Azure Containers

1. Container Services Overview

Azure provides three primary services for running containers, each targeting different workloads:

Decision matrix:

Criteria	Container Apps	Container Instances (ACI)	Kubernetes Service (AKS)
Use case	Microservices, APIs, background workers	One-off tasks, batch jobs, sidecar testing	Full Kubernetes control plane
Scaling	KEDA-based autoscale (0 to N)	Manual (1 container group)	Cluster autoscaler + HPA
Dapr	Built-in sidecar	Not supported	Manual Dapr installation
Networking	Managed ingress + VNet integration	VNet injection, public IP	Full CNI control
Pricing	Per vCPU-second + memory-second	Per vCPU-second + memory-second	Node VM cost + management fee
Startup time	Seconds (warm)	Seconds (cold)	Minutes (node provisioning)
Complexity	Low (serverless-like)	Lowest	Highest
State	Stateless (use external stores)	Ephemeral or Azure Files	Persistent volumes (Azure Disk/Files)

When to use each service:

• Container Apps: HTTP APIs, microservices with service discovery, event-driven workers, apps that need scale-to-zero, Dapr-based distributed apps.
• ACI: Quick one-off jobs, CI/CD build agents, burst workloads from AKS (virtual nodes), dev/test containers, GPU workloads.
• AKS: Full Kubernetes API needed, existing Helm charts, complex networking (service mesh, custom CNI), stateful workloads with persistent volumes, multi-cluster federation.

Pricing models:

• Container Apps (Consumption): $0.000024/vCPU-second + $0.000003/GiB-second. Free grants: 180,000 vCPU-seconds, 360,000 GiB-seconds per subscription per month.
• Container Apps (Dedicated): Workload profile pricing based on reserved node SKUs.
• ACI: $0.0000135/vCPU-second + $0.0000015/GB-second (Linux). Windows containers cost ~2x. GPU instances priced per GPU-second.

2. Azure Container Registry

Azure Container Registry (ACR) is a managed Docker registry for storing and managing container images and OCI artifacts.

SKU comparison:

Feature	Basic	Standard	Premium
Storage	10 GB	100 GB	500 GB
Webhooks	2	10	500
Geo-replication	No	No	Yes
Private link	No	No	Yes
Content trust	No	No	Yes
Customer-managed keys	No	No	Yes
Availability zones	No	No	Yes
Price (approx.)	$0.167/day	$0.667/day	$1.667/day

Create a registry:

az acr create \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --name myregistry \
  --sku Standard \
  --admin-enabled false

Authenticate and push:

# Login with Azure CLI credentials (recommended)
az acr login --name myregistry

# Build and push locally
docker build -t myregistry.azurecr.io/myapp:1.0.0 .
docker push myregistry.azurecr.io/myapp:1.0.0

ACR Build (cloud-based — no local Docker needed):

az acr build \
  --registry myregistry \
  --image myapp:1.0.0 \
  .

ACR Tasks for automated builds:

# Build on every git commit
az acr task create \
  --registry myregistry \
  --name auto-build \
  --image myapp:{{.Run.ID}} \
  --context https://github.com/org/repo.git \
  --file Dockerfile \
  --git-access-token $PAT

# Build on base image update
az acr task create \
  --registry myregistry \
  --name base-update \
  --image myapp:{{.Run.ID}} \
  --context https://github.com/org/repo.git \
  --file Dockerfile \
  --base-image-trigger-enabled

Geo-replication (Premium SKU):

az acr replication create --registry myregistry --location westeurope
az acr replication create --registry myregistry --location southeastasia

Private endpoints (Premium SKU):

az acr update --name myregistry --public-network-enabled false
az network private-endpoint create \
  --name myacr-pe \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --vnet-name myVNet \
  --subnet mySubnet \
  --private-connection-resource-id $(az acr show --name myregistry --query id -o tsv) \
  --group-ids registry \
  --connection-name myConnection

Image management:

# List repositories
az acr repository list --name myregistry --output table

# List tags
az acr repository show-tags --name myregistry --repository myapp --orderby time_desc

# Delete old images (keep latest 5)
az acr run --cmd "acr purge --filter 'myapp:.*' --ago 30d --keep 5 --untagged" --registry myregistry /dev/null

# Import from Docker Hub or another registry
az acr import --name myregistry --source docker.io/library/nginx:alpine --image nginx:alpine

3. Azure Container Apps Environment

A Container Apps environment is the secure boundary around groups of container apps. All apps in an environment share the same virtual network, logging destination, and Dapr configuration.

