Deployment slots for staging in Azure - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Deployment Slots for Staging

📖 Scenario: You work for a company that wants to deploy a web app on Azure. They want to test new versions safely before making them live. To do this, they use deployment slots. A deployment slot is like a separate space where you can deploy your app version and test it without affecting the live app.In this project, you will create an Azure App Service with a production slot and add a staging slot for testing.

🎯 Goal: Create an Azure App Service resource with a production slot and add a deployment slot named staging. Configure the staging slot with the same settings as production.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create an Azure App Service resource named exactly myAppService.

Add a deployment slot named exactly staging to myAppService.

Configure the staging slot with the same app service plan as myAppService.

Ensure the deployment slot is ready for deployment testing.

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Deployment slots let developers test new app versions safely before making them live, reducing downtime and errors.

💼 Career

Understanding deployment slots is essential for cloud engineers and DevOps professionals managing Azure App Services.

1

Create the Azure App Service resource

Write an Azure Resource Manager (ARM) template snippet to create an Microsoft.Web/sites resource named myAppService with a basic app service plan myAppServicePlan. Include the kind property set to app and set the location to eastus.

Azure

{
  "type": "Microsoft.Web/sites",
  "apiVersion": "2021-02-01",
  "name": "myAppService",
  "location": "eastus",
  "kind": "app",
  "properties": {
    "serverFarmId": "myAppServicePlan"
  }
  // Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Use the Microsoft.Web/sites resource type with name set to myAppService. Set kind to app and location to eastus. Use serverFarmId property to link the app service plan.

2

Add a deployment slot configuration

Add a new resource of type Microsoft.Web/sites/slots named staging under the myAppService resource. Set its location to eastus and link it to the same app service plan myAppServicePlan.

Azure

{
  "type": "Microsoft.Web/sites",
  "apiVersion": "2021-02-01",
  "name": "myAppService",
  "location": "eastus",
  "kind": "app",
  "properties": {
    "serverFarmId": "myAppServicePlan"
  }
},
{
  "type": "Microsoft.Web/sites/slots",
  "apiVersion": "2021-02-01",
  "name": "myAppService/staging",
  "location": "eastus",
  "properties": {
    "serverFarmId": "myAppServicePlan"
  }
  // Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Use the resource type Microsoft.Web/sites/slots with the name format myAppService/staging. Set the location and serverFarmId same as the main app.

3

Configure the staging slot settings

Add a siteConfig property to the staging slot resource. Set alwaysOn to true inside siteConfig to keep the slot always running.

Azure

{
  "type": "Microsoft.Web/sites",
  "apiVersion": "2021-02-01",
  "name": "myAppService",
  "location": "eastus",
  "kind": "app",
  "properties": {
    "serverFarmId": "myAppServicePlan"
  }
},
{
  "type": "Microsoft.Web/sites/slots",
  "apiVersion": "2021-02-01",
  "name": "myAppService/staging",
  "location": "eastus",
  "properties": {
    "serverFarmId": "myAppServicePlan",
    "siteConfig": {
      // Your code here
    }
  }
}

Need a hint?

Inside the properties of the staging slot, add siteConfig with "alwaysOn": true to keep the slot active.

4

Complete the ARM template with both resources

Wrap both the myAppService and staging slot resources inside a JSON array named resources in the ARM template. This completes the deployment template for the app service with a staging slot.

Azure

{
  "resources": [
    // Your code here
  ]
}

Need a hint?

Put both resource objects inside a resources array to form a valid ARM template structure.