Azure Container Apps Build and Deploy (Release Candidate)

Important note

The AzureContainerAppsRC task found in this repository is the Release Candidate (RC) version of the AzureContainerApps task that ships out of the box with Azure Pipelines, which can be found here. The intended purpose of this Release Candidate task is to offer users immediate early access to features, bug fixes and patches that will eventually be rolled out in the official AzureContainerApps task at the end of every three week sprint.

Description

This Azure Pipelines Task allows users to easily deploy their application source to an Azure Container App in their Azure Pipelines workflow by either providing a previously built image, a Dockerfile that an image can be built from, or using a builder to create a runnable application image for the user.

If no Dockerfile is found or provided in the provided application source, the following steps are performed by this task:

• Uses the Oryx++ Builder to build the application source using Oryx to produce a runnable application image
• Pushes this runnable application image to the provided Azure Container Registry
• Creates or updates a Container App based on this image

If a Dockerfile is found or discovered in the application source, the builder won't be used and the image will be built with a call to docker build and the Container App will be created or updated based on this image.

If a previously built image has already been pushed to the ACR instance and is provided to this task, no application source is required and the image will be used when creating or updating the Container App.

A YAML configuration file can also be provided to modify specific properties on the Container App that is created or updated; please see the section below on the yamlConfigPath argument.

Running this task on Microsoft-hosted agents

If you are running this task on a Microsoft-hosted agent, you may find that this task is not able to run successfully with the following operating systems:

• macOS
  • The macOS runners provided by Microsoft do not come installed with Docker (more information here); as a result, this task is not able to run any docker commands, such as pushing the built runnable application images to ACR.
• Windows
  • The Windows runners provided by Microsoft comes with Docker installed, but by default, Linux-based images are unable to be pulled down; as a result, this task is not able to pull down the Oryx builder to create runnable application images from provided application source.

Please see the below Docker prerequisite section for more information.

Data/Telemetry Collection Notice

By default, this Azure DevOps Task collects the following pieces of data for Microsoft:

• The Container App build and deploy scenario targeted by the user
  • i.e., used the Oryx++ Builder, used a provided/found Dockerfile, or provided a previously built image
  • Note: the image name is not collected
• The processing time of the task, in milliseconds
• The result of the task
  • i.e., succeeded or failed
• If the Oryx++ Builder is used, events and metrics relating to building the provided application using Oryx

If you want to disable data collection, please set the disableTelemetry argument to true.

Prerequisites

Prior to running this task, Azure resources and an Azure DevOps service connection are either required or optional depending on the arguments provided to this task.

Azure DevOps Service Connection

To deploy to Azure, an Azure subscription has to be linked to Team Foundation Server or to Azure Pipelines using the Services tab in the settings section. Add the Azure subscription to use in the Build or Release Management definition by opening the Account Administration screen (gear icon on the top-right of the screen) and then click on the Services Tab.

Create the ARM service endpoint and use the 'Azure Resource Manager' endpoint type and choose Service Principal authentication method; for more information on creating service connections, please follow this document.

Azure CLI

This task requires that the Azure CLI is installed on the Azure Pipelines agent to execute a variety of commands throughout the execution of the task. For more information on how to install the Azure CLI on the agent, please see this document. If an agent is already running on the machine on which the Azure CLI is installed, ensure that you restart the agent so that all relevant environment variables are updated.

Docker

This task requires that Docker is installed on the Azure Pipelines agent to push images to the provided Azure Container Registry. For more information on how to install Docker on the agent, please see this document.

In addition, users running this task with a Windows agent may encounter an issue with not being able to pull down Linux-based images; to resolve this, please visit this site or located the DockerCli.exe file on your agent (typically in the Program Files\Docker\Docker folder) and run

& `.\DockerCli.exe` -SwitchDaemon

If Docker is not installed on the agent running this task, the following scenario(s) are still enabled:

• Providing a previously built image to the imageToDeploy argument that the Container App deploys with

If Docker is on the agent, but unable to work with Linux-based images, the following scenario(s) are still enabled:

• Providing a previously built image to the imageToDeploy argument that the Container App deploys with
• Providing a Dockerfile as a part of your application source that will be built and deployed with the Container App
  • Note: the Dockerfile cannot have any Linux-based image layers

pack CLI

The pack CLI is maintained by the Cloud Native Buildpacks project and is used by this task to create runnable application images for the user when the application source code is provided and no additional Dockerfile is provided or found. A builder was created by Oryx to take in the application source code provided to this task and produce an image that could then be pushed to an image registry and used within a Container App to build and run the application.