Create an environment:

az containerapp env create \
  --name my-environment \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --location eastus

VNet integration:

# Create a VNet with a subnet for Container Apps
az network vnet create \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --name myVNet \
  --address-prefix 10.0.0.0/16 \
  --subnet-name container-apps-subnet \
  --subnet-prefix 10.0.0.0/23

# Create environment in VNet
az containerapp env create \
  --name my-environment \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --location eastus \
  --infrastructure-subnet-resource-id $(az network vnet subnet show \
    --resource-group myResourceGroup \
    --vnet-name myVNet \
    --name container-apps-subnet \
    --query id -o tsv)

The subnet must have a minimum size of /23 (512 addresses) and must be delegated to Microsoft.App/environments.

Workload profiles:

Profile	Description	Use case
Consumption	Serverless, no reserved capacity	Variable workloads, scale-to-zero
Dedicated-D4	4 vCPU, 16 GB	Consistent workloads needing guaranteed resources
Dedicated-D8	8 vCPU, 32 GB	Memory-intensive apps
Dedicated-D16	16 vCPU, 64 GB	Compute-heavy workloads
Dedicated-D32	32 vCPU, 128 GB	Large-scale processing
GPU (NC)	GPU-enabled nodes	ML inference, AI workloads

# Create environment with workload profiles
az containerapp env create \
  --name my-environment \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --location eastus \
  --enable-workload-profiles

# Add a dedicated profile
az containerapp env workload-profile add \
  --name my-environment \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --workload-profile-name "my-dedicated" \
  --workload-profile-type D4 \
  --min-nodes 1 \
  --max-nodes 3

Log Analytics workspace:

By default, an environment creates a Log Analytics workspace. To use an existing one:

az containerapp env create \
  --name my-environment \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --location eastus \
  --logs-workspace-id <workspace-id> \
  --logs-workspace-key <workspace-key>

4. Container App Configuration

A Container App defines the container image, resources, environment variables, secrets, ingress, scaling, and revision strategy.

Bicep template (full configuration):

resource containerApp 'Microsoft.App/containerApps@2023-05-01' = {
  name: 'my-api'
  location: resourceGroup().location
  identity: {
    type: 'SystemAssigned'
  }
  properties: {
    managedEnvironmentId: environment.id
    configuration: {
      activeRevisionsMode: 'Multiple'
      ingress: {
        external: true
        targetPort: 8080
        transport: 'auto'
        corsPolicy: {
          allowedOrigins: ['https://myapp.com']
          allowedMethods: ['GET', 'POST', 'PUT', 'DELETE']
          allowedHeaders: ['*']
          maxAge: 3600
        }
        traffic: [
          {
            revisionName: 'my-api--v1'
            weight: 80
          }
          {
            latestRevision: true
            weight: 20
          }
        ]
        stickySessions: {
          affinity: 'none'
        }
      }
      registries: [
        {
          server: 'myregistry.azurecr.io'
          identity: 'system'
        }
      ]
      secrets: [
        {
          name: 'db-connection'
          value: 'Server=tcp:mydb.database.windows.net;...'
        }
        {
          name: 'kv-secret'
          keyVaultUrl: 'https://myvault.vault.azure.net/secrets/my-secret'
          identity: 'system'
        }
      ]
    }
    template: {
      revisionSuffix: 'v2'
      containers: [
        {
          name: 'my-api'
          image: 'myregistry.azurecr.io/my-api:2.0.0'
          resources: {
            cpu: json('0.5')
            memory: '1Gi'
          }
          env: [
            {
              name: 'NODE_ENV'
              value: 'production'
            }
            {
              name: 'DATABASE_URL'
              secretRef: 'db-connection'
            }
          ]
          probes: [
            {
              type: 'Liveness'
              httpGet: {
                path: '/healthz'
                port: 8080
              }
              initialDelaySeconds: 10
              periodSeconds: 30
            }
            {
              type: 'Readiness'
              httpGet: {
                path: '/ready'
                port: 8080
              }
              initialDelaySeconds: 5
              periodSeconds: 10
            }
            {
              type: 'Startup'
              httpGet: {
                path: '/healthz'
                port: 8080
              }
              initialDelaySeconds: 0
              periodSeconds: 5
              failureThreshold: 30
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
      scale: {
        minReplicas: 2
        maxReplicas: 20
        rules: [
          {
            name: 'http-scaling'
            http: {
              metadata: {
                concurrentRequests: '100'
              }
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Container configuration:

