How to set up subdirectory Multisite in WordPress on Azure App Service
WordPress Multisite is a feature of WordPress that enables you to run and manage multiple WordPress websites using the same WordPress installation. Follow these steps to setup Multisite in your WordPress website on App Service...Connection Between Web App and O365 Resources: Using SharePoint as an Example
TOC Introduction [not recommended] Application permission [not recommended] Delegate permission with Device Code Flow Managed Identity Multi-Tenant App Registration Restrict Resources for Application permission References Introduction In late 2024, Microsoft Entra enforced MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) for all user login processes. This change has caused some Web Apps using delegated permissions to fail in acquiring access tokens, thereby interrupting communication with O365 resources. This tutorial will present various alternative solutions tailored to different business requirements. We will use a Linux Python Web App as an example in the following sections. [not recommended] Application permission Traditionally, using delegated permissions has the advantages of being convenient, quick, and straightforward, without being limited by whether the Web App and Target resources (e.g., SharePoint) are in the same tenant. This is because it leverages the user identity in the SharePoint tenant as the login user. However, its drawbacks are quite evident—it is not secure. Delegated permissions are not designed for automated processes (i.e., Web Apps), and if the associated connection string (i.e., app secret) is obtained by a malicious user, it can be directly exploited. Against this backdrop, Microsoft Entra enforced MFA for all user login processes in late 2024. Since delegated permissions rely on user-based authentication, they are also impacted. Specifically, if your automated processes originally used delegated permissions to interact with other resources, they are likely to be interrupted by errors similar to the following in recent times. AADSTS50076: Due to a configuration change made by your administrator, or because you moved to a new location, you must use multi-factor authentication to access '00000003-0000-0000-c000-000000000000' The root cause lies in the choice of permission type. While delegated permissions can technically be used for automated processes, there is a more appropriate option—application permissions, which are specifically designed for use in automated workflows. Therefore, when facing such issues, the quickest solution is to create a set of application permissions, align their settings with your previous delegated permissions, and then update your code to use the new app ID and secret to interact with the target resource. This method resolves the issue caused by the mandatory MFA process interruption. However, it is still not entirely secure, as the app secret, if obtained by a malicious user, can be exploited directly. Nonetheless, it serves as a temporary solution while planning for a large-scale modification or refactor of your existing system. [not recommended] Delegate permission with Device Code Flow Similarly, here's another temporary solution. The advantage of this approach is that you don't even need to create a new set of application permissions. Instead, you can retain the existing delegated permissions and resolve the issue by integrating Device Code Flow. Let's see how this can be achieved. First, navigate to Microsoft Entra > App Registration > Your Application > Authentication, and enable "Allow public client flows". Next, modify your code to implement the following method to acquire the token. Replace [YOUR_TENANT_ID] and [YOUR_APPLICATION_ID] with your own values. import os, atexit, msal, sys def get_access_token_device(): cache_filename = os.path.join( os.getenv("XDG_RUNTIME_DIR", ""), "my_cache.bin" ) cache = msal.SerializableTokenCache() if os.path.exists(cache_filename): cache.deserialize(open(cache_filename, "r").read()) atexit.register(lambda: open(cache_filename, "w").write(cache.serialize()) if cache.has_state_changed else None ) config = { "authority": "https://login.microsoftonline.com/[YOUR_TENANT_ID]", "client_id": "[YOUR_APPLICATIOM_ID]", "scope": ["https://graph.microsoft.com/.default"] } app = msal.PublicClientApplication( config["client_id"], authority=config["authority"], token_cache=cache, ) result = None accounts = app.get_accounts() if accounts: print("Pick the account you want to use to proceed:") for a in accounts: print(a["username"]) chosen = accounts[0] result = app.acquire_token_silent(["User.Read"], account=chosen) if not result: flow = app.initiate_device_flow(scopes=config["scope"]) print(flow["message"]) sys.stdout.flush() result = app.acquire_token_by_device_flow(flow) if "access_token" in result: access_token = result["access_token"] return access_token else: error = result.get("error") if error == "invalid_client": print("Invalid client ID.Please check your Azure AD application configuration") else: print(error) Demonstrating the Process Before acquiring the token for the first time, there is no cache file named my_cache.bin in your project directory. Start the test code, which includes obtaining the token and interacting with the corresponding service (e.g., SharePoint) using the token. Since this is the first use, the system will prompt you to manually visit https://microsoft.com/devicelogin and input the provided code. Once the manual process is complete, the system will obtain the token and execute the workflow. After acquiring the token, the cache file my_cache.bin will appear in your project directory. This file contains the access_token and refresh_token. For subsequent processes, whether triggered manually or automatically, the system will no longer prompt for manual login. The cached token has a validity period of approximately one hour, which may seem insufficient. However, the acquire_token_silent function in the program will automatically use the refresh token to renew the access token and update the cache. Therefore, as long as an internal script or web job is triggered at least once every hour, the token can theoretically be used continuously. Managed Identity Using Managed Identity to enable interaction between an Azure Web App and other resources is currently the best solution. It ensures that no sensitive information (e.g., app secrets) is included in the code and guarantees that only the current Web App can use this authentication method. Therefore, it meets both convenience and security requirements for production environments. Let’s take a detailed look at how to set it up. Step 1: Setup Managed Identity You will get an Object ID for further use. Step 2: Enterprise Application for Managed Identity Your Managed Identity will generate a corresponding Enterprise Application in Microsoft Entra. However, unlike App Registration, where permissions can be assigned directly via the Azure Portal, Enterprise Application permissions must be configured through commands. Step 3: Log in to Azure via CloudShell Use your account to access Azure Portal, open a CloudShell, and input the following command. This step will require you to log in with your credentials using the displayed code: Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "Application.ReadWrite.All", "AppRoleAssignment.ReadWrite.All" Continue by inputting the following command to target the Enterprise Application corresponding to your Managed Identity that requires permission assignment: $PrincipalId = "<Your web app managed identity object id>" $ResourceId = (Get-MgServicePrincipal -Filter "displayName eq 'Microsoft Graph'" | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Id) Step 4: Assign Permissions to the Enterprise Application Execute the following commands to assign permissions. Key Points: This example assigns all permissions with the prefix Sites.*. However, you can modify this to request only the necessary permissions, such as: Sites.Selected Sites.Read.All Sites.ReadWrite.All Sites.Manage.All Sites.FullControl.All If you do not wish to assign all permissions, you can change { $_.Value -like "*Sites.*" } to the specific permission you need, for example: { $_.Value -like "*Sites.Selected*" } Each time you modify the permission, you will need to rerun all the commands below. $AppRoles = Get-MgServicePrincipal -Filter "displayName eq 'Microsoft Graph'" -Property AppRoles | Select -ExpandProperty AppRoles | Where-Object { $_.Value -like "*Sites.*" } $AppRoles | ForEach-Object { $params = @{ "PrincipalId" = $PrincipalId "ResourceId" = $ResourceId "AppRoleId" = $_.Id } New-MgServicePrincipalAppRoleAssignment -ServicePrincipalId $PrincipalId -BodyParameter $params } Step 5: Confirm Assigned Permissions If, in Azure Portal, you see a screen similar to this: (Include screenshot or example text for granted permissions) This means that the necessary permissions have been successfully assigned. Step 6: Retrieve a Token in Python In your Python code, you can use the following approach to retrieve the token: from azure.identity import ManagedIdentityCredential def get_access_token(): credential = ManagedIdentityCredential() token = credential.get_token("https://graph.microsoft.com/.default") return token.token Important Notes: When permissions are assigned or removed in the Enterprise Application, the ManagedIdentityCredential in your Python code caches the token for a while. These changes will not take effect immediately. You need to restart your application and wait approximately 10 minutes for the changes to take effect. Step 7: Perform Operations with the Token Finally, you can use this token to perform the desired operations. Below is an example of creating a file in SharePoint: You will notice that the uploader’s identity is no longer a person but instead the app itself, indicating that Managed Identity is indeed in effect and functioning properly. While this method is effective, it is limited by the inability of Managed Identity to handle cross-tenant resource requests. I will introduce one final method to resolve this limitation. Multi-Tenant App