Using TimerInfo object in Timer Functions

 TimerInfo object can be used to various purposes in a Timer Function. There are three main properties that can be used to make the logic. 

IsPastDue 

As I mentioned in the previous article this can be determined to know whether this function was scheduled to run previously. Depending on this you can decide to make certain actions. 

Debugging Azure Timer Functions

Azure Timer Functions are great way to run your scheduled jobs and may be process data, or send a summary email likewise. One of the questions I received during a session was how do we trigger them when testing. This can be done in two ways. 

1. Set Cron Expression to pick up the next minute

If you set the following Cron expression, it will trigger on exact same minute. In this example, on 42nd minute. So whenever you debug you can set the next minute or two and then let it trigger and debug them. 

Azure Resource Graph Explorer

 

Azure Resource Graph Explorer is a powerful tool that lets you interact with the resources across multiple subscriptions. 

You can browse it through the All. Resources screen -> Open Query option. 

Then there are many pre defined set of queries that allows you to begin easily. 

The following query lets you find all the resources by a tag 'production' 

Resources

| where tags.environment=~'production'

| project name 

If you have configured tags correctly, you can see all your production resources with this. 

Apart from the results view, it shows the chart view as well for possible results. 

Once you are satisfied with it, you can save the query as a private or a shared query via Save Query windo.

Azure Stack Hub vs HCI vs Edge

Azure Stack provides great capabilities to extend your own private or Hybrid data center needs by bringing Azure service experiences to the table. At last Ignite (2019) Microsoft introduced rebranding and extensions to this Azure Stack experience as following. 

• Azure Stack Hub
• Azure Stack HCI
• Azure Stack Edge

Azure AD B2C New Flow Types

Azure AD B2C is a great product. It allows you to create a separate directory of users who would like to consume your application. You do not need to worry about the sign up process. Once the users are Signed Up with the Azure B2C Tenant and sign in, Azure will return the necessary claims back to the users in the token.

The Sign Up, Sign In, Password Reset and Profile Edit pages were handled by Azure AD via a web view page. Right now, there are 3 flow types.

Azure API Management - Setting Up Inbound Policies - 1

There are various inbound policies that can be set when setting up the API Management Service on Microsoft Azure. Having these policies will help rejecting the requests arrive at your endpoints even before they hit the endpoint's internal security logics. In another aspect, you might get your web traffic overloaded due to many reasons. In such scenarios, you can limit them with the inbuilt policies in API Management Service.

In order to explain them in this article, I am picking the default Echo API. When you go to All Operations, you can see similar to the image below.

Then click on 'Add Policy' link to add a new policy. 

Availability Tests with Azure Application Insights

Azure Application Insights provide a great way to log the application events and query them without much of a hazel. Availability test is an option that lets you either ping a server and test or run Multi-step tests.

These can be run in intervals of 5, 10 or 15 minutes and also can be set to ping them within different regions.

Apart from those settings, it also allows setting timeouts. If a time out happens, then it can be configured to retry up to 3 times with 20 second intervals. An item will be considered as a failure only if it fails the retry attempts.

Full documentation on App availability can be found here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/azure/azure-monitor/app/monitor-web-app-availability

This is totally free for unlimited attempts. But if you try the multi-step web tests, it will cost 10 USD per test per month, running unlimited instances. So, why do not you try it away? 

Administering Azure Functions in Portal

Azure functions can be easily managed within the Azure Portal. Though there are certain restrictions, it allows managing the functions and executing them within the portal itself.

Once you navigate inside the function, you can see all available functions within that function app. All the functions I have in the above screen are Http Triggers. 

Setting Up APIM Policies - UI Setup

In my previous articles I introduced Azure API Management Service and how to use it to host an Azure function. In this article I will explain the policies that can be applied. Once you open up an API, it shows all the placeholders for creating policies as below.

In the Inbound and Outbound processing sections you have the option to Add Policy via an interface. But that will be directed to code view if you add some complex logics. Then it will only enable the code view as below.

Hosting an Azure Function in API Manager

Azure API Management Service offers great support for hosting APIs. One of the greatest ways it support is by hosting different internal Azure artifacts. Once you go to the portal API Management Service and select APIs menu, it serves you with multiple options to add an API.  

 

Products basics for API Management

Products are the means for exposing APIs for the developers. In order to add a product, go to Products tab on the API menu.

You can see already two products there. They basically show up the possibility of limiting the quotas to be used by the developers. Unlimited one does not has any restrictions applied, but the Starter has a rate limit and a quota limit policies applied under its policies.

API Management Service Overview

Azure provides comprehensive set of options for managing APIs. API Management Service is one of such that let you control the access granted to outside. Getting started with API Management Service is easy. The new API Management Service wizard will open up like this.

Once all the required fields are filled and validated, you can access the API Management Service (APIM) through the portal. In this article I will explain an overview of what are the sections available and what each section does as I am intending to write detailed specifics in some sections in coming articles. 

Setting Budget Alerts on Azure Resource Group

You can set cost alerts for Azure in order to be alerted if the spending is going out of control. This is an easy way to make sure your budgets are within the limit and not exceeded.

First, go to resource groups and select the resource group you need to set the alerts.

How awesome is Azure Key Vault

Earlier I wrote an article on having Azure Key Vault and App Configuration together. I have been using it for a while. But in this article I will write specifics on the Azure Key Vault. Azure Key Vault is the central hub for storing secrets, keys and certificates. 

Imagine a scenario where you have a bunch of configuration keys need to go with your application. You do not need the developers to know about these key values that runs on production. Well you can simply have a Key Vault setup to do that.