Property	Description	Example
image	Full image URI with tag	myacr.azurecr.io/app:1.0.0
resources.cpu	CPU cores (0.25 to 4.0)	0.5
resources.memory	Memory (0.5Gi to 8Gi)	1Gi
env	Environment variables	[{ name: 'KEY', value: 'val' }]
env (secret ref)	Secret reference	[{ name: 'KEY', secretRef: 'secret-name' }]
volumeMounts	Volume mounts	[{ volumeName: 'data', mountPath: '/data' }]
command	Override entrypoint	['/bin/sh', '-c', 'start.sh']
args	Override CMD	['--port', '8080']

Valid CPU/memory combinations:

CPU (cores)	Memory (Gi)
0.25	0.5
0.5	1.0
0.75	1.5
1.0	2.0
1.25	2.5
1.5	3.0
1.75	3.5
2.0	4.0
4.0	8.0

Revision modes:

• Single: Only one active revision at a time. Deploying a new revision immediately deactivates the old one. Good for simple apps.
• Multiple: Multiple revisions can be active simultaneously. Enables traffic splitting for blue-green and canary deployments.

Scale rules:

Rule type	Trigger	Key metadata
HTTP	Concurrent requests	concurrentRequests
Azure Queue	Queue length	queueName, queueLength, accountName
Azure Service Bus	Message count	queueName, messageCount, namespace
Azure Event Hubs	Unprocessed events	consumerGroup, unprocessedEventThreshold
Kafka	Consumer lag	bootstrapServers, consumerGroup, topic, lagThreshold
Cron	Schedule	timezone, start, end, desiredReplicas
Custom	Any KEDA scaler	Scaler-specific metadata

5. Dapr Integration

Container Apps has built-in Dapr (Distributed Application Runtime) support. Dapr runs as a sidecar alongside your container and provides building blocks for microservices.

Enable Dapr on a Container App:

az containerapp dapr enable \
  --name my-api \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --dapr-app-id my-api \
  --dapr-app-port 8080 \
  --dapr-app-protocol http

Dapr building blocks supported in Container Apps:

Building block	Description	Invocation
Service invocation	Call other Dapr services by app ID	http://localhost:3500/v1.0/invoke/{app-id}/method/{method}
State management	Key/value store	http://localhost:3500/v1.0/state/{store-name}
Pub/sub	Publish and subscribe to topics	http://localhost:3500/v1.0/publish/{pubsub-name}/{topic}
Bindings (input)	Trigger from external systems	Auto-invoked on /binding-name endpoint
Bindings (output)	Write to external systems	http://localhost:3500/v1.0/bindings/{binding-name}
Secrets	Retrieve secrets from stores	http://localhost:3500/v1.0/secrets/{store-name}/{secret-name}
Configuration	Dynamic configuration	http://localhost:3500/v1.0/configuration/{store-name}

Dapr component YAML (state store example):

componentType: state.azure.blobstorage
version: v1
metadata:
  - name: accountName
    value: mystorageaccount
  - name: accountKey
    secretRef: storage-account-key
  - name: containerName
    value: state
secrets:
  - name: storage-account-key
    value: "<key>"
scopes:
  - my-api
  - my-worker

Register the component:

az containerapp env dapr-component set \
  --name my-environment \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --dapr-component-name statestore \
  --yaml statestore.yaml

Dapr pub/sub component (Azure Service Bus):

componentType: pubsub.azure.servicebus.topics
version: v1
metadata:
  - name: connectionString
    secretRef: sb-connection
  - name: consumerID
    value: my-consumer-group
secrets:
  - name: sb-connection
    value: "Endpoint=sb://..."
scopes:
  - publisher-app
  - subscriber-app

Service invocation pattern:

// Call another service via Dapr sidecar
const response = await fetch(
  'http://localhost:3500/v1.0/invoke/order-service/method/orders',
  {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
    body: JSON.stringify({ productId: 123, quantity: 2 })
  }
);

Pub/sub subscriber:

// Express endpoint for Dapr subscription
app.get('/dapr/subscribe', (req, res) => {
  res.json([
    {
      pubsubname: 'order-pubsub',
      topic: 'orders',
      route: '/orders'
    }
  ]);
});

app.post('/orders', (req, res) => {
  const order = req.body.data;
  console.log('Received order:', order);
  res.sendStatus(200);
});

State management:

// Save state
await fetch('http://localhost:3500/v1.0/state/statestore', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
  body: JSON.stringify([{
    key: 'order-123',
    value: { status: 'processing', items: ['A', 'B'] }
  }])
});

// Get state
const state = await fetch('http://localhost:3500/v1.0/state/statestore/order-123');
const order = await state.json();

6. Container App Jobs

Container App Jobs run containers to completion for batch processing, scheduled tasks, or event-driven compute.

