Quickstart: Deploy a service catalog managed application

In this quickstart, you use the managed application definition that you created using one of the quickstart articles. The deployment creates two resource groups. One resource group contains the managed application and the other is a managed resource group for the deployed resources. The managed application definition deploys an App Service plan, App Service, and storage account.

Prerequisites

• A managed application definition created with publish an application definition or publish a definition with bring your own storage.
• An Azure account with an active subscription. If you don't have an account, create a free account before you begin.
• Visual Studio Code.
• The latest version of Azure PowerShell or Azure CLI.

Create service catalog managed application

The examples use the resource groups names created in the quickstart to publish an application definition. If you used the quickstart to publish a definition with bring your own storage, use those resource group names.

• Publish application definition: packageStorageGroup and appDefinitionGroup.
• Publish definition with bring your own storage: packageStorageGroup, byosDefinitionStorageGroup, and byosAppDefinitionGroup.

Get managed application definition

Azure PowerShell

To get the managed application's definition with Azure PowerShell, run the following commands.

In Visual Studio Code, open a new PowerShell terminal and sign in to your Azure subscription.

Connect-AzAccount

The command opens your default browser and prompts you to sign in to Azure. For more information, go to Sign in with Azure PowerShell.

From Azure PowerShell, get your managed application's definition. In this example, use the resource group name appDefinitionGroup that was created when you deployed the managed application definition.

Get-AzManagedApplicationDefinition -ResourceGroupName appDefinitionGroup

Get-AzManagedApplicationDefinition lists all the available definitions in the specified resource group, like sampleManagedApplication.

Create a variable for the managed application definition's resource ID.

$definitionid = (Get-AzManagedApplicationDefinition -ResourceGroupName appDefinitionGroup -Name sampleManagedApplication).ManagedApplicationDefinitionId

You use the $definitionid variable's value when you deploy the managed application.

Azure CLI

To get the managed application's definition with Azure CLI, run the following commands.

In Visual Studio Code, open a new Bash terminal session and sign in to your Azure subscription. If you have Git installed, select Git Bash.

az login

The command opens your default browser and prompts you to sign in to Azure. For more information, go to Sign in with Azure CLI.

From Azure CLI, get your managed application's definition. In this example, use the resource group name appDefinitionGroup that was created when you deployed the managed application definition.

az managedapp definition list --resource-group appDefinitionGroup

The command lists all the available definitions in the specified resource group, like sampleManagedApplication.

Create a variable for the managed application definition's resource ID.

definitionid=$(az managedapp definition show --resource-group appDefinitionGroup --name sampleManagedApplication --query id --output tsv)

You use the $definitionid variable's value when you deploy the managed application.

Portal

To get the managed application's definition from the Azure portal, use the following steps.

1. Sign in to the Azure portal.

2. Select Create a resource.

   

3. Search for Service Catalog Managed Application and select it from the available options.

4. Service Catalog Managed Application is displayed. Select Create.

   

5. Select Sample managed application and then select Create.

   The portal displays the managed application definitions that you published with the quickstart articles.

   

Create resource group and parameters

Azure PowerShell

Create a resource group for the managed application deployment.

New-AzResourceGroup -Name applicationGroup -Location westus

You also need to create a name for the managed application resource group. The resource group is created when you deploy the managed application.

Run the following commands to create the managed resource group's name.

$mrgprefix = 'mrg-sampleManagedApplication-'
$mrgtimestamp = Get-Date -UFormat "%Y%m%d%H%M%S"
$mrgname = $mrgprefix + $mrgtimestamp
$mrgname

The $mrgprefix and $mrgtimestamp variables are concatenated and stored in the $mrgname variable. The variable's value is in the format mrg-sampleManagedApplication-20230512103059. You use the $mrgname variable's value when you deploy the managed application.

You need to provide several parameters to the deployment command for the managed application. You can use a JSON formatted string or create a JSON file. In this example, we use a JSON formatted string. The PowerShell escape character for the quote marks is the backtick (`) character. The backtick is also used for line continuation so that commands can use multiple lines.

The JSON formatted string's syntax is as follows:

"{ `"parameterName`": {`"value`":`"parameterValue`"}, `"parameterName`": {`"value`":`"parameterValue`"} }"

For readability, the completed JSON string uses the backtick for line continuation. The values are stored in the $params variable and used in the deployment command. The parameters in the JSON string are required to deploy the managed resources.

$params="{ `"appServicePlanName`": {`"value`":`"demoAppServicePlan`"}, `
`"appServiceNamePrefix`": {`"value`":`"demoApp`"} }"

The parameters to create the managed resources:

• appServicePlanName: Create a plan name. Maximum of 40 alphanumeric characters and hyphens. For example, demoAppServicePlan. App Service plan names must be unique within a resource group in your subscription.
• appServiceNamePrefix: Create a prefix for the plan name. Maximum of 47 alphanumeric characters or hyphens. For example, demoApp. During deployment, the prefix is concatenated with a unique string to create a name that's globally unique across Azure.

