dapr-api-on-aci

Dapr API in ACI

• Purpose-configured instance of Dapr deployed into Azure Container Instances (ACI) with API token authentication using single command
• Use of Dapr output binding + Dapr as a microservice (in this case email sending)

Setup

The storage account name needs to be globally unique. Set SNAME to something 3-24 chars long, containing alphanumerics only, and make sure it's all in lower case.

export SNAME="demodapr"

assumes your resource group and location defaults are already set. If not, set them now:

az account set --subscription <id or name>
az configure --defaults location=<preferred location> group=<preferred resource group>

Create a storage account

az storage account create --name $SNAME --sku Standard_LRS

Create a storage share for config

For demo purposes share and storage user names are the same

az storage share create --name $SNAME --account-name $SNAME

Capture storage key

export SKEY=$(az storage account keys list --account-name $SNAME --query "[0].value" --output tsv)

Create a storage directory for config files

az storage directory create --account-name $SNAME --name $SNAME --share-name $SNAME

Upload the Dapr component files

TODO: Make sure you set the Sendgrid API key in the email.yaml

az storage file upload --account-name $SNAME --share-name $SNAME --source email.yaml

Deployment

Once the storage is set up, you can deploy. Start by exporting Dapr API Authentication token

export DTOKEN=$(openssl rand -base64 36)

Note, make sure to save the value exported into $DTOKEN variable to ensure you can use it in other terminal sessions. That value will not be recoverable from the ACI service.

And launch the Dapr container

az container create \
    --name $SNAME \
    --ports 3500 \
    --protocol TCP \
    --dns-name-label $SNAME \
    --image docker.io/daprio/daprd:0.11.0 \
    --command-line "/daprd --components-path /components --app-protocol http" \
    --secure-environment-variables "DAPR_API_TOKEN=${DTOKEN}" \
    --azure-file-volume-share-name $SNAME \
    --azure-file-volume-account-name $SNAME \
    --azure-file-volume-account-key $SKEY \
    --azure-file-volume-mount-path /components

Then check on the status of the deployment

az container list -o table

The result should look something like this

Name      ResourceGroup  Status     Image                          IP:ports           Network  CPU/Memory       OsType    Location
--------  -------------  ---------  -----------------------------  -----------------  -------  ---------------  --------  --------
demodapr  mchmarny       Succeeded  docker.io/daprio/daprd:0.11.0  51.143.49.0:3500   Public   1.0 core/1.5 gb  Linux     westus2

If everything went OK, you should be able post to the email output binding below

To restart the service after update of environment variables

az container restart --name $SNAME

Use

To use the above deployed instance of Dapr configured with SendGrid output binding, POST to the Dapr API following message using curl.

Note, the from, to, and email subject are configured server side so all you have to submit is a valid output binding message with the operation and data properties, with the body of the email sent to the user.

export SREGION=$(az container list --query "[?contains(name, '${SNAME}')].location" --output tsv)

curl -v -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -H "dapr-api-token: ${DTOKEN}" \
    "http://${SNAME}.${SREGION}.azurecontainer.io:3500/v1.0/bindings/email" \
    -d '{ "operation": "create", "data": "<h1>Test Headline</h1><p>Test message</p>"}'

Disclaimer

This is my personal project and it does not represent my employer. While I do my best to ensure that everything works, I take no responsibility for issues caused by this code.

License

This software is released under the MIT