Job trigger types:

Trigger	Description	Use case
Manual	Start on demand via API or CLI	Ad-hoc tasks, testing
Scheduled	CRON expression	Nightly reports, periodic cleanup
Event-driven	KEDA scaler	Process queue messages, respond to events

Create a manual job:

az containerapp job create \
  --name my-batch-job \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --environment my-environment \
  --trigger-type Manual \
  --replica-timeout 1800 \
  --replica-retry-limit 3 \
  --replica-completion-count 1 \
  --parallelism 1 \
  --image myregistry.azurecr.io/batch:1.0 \
  --cpu 1.0 \
  --memory 2.0Gi \
  --registry-server myregistry.azurecr.io \
  --registry-identity system

Start a manual execution:

az containerapp job start \
  --name my-batch-job \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup

Create a scheduled job (CRON):

az containerapp job create \
  --name nightly-report \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --environment my-environment \
  --trigger-type Schedule \
  --cron-expression "0 2 * * *" \
  --replica-timeout 3600 \
  --replica-retry-limit 2 \
  --replica-completion-count 1 \
  --parallelism 1 \
  --image myregistry.azurecr.io/report-gen:1.0 \
  --cpu 0.5 \
  --memory 1.0Gi

CRON expressions follow standard 5-field format: minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week.

Create an event-driven job:

az containerapp job create \
  --name queue-processor \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --environment my-environment \
  --trigger-type Event \
  --replica-timeout 600 \
  --replica-retry-limit 3 \
  --replica-completion-count 1 \
  --parallelism 5 \
  --min-executions 0 \
  --max-executions 10 \
  --polling-interval 30 \
  --scale-rule-name queue-trigger \
  --scale-rule-type azure-queue \
  --scale-rule-metadata "queueName=tasks" "queueLength=1" "accountName=mystorage" \
  --scale-rule-auth "connection=queue-conn" \
  --image myregistry.azurecr.io/worker:1.0 \
  --secrets "queue-conn=<connection-string>" \
  --cpu 0.5 \
  --memory 1.0Gi

Job execution configuration:

Property	Description
replicaTimeout	Max seconds a job execution can run (max 86400 = 24h)
replicaRetryLimit	Number of retries on failure
replicaCompletionCount	Number of replicas that must complete successfully
parallelism	Number of replicas that can run concurrently

Monitor job executions:

# List executions
az containerapp job execution list \
  --name my-batch-job \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --output table

# Show execution details
az containerapp job execution show \
  --name my-batch-job \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --job-execution-name <execution-name>

7. Azure Container Instances

ACI provides the fastest and simplest way to run a container in Azure — no VMs to manage, no orchestrator to configure.

Single container deployment:

az container create \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --name my-container \
  --image myregistry.azurecr.io/app:1.0 \
  --cpu 1 \
  --memory 1.5 \
  --ports 80 443 \
  --dns-name-label my-unique-dns \
  --restart-policy Always

Container group with YAML:

apiVersion: '2021-09-01'
location: eastus
name: my-container-group
properties:
  containers:
    - name: web-app
      properties:
        image: myregistry.azurecr.io/web:1.0
        resources:
          requests:
            cpu: 1.0
            memoryInGb: 1.5
          limits:
            cpu: 2.0
            memoryInGb: 3.0
        ports:
          - port: 80
          - port: 443
        environmentVariables:
          - name: NODE_ENV
            value: production
          - name: DB_PASSWORD
            secureValue: '<password>'
        volumeMounts:
          - name: data-volume
            mountPath: /app/data
        livenessProbe:
          httpGet:
            path: /healthz
            port: 80
          initialDelaySeconds: 10
          periodSeconds: 30
        readinessProbe:
          httpGet:
            path: /ready
            port: 80
          initialDelaySeconds: 5
          periodSeconds: 10
    - name: log-sidecar
      properties:
        image: myregistry.azurecr.io/log-shipper:1.0
        resources:
          requests:
            cpu: 0.25
            memoryInGb: 0.5
        volumeMounts:
          - name: data-volume
            mountPath: /logs
  volumes:
    - name: data-volume
      azureFile:
        shareName: myshare
        storageAccountName: mystorageaccount
        storageAccountKey: '<key>'
  osType: Linux
  restartPolicy: Always
  ipAddress:
    type: Public
    dnsNameLabel: my-unique-dns
    ports:
      - protocol: tcp
        port: 80
      - protocol: tcp
        port: 443
  imageRegistryCredentials:
    - server: myregistry.azurecr.io
      identity: /subscriptions/<sub>/resourceGroups/<rg>/providers/Microsoft.ManagedIdentity/userAssignedIdentities/<id>
type: Microsoft.ContainerInstance/containerGroups