A stable version of the pack CLI is installed on the Azure Pipelines agent executing the task, and depending on the base OS of this agent, different tools will be leverage to assist with the installation:

• On Windows runners:
  • A set of PowerShell commands are executed to do the following:
    • Creates a pack folder in the agent's temporary folder, if the pack folder doesn't already exist
    • Downloads the pack CLI .zip into this pack folder
    • Unzips the content from this .zip and places them in the pack folder
    • Deletes the .zip
• On non-Windows runners:
  • curl will be used to pull down the .tgz containing the pack executable
  • tar will be used to unzip the .tgz and place the pack executable in /usr/local/bin

Azure Container Registry

An Azure Container Registry must exist that the user is able to push container images to. This task will leverage the Azure Container Registry to either push a built runnable application image to and/or deploy a Container App from.

The name of the Azure Container Registry is required via the acrName argument.

The user can also provide values for the acrUsername and acrPassword arguments that will authenticate calls to the Azure Container Registry instance; if not provided, an access token will be generated via the Azure CLI that will authenticate the calls instead.

Azure Container App environment

An Azure Container App environment is recommended to have been previously created by the user to improve the performance of the task. If no environment has been created before, or if an environment cannot be found in the resource group that is being used to host the created Container App, then an environment will be created by as a part of the az containerapp up command, which may take additional time.

Arguments

Below are the arguments that can be provided to the Azure Container Apps Build and Deploy Azure DevOps Task.

Note: Although no argument is officially marked as "required" in the metadata of this task, some arguments will need to be provided in order for this task to successfully run using one of the two main scenarios.

Argument name	Required	Description
acrName	Yes (for this scenario)	The name of the Azure Container Registry that the runnable application image will be pushed to.
appSourcePath	Yes (for this scenario)	Absolute path on the Azure Pipelines agent of the source application code to be built.

Arguments required for using an already pushed application image

Argument name	Required	Description
imageToDeploy	Yes (for this scenario)	The name of the image that has already been pushed to a registry and will be deployed to the Container App by this task. If this image is found in an ACR instance that requires authentication to pull, the acrName argument, or the acrUsername and acrPassword arguments, can be provided to authenticate requests to the ACR instance.

Arguments required for using a YAML configuration file

Argument name	Required	Description
yamlConfigPath	Yes (for this scenario)	Full path (on the executing Azure Pipelines agent) to the YAML file detailing the configuration of the Container App.

Important notes on the YAML configuration file

The resourceGroup property in the YAML configuration file will not be used; the value for this either comes from the resourceGroup argument provided to the task, or the default resource group name generated by the task. All other properties provided in the YAML configuration file will override the values provided as arguments to this task; for example, if the containerAppName argument is provided to the task, and the name property is set in the YAML configuration file, the name property in the YAML file will be used when creating or updating the Container App.

Image and application source arguments (e.g., appSourcePath, imageToDeploy) will still be used to first build and/or push an image that is used by the Container App; in this case, the provided YAML configuration file will need to reference the image specified by imageToDeploy (or imageToBuild, depending on your scenario).

When creating a new Container App, all properties listed in the YAML configuration file (except resourceGroup as mentioned above) will be set when the Container App is created. When updating an existing Container App, only the properties listed in the file will be updated on the Container App.

Currently, the YAML file does not support setting up managed identity authentication for the container registry used; for more information on this issue, please see this GitHub issue.

In cases where the yamlConfigPath argument is provided, the YAML file will be passed through to the corresponding az containerapp command, either create or update depending on your scenario. For more information on the intended behavior when the YAML configuration file is provided, please see the documents linked for the corresponding commands.

For more information on the structure of the YAML configuration file, please visit this site.

