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Create your first containerized functions on Azure Container Apps

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In this article, you create a function app running in a Linux container and deploy it to an Azure Container Apps environment from a container registry. By deploying to Container Apps, you're able to integrate your function apps into cloud-native microservices. For more information, see Azure Container Apps hosting of Azure Functions.

This article shows you how to create functions running in a Linux container and deploy the container to a Container Apps environment.

Completing this quickstart incurs a small cost of a few USD cents or less in your Azure account, which you can minimize by cleaning-up resources when you're done.

Choose your development language

First, you use Azure Functions tools to create your project code as a function app in a Docker container using a language-specific Linux base image. Make sure to select your language of choice at the top of the article.

Core Tools automatically generates a Dockerfile for your project that uses the most up-to-date version of the correct base image for your functions language. You should regularly update your container from the latest base image and redeploy from the updated version of your container. For more information, see Creating containerized function apps.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, you must have the following requirements in place:

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

To publish the containerized function app image you create to a container registry, you need a Docker ID and Docker running on your local computer. If you don't have a Docker ID, you can create a Docker account.

You also need to complete the Create a container registry section of the Container Registry quickstart to create a registry instance. Make a note of your fully qualified login server name.

Create and activate a virtual environment

In a suitable folder, run the following commands to create and activate a virtual environment named .venv. Make sure to use one of the Python versions supported by Azure Functions.

python -m venv .venv

source .venv/bin/activate

If Python didn't install the venv package on your Linux distribution, run the following command:

sudo apt-get install python3-venv

You run all subsequent commands in this activated virtual environment.

Create and test the local functions project

In a terminal or command prompt, run the following command for your chosen language to create a function app project in the current folder:

func init --worker-runtime dotnet-isolated --docker

func init --worker-runtime node --language javascript --docker

func init --worker-runtime powershell --docker

func init --worker-runtime python --docker

func init --worker-runtime node --language typescript --docker

In an empty folder, run the following command to generate the Functions project from a Maven archetype:

mvn archetype:generate -DarchetypeGroupId=com.microsoft.azure -DarchetypeArtifactId=azure-functions-archetype -DjavaVersion=8 -Ddocker

The -DjavaVersion parameter tells the Functions runtime which version of Java to use. Use -DjavaVersion=11 if you want your functions to run on Java 11. When you don't specify -DjavaVersion, Maven defaults to Java 8. For more information, see Java versions.

Important

The JAVA_HOME environment variable must be set to the install location of the correct version of the JDK to complete this article.

Maven asks you for values needed to finish generating the project on deployment. Follow the prompts and provide the following information:

Prompt Value Description
groupId com.fabrikam A value that uniquely identifies your project across all projects, following the package naming rules for Java.
artifactId fabrikam-functions A value that is the name of the jar, without a version number.
version 1.0-SNAPSHOT Select the default value.
package com.fabrikam.functions A value that is the Java package for the generated function code. Use the default.

Type Y or press Enter to confirm.

Maven creates the project files in a new folder named artifactId, which in this example is fabrikam-functions.

The --docker option generates a Dockerfile for the project, which defines a suitable container for use with Azure Functions and the selected runtime.

Navigate into the project folder:

cd fabrikam-functions

Use the following command to add a function to your project, where the --name argument is the unique name of your function and the --template argument specifies the function's trigger. func new creates a C# code file in your project.

func new --name HttpExample --template "HTTP trigger"

Use the following command to add a function to your project, where the --name argument is the unique name of your function and the --template argument specifies the function's trigger. func new creates a subfolder matching the function name that contains a configuration file named function.json.

func new --name HttpExample --template "HTTP trigger"

To test the function locally, start the local Azure Functions runtime host in the root of the project folder.

func start  

func start  

npm install
npm start

mvn clean package  
mvn azure-functions:run

After you see the HttpExample endpoint written to the output, navigate to that endpoint. You should see a welcome message in the response output.

After you see the HttpExample endpoint written to the output, navigate to http://localhost:7071/api/HttpExample?name=Functions. The browser must display a "hello" message that echoes back Functions, the value supplied to the name query parameter.

Press Ctrl+C (Command+C on macOS) to stop the host.

Build the container image and verify locally

(Optional) Examine the Dockerfile in the root of the project folder. The Dockerfile describes the required environment to run the function app on Linux. The complete list of supported base images for Azure Functions can be found in the Azure Functions base image page.

In the root project folder, run the docker build command, provide a name as azurefunctionsimage, and tag as v1.0.0. Replace <DOCKER_ID> with your Docker Hub account ID. This command builds the Docker image for the container.

docker build --tag <DOCKER_ID>/azurefunctionsimage:v1.0.0 .