Registration In many business scenarios, resources are distributed across different tenants. For example, SharePoint is managed by Company (Tenant) B, while the Web App is developed by Company (Tenant) A. Since these resources belong to different tenants,Managed Identity cannot be used in such cases. Instead, we need to use a Multi-Tenant Application to resolve the issue. The principle of this approach is to utilize an Entra ID Application created by the administrator of Tenant A (i.e., the tenant that owns the Web App) that allows cross-tenant use. This application will be pre-authorized by future user from Tenant B (i.e., the administrator of the tenant that owns SharePoint) to perform operations related to SharePoint. It should be noted that the entire configuration process requires the participation of administrators from both tenants to a certain extent. Please refer to the following demonstration. This is a sequential tutorial; please note that the execution order cannot be changed. Step 1: Actions Required by the Administrator of the Tenant that Owns the Web App 1.1. In Microsoft Entra, create an Enterprise Application and select "Multi-Tenant." After creation, note down the Application ID. 1.2. In App Registration under AAD, locate the previously created application, generate an App Secret, and record it. 1.3. Still in App Registration, configure the necessary permissions. Choose "Application Permissions", then determine which permissions (all starting with "Sites.") are needed based on the actual operations your Web App will perform on SharePoint. For demonstration purposes, all permissions are selected here. Step 2: Actions Required by the Administrator of the Tenant that Owns SharePoint 2.1. Use the PowerShell interface to log in to Azure and select the tenant where SharePoint resides. az login --allow-no-subscriptions --use-device-code 2.2. Add the Multi-Tenant Application to this tenant. az ad sp create --id <App id get from step 1.1> 2.3. Visit the Azure Portal, go to Enterprise Applications, locate the Multi-Tenant Application added earlier, and navigate to Permissions to grant the permissions specified in step 1.3. Step 3: Actions Required by the Administrator of the Tenant that Owns the Web App 3.1. In your Python code, you can use the following method to obtain an access token: from msal import ConfidentialClientApplication def get_access_token_cross_tenant(): tenant_id = "your-sharepoint-tenant-id" # Tenant ID where the SharePoint resides (i.e., shown in step 2.1) client_id = "your-multi-tenant-app-client-id" # App ID created in step 1.1 client_secret = "your-app-secret" # Secret created in step 1.2 authority = f"https://login.microsoftonline.com/{tenant_id}" app = ConfidentialClientApplication( client_id, authority=authority, client_credential=client_secret ) scopes = ["https://graph.microsoft.com/.default"] token_response = app.acquire_token_for_client(scopes=scopes) return token_response.get("access_token") 3.2. Use this token to perform the required operations. Restrict Resources for Application permission Application permission, allows authorization under the App’s identity, enabling access to all SharePoint sites within the tenant, which could be overly broad for certain use cases. To restrict this permission to access a limited number of SharePoint sites, we need to configure the following settings: Actions Required by the Administrator of the Tenant that Owns SharePoint During the authorization process, only select Sites.Selected. (refer to Step 4 from Managed Identity, and Step 1.3 from Multu-tenant App Registration) Subsequently, configure access separately for different SharePoint sites. During the process, we will create a temporary App Registration to issue an access token, allowing us to assign specific SharePoint sites' read/write permissions to the target Application. Once the permission settings are completed, this App Registration can be deleted. Refer to the above images, we need to note down the App Registration's object ID and tenant ID. Additionally, we need to create an app secret and grant it the Application permission Sites.FullControl.All. Once the setup is complete, the token can be obtained using the following command. $tenantId = "<Your_Tenant_ID>" $clientId = "<Your_Temp_AppID>" $clientSecret = "<Your_Temp_App_Secret>" $scope = "https://graph.microsoft.com/.default" $url = "https://login.microsoftonline.com/$tenantId/oauth2/v2.0/token" $body = @{ grant_type = "client_credentials" client_id = $clientId client_secret = $clientSecret scope = $scope } $response = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $url -Method Post -Body $body $accessToken = $response.access_token Before granting thewrite permission to the target application, even if the Application Permission already has the Sites.Selected scope, an error will still occur. Checking the current SharePoint site's allowed access list shows that it is empty. $headers = @{ "Authorization" = "Bearer $accessToken" "Content-Type" = "application/json" } Invoke-RestMethod -Method Get -Uri "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/sites/<Your_SharePoint_Site>.sharepoint.com" -Headers $headers Next, we manually add the corresponding Application to the SharePoint site's allowed access list and assign it thewrite permission. $headers = @{ "Authorization" = "Bearer $accessToken" "Content-Type" = "application/json" } $body = @{ roles = @("write") grantedToIdentities = @( @{ application = @{ id = "<Your_Target_AppID>" displayName = "<Your_Target_AppName>" } } ) grantedToIdentitiesV2 = @( @{ application = @{ id = "<Your_Target_AppID>" displayName = "<Your_Target_AppName>" } } ) } | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 10 Invoke-RestMethod -Method Post -Uri "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/sites/<Your_SharePoint_Site>.sharepoint.com/permissions" -Headers $headers -Body $body Rechecking the current SharePoint site's allowed access list confirms the addition. After that, writing files to the site will succeed, and you could delete the temp App Registration. References Microsoft will require MFA for all Azure users Acquire a token to call a web API using device code flow (desktop app) - Microsoft identity platform | Microsoft Learn Implement cross-tenant communication by using multitenant applications - Azure Architecture CenterConnection Between Web App and O365 Resources: Using Mail as an Example
TOC Introduction User Management Grant Permission Setup Security Mail Group Test References Introduction When using the Graph API to manage mail-related services, setting the permission to Delegate permission restricts the authorization to the user’s identity, limiting management to the specific user’s mailbox. While this might not be sufficient for certain business scenarios, Application permission, on the other hand, allows authorization under the App’s identity, enabling access to all users’ mailboxes within the tenant, which could be overly broad for certain use cases. Therefore, a method is required that allows the management of a specific mailbox using the App’s identity. This scenario is not recommended to use Delegate permission and requires some prerequisites, which are outlined in this article: Connection Between Web App and O365 Resources: Using SharePoint as an Example. User Management In your Microsoft Entra ID tenant, you will need: An admin user with permissions to "create users" and "assign roles." This user will perform the following operations. For simplicity, we’ll refer to this user as the admin user. An Exchange Administrator user who has the Exchange Administrator role. If not assigned, ensure to assign it to a user. In this example, the user is cch. A user account (or multiple users) to be managed by the Web App for mailbox operations. In this example, the user is support. Additionally, remember to visit https://admin.microsoft.com/ to assign a Microsoft 365 license to the new user, enabling mailbox access. Grant Permission For this example, we’ll use Managed Identity to grant the Mail.ReadWrite permission to the Enterprise Application corresponding to the Web App's Managed Identity. Note: Depending on your business requirements: You can replace the Managed Identity with a Multi-Tenant App Registration. You can also adjust Mail.ReadWrite to other permissions aligned with your business needs. Log in to the Azure Portal with youradmin user and open a PowerShell CloudShell session. Modify and run the following commands to grant the necessary Graph API permissions to the Web App’s Managed Identity. Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "AppRoleAssignment.ReadWrite.All" $PrincipalId = "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX" # Please setup your Managed Identity's OBJ ID $ResourceId = (Get-MgServicePrincipal -Filter "displayName eq 'Microsoft Graph'" | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Id) $AppRoles = Get-MgServicePrincipal -Filter "displayName eq 'Microsoft Graph'" -Property AppRoles | Select -ExpandProperty AppRoles | Where-Object { $_.Value -like "Mail.ReadWrite" } # Please setup your permission $AppRoles | ForEach-Object { $params = @{ "PrincipalId" = $PrincipalId "ResourceId" = $ResourceId "AppRoleId" = $_.Id } New-MgServicePrincipalAppRoleAssignment -ServicePrincipalId $PrincipalId -BodyParameter $params } Setup Security Mail Group Log in to the Azure Portal with an Exchange Administrator user, open a PowerShell CloudShell session, and run the following commands: Create a Security Mail Group. Add the mailboxes (e.g., support) that need to be accessible via the Web App to the group. Associate the Managed Identity's authorization with the Security Mail Group. az login --tenant XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX--use-device-code # Please setup your tenant id Connect-ExchangeOnline Connect-AzureAD New-DistributionGroup -Name "Policy Scope Group" -Alias "policy-scope-group" -Type Security Add-DistributionGroupMember -Identity "Policy Scope Group" -Member "XXX@XXX.com" # Please setup your receiver mailbox $AppId = "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX" # Please setup your Managed Identity's APP ID $GroupId = (Get-AzureADGroup -SearchString "Policy Scope Group" | Select-Object ObjectId).ObjectId New-ApplicationAccessPolicy -AppId $AppId -PolicyScopeGroupId $GroupId -AccessRight RestrictAccess Important Notes Allow at least one hour for all configurations to take effect. Ensure the Microsoft 365 license has been assigned to the relevant user(s). Test You can deploy the following example code to your Web App. Replace support@xx.com with the mailbox to be accessed programmatically, and prepare another mailbox (e.g., cch@xx.com) for testing to ensure that only mailboxes within the Security Mail Group can be accessed. import requests from azure.identity import ManagedIdentityCredential def get_access_token(): credential = ManagedIdentityCredential() token = credential.get_token("https://graph.microsoft.com/.default") return token.token def get_latest_email_subject(target_email): access_token = get_access_token() headers = { "Authorization": f"Bearer {access_token}", "Content-Type": "application/json" } url = f"https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users/{target_email}/mailFolders/Inbox/messages?