Additional arguments

Argument name	Required	Description
connectedServiceNameARM	Yes	Service connection linked to the user's Azure Subscription where the Container App will be created/updated. This service connection must have proper permissions to make these changes within the subscription (e.g., Contributor role).
acrUsername	No	The username used to authenticate push requests to the provided Azure Container Registry. If not provided, an access token will be generated via "az acr login" and provided to "docker login" to authenticate the requests.
acrPassword	No	The password used to authenticate push requests to the provided Azure Container Registry. If not provided, an access token will be generated via "az acr login" and provided to "docker login" to authenticate the requests.
dockerfilePath	No	Relative path (without file prefixes, see example below) to the Dockerfile in the provided application source that should be used to build the image that is then pushed to ACR and deployed to the Container App. If not provided, this task will check if there is a file named Dockerfile in the provided application source and use that to build the image. Otherwise, the Oryx++ Builder will be used to create the image.
imageToBuild	No	The custom name of the image that is to be built, pushed to ACR and deployed to the Container App by this task. Note: this image name should include the ACR server; e.g., <acr-name>.azurecr.io/<repo>:<tag>. If this argument is not provided, a default image name will be constructed in the form of <acr-name>.azurecr.io/ado-task/container-app:<build-id>.<build-number>
containerAppName	No	The name of the Container App that will be created or updated. If not provided, this value will be ado-task-app-<build-id>-<build-number>.
resourceGroup	No	The existing resource group that the Azure Container App will be created in. If not provided, this value will be <container-app-name>-rg and its existence will first be checked before attempting to create it.
containerAppEnvironment	No	The name of the Container App environment to use with the application. If not provided, an existing environment in the resource group of the Container App will be used, otherwise, an environment will be created in the form of <container-app-name>-env.
runtimeStack	No	The platform version stack used in the final runnable application image that is deployed to the Container App. The value should be provided in the form of <platform>:<version>. If not provided, this value is determined by Oryx based on the contents of the provided application. Please refer to this document for more information on supported runtime stacks for Oryx.
targetPort	No	The designated port for the application to run on. If no value is provided and the builder is used to build the runnable application image, the target port will be set to 80 for Python applications and 8080 for all other platform applications. If no value is provided when creating a Container App, the target port will default to 80. Note: when using this task to update a Container App, the target port may be updated if not provided based on changes to the ingress property.
location	No	The location that the Container App (and other created resources) will be deployed to. To view locations suitable for creating the Container App in, please run the following: az provider show -n Microsoft.App --query "resourceTypes[?resourceType=='containerApps'].locations"
environmentVariables	No	A list of environment variable(s) for the container. Space-separated values in 'key=value' format. Empty string to clear existing values. Prefix value with 'secretref:' to reference a secret.
ingress	No	Possible options: external, internal, disabled. If set to external (default value if not provided when creating a Container App), the Container App will be visible from the internet or a VNET, depending on the app environment endpoint configured. If set to internal, the Container App will be visible from within the app environment only. If set to disabled, ingress will be disabled for this Container App and will not have an HTTP or TCP endpoint.
disableTelemetry	No	If set to true, no telemetry will be collected by this Azure DevOps Task. If set to false, or if this argument is not provided, telemetry will be sent to Microsoft about the Container App build and deploy scenario targeted by this Azure DevOps Task.

Usage

Below are a set of examples outlining how to use this task in different scenarios.

Minimal - Build application image for Container App

steps:

  - task: AzureContainerAppsRC@1
    displayName: Build and deploy Container App
    inputs:
      connectedServiceNameARM: 'azure-subscription-service-connection'
      appSourcePath: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)'
      acrName: 'mytestacr'

This will create a new Container App named ado-task-app-<build-id>-<build-number> in a new resource group named <container-app-name>-rg. The Container App will be based off of an image that was built from the provided appSourcePath and pushed to the provided ACR instance. An access token will be generated to authenticate the push to the provided ACR instance.

Minimal - Use previously published image for Container App

steps:

  - task: AzureContainerAppsRC@1
    displayName: Build and deploy Container App
    inputs:
      connectedServiceNameARM: 'azure-subscription-service-connection'
      imageToDeploy: mcr.microsoft.com/azuredocs/containerapps-helloworld:latest

This will create a new Container App named ado-task-app-<build-id>-<build-number> in a new resource group named <container-app-name>-rg where no new image is built, but an existing image named mcr.microsoft.com/azuredocs/containerapps-helloworld:latest will be used for the Container App.

Minimal - Use YAML configuration file with previously published image for Container App

steps:

  - task: AzureContainerAppsRC@1
    displayName: Build and deploy Container App
    inputs:
      yamlConfigPath: simple-image-container-app.yaml

This will create a new Container App named ado-task-app-<build-id>-<build-number> in a new resource group named <container-app-name>-rg where no new image is built, but an existing image named mcr.microsoft.com/azuredocs/containerapps-helloworld:latest will be used for the Container App. Additional properties about the Container App will be pulled from the simple-image-container-app.yaml file and will override any additional values that would've been provided to the task as arguments excluding resourceGroup.

The simple-image-container-app.yaml file has the following structure:

properties:
  managedEnvironmentId: /subscriptions/SUBSCRIPTION_ID/resourceGroup/RESOURCE_GROUP/providers/Microsoft.App/managedEnvironments/CONTAINER_APP_ENVIRONMENT
  configuration:
    ingress:
      external: true
      allowInsecure: false
      targetPort: 80
  template:
    containers:
      - image: mcr.microsoft.com/azuredocs/containerapps-helloworld:latest
        name: mysampleimagecontainer

The values for SUBSCRIPTION_ID, RESOURCE_GROUP and CONTAINER_APP_ENVIRONMENT must be updated to point to the full resource ID of the existing Container App environment that the Container App will use.

