Overview
Azure Functions on Azure Container Apps (ACA) integrates the high-productivity model of Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) with the flexible, cloud-native hosting environment of Azure Container Apps. Functions deployed in this manner run as continuous services ("Apps"), providing event-driven responsiveness while simultaneously possessing the mechanisms to handle tasks that traditionally have a definite start and end time.
This platform utilizes a rich set of triggers and bindings and incorporates advanced Azure Container Apps features, enabling it to execute virtually any containerized workload.
Use Cases for Azure Functions on Azure Container Apps
Azure Functions on Azure Container Apps is ideally suited for all event-driven scenarios and can robustly handle tasks conventionally categorized as discrete, finite, or batch processing:
|
Scenario Type |
Implementation via Functions on Azure Container Apps |
Rationale |
|
Scheduled Tasks |
Use Timer triggers that execute code on predefined timed intervals, such as executing data clean-up code or generating reports. |
Timer triggers reliably ensure code execution at specific, recurring intervals, defining a discrete task timeframe. |
|
Batch or Stream Processing |
Use Event Hubs triggers to capture and transform data from IoT or event source streams or use Blob/Queue triggers in conjunction with durable execution patterns (like Fan-out/Fan-in) to process large datasets. |
Functions are adept at processing and transforming data immediately upon event arrival. |
|
Machine Learning (Inference/Processing) |
Functions can run AI inference by pulling data from a queue or integrating with services using bindings. GPU support is available on Azure Container Apps for compute-intensive ML workloads. |
Functions can wrap the complex logic needed for model processing and leverage highly optimized hardware resources available on Azure Container Apps |
|
Event-Driven Workloads (Discrete) |
Use Queue Storage triggers or Service Bus triggers where a message arrival instantly triggers processing. Durable Functions can orchestrate this workload. |
Functions excel at immediate response to messages and events, managing message queues and processing event streams. |
|
On-Demand Processing |
Use HTTP triggers as webhooks or APIs to initiate processing upon request. For asynchronous work, the HTTP trigger can defer the actual work to a queue-triggered function. |
HTTP endpoints allow manual or programmatic initiation of any workload, providing on-demand execution. |
|
CI/CD Runners (Agent Execution) |
Although typically containerized tasks, the required trigger logic (e.g., queue events) can be managed by Functions. The containerized function itself executes the necessary code in response to the event. |
Functions provide the event processing, scaling, and execution environment necessary to run code triggered by external CI/CD platforms. |
Additional Scenarios Unique to Functions on Azure Container Apps
Functions deployed on Azure Container Apps, support several critical capabilities as mentioned below
- GPU workloads: Supports hosting options for specialized hardware, including GPU-enabled compute resources via serverless GPU or Dedicated workload profiles for highly intensive applications like AI/ML workloads.
- Flexible Functions Programming model with Event Driven Triggers: Provides a managed Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) environment focused on running code blocks. Supports a comprehensive and expansive set of event-driven triggers, including HTTP, Timer, Azure Storage (Queue, Blob), Event Hubs, Azure Cosmos DB, and Service Bus
- Complex Stateful Workflows: Azure Functions natively supports Durable Functions which supports stateful workflows using imperative code. Supports asynchronous HTTP APIs for coordinating long-running processes, monitoring, and handling human interaction. For APIs requiring higher processing time (beyond 1 hr. of processing limit), scale by tuning infra based as per the need.
- Scalable Web API/Ingress Endpoints: Functions can be deployed specifically to build scalable REST endpoints using HTTP triggers. This leverages Azure Container App's native ingress capabilities, with flexibility to define your own ingress settings for advanced, customizable, and scalable handling of external traffic.
- Advanced Deployment Management: Supports features like multi-revisions and traffic splitting. This enables complex deployment strategies like phased rollouts and blue/green deployments for zero-downtime updates.
- Integrated Microservices Patterns (Dapr): Functions on Azure Container Apps have built-in Dapr support, allowing immediate utilization of sidecars for functionalities like secure Service Invocation, Pub/Sub messaging, and state management, essential for modern microservices architectures.
Microsoft