$count=true" response = requests.get(url, headers=headers) if response.status_code == 200: data = response.json() if "value" in data and len(data["value"]) > 0: return data["value"][0].get("subject", "No Subject") else: print("No emails found in the inbox.") return None else: print("Failed to fetch emails.") print("Status Code:", response.status_code) print("Response:", response.json()) return None if __name__ == "__main__": print("=============================================") print("Fetching support@xx.com's latest email subject...") target_email = "support@xx.com" subject = get_latest_email_subject(target_email) if subject: print("Latest Email Subject:", subject) else: print("No email subject found.") print("=============================================") print("Fetching cch@xx.com's latest email subject...") target_email = "cch@xx.com" subject = get_latest_email_subject(target_email) if subject: print("Latest Email Subject:", subject) else: print("No email subject found.") After testing, you should observe that only the mailboxes of members within the Security Mail Group can be accessed by the Web App, while other mailboxes remain inaccessible. This ensures secure and specific access control. References Connection Between Web App and O365 Resources: Using SharePoint as an Example | Microsoft Community Hub Microsoft Graph permissions reference - Microsoft Graph | Microsoft Learn Connection Between Web App and O365 Resources: Using SharePoint as an Example | Microsoft Community HubUnlock New AI and Cloud Potential with .NET 9 & Azure: Faster, Smarter, and Built for the Future
.NET 9, now available to developers, marks a significant milestone in the evolution of the .NET platform, pushing the boundaries of performance, cloud-native development, and AI integration. This release, shaped by contributions from over 9,000 community members worldwide, introduces thousands of improvements that set the stage for the future of application development. With seamless integration withAzure and a focus on cloud-native development and AI capabilities, .NET 9 empowers developers to build scalable, intelligent applications with unprecedented ease. Expanding Azure PaaS Support for .NET 9 With the release of .NET 9, a comprehensive range of Azure Platform as a Service (PaaS) offerings now fully support the platform’s new capabilities, including the latest .NET SDK for any Azure developer. This extensive support allows developers to build, deploy, and scale .NET 9 applications with optimal performance and adaptability on Azure. Additionally, developers can access a wealth of architecture references and sample solutions to guide them in creating high-performance .NET 9 applications on Azure’s powerful cloud services: Azure App Service: Run, manage, and scale .NET 9 web applications efficiently. Check out this blog to learn more about what's new in Azure App Service. Azure Functions: Leverage serverless computing to build event-driven .NET 9 applications with improved runtime capabilities. Azure Container Apps: Deploy microservices and containerized .NET 9 workloads with integrated observability. Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS): Run .NET 9 applications in a managed Kubernetes environment with expanded ARM64 support. Azure AI Services and Azure OpenAI Services: Integrate advanced AI and OpenAI capabilities directly into your .NET 9 applications. Azure API Management, Azure Logic Apps, Azure Cognitive Services, and Azure SignalR Service: Ensure seamless integration and scaling for .NET 9 solutions. These services provide developers with a robust platform to build high-performance, scalable, and cloud-native applications while leveraging Azure’s optimized environment for .NET. Streamlined Cloud-Native Development with .NET Aspire .NET Aspire is a game-changer for cloud-native applications, enabling developers to build distributed, production-ready solutions efficiently. Available in preview with .NET 9, Aspire streamlines app development, with cloud efficiency and observability at its core. The latest updates in Aspire include secure defaults, Azure Functions support, and enhanced container management. Key capabilities include: Optimized Azure Integrations: Aspire works seamlessly with Azure, enabling fast deployments, automated scaling, and consistent management of cloud-native applications. Easier Deployments to Azure Container Apps: Designed for containerized environments, .NET Aspire integrates with Azure Container Apps (ACA) to simplify the deployment process. Using the Azure Developer CLI (azd), developers can quickly provision and deploy .NET Aspire projects to ACA, with built-in support for Redis caching, application logging, and scalability. Built-In Observability: A real-time dashboard provides insights into logs, distributed traces, and metrics, enabling local and production monitoring with Azure Monitor. With these capabilities, .NET Aspire allows developers to deploy microservices and containerized applications effortlessly on ACA, streamlining the path from development to production in a fully managed, serverless environment. Integrating AI into .NET: A Seamless Experience In our ongoing effort to empower developers, we’ve made integrating AI into .NET applications simpler than ever. Our strategic partnerships, including collaborations with OpenAI, LlamaIndex, and Qdrant, have enriched the AI ecosystem and strengthened .NET’s capabilities. This year alone, usage of Azure OpenAI services has surged to nearly a billion API calls per month, illustrating the growing impact of AI-powered .NET applications. Real-World AI Solutions with .NET: .NET has been pivotal in driving AI innovations. From internal teams like Microsoft Copilot creating AI experiences with .NET Aspireto tools like GitHub Copilot, developed with .NET to enhance productivity in Visual Studio and VS Code, the platform showcases AI at its best. KPMG Clara is a prime example, developed to enhance audit quality and efficiency for 95,000 auditors worldwide. By leveraging .NET and scaling securely on Azure, KPMG implemented robust AI features aligned with strict industry standards, underscoring .NET and Azure as the backbone for high-performing, scalable AI solutions. Performance Enhancements in .NET 9: Raising the Bar for Azure Workloads .NET 9 introduces substantial performance upgrades with over 7,500 merged pull requests focused on speed and efficiency, ensuring .NET 9 applications run optimally on Azure. These improvements contribute to reduced cloud costs and provide a high-performance experience across Windows, Linux, and macOS. To see how significant these performance gains can be for cloud services, take a look at what past .NET upgrades achieved for Microsoft’s high-scale internal services: Bing achieved a major reduction in startup times, enhanced efficiency, and decreased latency across its high-performance search workflows. Microsoft Teams improved efficiency by 50%, reduced latency by 30–45%, and achieved up to 100% gains in CPU utilization for key services, resulting in faster user interactions. Microsoft Copilot and other AI-powered applications benefited from optimized runtime performance, enabling scalable, high-quality experiences for users. Upgrading to the latest .NET version offers similar benefits for cloud apps, optimizing both performance and cost-efficiency. For more information on updating your applications, check out the .NET Upgrade Assistant. For additional details on ASP.NET Core, .NET MAUI, NuGet, and more enhancements across the .NET platform, check out the full Announcing .NET 9 blog post. Conclusion: Your Path to the Future with .NET 9 and Azure .NET 9 isn’t just an upgrade—it’s a leap forward, combining cutting-edge AI integration, cloud-native development, and unparalleled performance. Paired with Azure’s scalability, these advancements provide a trusted, high-performance foundation for modern applications. Get started by downloading .NET 9 and exploring its features. Leverage .NET Aspire for streamlined cloud-native development, deploy scalable apps with Azure, and embrace new productivity enhancements to build for the future. For additional insights on ASP.NET, .NET MAUI, NuGet, and more, check out the full Announcing .NET 9 blog post. Explore the future of cloud-native and AI development with .NET 9 and Azure—your toolkit for creating the next generation of intelligent applications.Transition from Alpine Linux to Debian for WordPress on App Service
We are excited to share with you that we will be transitioning from Alpine to Debian as the default Linux distribution for WordPress on App Service. While Alpine has served us well with its lightweight and performant nature, our evolving needs require a more feature-rich environment. Debian is the ideal candidate to support our next phase of development and growth. This transition will also align us with App Service Linux, which already utilizes Debian as the default Linux distribution.
