Point-in-time key-values

Azure App Configuration maintains a record of changes made to key-values. This record provides a timeline of key-value changes. You can reconstruct the history of any key and provide its past value at any moment within the key history period (7 days for Free tier stores, or 30 days for Standard tier stores). Using this feature, you can “time-travel” backward and retrieve an old key-value. For example, you can recover configuration settings used before the most recent deployment in order to roll back the application to the previous configuration.

Restore key-values

You can use the Azure portal or the Azure CLI to retrieve past key-values.

Portal

1. Sign in to the Azure portal. Select All resources, and select the App Configuration store instance where your key-value are stored.

2. In the Operations menu, select Restore.

   

3. Select Date: Select date to select a date and time you want to revert to.

4. Click outside of the date and time fields or press Tab to validate your choice. You can now see which key-values have changed between your selected date and time and the current time. This step helps you understand what keys and values you're preparing to revert to.

   

   The portal displays a table of key-values. The first column includes symbols indicating what will happen if you restore the data for the chosen date and time:

   • The red minus sign (–) means that the key-value didn't exist at your selected date and time and will be deleted.
   • The green plus sign (+) means that the key-value existed at your selected date and time and doesn't exist now. If you revert to selected date and time it will be added back to your configuration.
   • The orange bullet sign (•) means that the key-value was modified since your selected date and time. The key will revert to the value it had at the selected date and time.

5. Select the checkbox in the row to select/deselect the key value to take action. When selected it will display the difference for the key value between the current and selected date and time.

   

   In the above example, the preview shows the key TestApp:Settings:BackgroundColor, which currently has a value of #FFF. This value will be modified to #45288E if we go through with restoring the data.

   You can select one or more checkboxes in the table to take action on the key-value of your choice. You can also use the select-all checkbox at the very top of the list to select/deselect all key-values.

6. Select Restore to restore the selected key-value(s) to the selected data and time.

   

Azure CLI

Use the Azure CLI as explained below to retrieve and restore past key-values. If you don't have the Azure CLI installed locally, you can optionally use Azure Cloud Shell.

In the CLI, use az appconfig revision list to view changes or az appconfig kv restore to restore key-values, adding appropriate parameters. Specify the Azure App Configuration instance by providing either the store name (--name <app-config-store-name>) or by using a connection string (--connection-string <your-connection-string>). Restrict the output by specifying a specific point in time (--datetime), a label (--label) and the maximum number of items to return (--top). and by specifying the maximum number of items to return (--top).

Retrieve all recorded changes to your key-values.

az appconfig revision list --name <your-app-config-store-name>

Restore all key-values to a specific point in time.

az appconfig kv restore --name <app-config-store-name> --datetime "2019-05-01T11:24:12Z"

Restore for any label starting with v1. to a specific point in time.

az appconfig kv restore --name <app-config-store-name> --label v1.* --datetime "2019-05-01T11:24:12Z"

For more examples of CLI commands and optional parameters to restore key-value, go to the Azure CLI documentation.

You can also access the history of a specific key-value. This feature allows you to check the value of a specific key at a chosen point in time and to revert to a past value without updating any other key-value.

Historical/Timeline view of key-value

Tip

This method is convenient if you have no more than a couple of changes to make, as Configuration explorer only lets you make changes key by key. If you need to restore multiple key-values at once, use the Restore menu instead.

Portal

You can also access the revision history of a specific key-value in the portal.

1. In the Operations menu, select Configuration explorer.

2. Select More actions for the key you want to explore, and then History

   

   You can now see the revision history for the selected key and information about the changes.

3. Select Restore to restore the key and value to this point in time.

   

Azure CLI

Use the Azure CLI as explained below to retrieve and restore a single key-value. If you don't have the Azure CLI installed locally, you can optionally use Azure Cloud Shell.

In the CLI, use az appconfig revision list to view changes to a key-value or use az appconfig kv restore to restore a key-value, adding appropriate parameters. Specify the Azure App Configuration instance by providing either the store name (--name <app-config-store-name>) or by using a connection string (--connection-string <your-connection-string>). Restrict the output by specifying a specific key (--key). Optionally, specify a label (--label), a point in time (--datetime) and the maximum number of items to return (--top).

List revision history for key "color" with any labels.

az appconfig revision list --name <app-config-store-name> --key color

List revision history of a specific key-value with a label.

az appconfig revision list --name <app-config-store-name> --key color --label test

List revision history of a key-value with multiple labels.

az appconfig revision list --name <app-config-store-name> --key color --label test,prod,\0

Retrieve all recorded changes for the key color at a specific point-in-time.

az appconfig revision list --name <app-config-store-name> --key color --datetime "2019-05-01T11:24:12Z" 

Retrieve the last 10 recorded changes for the key color at a specific point-in-time.

az appconfig revision list --name <app-config-store-name> --key color --top 10 --datetime "2019-05-01T11:24:12Z" 

For more examples and optional parameters, go to the Azure CLI documentation.

Next steps

Create an ASP.NET Core web app