Deploy with:

az container create --resource-group myResourceGroup --file container-group.yaml

Volume mount types:

Volume type	Description	Persistence
azureFile	Azure Files SMB share	Persistent across restarts
emptyDir	Temporary disk storage	Lost on container restart
gitRepo	Clone a git repo at startup	Populated at creation time
secret	Mount secrets as files	In-memory tmpfs

Restart policies:

Policy	Behavior	Use case
Always	Restart on any termination	Long-running services
OnFailure	Restart on non-zero exit	Batch jobs with retry
Never	Do not restart	One-shot tasks

GPU support:

az container create \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --name gpu-container \
  --image myregistry.azurecr.io/ml-inference:1.0 \
  --gpu-count 1 \
  --gpu-sku V100 \
  --cpu 4 \
  --memory 16 \
  --restart-policy Never

Available GPU SKUs: K80 (6 GB), P100 (16 GB), V100 (16 GB). GPU availability is region-specific.

VNet deployment:

az container create \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --name private-container \
  --image myregistry.azurecr.io/internal-app:1.0 \
  --vnet myVNet \
  --subnet aci-subnet \
  --restart-policy Always

8. Networking

Container Apps ingress:

# External ingress (internet-facing)
az containerapp ingress enable \
  --name my-api \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --type external \
  --target-port 8080 \
  --transport auto

# Internal ingress (VNet only)
az containerapp ingress enable \
  --name my-internal-api \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --type internal \
  --target-port 8080

Transport options:

Transport	Description
auto	Auto-detect HTTP/1.1 or HTTP/2
http	Force HTTP/1.1
http2	Force HTTP/2 (required for gRPC)
tcp	Raw TCP (for non-HTTP workloads)

Custom domains and TLS:

# Add a custom domain with managed certificate
az containerapp hostname add \
  --name my-api \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --hostname api.contoso.com

# Bind a managed certificate (auto-provisioned)
az containerapp hostname bind \
  --name my-api \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --hostname api.contoso.com \
  --environment my-environment \
  --validation-method CNAME

# Or bind your own certificate
az containerapp ssl upload \
  --name my-api \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --hostname api.contoso.com \
  --certificate-file ./cert.pfx \
  --certificate-password <password>

CORS configuration (via Bicep or YAML):

ingress: {
  external: true
  targetPort: 8080
  corsPolicy: {
    allowedOrigins: ['https://myapp.com', 'https://staging.myapp.com']
    allowedMethods: ['GET', 'POST', 'PUT', 'DELETE', 'OPTIONS']
    allowedHeaders: ['Authorization', 'Content-Type']
    exposeHeaders: ['X-Custom-Header']
    maxAge: 3600
    allowCredentials: true
  }
}

VNet integration:

Container Apps environments can be deployed into a VNet for network isolation:

• Apps can reach VNet resources (databases, VMs, private endpoints).
• Internal-only apps have no public IP.
• Outbound traffic can be routed through a firewall or NAT gateway.
• DNS resolution within the VNet uses Azure DNS or custom DNS.

Session affinity:

az containerapp ingress sticky-sessions set \
  --name my-api \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --affinity sticky

Use sticky sessions only when the app stores in-memory session state. Prefer stateless design with external session stores (Redis, Cosmos DB).

9. CI/CD & Deployment

GitHub Actions workflow (ACR build + Container App deploy):

name: Build and Deploy
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

env:
  ACR_NAME: myregistry
  CONTAINER_APP_NAME: my-api
  RESOURCE_GROUP: myResourceGroup
  IMAGE_NAME: my-api

jobs:
  build-and-deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      id-token: write
      contents: read
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Azure Login (OIDC)
        uses: azure/login@v2
        with:
          client-id: ${{ secrets.AZURE_CLIENT_ID }}
          tenant-id: ${{ secrets.AZURE_TENANT_ID }}
          subscription-id: ${{ secrets.AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID }}

      - name: Build and push to ACR
        run: |
          az acr build \
            --registry ${{ env.ACR_NAME }} \
            --image ${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}:${{ github.sha }} \
            --image ${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}:latest \
            .