Connect Privately to Azure Front Door with Azure Container Apps
Azure Container Apps is a fully managed serverless container service that enables you to deploy and run containerized applications with per-second billing and autoscaling without having to manage infrastructure. The service also provides support for a number of enhanced networking capabilities to address security and compliance needs such as network security groups (NSGs), Azure Firewall, and more. Today, Azure Container Apps is excited to announce public preview for another key networking capability, private endpoints for workload profile environments. This feature allows customers to connect to their Container Apps environment using a private IP address in their Azure Virtual Network, thereby eliminating exposure to the public internet and securing access to their applications. With the introduction of private endpoints for workload profile environments, you can now also establish a direct connection from Azure Front Door to your Container Apps environment viaPrivate Link. By enabling Private Link for an Azure Container Apps origin, customers benefit from an extra layer of security that further isolates their traffic from the public internet. Currently, you can configure this connectivity through CLI (portal support coming soon). In this post, we will do a brief overview of private endpoints on Azure Container Apps and the process of privately connecting it to Azure Front Door. Getting started with private endpoints on Azure Container Apps Private endpoints can be enabled either during the creation of a new environment or within an existing one. For new environments, you simply navigate to theNetworking tab, disable public network access, and enable private endpoints. To manage the creation of private endpoints in an existing environment, you can use the newNetworking blade, which is also in public preview. Since private endpoints use a private IP address, the endpoint for a container app is inaccessible through the public internet. This can be confirmed by the lack of connectivity when opening the application URL. If you prefer using CLI, you can find further guidance in enabling private endpoints at Use a private endpoint with an Azure Container Apps environment (preview). Adding container apps as a private origin for Azure Front Door With private endpoints, you can securely connect them to Azure Front Door through Private Link as well. The current process involves CLI commands that guide you in enabling an origin for Private Link and approving the private endpoint connection. Once approved, Azure Front Door assigns a private IP address from a managed regional private network, and you can verify the connectivity between your container app and the Azure Front Door. For a detailed tutorial, please navigate toCreate a private link to an Azure Container App with Azure Front Door (preview). Troubleshooting Have trouble testing the private endpoints? After creating a private endpoint for a container app, you can build and deploy a virtual machine to test the private connection. With no public inbound ports, this virtual machine would be associated with the virtual network defined during creation of the private endpoint. After creating the virtual machine, you can connect via Bastion and verify the private connectivity. You may find outlined instructions atVerify the private endpoint connection. Conclusion The public preview of private endpoints and private connectivity to Azure Front Door for workload profile environments is a long-awaited feature in Azure Container Apps. We encourage you to implement private endpoints for enhanced security and look forward to your feedback on this experience at our GitHub page. Additional Resources To learn more, please visit the following links to official documentation: Networking in Azure Container Apps environment - Private Endpoints Use a private endpoint with an Azure Container Apps environment Create a private link to an Azure Container App with Azure Front Door (preview) What is a private endpoint? What is Azure Private Link?Managed Identity support for WordPress on App Service
WordPress on App Service now supports Managed Identity. This means your WordPress site can securely access other Azure resources, like Azure Database for MySQL Flexible Server and Azure Communication Service Email, without the hassle of managing connection strings and secrets.Build and Modernize Intelligent Java apps at Scale
Java on Microsoft Azure Java customers and developers are constantly exploring how they can bring their Java applications to the cloud. Some are looking to modernize existing applications, while others are building new cloud-native solutions from scratch. With these changes, they need a platform that lets them keep working the way they know, without sacrificing control or performance. That’s where Microsoft Azure comes in. As a company, Microsoft is committed to making Java developers as efficient and productive as possible, empowering them to use any tool, framework, and application server on any operating system. Microsoft Azure makes it easy to work with the tools and frameworks Java developers already know and love. Whether using IntelliJ, Eclipse, or VS Code, or managing dependencies with Maven or Gradle, developers can keep using their preferred setup. Azure supports trusted Java application servers and popular open-source tools like Spring Boot, JBoss EAP, and WebLogic, making the transition to the cloud seamless and natural. Scaling on Azure is designed with simplicity and security in mind. Developers can count on built-in tools for monitoring, automation, data support, and caching, along with robust security features. With Azure’s flexible services they can scale confidently, manage costs, and build resilient applications that meet business needs. Azure provides everything Java developers need to build and modernize their applications at scale, letting them do so on their own terms. Tooling for Java app migration and modernization priorities Moving your Java applications to the cloud is easier with the right tools. Azure offers a full set of solutions for every type of migration, whether you are rehosting, re-platforming, refactoring, or rearchitecting. These tools work together to help you transition smoothly, allowing you to work faster, more efficiently, and with greater insight. With Azure, you can achieve meaningful results for your business as you modernize your applications. Azure Migrate and Partner-built Solutions Azure Migrate is a key resource in this process. It provides a holistic view of your server and application estate and generates a cloud-readiness report. With app centricity, you can now assess applications at a portfolio level rather than server by server. This makes it easier for IT decision-makers to plan migrations on a larger scale while aligning with business priorities. In addition to Azure Migrate, you can leverage several partner-built solutions such as CAST, Unify, Dr. Migrate, and others to support additional use cases and scenarios. Azure Migrate application and code assessment For developers, Azure Migrate’s app and code assessment tool (AppCAT) offers in-depth code scanning for Java applications. With this tool, you can assess code changes needed to run your apps in the cloud right from within your preferred terminals, like Bash. GitHub Copilot Chat integration further simplifies the planning process, making it easy to explore modernization options through a conversational approach. AppCAT is especially useful for detailed assessments for refactoring and rearchitecting. GitHub Copilot upgrade assistant for Java A major advancement in this toolkit is the new GitHub Copilot upgrade assistant for Java. Upgrading Java code, runtimes, frameworks, and dependencies can be time-consuming, but with the upgrade assistant, you can streamline the process significantly. Start with your local Java project, receive an AI-powered upgrade strategy, and let Copilot handle the bulk of the work. This powerful tool helps you modernize faster, allowing you to focus on building intelligent applications at scale with confidence. Ready to save time upgrading Java? You can apply for the waitlist to the Technical Preview right here – aka.ms/GHCP-for-Java. This early access is open to a limited number of customers, so we encourage you to sign up soon and share your feedback! Deploy and Scale Java Apps on Azure The Java ecosystem is diverse, encompassing technologies like Java SE, Jakarta EE, Spring, and various application servers. Whatever your Java workload – whether building a monolithic app or a cloud-native microservice – Azure provides a comprehensive platform to support it. Azure offers multiple deployment paths to help meet your specific project goals. For those migrating existing Java applications, infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) options like Azure Virtual Machines allow you to lift and shift applications without significant re-architecture. Meanwhile, container options, such as Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure Container Apps and Azure Red Hat OpenShift, make it easier to manage Java applications in containers. Fully managed platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offerings, like Azure App Service, provide out-of-the-box scalability, DevOps integration, and automation for streamlined management. The following diagram shows recommended Azure services