Using ACR credentials to authenticate

steps:

  - task: AzureContainerAppsRC@1
    displayName: Build and deploy Container App
    inputs:
      connectedServiceNameARM: 'azure-subscription-service-connection'
      appSourcePath: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)'
      acrName: 'mytestacr'
      acrUsername: $(ACR_USERNAME_SECRET)
      acrPassword: $(ACR_PASSWORD_SECRET)

This will create a new Container App named ado-task-app-<build-id>-<build-number> in a new resource group named <container-app-name>-rg. The Container App will be based off of an image that was built from the provided appSourcePath and pushed to the provided ACR instance. The provided ACR credentials will be used to authenticate calls to the ACR instance.

Container App name provided

steps:

  - task: AzureContainerAppsRC@1
    displayName: Build and deploy Container App
    inputs:
      connectedServiceNameARM: 'azure-subscription-service-connection'
      appSourcePath: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)'
      acrName: 'mytestacr'
      containerAppName: 'my-test-container-app'

This will create a new Container App named my-test-container-app in a new resource group name my-test-container-app-rg.

Resource group provided

steps:

  - task: AzureContainerAppsRC@1
    displayName: Build and deploy Container App
    inputs:
      connectedServiceNameARM: 'azure-subscription-service-connection'
      appSourcePath: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)'
      acrName: 'mytestacr'
      resourceGroup: 'my-test-rg'

This will create a new Container App named ado-task-app-<build-id>-<build-number> in a resource group named my-test-rg. If the my-test-rg resource group does not exist, it will be created as a part of this task.

Container App name and resource group provided

steps:

  - task: AzureContainerAppsRC@1
    displayName: Build and deploy Container App
    inputs:
      connectedServiceNameARM: 'azure-subscription-service-connection'
      appSourcePath: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)'
      acrName: 'mytestacr'
      containerAppName: 'my-test-container-app'
      resourceGroup: 'my-test-rg'

This will create a new Container App named my-test-container-app in a resource group named my-test-rg. If the my-test-rg resource group does not exist, it will be created as a part of this task.

Container App environment provided

steps:

  - task: AzureContainerAppsRC@1
    displayName: Build and deploy Container App
    inputs:
      connectedServiceNameARM: 'azure-subscription-service-connection'
      appSourcePath: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)'
      acrName: 'mytestacr'
      containerAppEnvironment: 'my-test-container-app-env'

This will create a new Container App named ado-task-app-<build-id>-<build-number> in a new resource group named <container-app-name>-rg with a new Container App environment named my-test-container-app-env.

Runtime stack provided

steps:

  - task: AzureContainerAppsRC@1
    displayName: Build and deploy Container App
    inputs:
      connectedServiceNameARM: 'azure-subscription-service-connection'
      appSourcePath: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)'
      acrName: 'mytestacr'
      runtimeStack: 'dotnetcore:7.0'

This will create a new Container App named ado-task-app-<build-id>-<build-number> in a new resource group named <container-app-name>-rg where the runnable application image is using the .NET 7 runtime stack.

Dockerfile provided

steps:

  - task: AzureContainerAppsRC@1
    displayName: Build and deploy Container App
    inputs:
      connectedServiceNameARM: 'azure-subscription-service-connection'
      appSourcePath: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)'
      acrName: 'mytestacr'
      dockerfilePath: 'test.Dockerfile'

This will create a new Container App named ado-task-app-<build-id>-<build-number> in a new resource group named <container-app-name>-rg where the runnable application image was created from the test.Dockerfile file found in the provided application source path directory.

Note: for values provided to dockerfilePath, no file prefixes should be included (e.g., ./test.Dockerfile should be passed as just test.Dockerfile). The provided appSourcePath and dockerfilePath arguments will be concatenated inside of the task.

Image to build provided

steps:

  - task: AzureContainerAppsRC@1
    displayName: Build and deploy Container App
    inputs:
      connectedServiceNameARM: 'azure-subscription-service-connection'
      appSourcePath: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)'
      acrName: 'mytestacr'
      imageToBuild: 'mytestacr.azurecr.io/app:latest'

This will create a new Container App named ado-task-app-<build-id>-<build-number> in a new resource group named <container-app-name>-rg where the image built and pushed to ACR is named mytestacr.azurecr.io/app:latest

Contributing

This project welcomes contributions and suggestions from all users; however, we advise that any changes made to the AzureContainerAppsRC task be made instead to the AzureContainerApps task, which will later be migrated over to this Release Candidate task and published immediately.

This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact opencode@microsoft.com with any additional questions or comments.

Issues and feedback

For any issues and feedback for the Release Candidate AzureContainerAppsRC task, please create a new issue in this container-apps-deploy-pipelines-task repository.

For any issues and feedback for the official AzureContainerApps task, please create a new issue in the azure-pipelines-tasks repository.

Do you think there might be a security issue? Have you been phished or identified a security vulnerability? Please don't report it here - let us know by sending an email to secure@microsoft.com.