      - name: Deploy to Container App
        run: |
          az containerapp update \
            --name ${{ env.CONTAINER_APP_NAME }} \
            --resource-group ${{ env.RESOURCE_GROUP }} \
            --image ${{ env.ACR_NAME }}.azurecr.io/${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}:${{ github.sha }}

Blue-green deployment via CLI:

# 1. Ensure multiple revision mode
az containerapp revision set-mode \
  --name my-api \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --mode multiple

# 2. Deploy new revision with suffix
az containerapp update \
  --name my-api \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --image myregistry.azurecr.io/my-api:2.0.0 \
  --revision-suffix v2

# 3. Test the new revision (direct URL)
# https://my-api--v2.<env-domain>

# 4. Shift traffic gradually
az containerapp ingress traffic set \
  --name my-api \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --revision-weight my-api--v2=20 my-api--v1=80

# 5. Full cutover
az containerapp ingress traffic set \
  --name my-api \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --revision-weight my-api--v2=100

# 6. Deactivate old revision
az containerapp revision deactivate \
  --revision my-api--v1 \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup

Revision management:

# List all revisions
az containerapp revision list \
  --name my-api \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --output table

# Show revision details
az containerapp revision show \
  --name my-api \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --revision my-api--v2

# Activate a deactivated revision (for rollback)
az containerapp revision activate \
  --revision my-api--v1 \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup

# Restart a revision
az containerapp revision restart \
  --name my-api \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --revision my-api--v2

10. Managed Identity & Secrets

System-assigned managed identity:

# Enable system-assigned identity
az containerapp identity assign \
  --name my-api \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --system-assigned

# Grant ACR pull permission
az role assignment create \
  --assignee $(az containerapp identity show --name my-api --resource-group myResourceGroup --query principalId -o tsv) \
  --role AcrPull \
  --scope $(az acr show --name myregistry --query id -o tsv)

User-assigned managed identity:

# Create identity
az identity create \
  --name my-container-identity \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup

# Assign to Container App
az containerapp identity assign \
  --name my-api \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --user-assigned $(az identity show --name my-container-identity --resource-group myResourceGroup --query id -o tsv)

Secrets management:

# Set secrets directly
az containerapp secret set \
  --name my-api \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --secrets "db-conn=Server=tcp:mydb..." "api-key=abc123"

# Reference in environment variables
az containerapp update \
  --name my-api \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --set-env-vars "DATABASE_URL=secretref:db-conn"

Key Vault secret references (Bicep):

secrets: [
  {
    name: 'db-connection'
    keyVaultUrl: 'https://myvault.vault.azure.net/secrets/db-connection-string'
    identity: 'system'
  }
]

The managed identity must have Key Vault Secrets User role on the Key Vault:

az role assignment create \
  --assignee <principal-id> \
  --role "Key Vault Secrets User" \
  --scope $(az keyvault show --name myvault --query id -o tsv)

ACR pull with managed identity:

configuration: {
  registries: [
    {
      server: 'myregistry.azurecr.io'
      identity: 'system'  // or user-assigned identity resource ID
    }
  ]
}

11. Monitoring

Log Analytics queries (KQL):

// Container App console logs (last hour)
ContainerAppConsoleLogs_CL
| where ContainerAppName_s == "my-api"
| where TimeGenerated > ago(1h)
| project TimeGenerated, Log_s, RevisionName_s
| order by TimeGenerated desc

// Error logs
ContainerAppConsoleLogs_CL
| where ContainerAppName_s == "my-api"
| where Log_s contains "error" or Log_s contains "Error"
| project TimeGenerated, Log_s
| order by TimeGenerated desc

// Request count by status code
ContainerAppSystemLogs_CL
| where ContainerAppName_s == "my-api"
| where TimeGenerated > ago(24h)
| summarize count() by ResponseCode_d, bin(TimeGenerated, 1h)
| render timechart

// Replica scaling events
ContainerAppSystemLogs_CL
| where Type_s == "Microsoft.App/containerApps/revisions/replicas"
| where Reason_s == "ScalingUp" or Reason_s == "ScalingDown"
| project TimeGenerated, ContainerAppName_s, Reason_s, Log_s
| order by TimeGenerated desc

Container console logs (CLI):

# Stream live logs
az containerapp logs show \
  --name my-api \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --follow

# System logs (scaling, deployment events)
az containerapp logs show \
  --name my-api \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --type system

# Logs for a specific revision
az containerapp logs show \
  --name my-api \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --revision my-api--v2

Health probes (Bicep):

probes: [
  {
    type: 'Liveness'
    httpGet: {
      path: '/healthz'
      port: 8080
    }
    initialDelaySeconds: 10
    periodSeconds: 30
    failureThreshold: 3
    successThreshold: 1
    timeoutSeconds: 5
  }
  {
    type: 'Readiness'
    httpGet: {
      path: '/ready'
      port: 8080
    }
    initialDelaySeconds: 5
    periodSeconds: 10
    failureThreshold: 3
    successThreshold: 1
    timeoutSeconds: 3
  }
  {
    type: 'Startup'
    httpGet: {
      path: '/healthz'
      port: 8080
    }
    initialDelaySeconds: 0
    periodSeconds: 5
    failureThreshold: 30
    successThreshold: 1
    timeoutSeconds: 3
  }
]