for every Java application type deployed as source or binaries: The following diagram shows the recommended Azure services for every Java application type deployed as containers: Building on Azure's reputation as a versatile platform for various applications, we now turn our focus to three specific offerings that demonstrate this flexibility. Today, we highlight JBoss EAP on Azure App Service, Java on Azure Container Apps, and WebSphere Liberty on Azure Kubernetes Service and how to quickly bring your apps to production with Landing Zone Accelerator. We will also walk you through how to build and modernize intelligent Java apps at scale with the latest AI tools and models. JBoss EAP on Azure App Service Azure App Service offers a fully managed platform with specific enhancements for Java, making it an excellent choice for running enterprise Java applications. Recently, several updates have been introduced to bring even greater value to Java developers using JBoss EAP on App Service: Reduced Licensing Costs: Licensing fees for JBoss EAP on App Service have been cut by over 60%, making it more accessible to a wider range of users. Free Tier Availability: A new free tier is available for those interested in testing the service without an upfront cost, providing an easy entry point for trials and evaluation. Affordable Paid Tiers: Lower-cost paid tiers of App Service Plan for JBoss EAP have been introduced, catering to businesses seeking a cost-effective, production-ready environment. Bring Your Own License Support: Soon, customers will be able to apply existing Red Hat volume licenses to further reduce operational costs, adding flexibility for organizations already invested in Red Hat JBoss EAP. These updates provide significant savings, making JBoss EAP on App Service a smart choice for those looking to optimize costs while running Java applications on a reliable, managed platform. Java on Azure Container Apps Azure Container Apps is a popular serverless platform for Java developers who want to deploy and scale containerized applications with minimal management overhead. Designed for microservices, APIs, and event-driven workloads, Azure Container Apps makes it simple to scale applications from zero up to millions of requests, adapting dynamically to meet real-time demand. Azure Container Apps includes several features tailored specifically for Java: Managed Components for Java: With built-in Spring Cloud services like Service Registry and Config Server, managing Java applications is straightforward. These components simplify service registration, discovery, and configuration management. Enhanced Java Monitoring: Azure Monitor provides Java-specific insights, giving developers visibility into their applications and enabling proactive management with detailed metrics. Effortless Scaling: Container Apps can scale down to zero during periods of low demand and scale out as traffic grows, helping optimize costs. The platform also supports GPU-enabled workloads, perfect for AI-powered Java applications. This fully managed platform supports a range of Java frameworks and runtimes, from Spring Boot to Quarkus to Open Liberty and beyond. With built-in DevOps, secure networking, role-based access, and pay-as-you-go pricing, Azure Container Apps offers a powerful and flexible foundation to build, deploy, and monitor any Java application type. WebSphere Liberty on Azure Kubernetes Service IBM's WebSphere is one of the most widely used middleware platforms globally, especially in large enterprises. Many organizations rely on WebSphere Traditional applications, which have strong market penetration in enterprise environments. As IBM focuses on cloud-native solutions, it is encouraging organizations to migrate from WebSphere Traditional to WebSphere Liberty - a more modern, cloud-native Java runtime. With Azure Kubernetes Service, this migration becomes straightforward and manageable, allowing organizations to bring existing WebSphere Traditional apps into a more flexible, scalable environment. Why Azure Kubernetes Service? AKS provides a powerful platform for running containerized Java applications without the complexity of setting up and maintaining Kubernetes yourself. It’s a fully managed Kubernetes service, integrated end-to-end with Azure’s foundational infrastructure, CI/CD, registry, monitoring, and managed services. Because AKS is based on vanilla Kubernetes, all Kubernetes tools work, and there’s no risk of lock-in. AKS offers global availability, enterprise-grade security, automated upgrades, and compliance, making it a reliable choice for organizations aiming to modernize WebSphere applications. Competitive pricing and cost optimization make AKS even more attractive. Why Transform to WebSphere Liberty? WebSphere Liberty, along with Open Liberty, offers compatibility with WebSphere Traditional, creating an easy migration path. Liberty is a lightweight, modular runtime that’s better suited for cloud-native applications. It reduces resource costs, requiring less memory and CPU than WebSphere Traditional and has quicker startup times. Liberty also embraces modern standards, like Jakarta EE Core Profile and MicroProfile, making it ideal for cloud-native applications. Organizations can even re-purpose existing WebSphere Traditional licenses, significantly reducing migration costs. Running WebSphere Liberty on Azure Kubernetes Service is simple and flexible. IBM and Microsoft have certified Liberty on AKS, providing a reliable path for enterprises to move their WebSphere applications to the cloud. With a solution template available in the Azure Marketplace, you can deploy WebSphere Liberty on AKS in a few clicks. This setup works with both new and existing AKS clusters, as well as any container registry, allowing you to deploy quickly and scale as needed. By combining WebSphere Liberty with AKS, you gain the agility of containers and Kubernetes, along with the robust features of a cloud-native runtime on a trusted enterprise platform. Build Right and Fast! Build Your Java or Spring Apps Environment: Development, Test, or Production in Just 15-30 Minutes with Landing Zone Accelerator! To ensure the scalability and quality of your cloud journey, we re-introduce Landing Zone Accelerators, specifically designed for Azure app destinations such as App Service, Azure Container Apps, and Azure Kubernetes Service. An accelerator allows you to establish secure, complaint, and scalable development, test, or production environments within 15-30 minutes. Adhering to Azure's best practices and embedding security by default, a Landing Zone Accelerator ensures that your cloud transition is not only swift but also robust and scalable. It paves the way for both application and platform teams to thrive in the cloud environment. From realizing cost efficiency to streamlining your migration and modernization journey to ensuring the scalability of your cloud operations, our goal is to demonstrate how your cloud transition can drive innovation, and efficiency, and accelerate business value. The Landing Zone Accelerators for App Service, Azure Container Apps, and Azure Kubernetes Service represent an authoritative, proven, and prescriptive infrastructure-as-code solution, designed to assist enterprise customers in establishing a robust environment for deploying Java, Spring, and polyglot apps. It not only expedites the deployment process but also provides a comprehensive design framework, allowing for the clear planning and designing of Azure environments based on established standards. Build Intelligent Java Apps at Scale Today, many enterprise applications are built with Java. As AI grows in popularity and delivers greater business outcomes, Java developers wonder how to integrate it with their apps. Python is popular for AI - particularly for model building, deploying and fine tuning LLMs, and data handling - but moving an app to a new language can be complex and costly. Instead, Java developers can use Azure to combine their Java apps with AI, building intelligent apps without needing to master Python. Azure makes it simple to bring AI into your existing Java applications. Many customers are already using the Azure platform to add intelligence to their Java apps, delivering more value to their businesses. Whether starting fresh or modernizing existing systems, Azure provides the tools needed to build powerful, intelligent applications that scale. Modernize and Build New Intelligent Apps with Azure. Wherever you are in your cloud journey, Azure helps you modernize and build intelligent apps. Azure offers app platform services, data handling at scale, and AI tools that make it easy to create applications that deliver meaningful business value. Intelligent apps can drive growth, amplify team capabilities, and improve productivity. With Azure, you can bring your Java apps into the future and stay ahead of the competition. The Right Tools for Intelligent Java Apps. Building intelligent applications requires a strong foundation. Azure provides essential services like a robust cloud platform, scalable data solutions, and AI tools, including pretrained models and responsible AI practices. These tools ensure your apps are efficient, scalable, and aligned with best practices. Azure offers several key services for this: Azure AI Studio: A one-stop platform for experimenting and deploying AI solutions. It provides tools for model benchmarking, solution testing, and monitoring, making