Quickstart: Deploy an existing container image with the command line

The Azure Container Apps service enables you to run microservices and containerized applications on a serverless platform. With Container Apps, you enjoy the benefits of running containers while you leave behind the concerns of manual cloud infrastructure configuration and complex container orchestrators.

This article demonstrates how to deploy an existing container to Azure Container Apps.

Note

Private registry authorization is supported via registry username and password.

Prerequisites

• An Azure account with an active subscription.
  • If you don't have one, you can create one for free.
• Install the Azure CLI.
• Access to a public or private container registry, such as the Azure Container Registry.

Setup

To begin, sign in to Azure. Run the following command, and follow the prompts to complete the authentication process.

Bash

az login

Azure PowerShell

Connect-AzAccount

Bash

Next, install the Azure Container Apps extension for the CLI.

az extension add --name containerapp --upgrade

Azure PowerShell

You must have the latest Az module installed. Ignore any warnings about modules currently in use.

Install-Module -Name Az -Scope CurrentUser -Repository PSGallery -Force

Now install the Az.App module.

Install-Module -Name Az.App

Now that the current extension or module is installed, register the Microsoft.App namespace.

Note

Azure Container Apps resources have migrated from the Microsoft.Web namespace to the Microsoft.App namespace. Refer to Namespace migration from Microsoft.Web to Microsoft.App in March 2022 for more details.

Bash

az provider register --namespace Microsoft.App

Azure PowerShell

Register-AzResourceProvider -ProviderNamespace Microsoft.App

Register the Microsoft.OperationalInsights provider for the Azure Monitor Log Analytics workspace if you have not used it before.

Bash

az provider register --namespace Microsoft.OperationalInsights

Azure PowerShell

Register-AzResourceProvider -ProviderNamespace Microsoft.OperationalInsights

Next, set the following environment variables:

Bash

RESOURCE_GROUP="my-container-apps"
LOCATION="canadacentral"
CONTAINERAPPS_ENVIRONMENT="my-environment"

Azure PowerShell

$ResourceGroupName = 'my-container-apps'
$Location = 'canadacentral'
$ContainerAppsEnvironment = 'my-environment'

With these variables defined, you can create a resource group to organize the services related to your new container app.

Bash

az group create \
  --name $RESOURCE_GROUP \
  --location $LOCATION

Azure PowerShell

New-AzResourceGroup -Location $Location -Name $ResourceGroupName

With the CLI upgraded and a new resource group available, you can create a Container Apps environment and deploy your container app.

Create an environment

An environment in Azure Container Apps creates a secure boundary around a group of container apps. Container Apps deployed to the same environment are deployed in the same virtual network and write logs to the same Log Analytics workspace.

To create the environment, run the following command:

Azure CLI

az containerapp env create \
  --name $CONTAINERAPPS_ENVIRONMENT \
  --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP \
  --location $LOCATION

Azure PowerShell

A Log Analytics workspace is required for the Container Apps environment. The following commands create a Log Analytics workspace and save the workspace ID and primary shared key to environment variables.

$WorkspaceArgs = @{
    Name = 'myworkspace'
    ResourceGroupName = $ResourceGroupName
    Location = $Location
    PublicNetworkAccessForIngestion = 'Enabled'
    PublicNetworkAccessForQuery = 'Enabled'
}
New-AzOperationalInsightsWorkspace @WorkspaceArgs
$WorkspaceId = (Get-AzOperationalInsightsWorkspace -ResourceGroupName $ResourceGroupName -Name $WorkspaceArgs.Name).CustomerId
$WorkspaceSharedKey = (Get-AzOperationalInsightsWorkspaceSharedKey -ResourceGroupName $ResourceGroupName -Name $WorkspaceArgs.Name).PrimarySharedKey

To create the environment, run the following command:

$EnvArgs = @{
    EnvName = $ContainerAppsEnvironment
    ResourceGroupName = $ResourceGroupName
    Location = $Location
    AppLogConfigurationDestination = 'log-analytics'
    LogAnalyticConfigurationCustomerId = $WorkspaceId
    LogAnalyticConfigurationSharedKey = $WorkspaceSharedKey
}

New-AzContainerAppManagedEnv @EnvArgs

Create a container app

Now that you have an environment created, you can deploy your first container app. With the containerapp create command, deploy a container image to Azure Container Apps.

The example shown in this article demonstrates how to use a custom container image with common commands. Your container image might need more parameters for the following items:

• Set the revision mode
• Define secrets
• Define environment variables
• Set container CPU or memory requirements
• Enable and configure Dapr
• Enable external or internal ingress
• Provide minimum and maximum replica values or scale rules

Azure CLI

For details on how to provide values for any of these parameters to the create command, run az containerapp create --help or visit the online reference. To generate credentials for an Azure Container Registry, use az acr credential show.