When the command completes, you can run the new container locally.

To verify the build, run the image in a local container using the docker run command, replace <DOCKER_ID> again with your Docker Hub account ID, and add the ports argument as -p 8080:80:

docker run -p 8080:80 -it <DOCKER_ID>/azurefunctionsimage:v1.0.0

After the image starts in the local container, browse to http://localhost:8080/api/HttpExample, which must display the same greeting message as before. Because the HTTP triggered function you created uses anonymous authorization, you can call the function running in the container without having to obtain an access key. For more information, see authorization keys.

After the image starts in the local container, browse to http://localhost:8080/api/HttpExample?name=Functions, which must display the same "hello" message as before. Because the HTTP triggered function you created uses anonymous authorization, you can call the function running in the container without having to obtain an access key. For more information, see authorization keys.

After verifying the function app in the container, press Ctrl+C (Command+C on macOS) to stop execution.

Publish the container image to a registry

To make your container image available for deployment to a hosting environment, you must push it to a container registry.

Azure Container Registry is a private registry service for building, storing, and managing container images and related artifacts. You should use a private registry service for publishing your containers to Azure services.

  1. Use this command to sign in to your registry instance using your current Azure credentials:

    az acr login --name <REGISTRY_NAME>

    In the previous command, replace <REGISTRY_NAME> with the name of your Container Registry instance.

  2. Use this command to tag your image with the fully qualified name of your registry login server:

    docker tag <DOCKER_ID>/azurefunctionsimage:v1.0.0 <LOGIN_SERVER>/azurefunctionsimage:v1.0.0

    Replace <LOGIN_SERVER> with the fully qualified name of your registry login server and <DOCKER_ID> with your Docker ID.

  3. Use this command to push the container to your registry instance:

    docker push <LOGIN_SERVER>/azurefunctionsimage:v1.0.0

Create supporting Azure resources for your function

Before you can deploy your container to Azure, you need to create three resources:

  • A resource group, which is a logical container for related resources.
  • A Storage account, which is used to maintain state and other information about your functions.
  • An Azure Container Apps environment with a Log Analytics workspace.

Use the following commands to create these items.

  1. If you haven't done so already, sign in to Azure.

    The az login command signs you into your Azure account. Use az account set when you have more than one subscription associated with your account.

  2. Run the following command to update the Azure CLI to the latest version:

    az upgrade

    If your version of Azure CLI isn't the latest version, an installation begins. The manner of upgrade depends on your operating system. You can proceed after the upgrade is complete.

  3. Run the following commands that upgrade the Azure Container Apps extension and register namespaces required by Container Apps:

    az extension add --name containerapp --upgrade -y
az provider register --namespace Microsoft.Web 
az provider register --namespace Microsoft.App 
az provider register --namespace Microsoft.OperationalInsights

  4. Create a resource group named AzureFunctionsContainers-rg.

    az group create --name AzureFunctionsContainers-rg --location eastus

    This az group create command creates a resource group in the East US region. If you instead want to use a region near you, using an available region code returned from the az account list-locations command. You must modify subsequent commands to use your custom region instead of eastus.

  5. Create Azure Container App environment with workload profiles enabled.

    az containerapp env create --name MyContainerappEnvironment --enable-workload-profiles --resource-group AzureFunctionsContainers-rg --location eastus

    This command can take a few minutes to complete.

  6. Create a general-purpose storage account in your resource group and region.

    az storage account create --name <STORAGE_NAME> --location eastus --resource-group AzureFunctionsContainers-rg --sku Standard_LRS

    The az storage account create command creates the storage account.

    In the previous example, replace <STORAGE_NAME> with a name that is appropriate to you and unique in Azure Storage. Storage names must contain 3 to 24 characters numbers and lowercase letters only. Standard_LRS specifies a general-purpose account supported by Functions.

Create and configure a function app on Azure with the image

A function app on Azure manages the execution of your functions in your Azure Container Apps environment. In this section, you use the Azure resources from the previous section to create a function app from an image in a container registry in a Container Apps environment. You also configure the new environment with a connection string to the required Azure Storage account.