it easy to develop use cases like customer segmentation and predictive maintenance. Azure OpenAI Service: With access to advanced AI models like GPT-4, this service is ideal for content generation, summarization, and semantic search. Build chatbots, create marketing content, or add AI-driven features to your Java apps. Azure Machine Learning: An end-to-end platform for building and deploying machine learning models. It supports various use cases such as recommendation systems, predictive analytics, and anomaly detection. MLOps capabilities ensure your models are continuously improved and managed. Azure AI Search: Uses retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) technology for powerful search capabilities. Enhance user experience with intelligent search options, helping users quickly find relevant information. Azure Cosmos DB: A globally distributed, multi-model database service ideal for high-performance, low-latency applications. It offers turnkey global distribution, automatic scalability, and integration with other Azure services, making it a strong choice for intelligent apps that handle large amounts of data. Azure Database for PostgreSQL with PGVector: This managed PostgreSQL service now includes the PGVector extension, designed for handling vector embeddings in AI applications. It’s a valuable tool for applications requiring fast, similarity-based searches and supports applications involving recommendation engines, semantic search, and personalization. Azure AI Infrastructure: Provides high-performance infrastructure for AI workloads. Whether training large models or performing real-time inference, Azure’s AI infrastructure meets demanding needs. Get Started with AI in Java. If you are a Java app developer, now is a great time to start integrating AI into your apps. Spring developers can use Spring AI for quick integration, and developers using Quarkus or Jakarta EE or any other app type can take advantage of LangChain4j. You can also use Microsoft Azure AI client libraries for Java. No matter what your framework is, Azure has the tools to help you add intelligence to your applications. Meet the Java team at the Microsoft Ignite 2024 Come meet the Java team at Microsoft Ignite 2024! Join our breakout session, "Java on Azure: Modernize and scale enterprise Java applications on Azure" BRK147, for a close look at the newest ways to build, scale, and modernize Java apps on Azure. In this session, our engineers and product experts will share the latest updates and tools for Java developers. You’ll learn about cost-saving options, new cloud tools, and how to add smart features to your apps. This is a session for all Java developers, whether you're moving apps to the cloud or building cloud-native apps from scratch. Everyone can join - either in person at Ignite or virtually from anywhere in the world. The virtual option is free, so you can attend without leaving your desk. Don’t miss the chance to connect with the Java team, ask questions, and get tips to make your Java apps succeed on Azure! Start Today! Join Us at Java + AI Events Worldwide. Sign Up for upcoming Java and AI events like JDConf 2025 and JavaOne 2025. You’ll also find our developer advocates sharing insights and tips at Java conferences and events around the world. Begin framing your app migration plans with resources to guide you through each step. Get started here – aka.ms/Start-Java. Explore the docs and deploy your first Java or Spring app in the cloud. Follow the quick steps here – aka.ms/Java-Hub. Use our tools and information to build a plan and show your leaders the benefits of Java app modernization. Get the details here – azure.com/Java. Start building, planning, and exploring Azure for Java today!Using TensorFlow on Azure Web App
TOC Introduction to OpenAI System Architecture Architecture Focus of This Tutorial Setup Azure Resources File and Directory Structure Bicep Template Running Locally Training Models and Training Data Predicting with the Model Publishing the Project to Azure Code Commit to Azure DevOps Publish to Azure Web App via Pipeline Running on Azure Web App Training the Model Using the Model for Prediction Troubleshooting docker.log freeze after deployment Others Conclusion References 1. Introduction to OpenAI TensorFlow is an open-source machine learning framework developed by Google. It provides tools for building and deploying machine learning models, with a focus on flexibility and scalability. TensorFlow supports deep learning, classical machine learning, and neural network models, enabling tasks like image recognition, natural language processing, and time series forecasting. At its core, TensorFlow uses computational graphs to model mathematical operations, allowing efficient computation on CPUs, GPUs, and TPUs. It features a high-level API, Keras, for easy model building, as well as lower-level APIs for advanced customization. TensorFlow also supports distributed training for large-scale datasets and diverse deployment options, including cloud services, mobile devices, and edge computing. TensorFlow’s ecosystem includes TensorFlow Hub (pre-trained models), TensorFlow Lite (for mobile and IoT), and TensorFlow.js (for JavaScript applications). Its integration with visualization tools like TensorBoard simplifies debugging and performance monitoring. TensorFlow excels in production environments, offering features like TensorFlow Extended (TFX) for end-to-end ML pipelines. With its versatile capabilities and large community, TensorFlow is widely used in industries like healthcare, finance, and technology, making it one of the most powerful tools for modern machine learning development. 2. System Architecture Architecture Development Environment OS: macOS Version: Sonoma 14.1.1 Python Version: 3.9.20 Azure Resources App Service Plan: SKU - Premium Plan 0 V3 App Service: Platform - Linux (Python 3.9, Version 3.9.19) Storage Account: SKU - General Purpose V2 File Share: No backup plan Focus of This Tutorial This tutorial walks you through the following stages: Setting up Azure resources Running the project locally Publishing the project to Azure Running the application on Azure Troubleshooting common issues Each of the mentioned aspects has numerous corresponding tools and solutions. The relevant information for this session is listed in the table below. Local OS Windows Linux Mac V How to setup Azure resources Portal (i.e., REST api) ARM Bicep Terraform V How to deploy project to Azure VSCode CLI Azure DevOps GitHub Action V 3. Setup Azure Resources File and Directory Structure Please open a terminal and enter the following commands: git clone https://github.com/theringe/azure-appservice-ai.git cd azure-appservice-ai bash ./tensorflow/tools/add-venv.sh If you are using a Windows platform, use the following alternative PowerShell commands instead: git clone https://github.com/theringe/azure-appservice-ai.git cd azure-appservice-ai .\tensorflow\tools\add-venv.cmd After completing the execution, you should see the following directory structure: File and Path Purpose tensorflow/tools/add-venv.* The script executed in the previous step (cmd for Windows, sh for Linux/Mac) to create all Python virtual environments required for this tutorial. .venv/tensorflow-webjob/ A virtual environment specifically used for training models (i.e., tokenize text, construct a neuron network for training). tensorflow/webjob/requirements.txt The list of packages (with exact versions) required for the tensorflow-webjob virtual environment. .venv/tensorflow/ A virtual environment specifically used for the Flask application, enabling API endpoint access for querying predictions (i.e., MBTI). tensorflow/requirements.txt The list of packages (with exact versions) required for the tensorflow virtual environment. tensorflow/ The main folder for this tutorial. tensorflow/tools/bicep-template.bicep The Bicep template to setup all the Azure resources related to this tutorial, including an App Service Plan, a Web App, and a Storage Account. tensorflow/tools/create-folder.* A script to create all directories required for this tutorial in the File Share, including train, model, and test. tensorflow/tools/download-sample-training-set.