Probe types:

Probe	Purpose	What happens on failure
Startup	Wait for app to start	Container is restarted after failureThreshold
Liveness	Detect deadlocks/hangs	Container is restarted
Readiness	Check if ready for traffic	Removed from load balancer (not restarted)

Probe methods:

Method	Description
httpGet	HTTP GET request (success = 200-399 response)
tcpSocket	TCP connection (success = port open)

Metrics (Azure Monitor):

Key metrics for Container Apps:

Metric	Description
Requests	Total HTTP requests per revision
ReplicaCount	Current number of active replicas
CpuUsage	CPU usage percentage per replica
MemoryUsage	Memory usage in bytes per replica
RestartCount	Number of container restarts
NetworkIn / NetworkOut	Network bytes in/out

12. Common Patterns

Pattern 1: Web API with Auto-Scaling

A REST API that scales based on HTTP traffic, with managed identity for ACR and Key Vault.

param location string = resourceGroup().location
param acrName string
param environmentId string

resource api 'Microsoft.App/containerApps@2023-05-01' = {
  name: 'product-api'
  location: location
  identity: {
    type: 'SystemAssigned'
  }
  properties: {
    managedEnvironmentId: environmentId
    configuration: {
      activeRevisionsMode: 'Multiple'
      ingress: {
        external: true
        targetPort: 3000
        transport: 'auto'
        corsPolicy: {
          allowedOrigins: ['https://myapp.com']
          allowedMethods: ['GET', 'POST', 'PUT', 'DELETE']
        }
      }
      registries: [
        { server: '${acrName}.azurecr.io', identity: 'system' }
      ]
      secrets: [
        {
          name: 'db-url'
          keyVaultUrl: 'https://myvault.vault.azure.net/secrets/db-url'
          identity: 'system'
        }
      ]
    }
    template: {
      containers: [
        {
          name: 'product-api'
          image: '${acrName}.azurecr.io/product-api:latest'
          resources: { cpu: json('0.5'), memory: '1Gi' }
          env: [
            { name: 'DATABASE_URL', secretRef: 'db-url' }
            { name: 'NODE_ENV', value: 'production' }
          ]
          probes: [
            {
              type: 'Readiness'
              httpGet: { path: '/health', port: 3000 }
              periodSeconds: 10
            }
            {
              type: 'Liveness'
              httpGet: { path: '/health', port: 3000 }
              periodSeconds: 30
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
      scale: {
        minReplicas: 2
        maxReplicas: 20
        rules: [
          {
            name: 'http-scaling'
            http: { metadata: { concurrentRequests: '50' } }
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Pattern 2: Background Worker with Queue Trigger

A worker that processes messages from Azure Storage Queue, scaling to zero when idle.

resource worker 'Microsoft.App/containerApps@2023-05-01' = {
  name: 'order-processor'
  location: location
  identity: { type: 'SystemAssigned' }
  properties: {
    managedEnvironmentId: environmentId
    configuration: {
      activeRevisionsMode: 'Single'
      secrets: [
        { name: 'queue-conn', value: storageConnectionString }
      ]
    }
    template: {
      containers: [
        {
          name: 'order-processor'
          image: '${acrName}.azurecr.io/order-processor:latest'
          resources: { cpu: json('0.25'), memory: '0.5Gi' }
          env: [
            { name: 'QUEUE_CONNECTION', secretRef: 'queue-conn' }
            { name: 'QUEUE_NAME', value: 'orders' }
          ]
        }
      ]
      scale: {
        minReplicas: 0
        maxReplicas: 10
        rules: [
          {
            name: 'queue-scaling'
            azureQueue: {
              queueName: 'orders'
              queueLength: 20
              auth: [
                { secretRef: 'queue-conn', triggerParameter: 'connection' }
              ]
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Pattern 3: Multi-Container Microservices with Dapr

Three microservices communicating via Dapr service invocation and pub/sub.

