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Tutorial: Use dynamic configuration in a .NET background service

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Data from App Configuration can be loaded as App Settings in a .NET application. For more information, see the quickstart. However, as is designed by the .NET, the App Settings can only refresh upon application restart. The App Configuration .NET provider is a .NET Standard library. It supports caching and refreshing configuration dynamically without application restart. This tutorial shows how you can implement dynamic configuration updates in a .NET background service.

In this tutorial, you learn how to:

  • Set up your .NET background service to update its configuration in response to changes in an App Configuration store.
  • Consume the latest configuration in your background service.

Prerequisites

Add a key-value

Add the following key-value to the App Configuration store and leave Label and Content Type with their default values. For more information about how to add key-values to a store using the Azure portal or the CLI, go to Create a key-value.

Key Value
TestApp:Settings:Message Data from Azure App Configuration

Create a .NET background service

You use the .NET command-line interface (CLI) to create a new .NET app project. The advantage of using the .NET CLI over Visual Studio is that it's available across the Windows, macOS, and Linux platforms. Alternatively, use the preinstalled tools available in the Azure Cloud Shell.

  1. Create a new folder for your project.

  2. In the new folder, run the following command to create a new .NET background service project:

    dotnet new worker

Reload data from App Configuration

  1. Add references to the Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.AzureAppConfiguration NuGet package by running the following command:

    dotnet add package Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.AzureAppConfiguration

  2. Run the following command to restore packages for your project:

    dotnet restore

  3. Open Program.cs and add the following statements:

    using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.AzureAppConfiguration;

  4. Connect to App Configuration.

    // Existing code in Program.cs
// ... ...

var builder = Host.CreateApplicationBuilder(args);

builder.Configuration.AddAzureAppConfiguration(options =>
{
    options.Connect(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("ConnectionString"))
        // Load all keys that start with `TestApp:`.
        .Select("TestApp:*")
        // Configure to reload the key 'TestApp:Settings:Message' if it is modified.
        .ConfigureRefresh(refreshOptions =>
        {
            refreshOptions.Register("TestApp:Settings:Message");
        });

    // Register the refresher so that the Worker service can consume it through DI
    builder.Services.AddSingleton(options.GetRefresher());
});

// The rest of existing code in Program.cs
// ... ...

    In the ConfigureRefresh method, a key within your App Configuration store is registered for change monitoring. The Register method has an optional boolean parameter refreshAll that can be used to indicate whether all configuration values should be refreshed if the registered key changes. In this example, only the key TestApp:Settings:Message will be refreshed. All settings registered for refresh have a default cache expiration of 30 seconds before a new refresh is attempted. It can be updated by calling the AzureAppConfigurationRefreshOptions.SetCacheExpiration method.

  5. Open Worker.cs. Inject IConfiguration and IConfigurationRefresher to the Worker service and log the configuration data from App Configuration.

    public class Worker : BackgroundService
{
    private readonly ILogger<Worker> _logger;
    private readonly IConfiguration _configuration;
    private readonly IConfigurationRefresher _refresher;

    public Worker(ILogger<Worker> logger, IConfiguration configuration, IConfigurationRefresher refresher)
    {
        _logger = logger ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(logger));
        _configuration = configuration ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(configuration));
        _refresher = refresher ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(refresher));
    }

    protected override async Task ExecuteAsync(CancellationToken stoppingToken)
    {
        while (!stoppingToken.IsCancellationRequested)
        {
            // Intentionally not await TryRefreshAsync to avoid blocking the execution.
            _refresher.TryRefreshAsync(stoppingToken);

            if (_logger.IsEnabled(LogLevel.Information))
            {
                _logger.LogInformation(_configuration["TestApp:Settings:Message"] ?? "No data.");
            }

            await Task.Delay(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30), stoppingToken);
        }
    }
}

    Calling the ConfigureRefresh method alone won't cause the configuration to refresh automatically. You call the TryRefreshAsync method from the interface IConfigurationRefresher to trigger a refresh. This design is to avoid requests sent to App Configuration even when your application is idle. You can include the TryRefreshAsync call where you consider your application active. For example, it can be when you process an incoming message, an order, or an iteration of a complex task. It can also be in a timer if your application is active all the time. In this example, you call TryRefreshAsync every time the background service is executed. Note that, even if the call TryRefreshAsync fails for any reason, your application will continue to use the cached configuration. Another attempt will be made when the configured cache expiration time has passed and the TryRefreshAsync call is triggered by your application activity again. Calling TryRefreshAsync is a no-op before the configured cache expiration time elapses, so its performance impact is minimal, even if it's called frequently.

Build and run the app locally

  1. Set an environment variable named ConnectionString, and set it to the access key to your App Configuration store. At the command line, run the following command.

    To build and run the app locally using the Windows command prompt, run the following command.

    setx ConnectionString "connection-string-of-your-app-configuration-store"

    Restart the command prompt to allow the change to take effect. Print the value of the environment variable to validate that it's set properly.

  2. Run the following command to build the app.

    dotnet build

  3. After the build successfully completes, run the following command to run the app locally.

    dotnet run

  4. You should see the following outputs in the console.

    Screenshot of the background service.

  5. In the Azure portal, navigate to the Configuration explorer of your App Configuration store, and update the value of the following key.

    Key Value
    TestApp:Settings:Message Data from Azure App Configuration - Updated

  6. Wait a few moments for the refresh interval time window to pass. You will see the console outputs changed.

    Screenshot of the refreshed background service.

Clean up resources

If you don't want to continue using the resources created in this article, delete the resource group you created here to avoid charges.

Important

Deleting a resource group is irreversible. The resource group and all the resources in it are permanently deleted. Ensure that you don't accidentally delete the wrong resource group or resources. If you created the resources for this article inside a resource group that contains other resources you want to keep, delete each resource individually from its respective pane instead of deleting the resource group.

  1. Sign in to the Azure portal, and select Resource groups.
  2. In the Filter by name box, enter the name of your resource group.
  3. In the result list, select the resource group name to see an overview.
  4. Select Delete resource group.
  5. You're asked to confirm the deletion of the resource group. Enter the name of your resource group to confirm, and select Delete.

After a few moments, the resource group and all its resources are deleted.

Next steps

In this tutorial, you enabled your .NET background service to dynamically refresh configuration settings from App Configuration. To learn how to enable dynamic configuration in an ASP.NET Web Application, continue to the next tutorial:

Enable dynamic configuration in ASP.NET Web Applications

To learn how to use an Azure managed identity to streamline the access to App Configuration, continue to the next tutorial:

Managed identity integration