* A script to download a sample training set from MBTI text classifer trained on the Kaggle MBTI dataset, containing MBTI and post data from social media platforms, into the train directory of the File Share. tensorflow/webjob/train_mbti_model.py A script for tokenizing the posts from each record, training an LSTM-based model for MBTI classification, and saves the embedding vectors in the model directory of the File Share. tensorflow/App_Data/jobs/triggered/train-mbti-model/train_mbti_model.sh A shell script for Azure App Service web jobs. It activates the tensorflow-webjob virtual environment and starts the train_mbti_model.py script. tensorflow/api/app.py Code for the Flask application, including routes, port configuration, input parsing, vectors loading, predictions, and output generation. tensorflow/start.sh A script executed after deployment (as specified in the Bicep template startup command I will introduce it later). It sets up the virtual environment and starts the Flask application to handle web requests. tensorflow/pipeline.yml A process document for an Azure DevOps pipeline, detailing the steps to deploy code to an Azure Web App. Bicep Template We need to create the following resources or services: Manual Creation Required Resource/Service App Service Plan No Resource (plan) App Service Yes Resource (app) Storage Account Yes Resource (storageAccount) File Share Yes Service Let’s take a look at the tensorflow/tools/bicep-template.bicep file. Refer to the configuration section for all the resources. Since most of the configuration values don’t require changes, I’ve placed them in the variables section of the ARM template rather than the parameters section. This helps keep the configuration simpler. However, I’d still like to briefly explain some of the more critical settings. As you can see, I’ve adopted a camelCase naming convention, which combines the [Resource Type] with [Setting Name and Hierarchy]. This makes it easier to understand where each setting will be used. The configurations in the diagram are sorted by resource name, but the following list is categorized by functionality for better clarity. Configuration Name Value Purpose storageAccountFileShareName data-and-model [Purpose 1: Link File Share to Web App] Use this fixed name for File Share storageAccountFileShareShareQuota 5120 [Purpose 1: Link File Share to Web App] The value is in GB storageAccountFileShareEnabledProtocols SMB [Purpose 1: Link File Share to Web App] appSiteConfigAzureStorageAccountsType AzureFiles [Purpose 1: Link File Share to Web App] appSiteConfigAzureStorageAccountsProtocol Smb [Purpose 1: Link File Share to Web App] planKind linux [Purpose 2: Specify platform and stack runtime] Select Linux (default if Python stack is chosen) planSkuTier Premium0V3 [Purpose 2: Specify platform and stack runtime] Choose at least Premium Plan to ensure enough memory for your AI workloads planSkuName P0v3 [Purpose 2: Specify platform and stack runtime] Same as above appKind app,linux [Purpose 2: Specify platform and stack runtime] Same as above appSiteConfigLinuxFxVersion PYTHON|3.9 [Purpose 2: Specify platform and stack runtime] Select Python 3.9 to avoid dependency issues appSiteConfigAppSettingsWEBSITES_CONTAINER_START_TIME_LIMIT 1800 [Purpose 3: Deploying] The value is in seconds, ensuring the Startup Command can continue execution beyond the default timeout of 230 seconds. This tutorial’s Startup Command typically takes around 1200 seconds, so setting it to 1800 seconds (i.e., it is the max value) provides a safety margin and accommodates future project expansion (e.g., adding more packages) appSiteConfigAppCommandLine [ -f /home/site/wwwroot/start.sh ] && bash /home/site/wwwroot/start.sh || GUNICORN_CMD_ARGS=\"--timeout 600 --access-logfile '-' --error-logfile '-' -c /opt/startup/gunicorn.conf.py --chdir=/opt/defaultsite\" gunicorn application:app [Purpose 3: Deploying] This is the Startup Command, which can be break down into 3 parts: First (-f /home/site/wwwroot/start.sh): Checks whether start.sh exists. This is used to determine whether the app is in its initial state (just created) or has already been deployed. Second (bash /home/site/wwwroot/start.sh): If the file exists, it means the app has already been deployed. The start.sh script will be executed, which installs the necessary packages and starts the Flask application. Third (GUNICORN_CMD_ARGS=\"--timeout 600 --access-logfile '-' --error-logfile '-' -c /opt/startup/gunicorn.conf.py --chdir=/opt/defaultsite\" gunicorn application:app): If the file does not exist, the command falls back to the default HTTP server (gunicorn) to start the web app. Since the command is enclosed in double quotes within the ARM template, during actual execution, replace \" with " appSiteConfigAppSettingsSCM_DO_BUILD_DURING_DEPLOYMENT false [Purpose 3: Deploying] Since we have already defined the handling for different virtual environments in start.sh, we do not need to initiate the default build process of the Web App appSiteConfigAppSettingsWEBSITES_ENABLE_APP_SERVICE_STORAGE true [Purpose 4: Webjobs] This setting is required to enable the App Service storage feature, which is necessary for using web jobs (e.g., for model training) storageAccountPropertiesAllowSharedKeyAccess true [Purpose 5: Troubleshooting] This setting is enabled by default. The reason for highlighting it is that certain enterprise IT policies may enforce changes to this configuration after a period, potentially causing a series of issues. For more details, please refer to the Troubleshooting section below. Return to terminal and execute the following commands (their purpose has been described earlier). # Please change <ResourceGroupName> to your prefer name, for example: azure-appservice-ai # Please change <RegionName> to your prefer region, for example: eastus2 # Please change <ResourcesPrefixName> to your prefer naming pattern, for example: tensorflow-bicep (it will create tensorflow-bicep-asp as App Service Plan, tensorflow-bicep-app for web app, and tensorflowbicepsa for Storage Account) az group create --name <ResourceGroupName> --location <RegionName> az deployment group create --resource-group <ResourceGroupName> --template-file ./tensorflow/tools/bicep-template.bicep --parameters resourcePrefix=<ResourcesPrefixName> If you are using a Windows platform, use the following alternative PowerShell commands instead: # Please change <ResourceGroupName> to your prefer name, for example: azure-appservice-ai # Please change <RegionName> to your prefer region, for example: eastus2 # Please change <ResourcesPrefixName> to your prefer naming pattern, for example: tensorflow-bicep (it will create tensorflow-bicep-asp as App Service Plan, tensorflow-bicep-app for web app, and tensorflowbicepsa for Storage Account) az group create --name <ResourceGroupName> --location <RegionName> az deployment group create --resource-group <ResourceGroupName> --template-file .\tensorflow\tools\bicep-template.bicep --parameters resourcePrefix=<ResourcesPrefixName> After execution, please copy the output section containing 3 key-value pairs from the result like this. Return to terminal and execute the following commands: # Please setup 3 variables you've got from the previous step OUTPUT_STORAGE_NAME="<outputStorageName>" OUTPUT_STORAGE_KEY="<outputStorageKey>" OUTPUT_SHARE_NAME="<outputShareName>" # URL encode the storage key ENCODED_OUTPUT_STORAGE_KEY=$(python3 -c " import urllib.parse key = '''$OUTPUT_STORAGE_KEY''' encoded_key = urllib.parse.quote(key, safe='') # No safe characters, encode everything print(encoded_key) ") # Mount open smb://$OUTPUT_STORAGE_NAME:$ENCODED_OUTPUT_STORAGE_KEY@$OUTPUT_STORAGE_NAME.file.core.windows.net/$OUTPUT_SHARE_NAME Or you could simply go to Azure Portal, navigate to the File Share you just created, and refer to the diagram below to copy the required command. You can choose Linux or Windows if you are using such OS in your dev environment. After executing the command, the network drive will be successfully mounted. 4. Running Locally Training Models and Training Data Return to terminal and execute the following commands (their purpose has been described earlier). source .venv/tensorflow-webjob/bin/activate bash ./tensorflow/tools/create-folder.sh bash ./tensorflow/tools/download-sample-training-set.sh python ./tensorflow/webjob/train_mbti_model.py If you are using a Windows platform, use the following alternative PowerShell commands instead: .\.venv\tensorflow-webjob\Scripts\Activate.ps1 .\tensorflow\tools\create-folder.cmd .\tensorflow\tools\download-sample-training-set.cmd python .\tensorflow\webjob\train_mbti_model.py After execution, the File Share will now include the following directories and files. Let’s take a brief detour to examine the structure of the training data downloaded from the GitHub. The dataset used in this project focuses on MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) personality types. Each record in the dataset contains a user’s MBTI type and a collection of their social media posts, separated by |||. This tutorial repurposes the dataset to classify personality types based on textual data. This image represents the raw data, where each line includes an MBTI type and its associated text. For training, the posts are tokenized and transformed into numerical sequences using TensorFlow's preprocessing tools. This step involves converting each word into a corresponding token based on a fixed vocabulary size. These sequences are then padded to a uniform length, ensuring consistency in the input data. During training, the performance is heavily influenced by factors like data balancing and hyperparameter tuning. The MBTI dataset is inherently imbalanced, with certain personality types appearing far more frequently than others. To address this, only 30 samples per type are used in training to ensure balance. However, this approach simplifies the task and may lead to suboptimal results. The inference step involves tokenizing a new input post and passing it through the trained model to predict the MBTI type. It is important to note that with the current setup, the inference results may often return the same prediction. This is due to the limited dataset size, imbalanced data handling, and the need for further tuning of training parameters such as the number of epochs, batch size, and learning rate. This tutorial introduces an approach to train and infer MBTI personality types using TensorFlow. While the process highlights key steps like data preprocessing, model training, and inference, it does not delve deeply into AI-specific topics like advanced model optimization or deployment. To achieve better results, we could setup the dataset can be expanded to include more samples per personality type. Or setup hyperparameters like the learning rate, number of epochs, and embedding dimensions should be fine-tuned. Predicting with the Model Return to terminal and execute the following commands. First, deactivate the virtual environment, then activate the virtual environment for the Flask application, and finally, start the Flask app. Commands for Linux or Mac: deactivate source .venv/tensorflow/bin/activate python ./tensorflow/api/app.py Commands for Windows: deactivate .