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Quickstart: Scale services deployed with the azd Python web templates by using Bicep

The Python web azd templates help you quickly create a new web application and deploy it to Azure. The azd templates use low-cost Azure service options. To fit your scenario, adjust the service levels or versions for each service defined in the template.

In this quickstart, you update the appropriate Bicep template files to scale up existing services. Then, you run the azd provision command and view the change you made to the Azure deployment.

Prerequisites

An Azure subscription - Create one for free

Install the following tools on your local computer:

Deploy a template

To get started, you need a working azd deployment. After you set up the deployment, you can modify the Bicep files that the azd template generates.

  1. Follow steps 1 through 7 in the Quickstart article. In step 2, use the azure-django-postgres-flexible-appservice template. For your convenience, here's the entire sequence of commands to run from the command line:

    mkdir azdtest
cd azdtest
azd init --template azure-django-postgres-flexible-appservice
azd auth login
azd up

    When azd up finishes, open the Azure portal, go to the Azure App Service that you deployed in your new resource group, and take note of the App Service pricing plan (see the App Service plan's Overview page, Essentials section, Pricing plan value).

  2. In step 1 of the Quickstart article, you created the azdtest folder. Open that folder in Visual Studio Code.

  3. In the Explorer pane, go to the infra folder. Look at the subfolders and files in the infra folder.

    The main.bicep file orchestrates the creation of all the services deployed when you run azd up or azd provision. It calls other files, like db.bicep and web.bicep. These files call files contained in the \core subfolder.

    The \core subfolder is a deeply nested folder structure containing Bicep templates for many Azure services. The three top-level Bicep files (main.bicep, db.bicep, and web.bicep) reference some of the files in the \core subfolder. Some files aren't used at all in this project.

Scale a service by modifying its Bicep properties

You can scale an existing resource in your deployment by changing its SKU. To demonstrate this scaling method, change the App Service plan from the Basic Service plan (which is designed for apps with lower traffic requirements and doesn't need advanced autoscale and traffic management features) to the Standard Service plan, which is designed for running production workloads.

Note

You can't make all SKU changes after deployment. Some research might be necessary to better understand your scaling options.

  1. Open the web.bicep file and locate the appServicePlan module definition. In particular, look for the property setting:

       sku: {
      name: 'B1'
   }

    Change the value from B1 to S1 as follows:

       sku: {
      name: 'S1'
   }

    Important

    This change slightly increases the price per hour. For details about the different service plans and their associated costs, see the App Service pricing page.

  2. Assuming you already deployed the application in Azure, use the following command to deploy changes to the infrastructure without redeploying the application code itself.

    azd provision

    You shouldn't be prompted for a location and subscription. The .azure<environment-name>.env file saves those values, where <environment-name> is the environment name you provided during azd init.

  3. When azd provision is complete, confirm your web application still works. Also find the App Service Plan for your Resource Group and confirm that the Pricing Plan is set to the Standard Service Plan (S1).

This quickstart concludes here. However, many Azure services can help you build more scalable and production-ready applications. A great place to start learning is Azure API Management, Azure Front Door, Azure CDN, and Azure Virtual Network, to name a few.

Clean up resources

Clean up the resources that the template created by running the azd down command.

azd down

The azd down command deletes the Azure resources and the GitHub Actions workflow. When prompted, agree to deleting all resources associated with the resource group.

You can also delete the azdtest folder, or use it as the basis for your own application by modifying the project's files.

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