources.

Figure 1.28 – Azure portal – associating tags

Upon clicking the Review + create button again, you will be able to see the details of the resources and the tags:

Figure 1.29 – Azure portal – Create a resource group confirmation screen

This screen will also help you to create an automation script. You can download the Azure Resource Management (ARM) script by clicking on the Download a template for automation link.

Once you click on the Create button, Azure will create the resource group and you will get a notification.

Figure 1.30 – Azure portal – Resource created notification

This way, you will be able to create resources in the Azure portal. Now you have learned how to create an account and create a free trial subscription in Azure portal. You also learned about how to create resources in Azure using the Azure portal. You will be able to create resources using the Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell as well. Next, you will learn about configuring your development environment.

Configuring your development environment

Setting up your development environment is essential for success because it provides you with the necessary tools and resources to efficiently and effectively develop, test, and deploy your software. A properly configured development environment allows you to streamline your workflow, automate tasks, and catch errors early on in the development process. If you’re new to coding, I’m sure you’re wondering how to set up the right environment for you so that you can get coding quickly and easily. You want to be able to focus on what matters most: creating great code!

There are many different ways to do this, but here is a simple guide that will show you how to set up an IDE for .NET programming on Azure. This guide will give you a solid foundation upon which you can build your knowledge of Python and other programming languages.

If you already have an environment setup, please note we will be working through examples utilizing .NET 6.0 in this book and that needs to be installed on your machine. If you are starting from scratch, follow the instructions below to get started.

Installing .NET 6.0

Follow these steps to install .NET 6.0:

Open your browser and go to this web page: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet. We will primarily be working in .NET 6.0 so make sure to choose the option related to the system you are using.

Figure 1.31 – .NET Download page

You need to download the .NET 6.0 SDK. Once the Software Development Kit (SDK) has been downloaded, execute the downloaded executable, which will bring up the following setup screen.

In a Windows operating system, the executable will show a welcome screen as follows (see Figure 1.32) from where you can install the .NET SDK. In Windows, it will prompt for administrator access.

Figure 1.32 – .NET SDK – Windows installation

On Mac machines, it will show a welcome screen like this.

Figure 1.33 – .NET SDK – Mac installation

In Linux distributions, .NET SDK supports two types of installation – manual installation and script installation. With manual installation, we need to download the .NET SDK, execute the files, and configure paths. In script installation, we can download a .NET installation script from here: https://dot.net/v1/dotnet-install.sh. For developers or normal users, scripted installation is recommended. Once we have downloaded the script, we need to make it executable using the chmod command, and then execute the script.

Here are the bash commands to do this:

> wget https://dot.net/v1/dotnet-install.sh -O dotnet-install.sh

> chmod +x ./dotnet-install.sh

> ./dotnet-install.sh

This will install the .NET 6.0 SDK in most of the Linux distributions. You can find more details about the installation here: https://learn.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/install/linux?WT.mc_id=DT-MVP-5002040.

Now that we’ve successfully installed .NET 6.0, we can continue setting up our IDEs.

Setting up your local environment for Azure development

You need to set up and configure the development environment for building your applications in .NET and Azure. In this section, you will configure Visual Studio Code (VS Code) and Visual Studio. Visual Studio Code is an open source editor for building ASP.NET Core and C# applications.

Installing Visual Studio Code

Follow these steps to install Visual Studio Code:

Visit the Microsoft site to download Visual Studio Code: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/

Figure 1.34 – Visual Studio/VS Code download page

Based on your development machine’s operating system, download the applicable VS Code executable.

Figure 1.35 – VS Code – download page

Accept the terms and conditions and continue with the installation:

Figure 1.36 – VS Code Editor

Unlike on Windows and Mac, installing VS Code on Linux is easy – we just need to run the following command: sudo snap install --classic code. This will install VS Code on Linux. For more information on the VS Code installation, check out this page: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/setup/linux.

Click on Extensions or press the Ctrl + Shift + X shortcut keys on Windows or Cmd + Shift + X on Mac and install the following extensions:

Azure Tools

Azure CLI Tools

Azure Pipelines

Azure Kubernetes Service

Azure Storage Explorer

C# Extension

Installing Visual Studio Community 2022

Follow these