\.venv\tensorflow\Scripts\Activate.ps1 python .\tensorflow\api\app.py When you see a screen similar to the following, it means the server has started successfully. Press Ctrl+C to stop the server if needed. Before conducting the actual test, let’s construct some sample query data: I am happy Next, open a terminal and use the following curl commands to send requests to the app: curl -X GET "http://0.0.0.0:8000/api/detect" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"post": "I am happy"}' You should see the prediction results. PS: Your results may differ from mine due to variations in the sampling of your training dataset compared to mine. 5. Publishing the Project to Azure Code Commit to Azure DevOps First, create a new and empty repository (referred to as repo) under your Azure DevOps project and get its URL. Open a terminal in the cloned azure-appservice-ai project directory and run the following commands to add the new repo as a push/pull target. Then, verify the associated git repos for the directory. git remote add azure https://<organization>@dev.azure.com/<organization>/<project>/_git/azure-appservice-ai git remote -v Next, run the following commands in the terminal to push the entire project to the Azure DevOps repo. git push azure --all The following steps need to be performed only once.These configurations ensure that the pipeline can automatically deploy the tensorflow portion of the azure-appservice-ai project to the newly created Azure Web App. Setup Service Connection: Go to Project Settings in Azure DevOps and perform the necessary operations. Specify the Service connection name as "azure-appservice-ai-tensorflow" (you can use any name for easy identification). Create Pipeline YAML File: Navigate to the tensorflow subdirectory and create a new file named azure-pipeline.yml Copy the contents of another file named pipeline.yml (in the same directory) into azure-pipeline.yml Modify the variables section as indicated by the comments, then save and commit the changes. Setup the Pipeline: Navigate to the Pipelines section and create a new pipeline. Follow the prompts to select the newly created azure-pipeline.yml as the pipeline script file. Save the configuration (do not run it yet). The above setup steps only need to be done once. Next, you can deploy the project to the Azure Web App using the pipeline in different ways. Publish to Azure Web App via Pipeline Manual Trigger: Navigate to the newly created pipeline. Click Run Pipeline to start the deployment process. Click on the deployment to monitor its progress. Below is an example of a successful deployment screen. Trigger on Push: Alternatively, you can configure the pipeline to run automatically whenever new code is pushed to the Azure DevOps repo: Open a terminal and run the following commands (after code updates): git push azure --all This will trigger a new pipeline deployment process. 6. Running on Azure Web App Training the Model Return to terminal and execute the following commands to invoke the WebJobs. Commands for Linux or Mac: # Please change <subscription_id> <resourcegroup_name> and <webapp_name> to your own token=$(az account get-access-token --resource https://management.azure.com --query accessToken -o tsv) ; curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $token" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{}' "https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/<subscription_id>/resourceGroups/<resourcegroup_name>/providers/Microsoft.Web/sites/<webapp_name>/triggeredwebjobs/train-mbti-model/run?api-version=2024-04-01" Commands for Windows: # Please change <subscription_id> <resourcegroup_name> and <webapp_name> to your own $token=$(az account get-access-token --resource https://management.azure.com --query accessToken -o tsv) ; Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/<subscription_id>/resourceGroups/<resourcegroup_name>/providers/Microsoft.Web/sites/<webapp_name>/triggeredwebjobs/train-mbti-model/run?api-version=2024-04-01" -Headers @{Authorization = "Bearer $token"; "Content-type" = "application/json"} -Method POST -Body '{}' You could see the training status by execute the following commands. Commands for Linux or Mac: # Please change <subscription_id> <resourcegroup_name> and <webapp_name> to your own token=$(az account get-access-token --resource https://management.azure.com --query accessToken -o tsv) ; response=$(curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $token" "https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/<subscription_id>/resourceGroups/<resourcegroup_name>/providers/Microsoft.Web/sites/<webapp_name>/webjobs?api-version=2024-04-01") ; echo "$response" | jq Commands for Windows: # Please change <subscription_id> <resourcegroup_name> and <webapp_name> to your own $token=$(az account get-access-token --resource https://management.azure.com --query accessToken -o tsv); $response = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/<subscription_id>/resourceGroups/<resourcegroup_name>/providers/Microsoft.Web/sites/<webapp_name>/webjobs?api-version=2024-04-01" -Headers @{Authorization = "Bearer $token"} -Method GET ; $response | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 10 Processing Complete And you can get the latest detail log by execute the following commands. Commands for Linux or Mac: # Please change <subscription_id> <resourcegroup_name> and <webapp_name> to your own token=$(az account get-access-token --resource https://management.azure.com --query accessToken -o tsv) ; history_id=$(az webapp webjob triggered log --resource-group <resourcegroup_name> --name <webapp_name> --webjob-name train-mbti-model --query "[0].id" -o tsv | sed 's|.*/history/||') ; response=$(curl -X GET -H "Authorization: Bearer $token" -H "Content-Type: application/json" "https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/<subscription_id>/resourceGroups/<resourcegroup_name>/providers/Microsoft.Web/sites/<webapp_name>/triggeredwebjobs/train-mbti-model/history/$history_id/?api-version=2024-04-01") ; log_url=$(echo "$response" | jq -r '.properties.output_url') ; curl -X GET -H "Authorization: Bearer $token" "$log_url" Commands for Windows: # Please change <subscription_id> <resourcegroup_name> and <webapp_name> to your own $token = az account get-access-token --resource https://management.azure.com --query accessToken -o tsv ; $history_id = az webapp webjob triggered log --resource-group <resourcegroup_name> --name <webapp_name> --webjob-name train-mbti-model --query "[0].id" -o tsv | ForEach-Object { ($_ -split "/history/")[-1] } ; $response = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/<subscription_id>/resourceGroups/<resourcegroup_name>/providers/Microsoft.Web/sites/<webapp_name>/triggeredwebjobs/train-mbti-model/history/$history_id/?api-version=2024-04-01" -Headers @{ Authorization = "Bearer $token" } -Method GET ; $log_url = $response.properties.output_url ; Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $log_url -Headers @{ Authorization = "Bearer $token" } -Method GET Once you see the report in the Logs, it indicates that the training is complete, and the Flask app is ready for predictions. You can also find the newly trained models in the File Share mounted in your local environment. Using the Model for Prediction Just like in local testing, open a terminal and use the following curl commands to send requests to the app: # Note: Replace the instance of tensorflow-bicep-app with the name of your web app. curl -X GET "https://tensorflow-bicep-app.azurewebsites.net/api/detect" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"post": "I am happy"}' As with the local environment, you should see the expected results. 7. Troubleshooting docker.log freeze after deployment Symptom:I cannot get the latest deployment status after Azure DevOps publish the code to Web App via kudu site and frontpage getting error 504 Cause:This project includes two virtual environments, each containing a TensorFlow package. During the start.sh process of creating these environments, each environment takes approximately 10 minutes to set up. As a result, the docker.log or Log Stream might temporarily stall for about 20 minutes at a certain stage. Resolution: After roughly 20 minutes, once all the packages are downloaded, the logs will resume recording. Others Using Scikit-learn on Azure Web App Using OpenAI on Azure Web App 8. Conclusion TensorFlow, much like a Swiss Army knife, encompasses a wide range of training algorithms. While Azure Web App is not typically used for training models, it can still serve as a platform for inference. In the future, I plan to introduce how pre-trained models can be directly loaded using JavaScript. This approach allows the inference workload for non-sensitive models to be offloaded to the client side. 9. References TensorFlow MBTI text classifer trained on the Kaggle MBTI dataset (MBTI) Myers-Briggs Personality Type Dataset