# Create Container Apps environment with Dapr
az containerapp env create \
  --name microservices-env \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --location eastus

# Register Dapr pub/sub component (Service Bus)
cat <<'YAML' > pubsub.yaml
componentType: pubsub.azure.servicebus.topics
version: v1
metadata:
  - name: connectionString
    secretRef: sb-conn
secrets:
  - name: sb-conn
    value: "Endpoint=sb://mybus.servicebus.windows.net/;SharedAccessKeyName=RootManageSharedAccessKey;SharedAccessKey=..."
scopes:
  - api-gateway
  - order-service
  - notification-service
YAML

az containerapp env dapr-component set \
  --name microservices-env \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --dapr-component-name pubsub \
  --yaml pubsub.yaml

# Deploy API Gateway (external ingress, publishes events)
az containerapp create \
  --name api-gateway \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --environment microservices-env \
  --image myregistry.azurecr.io/api-gateway:1.0 \
  --target-port 3000 \
  --ingress external \
  --min-replicas 2 \
  --max-replicas 10 \
  --registry-server myregistry.azurecr.io \
  --registry-identity system \
  --dapr-app-id api-gateway \
  --dapr-app-port 3000 \
  --enable-dapr

# Deploy Order Service (internal, subscribes to events)
az containerapp create \
  --name order-service \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --environment microservices-env \
  --image myregistry.azurecr.io/order-service:1.0 \
  --target-port 3001 \
  --ingress internal \
  --min-replicas 1 \
  --max-replicas 5 \
  --registry-server myregistry.azurecr.io \
  --registry-identity system \
  --dapr-app-id order-service \
  --dapr-app-port 3001 \
  --enable-dapr

# Deploy Notification Service (internal, subscribes to events)
az containerapp create \
  --name notification-service \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --environment microservices-env \
  --image myregistry.azurecr.io/notification-service:1.0 \
  --target-port 3002 \
  --ingress internal \
  --min-replicas 0 \
  --max-replicas 5 \
  --registry-server myregistry.azurecr.io \
  --registry-identity system \
  --dapr-app-id notification-service \
  --dapr-app-port 3002 \
  --enable-dapr

Pattern 4: Scheduled Batch Job with ACI

A daily data export job that runs in ACI, reads from a database, writes to Azure Blob Storage, and cleans up after itself.

# batch-job.yaml — ACI container group for daily export
apiVersion: '2021-09-01'
location: eastus
name: daily-export
properties:
  containers:
    - name: exporter
      properties:
        image: myregistry.azurecr.io/data-exporter:1.0
        resources:
          requests:
            cpu: 2.0
            memoryInGb: 4.0
        environmentVariables:
          - name: DB_HOST
            value: mydb.database.windows.net
          - name: DB_PASSWORD
            secureValue: '<password>'
          - name: STORAGE_ACCOUNT
            value: myexportstorage
          - name: STORAGE_CONTAINER
            value: exports
          - name: STORAGE_KEY
            secureValue: '<storage-key>'
          - name: EXPORT_DATE
            value: '2024-01-15'
        volumeMounts:
          - name: temp-storage
            mountPath: /tmp/export
  volumes:
    - name: temp-storage
      emptyDir: {}
  osType: Linux
  restartPolicy: Never
  imageRegistryCredentials:
    - server: myregistry.azurecr.io
      identity: /subscriptions/<sub>/resourceGroups/<rg>/providers/Microsoft.ManagedIdentity/userAssignedIdentities/batch-identity
type: Microsoft.ContainerInstance/containerGroups

Deploy and monitor:

# Deploy the batch job
az container create --resource-group myResourceGroup --file batch-job.yaml

# Wait for completion and stream logs
az container attach --resource-group myResourceGroup --name daily-export

# Check exit code
az container show \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --name daily-export \
  --query "containers[0].instanceView.currentState" \
  --output json

# Clean up after successful run
az container delete --resource-group myResourceGroup --name daily-export --yes

For scheduling, use Azure Logic Apps or a Container App Job with a CRON trigger:

az containerapp job create \
  --name daily-export-job \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --environment my-environment \
  --trigger-type Schedule \
  --cron-expression "0 1 * * *" \
  --image myregistry.azurecr.io/data-exporter:1.0 \
  --cpu 2.0 \
  --memory 4.0Gi \
  --replica-timeout 7200 \
  --replica-retry-limit 2 \
  --env-vars "DB_HOST=mydb.database.windows.net" \
  --secrets "db-pass=<password>" "storage-key=<key>" \
  --registry-server myregistry.azurecr.io \
  --registry-identity system

Progressive Disclosure — Reference Files

Topic	File
Azure Container Registry, ACR Tasks, geo-replication, image signing	`references/container-registry.md`
Container Apps, Dapr service invocation, pub/sub, state management	`references/container-apps-dapr.md`
Container Instances, multi-container groups, batch job patterns	`references/container-instances.md`
Container Apps networking, ingress, custom domains, VNet integration	`references/networking-ingress.md`
CI/CD pipelines, GitHub Actions, blue/green deployments, rollback	`references/cicd-deployment.md`