App Configuration Best Practices for Frontend?

Question

I am wanting to use App Configuration to store both configuration and feature flags (using the Feature Manager) for both Frontend and Backend. Frontend is in Angular and Backend is .NET Core Web API. They run on separate App Services. I understand how to use the Feature Manager for the Backend but I don't see any guidance or npm package for the end. I see the REST APIs for App Configuration, but I am worried about the frequency of the calls and also exposing the entire configuration settings to the Frontend.

Is there any guidance or npm package I should be referencing/using?

Answer 1

For client-side usage, we recommend building a server-side component to handle communication directly with App Config. Then have the client app communicate with that server-side component, to load the configuration it needs.

This reduces the load on (and therefore the cost of) App Config, since the server-side component can cache configuration appropriately, then serve to multiple clients out of the cache. Versus a model where the clients hit App Config directly, in which case, they each have their own cache rather than sharing.

This also allows you to avoid exposing the entire configuration to the clients, if that's important.

Answer 2

Hello,

I think on this guide you would find all the basic topics you´ll need into your journey:

https://learn.microsoft.com/es-es/learn/certifications/exams/az-204

Answer 3

Edit: Lisa Guthrie works with the product group and I would refer to her answer below.

For client-side usage, we recommend building a server-side component to handle communication directly with App Config. Then have the client app communicate with that server-side component, to load the configuration it needs.

This reduces the load on (and therefore the cost of) App Config, since the server-side component can cache configuration appropriately, then serve to multiple clients out of the cache. Versus a model where the clients hit App Config directly, in which case, they each have their own cache rather than sharing.

This also allows you to avoid exposing the entire configuration to the clients, if that's important.

Additional references:

Official best practices
Documentation

Azure SDK for JavaScript
https://github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-js/tree/master/sdk/appconfiguration/app-configuration

REST API
https://github.com/Azure/AppConfiguration#rest-api-reference