Quickstart: Create a service connection in Azure Spring Apps with the Azure CLI

This quickstart shows you how to connect Azure Spring Apps to other Cloud resources using the Azure CLI and Service Connector. Service Connector streamlines the process of linking compute services to cloud services, while managing authentication and networking settings.

Note

The Basic, Standard, and Enterprise plans entered a retirement period on March 17, 2025. For more information, see the Azure Spring Apps retirement announcement.

The Standard consumption and dedicated plan entered a retirement period on September 30, 2024, with a complete shutdown by the end of March 2025. For more information, see Migrate Azure Spring Apps Standard consumption and dedicated plan to Azure Container Apps.

To connect resources using the Azure portal, see Create a service connection in Azure Spring Apps with the Azure portal.

Prerequisites

• An Azure subscription. If you don't have an Azure subscription, create an Azure free account before you begin.

• At least one application hosted by Azure Spring Apps in a region supported by Service Connector. If you don't have one, deploy your first application to Azure Spring Apps.

• Use the Bash environment in Azure Cloud Shell. For more information, see Get started with Azure Cloud Shell.

  

• If you prefer to run CLI reference commands locally, install the Azure CLI. If you're running on Windows or macOS, consider running Azure CLI in a Docker container. For more information, see How to run the Azure CLI in a Docker container.

  • If you're using a local installation, sign in to the Azure CLI by using the az login command. To finish the authentication process, follow the steps displayed in your terminal. For other sign-in options, see Authenticate to Azure using Azure CLI.

  • When you're prompted, install the Azure CLI extension on first use. For more information about extensions, see Use and manage extensions with the Azure CLI.

  • Run az version to find the version and dependent libraries that are installed. To upgrade to the latest version, run az upgrade.

• Version 2.37.0 or higher of the Azure CLI. To upgrade to the latest version, run az upgrade. If using Azure Cloud Shell, the latest version is already installed.

• The Azure Spring Apps extension must be installed in the Azure CLI or the Cloud Shell. To install it, run az extension add --name spring.

Initial setup

1. If you're using Service Connector for the first time, start by running the command az provider register to register the Service Connector resource provider.

   az provider register -n Microsoft.ServiceLinker
   

   Tip

   You can check if the resource provider has already been registered by running the command az provider show -n "Microsoft.ServiceLinker" --query registrationState. If the output is Registered, then Service Connector has already been registered.

2. Optionally, run the command az spring connection list-support-types to get a list of supported target services for Azure Spring Apps.

   az spring connection list-support-types --output table
   

   Tip

   If the az spring command isn't recognized by the system, check that you have installed the required extension by running az extension add --name spring.

Create a service connection

Create a connection from Azure Spring Apps using a managed identity or an access key.

Managed identity

Note

To use a managed identity, you must have permission to modify role assignments in Microsoft Entra ID. If necessary, ask your subscription owner to grant you this permission.

1. Run the az spring connection create command to connect application deployed to Azure Spring Apps to a Blob Storage resource, using a system-assigned managed identity.

2. Provide the following information at the CLI or Cloud Shell's request:

   az spring connection create storage-blob --system-identity
   

   Setting	Description
   The resource group which contains the spring-cloud	The name of the resource group that contains an app hosted by Azure Spring Apps.
   Name of the spring-cloud service	The name of the Azure Spring Apps resource.
   Name of the spring-cloud app	The name of the application hosted by Azure Spring Apps that connects to the target service.
   The resource group which contains the storage account	The name of the resource group with the storage account.
   Name of the storage account	The name of the storage account you want to connect to. In this guide, we're using a Blob Storage.

Tip

If you don't have a Blob Storage, you can run az spring connection create storage-blob --new --system-identity to provision a new Blob Storage and directly connect it to your application hosted by Azure Spring Apps using a managed identity.

Access key

Warning

Microsoft recommends that you use the most secure authentication flow available. The authentication flow described in this procedure requires a very high degree of trust in the application, and carries risks that are not present in other flows. You should only use this flow when other more secure flows, such as managed identities, aren't viable.

1. Run the az spring connection create command to create a service connection between Azure Spring Apps and an Azure Blob Storage using an access key.

   az spring connection create storage-blob --secret
   

2. Provide the following information at the CLI or Cloud Shell's request:

   Setting	Description
   The resource group which contains the spring-cloud	The name of the resource group that contains app hosted by Azure Spring Apps.
   Name of the spring-cloud service	The name of the Azure Spring Apps resource.
   Name of the spring-cloud app	The name of the application hosted by Azure Spring Apps that connects to the target service.
   The resource group which contains the storage account	The name of the resource group with the storage account.
   Name of the storage account	The name of the storage account you want to connect to. In this guide, we're using a Blob Storage.

Tip

If you don't have a Blob Storage, you can run az spring connection create storage-blob --new --secret to provision a new Blob Storage and directly connect it to your application hosted by Azure Spring Apps using a connection string.

View connections

Run az spring connection list command to list all of your Azure Spring Apps' provisioned connections.

Replace the placeholders <azure-spring-apps-resource-group>, <azure-spring-apps-name>, and <app-name> from the command below with the name of your Azure Spring Apps resource group, the name of your Azure Spring Apps resource, and the name of your application. You can also remove the --output table option to view more information about your connections.

az spring connection list --resource-group <azure-spring-apps-resource-group> --service <azure-spring-apps-name> --app <app-name>--output table

The output also displays the provisioning state of your connections: failed or succeeded.

Next steps

Check the guides below for more information about Service Connector and Azure Spring Apps.

Tutorial: Azure Spring Apps + MySQL

Tutorial: Azure Spring Apps + Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud