Click here to download the latest documentation for Connect Hosting Deployment Steps for Azure:
This document contains an overview and setup steps for enabling an Azure environment for Connect to run in. The document then outlines the necessary steps to deploy to the Azure environment and then finally, it provides requirements for hosting the Connect application.
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Create the associated resources and configure them for usage with the Connect app.
If there isn’t already a resource group to contain the Connect application, we recommend setting one up. Generally speaking, the resource group is a container for resources and is typically setup to contain different applications and their associated resources. This can help to separate applications and can serve as a target for role and/or user specific access/restrictions to the resources within.
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Create a web app service within the resource group and name appropriately (depending on your organization’s naming conventions, etc.).
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Configure an appropriate amount of resources – typically D1 or B1 are appropriate for basic usage and can be scaled up as needed.
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S1 is typically sufficient for production usage and can be scaled up as needed.
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Create a SQL database within the resource group (it can be separate if needed as well). Name the database appropriately (depending on your organization’s naming conventions, etc.).
Create a new SQL Server if needed.
Choose a database configuration, typically basic will work for most cases and can be scaled up as needed.
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Standard with 10 DTUs will work for production scenarios and can be scaled up as needed.
Note that the networking is typically configured for public endpoint and allowing the Azure services and resources to access the server. It’s possible though to modify the settings and, as one option, setup a private endpoint and configure the security manually.
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Depending on the use case, it may make sense to enable advanced data security and you’re able to start with a backup database if you’d like (not necessary).
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It’s possible to configure static IPs and specifically modify networking to enable more robust security than the default security options that are enabled with Azure’s Web App Service and SQL Database. Please feel free to reach out to the Clarity team to review these scenarios in detail.
As a minimum, we recommend considering setting up the security advisor if there will be sensitive data transactions that the log files and error messages could potentially risk exposing if there is a security breach of any kind. The security advisor is an automated resource/utility that provides monitoring, suggestions and alerts to advise the Azure administrator about opportunities to address potential security issues (or an “all clear” if all looks good). Although this isn’t a requirement, it’s something to consider if there are potentially sensitive sets of data that could show within the logs or during data transfer within the Connect application.
In addition, we also recommend securing the dashboard (if enabled) for the Connector to enable the internal team members who have permission to access the dashboard tool to access the tool and no one else (specifically remove any public access to the dashboard). It’s possible to do this relatively easily with IP restrictions, basic authentication or other means.
Although this isn’t a complete list of suggestions, we’re happy to help with reviewing or executing on these and other recommendations and suggestions if your team would like.
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It’s possible to simply leverage the application deployment process within Visual Studio to complete the deployment to Azure. We’ll provide the steps for this form of deployment below and we’re also happy to help with a manual deployment as well if that is preferred/desired.
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To publish your web app, you must first create and configure a new App Service that you can publish your app to. This should have been completed in the above steps.
After completing the App Service, you'll need to publish.
Follow these steps to create your App Service and publish your web app:
Open the solution for the application files and then using Solution Explorer, right-click the project and select Publish. If you haven't already signed-in to your Azure account from Visual Studio, select either Add an account or Sign in. You can also create a free Azure account.
In the Pick a publish target dialog box, choose App Service, select the created app service (from above) and publish.
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The application runs as a Web App Service site when configured as a dashboard. The application can be configured as a service as well – which would remove the requirement for a Web App Service (would need a WebJob instead) but it would also not enable a visual “view” of the task status.
Environment Resource Requirements
ü Web App Service (D1 tier or higher)
ü SQL Database (basic 2GB or higher)
ü Service Plan (free tier or higher)
General Web Server Requirements
The application runs as an IIS (or Apache) site when configured as a dashboard. The application can be configured as a service as well – which would remove the requirement for IIS but it would also not enable a visual “view” of the task status.
Environment Requirements
ü .Net Core 2.1+ *
ü SQL Express 2008R2 or later **
ü IIS 7+ ***
* Does work with Linux if preferred
** Can work with other data persistence layers if needed
*** Can work with Apache if needed as well.