CONTAINER_IMAGE_NAME=<CONTAINER_IMAGE_NAME>
REGISTRY_SERVER=<REGISTRY_SERVER>
REGISTRY_USERNAME=<REGISTRY_USERNAME>
REGISTRY_PASSWORD=<REGISTRY_PASSWORD>

(Replace the <placeholders> with your values.)

az containerapp create \
  --name my-container-app \
  --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP \
  --image $CONTAINER_IMAGE_NAME \
  --environment $CONTAINERAPPS_ENVIRONMENT \
  --registry-server $REGISTRY_SERVER \
  --registry-username $REGISTRY_USERNAME \
  --registry-password $REGISTRY_PASSWORD

Azure PowerShell

$ContainerImageName = "<CONTAINER_IMAGE_NAME>"
$RegistryServer = "<REGISTRY_SERVER>"
$RegistryUsername = "<REGISTRY_USERNAME>"
$RegistryPassword = "<REGISTRY_PASSWORD>"

(Replace the <placeholders> with your values.)

$EnvId = (Get-AzContainerAppManagedEnv -ResourceGroupName $ResourceGroupName -EnvName $ContainerAppsEnvironment).Id

$TemplateObj = New-AzContainerAppTemplateObject -Name my-container-app -Image $ContainerImageName

$RegistrySecretObj = New-AzContainerAppSecretObject -Name registry-secret -Value $RegistryPassword

$RegistryArgs = @{
    PasswordSecretRef = 'registry-secret'
    Server = $RegistryServer
    Username = $RegistryUsername
}

$RegistryObj = New-AzContainerAppRegistryCredentialObject @RegistryArgs

$ContainerAppArgs = @{
    Name = 'my-container-app'
    Location = $Location
    ResourceGroupName = $ResourceGroupName
    ManagedEnvironmentId = $EnvId
    TemplateContainer = $TemplateObj
    ConfigurationRegistry = $RegistryObj
    ConfigurationSecret = $RegistrySecretObj
}

New-AzContainerApp @ContainerAppArgs

Azure CLI

az containerapp create \
  --image <REGISTRY_CONTAINER_NAME> \
  --name my-container-app \
  --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP \
  --environment $CONTAINERAPPS_ENVIRONMENT

If you have enabled ingress on your container app, you can add `--query properties.configuration.ingress.fqdn` to the `create` command to return the public URL for the application.

Azure PowerShell

$TemplateObj = New-AzContainerAppTemplateObject -Name my-container-app  -Image "<REGISTRY_CONTAINER_NAME>"

(Replace the <REGISTRY_CONTAINER_NAME> with your value.)

$EnvId = (Get-AzContainerAppManagedEnv -ResourceGroupName $ResourceGroupName -EnvName $ContainerAppsEnvironment).Id

$ContainerAppArgs = @{
    Name = "my-container-app"
    Location = $Location
    ResourceGroupName = $ResourceGroupName
    ManagedEnvironmentId = $EnvId
    TemplateContainer = $TemplateObj
}
New-AzContainerApp @ContainerAppArgs

Before you run this command, replace <REGISTRY_CONTAINER_NAME> with the full name the public container registry location, including the registry path and tag. For example, a valid container name is mcr.microsoft.com/k8se/quickstart:latest.

Verify deployment

To verify a successful deployment, you can query the Log Analytics workspace. You might have to wait a few minutes after deployment for the analytics to arrive for the first time before you're able to query the logs. This depends on the console logging implemented in your container app.

Use the following commands to view console log messages.

Azure CLI

LOG_ANALYTICS_WORKSPACE_CLIENT_ID=`az containerapp env show --name $CONTAINERAPPS_ENVIRONMENT --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP --query properties.appLogsConfiguration.logAnalyticsConfiguration.customerId --out tsv`

az monitor log-analytics query \
  --workspace $LOG_ANALYTICS_WORKSPACE_CLIENT_ID \
  --analytics-query "ContainerAppConsoleLogs_CL | where ContainerAppName_s == 'my-container-app' | project ContainerAppName_s, Log_s, TimeGenerated" \
  --out table

Azure PowerShell

$queryResults = Invoke-AzOperationalInsightsQuery -WorkspaceId $WorkspaceId -Query "ContainerAppConsoleLogs_CL | where ContainerAppName_s == 'my-container-app' | project ContainerAppName_s, Log_s, TimeGenerated"
$queryResults.Results

Clean up resources

If you're not going to continue to use this application, run the following command to delete the resource group along with all the resources created in this quickstart.

Caution

The following command deletes the specified resource group and all resources contained within it. If resources outside the scope of this quickstart exist in the specified resource group, they will also be deleted.

Azure CLI

az group delete --name $RESOURCE_GROUP

Azure PowerShell

Remove-AzResourceGroup -Name $ResourceGroupName -Force

Tip

Having issues? Let us know on GitHub by opening an issue in the Azure Container Apps repo.

Next steps

Communication between microservices