Use the az functionapp create command to create a function app in the new managed environment backed by Azure Container Apps:

az functionapp create --name <APP_NAME> --storage-account <STORAGE_NAME> --environment MyContainerappEnvironment --workload-profile-name "Consumption" --resource-group AzureFunctionsContainers-rg --functions-version 4 --runtime dotnet-isolated --image <LOGIN_SERVER>/azurefunctionsimage:v1.0.0 --assign-identity 

az functionapp create --name <APP_NAME> --storage-account <STORAGE_NAME> --environment MyContainerappEnvironment --workload-profile-name "Consumption" --resource-group AzureFunctionsContainers-rg --functions-version 4 --runtime node --image <LOGIN_SERVER>/azurefunctionsimage:v1.0.0 --assign-identity 

az functionapp create --name <APP_NAME> --storage-account <STORAGE_NAME> --environment MyContainerappEnvironment --workload-profile-name "Consumption" --resource-group AzureFunctionsContainers-rg --functions-version 4 --runtime java --image <LOGIN_SERVER>/azurefunctionsimage:v1.0.0 --assign-identity 

az functionapp create --name <APP_NAME> --storage-account <STORAGE_NAME> --environment MyContainerappEnvironment --workload-profile-name "Consumption" --resource-group AzureFunctionsContainers-rg --functions-version 4 --runtime powershell --image <LOGIN_SERVER>/azurefunctionsimage:v1.0.0 --assign-identity 

az functionapp create --name <APP_NAME> --storage-account <STORAGE_NAME> --environment MyContainerappEnvironment --workload-profile-name "Consumption" --resource-group AzureFunctionsContainers-rg --functions-version 4 --runtime python --image <LOGIN_SERVER>/azurefunctionsimage:v1.0.0 --assign-identity 

az functionapp create --name <APP_NAME> --storage-account <STORAGE_NAME> --environment MyContainerappEnvironment --workload-profile-name "Consumption" --resource-group AzureFunctionsContainers-rg --functions-version 4 --runtime node --image <LOGIN_SERVER>/azurefunctionsimage:v1.0.0 --assign-identity

In the az functionapp create command, the --environment parameter specifies the Container Apps environment and the --image parameter specifies the image to use for the function app. In this example, replace <STORAGE_NAME> with the name you used in the previous section for the storage account. Also, replace <APP_NAME> with a globally unique name appropriate to you and <LOGIN_SERVER> with your fully qualified Container Registry server.

To use a system-assigned managed identity to access the container registry, you need to enable managed identities in your app and grant the system-assigned managed identity access to the container registry. This example uses az functionapp identity assign and az role assignment create command to enable managed identities in the app and assign the system-assigned identity to the ACRPull role in the container registry:

FUNCTION_APP_ID=$(az functionapp identity assign --name <APP_NAME> --resource-group AzureFunctionsContainers-rg --query principalId --output tsv)
ACR_ID=$(az acr show --name <REGISTRY_NAME> --query id --output tsv)
az role assignment create --assignee $FUNCTION_APP_ID --role AcrPull --scope $ACR_ID

In this example, replace <APP_NAME> and <REGISTRY_NAME> with the name of your function app and container registry, respectively.

Specifying --workload-profile-name "Consumption" creates your app in an environment using the default Consumption workload profile, which costs the same as running in a Container Apps Consumption plan. When you first create the function app, it pulls the initial image from your registry.

At this point, your functions are running in a Container Apps environment, with the required application settings already added. When needed, you can add other settings in your functions app in the standard way for Functions. For more information, see Use application settings.

Tip

When you make subsequent changes to your function code, you need to rebuild the container, republish the image to the registry, and update the function app with the new image version. For more information, see Update an image in the registry

Verify your functions on Azure

With the image deployed to your function app in Azure, you can now invoke the function through HTTP requests.

  1. Run the following az functionapp function show command to get the URL of your new function:

    az functionapp function show --resource-group AzureFunctionsContainers-rg --name <APP_NAME> --function-name HttpExample --query invokeUrlTemplate

    Replace <APP_NAME> with the name of your function app.

  1. Use the URL you just obtained to call the HttpExample function endpoint, appending the query string ?name=Functions.
  1. Use the URL you just obtained to call the HttpExample function endpoint.

When you navigate to this URL, the browser must display similar output as when you ran the function locally.

The request URL should look something like this:

https://myacafunctionapp.kindtree-796af82b.eastus.azurecontainerapps.io/api/httpexample?name=functions

https://myacafunctionapp.kindtree-796af82b.eastus.azurecontainerapps.io/api/httpexample

Clean up resources

If you want to continue working with Azure Function using the resources you created in this article, you can leave all those resources in place.

When you're done working with this function app deployment, delete the AzureFunctionsContainers-rg resource group to clean up all the resources in that group:

az group delete --name AzureFunctionsContainers-rg

Next steps

Azure Container Apps hosting of Azure Functions

Working with containers and Azure Functions

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