Azure CLI

Create a resource group for the managed application deployment.

az group create --name applicationGroup --location westus

You also need to create a name and path for the managed application resource group. The resource group is created when you deploy the managed application.

Run the following commands to create the managed resource group's path.

mrgprefix='mrg-sampleManagedApplication-'
mrgtimestamp=$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S)
mrgname="${mrgprefix}${mrgtimestamp}"
subid=$(az account list --query [].id --output tsv)
mrgpath="/subscriptions/$subid/resourceGroups/$mrgname"

The $mrgprefix and $mrgtimestamp variables are concatenated and stored in the $mrgname variable. The variable's value is in the format mrg-sampleManagedApplication-20230512103059. The mrgname and subid variable's are concatenated to create the mrgpath variable value that creates the managed resource group during the deployment.

You need to provide several parameters to the deployment command for the managed application. You can use a JSON formatted string or create a JSON file. In this example, we use a JSON formatted string. In Bash, the escape character for the quote marks is the backslash (\) character. The backslash is also used for line continuation so that commands can use multiple lines.

The JSON formatted string's syntax is as follows:

"{ \"parameterName\": {\"value\":\"parameterValue\"}, \"parameterName\": {\"value\":\"parameterValue\"} }"

For readability, the completed JSON string uses the backslash for line continuation. The values are stored in the params variable and used in the deployment command. The parameters in the JSON string are required to deploy the managed resources.

params="{ \"appServicePlanName\": {\"value\":\"demoAppServicePlan\"}, \
\"appServiceNamePrefix\": {\"value\":\"demoApp\"} }"

The parameters to create the managed resources:

• appServicePlanName: Create a plan name. Maximum of 40 alphanumeric characters and hyphens. For example, demoAppServicePlan. App Service plan names must be unique within a resource group in your subscription.
• appServiceNamePrefix: Create a prefix for the plan name. Maximum of 47 alphanumeric characters or hyphens. For example, demoApp. During deployment, the prefix is concatenated with a unique string to create a name that's globally unique across Azure.

Portal

1. Provide values for the Basics tab and select Next.

   

   • Subscription: Select the subscription where you want to deploy the managed application.
   • Resource group: Select the resource group. For this example, create a resource group named applicationGroup.
   • Region: Select the location where you want to deploy the resource.
   • Application Name: Enter a name for your managed application. For this example, use demoManagedApplication.
   • Managed Resource Group: The name of the managed resource group that contains the resources that are deployed for the managed application. The default name is in the format mrg-{definitionName}-{dateTime} but you can change the name.

2. Provide values for the Web App settings tab and select Next.

   

   • App Service plan name: Create a plan name. Maximum of 40 alphanumeric characters and hyphens. For example, demoAppServicePlan. App Service plan names must be unique within a resource group in your subscription.
   • App Service name prefix: Create a prefix for the plan name. Maximum of 47 alphanumeric characters or hyphens. For example, demoApp. During deployment, the prefix is concatenated with a unique string to create a name that's globally unique across Azure.

Deploy the managed application

Azure PowerShell

Run the following command to deploy the managed application.

New-AzManagedApplication `
  -Name "demoManagedApplication" `
  -ResourceGroupName applicationGroup `
  -Location westus `
  -ManagedResourceGroupName $mrgname `
  -ManagedApplicationDefinitionId $definitionid `
  -Kind ServiceCatalog `
  -Parameter $params

The parameters used in the deployment command:

• Name: Specify a name for the managed application. For this example, use demoManagedApplication.
• ResourceGroupName: Name of the resource group you created for the managed application.
• Location: Specify the region for resource deployment. For this example, use westus.
• ManagedResourceGroupName: Uses the $mrgname variable's value. The managed resource group is created when the managed application is deployed.
• ManagedApplicationDefinitionId: Uses the $definitionid variable's value for the managed application definition's resource ID.
• Kind: Specifies that type of managed application. This example uses ServiceCatalog.
• Parameter: Uses the $params variable's value in the JSON formatted string.

Azure CLI

Run the following command to deploy the managed application.

az managedapp create \
  --name demoManagedApplication \
  --resource-group applicationGroup \
  --location westus \
  --managed-rg-id $mrgpath \
  --managedapp-definition-id $definitionid \
  --kind ServiceCatalog \
  --parameters "$params"

The parameters used in the deployment command:

• name: Specify a name for the managed application. For this example, use demoManagedApplication.
• resource-group: Name of the resource group you created for the managed application.
• location: Specify the region for resource deployment. For this example, use westus.
• managed-rg-id: Uses the $mrgpath variable's value. The managed resource group is created when the managed application is deployed.
• managedapp-definition-id: Uses the $definitionid variable's value for the managed application definition's resource ID.
• kind: Specifies that type of managed application. This example uses ServiceCatalog.
• parameters: Uses the $params variable's value in the JSON formatted string.

