Azure deployment operations

Azure Deployment Operations

Battle-tested patterns for deploying and operating Azure services in production.

Scope: Inheritable skill. Covers SWA, Container Apps, App Service, security posture, rate limiting, production checklists, and multi-subscription management.

Azure Static Web Apps (SWA)

Deployment Method

Prefer GitHub Actions over SWA CLI. SWA CLI v2.0.8 silently fails deploys (reports success, uploads nothing). Use Azure/static-web-apps-deploy@v1:

- uses: Azure/static-web-apps-deploy@v1
  with:
    azure_static_web_apps_api_token: ${{ secrets.SWA_DEPLOY_TOKEN }}
    repo_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
    action: upload
    app_location: dist          # adjust to your output folder
    skip_app_build: true        # if pre-built
    skip_api_build: true        # if using linked backend

Critical: If the SWA has a linked backend (Azure Functions via az staticwebapp backends link), do NOT include api_location — it creates embedded functions that override the linked backend.

Get the deploy token: az staticwebapp secrets list --name <name> --query "properties.apiKey" -o tsv

Environment Deployment

SWA defaults to preview environments. Always specify production explicitly in any CLI fallback:

swa deploy --env production

Custom Domain Registration

Custom domains require a two-step process:

Step	Action	Validates
1. CNAME record	Point domain to SWA default hostname	DNS ownership
2. Hostname registration	az staticwebapp hostname set	Azure binding

Common error: Adding CNAME but forgetting hostname registration. Both steps are required.

SWA Configuration

{
  "navigationFallback": {
    "rewrite": "/index.html",
    "exclude": ["/api/*", "/assets/*"]
  },
  "routes": [
    { "route": "/api/*", "allowedRoles": ["authenticated"] }
  ],
  "globalHeaders": {
    "X-Content-Type-Options": "nosniff",
    "X-Frame-Options": "DENY"
  }
}

Azure Container Apps

Health Probe Configuration

Container Apps health probes have specific threshold ranges:

Parameter	Min	Max	Recommended
failureThreshold	1	48	3-5 for liveness, 10-30 for startup
periodSeconds	1	240	10 for liveness, 5 for startup
initialDelaySeconds	0	60	0 for liveness (use startup probe instead)
timeoutSeconds	1	240	5

Pattern: Use a startup probe with high failure threshold (30) for slow-starting apps instead of a high initialDelaySeconds on the liveness probe.

Container Apps Deployment

# Update with new image
az containerapp update \
  --name myapp \
  --resource-group myrg \
  --image myregistry.azurecr.io/myapp:v1.2.3

# Scale configuration
az containerapp update \
  --name myapp \
  --resource-group myrg \
  --min-replicas 1 \
  --max-replicas 10

Azure App Service

11-Step Deployment Pipeline

Typical App Service deployment takes ~7 minutes:

Step	Duration	Action
1	5s	Authenticate to Azure
2	10s	Validate resource group exists
3	30s	Build application
4	15s	Run tests
5	20s	Package artifacts
6	10s	Upload to staging slot
7	60s	Warm up staging slot
8	5s	Run smoke tests on staging
9	30s	Swap staging → production
10	10s	Validate production health
11	5s	Tag release in source control

Rule: Always use staging slots for zero-downtime deployment. Direct-to-production deployments cause cold-start downtime.

Production Readiness Checklist

Category	Requirement	Why
Compute	P1v3 or higher	Burstable tiers have CPU throttling
Networking	VNet integration	Isolate from public internet
Data	Private endpoints for storage/DB	No public connection strings
Identity	Managed identity (no connection strings)	Eliminates secret rotation
Monitoring	Application Insights enabled	Observability
Scaling	Auto-scale rules configured	Handle load spikes
Backup	Automated backup policy	Disaster recovery
SSL	Custom domain + managed certificate	Trust and security

Security Posture Assessment

Pass/Fail Matrix

Use a matrix to track security controls across all resources:

Control	App Service	SQL DB	Storage	Key Vault
Managed Identity	✅	✅	✅	✅
Private Endpoint	✅	✅	❌	✅
Diagnostic Logs	✅	❌	✅	✅
RBAC (no keys)	✅	✅	❌	✅
Encryption at Rest	✅	✅	✅	✅

Rule: Any ❌ in the matrix is a tracked remediation item with a priority (P0-P3) and SLA.

Rate Limiting

Spread vs. Burst

For API calls and deployment operations:

Strategy	Pattern	Use When
Spread	10 calls/sec evenly spaced	Sustained throughput
Burst	100 calls then wait	Quick batch operations

Rule: Prefer spread over burst for production workloads. Azure APIs throttle based on request rate, and burst patterns hit throttle limits earlier than spread patterns with the same total throughput.

Retry Pattern

async function withRetry<T>(
  fn: () => Promise<T>,
  maxRetries = 3,
  baseDelay = 1000
): Promise<T> {
  for (let attempt = 0; attempt <= maxRetries; attempt++) {
    try {
      return await fn();
    } catch (err: any) {
      if (attempt === maxRetries) throw err;
      if (err.statusCode === 429) {
        // Use Retry-After header if available
        const delay = err.headers?.['retry-after']
          ? parseInt(err.headers['retry-after']) * 1000
          : baseDelay * Math.pow(2, attempt);
        await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, delay));
      } else {
        throw err; // Don't retry non-throttle errors
      }
    }
  }
  throw new Error('Unreachable');
}

Multi-Subscription Management

Folder Organization

For organizations with multiple Azure subscriptions:

azure/
├── production/
│   ├── main.bicep
│   └── parameters.prod.json
├── staging/
│   ├── main.bicep
│   └── parameters.staging.json
├── development/
│   └── parameters.dev.json
└── shared/
    ├── modules/          # Shared Bicep modules
    └── policies/         # Azure Policy definitions

Resource Inventory

Before any infrastructure changes, document what exists:

# List all resources in subscription
az resource list --subscription "My Subscription" \
  --output table \
  --query "[].{Name:name, Type:type, RG:resourceGroup, Location:location}"

# Export to JSON for diff tracking
az resource list --subscription "My Subscription" -o json > inventory.json

Subscription Documentation Template

Each subscription should have a living document with:

Section	Content
Purpose	What this subscription is for
Owner	Team/person responsible
Budget	Monthly spend limit and alerts
Resources	Link to inventory command output
Access	RBAC assignments and justification
Networking	VNet topology, peering, DNS zones

Known Gotchas

Mail.Send on Corporate Tenants

Microsoft 365 corporate tenants often block Mail.Send permission for third-party apps. If your app needs to send email:

1. Check tenant admin consent policies first
2. Consider SendMail via Graph with delegated (not application) permissions
3. Have a fallback (SMTP, SendGrid) for blocked tenants
4. Document the limitation clearly for users

Azure CLI Context

# Always verify which subscription is active
az account show --query "{Name:name, Id:id}" -o table

# Set explicitly before operations
az account set --subscription "Target Subscription"

Rule: Never assume the correct subscription is active. Always verify or set explicitly in scripts.

Infrastructure as Code

Bicep Best Practices for Deployment

Practice	Why
Use modules for reusable components	DRY principle
Parameters file per environment	Environment isolation
@secure() decorator for secrets	Prevents logging
existing keyword for references	No accidental recreation
What-if before deploy	Catch unintended changes

# Always preview changes before deploying
az deployment group what-if \
  --resource-group myrg \
  --template-file main.bicep \
  --parameters @parameters.prod.json