Portal

Review the summary of the values you selected and verify no errors are displayed. Select Create to deploy the managed application.

View results

After the service catalog managed application is deployed, you have two new resource groups. One resource group contains the managed application. The other resource group contains the managed resources that were deployed. In this example, an App Service, App Service plan, and storage account.

Managed application

After the deployment is finished, you can check your managed application's status.

Azure PowerShell

Run the following command to check the managed application's status.

Get-AzManagedApplication -Name demoManagedApplication -ResourceGroupName applicationGroup

Expand the properties to make it easier to read the Properties information.

Get-AzManagedApplication -Name demoManagedApplication -ResourceGroupName applicationGroup | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Properties

Azure CLI

Run the following command to check the managed application's status.

az managedapp list --resource-group applicationGroup

The following command parses the data about the managed application to show only the application's name and provisioning state.

az managedapp list --resource-group applicationGroup --query "[].{Name:name, provisioningState:provisioningState}"

Portal

Go to the resource group named applicationGroup and select Overview. The resource group contains your managed application named demoManagedApplication.

Select the managed application's name to get more information like the link to the managed resource group.

Managed resources

You can view the resources deployed to the managed resource group.

Azure PowerShell

To display the managed resource group's resources, run the following command. You created the $mrgname variable when you created the parameters.

Get-AzResource -ResourceGroupName $mrgname

To display all the role assignments for the managed resource group.

Get-AzRoleAssignment -ResourceGroupName $mrgname

The managed application definition you created in the quickstart articles used a group with the Owner role assignment. You can view the group with the following command.

Get-AzRoleAssignment -ResourceGroupName $mrgname -RoleDefinitionName Owner

You can also list the deny assignments for the managed resource group.

Get-AzDenyAssignment -ResourceGroupName $mrgname

Azure CLI

To display the managed resource group's resources, run the following command. You created the $mrgname variable when you created the parameters.

az resource list --resource-group $mrgname

Run the following command to list only the name, type, and provisioning state for the managed resources.

az resource list --resource-group $mrgname --query "[].{Name:name, Type:type, provisioningState:provisioningState}"

Run the following command to list the role assignment for the group that was used in the managed application's definition.

az role assignment list --resource-group $mrgname

The following command parses the data for the group's role assignment.

az role assignment list --resource-group $mrgname --role Owner --query "[].{ResourceGroup:resourceGroup, GroupName:principalName, RoleDefinition:roleDefinitionId, Role:roleDefinitionName}"

To review the managed resource group's deny assignments, use the Azure portal or Azure PowerShell commands.

Portal

Go to the managed resource group with the name prefix mrg-sampleManagedApplication and select Overview to display the resources that were deployed. The resource group contains an App Service, App Service plan, and storage account.

The managed resource group and each resource created by the managed application has a role assignment. When you used a quickstart article to create the definition, you created a Microsoft Entra group. That group was used in the managed application definition. When you deployed the managed application, a role assignment for that group was added to the managed resources.

To see the role assignment from the Azure portal:

1. Go to your mrg-sampleManagedApplication resource group.

2. Select Access Control (IAM) > Role assignments.

   You can also view the resource's Deny assignments.

The role assignment gives the application's publisher access to manage the storage account. In this example, the publisher might be your IT department. The Deny assignments prevents customers from making changes to a managed resource's configuration. Managed apps are designed so that customers don't need to maintain the resources. The Deny assignments excludes the Microsoft Entra group that was assigned in Role assignments.

Clean up resources

When you're finished with the managed application, you can delete the resource groups and that removes all the resources you created. For example, in this quickstart you created the resource groups applicationGroup and a managed resource group with the prefix mrg-sampleManagedApplication.

Azure PowerShell

The command prompts you to confirm that you want to remove the resource group.

Remove-AzResourceGroup -Name applicationGroup

Azure CLI

The command prompts for confirmation, and then returns you to command prompt while resources are being deleted.

az group delete --resource-group applicationGroup --no-wait

Portal

1. From Azure portal Home, in the search field, enter resource groups.
2. Select Resource groups.
3. Select applicationGroup and Delete resource group.
4. To confirm the deletion, enter the resource group name and select Delete.

If you want to delete the managed application definition, delete the resource groups you created in the quickstart articles.

• Publish application definition: packageStorageGroup and appDefinitionGroup.
• Publish definition with bring your own storage: packageStorageGroup, byosDefinitionStorageGroup, and byosAppDefinitionGroup.

Next steps

• To learn how to create and publish the definition files for a managed application, go to Quickstart: Create and publish an Azure Managed Application definition.
• To use your own storage to create and publish the definition files for a managed application, go to Quickstart: Bring your own storage to create and publish an Azure Managed Application definition.