What are Azure Container Apps? And what was announced at the Microsoft Build 2022 conference?
Azure Container Apps provide you with a way to package, deploy, and manage cloud applications with minimal knowledge and expertise.
Traditionally, Kubernetes is difficult to use, especially for those with little experience. Container apps are designed to make Kubernetes builds easier, decreasing time to market, and potentially even saving you money.
Sounds good, right?
Anyways, in basic terms: these container apps allow you to utilize serverless hosting, deploying containers without the need to play with the underlying structure of Kubernetes. This is hugely beneficial, increasing accessibility through Azure and providing developers a whole host of new tools to try out (all without extensive experience).
What are Azure Container Apps?
As previously mentioned, Azure container apps allow you to run and manage numerous microservices and containerized applications on a serverless platform.
Popular uses include event-driven processing, hosting background applications, and even deploying API endpoints (more on these later in the post).
Container apps allow you to leave behind the stress of managing cloud infrastructure when running containers, producing the same outcomes (whether that’s autoscaling applications or building microservices).
In recent years, container applications have become widely popular, with services such as Azure Container Apps playing an integral role in application development and other systems.
For more information on what container apps are, we suggest checking out the official Microsoft Azure container apps overview.
Azure Container Apps Examples
To better explain what Azure containers are and how they work, we’ve gathered together a few examples, as found on the Microsoft tech community forum:
- Microservices - highly scalable and deployable applications.
- Web apps and public web API endpoints - make apps publicly available and manage app versions and revisions with ease.
- Event driven processing - Serverless design and event driven processing allow you to scale insights for custom events.
In a world that is switching to cloud architecture, containerized apps are the next natural step towards quicker, more accurate development.
Are AKS and Kubernetes the same?
AKS stands for Azure Kubernetes service - it’s a certified Kubernetes service that allows you to create containers, managing microservices, and creating apps and other cloud services and products.
Kubernetes, on the other hand, is the original open-source software for creating, scaling, and managing containers.
Azure Container Apps have become the most popular offering, allowing users to create and manage contains without using Kubernetes directly. It’s also serverless, removing the added stress of organization and server management.
Microsoft Build 2022
Microsoft Build is an annual conference where new features and exciting new services are announced for Microsoft products and services. And yes, that includes everybody’s favorite product: Microsoft Azure!
This year (2022), the MS Build event announced many new updates to Microsoft Azure (including Azure data, Hybrid, and others), alongside a few updates to teams, AI improvements, and more.
But this blog post will focus on the updates to Microsoft Azure, in particular, the Azure Container Apps.
So, what’s new?
What’s New with Azure Container Apps?
The Microsoft Build 2022 conference announced some exciting news about container apps. Are you ready? You’ve likely been waiting on this for some time…
Well, general availability was announced.
With more people using Azure Container Apps, able to write code in their preferred programming language, and building microservices and other frameworks, businesses are better set than ever to create new apps in a serverless and seamless cloud-native environment - because that’s the future of app development.
The increased availability is exciting news, providing organizations with powerful open-source technology in the Kubernetes ecosystem without the clutter and headache that comes with running and managing Kubernetes directly (without Azure containers).
Teams will be able to onboard their cloud-native apps to Azure without costly overheads and operational headaches of Kubernetes, all while preserving all portability.
Other Updates to Azure
Alongside general availability for container apps, new products and services were also previewed.
For example, these included updates to the Azure App Service, including better Google remote procedure call support, the introduction of the app service landing zone accelerator (an automated tool that helps customers deploy a reference enterprise scale), and many communication service updates.
To Summarize
The recent Microsoft 2022 Build conference announced some pretty exciting new updates and new features to their most popular products.
But the one piece of news that particularly stood out for Azure users was the general availability of Azure Container Apps.
It’s a service users have been waiting on for a while, streamlining app development and increasing accessibility for those non-fluent in Kubernetes. Which, let’s face it, is most of us.
Did you miss the Microsoft 2022 Build event? Read up on our key highlights so you don’t miss a thing!
Frequently Asked Questions
Azure container apps can seem confusing at first, especially if you’re not familiar with how they work. So, we’ve put together a short FAQ to answer your most commonly asked questions:
What is Azure containerization?
Azure containerization is a service that allows developers to deploy and use containers in a serverless manner, in the public cloud. Azure containers are a lot more straightforward than Kubernetes, making it ideal for those less hands-on and experienced in app development.
What is the difference between docker container and Kubernetes?
Kubernetes runs containers across a cluster, whereas docker is about creating and packaging containers in a single node. Both services are often used together, using docker’s open container initiative paired with Kubernetes. They can also be used independently.
Are Azure containers serverless?
Azure container apps are serverless, allowing developers to run containers and build apps without having to run and manage servers. The solution reduces workload and may even cut costs.
How do I make Azure containers?
Azure containers are created from the Azure portal. Locate the storage account, select the data storage you’d like to use, and then select containers.
Create a new container, set public access, and set up the container to perform the required job/task.
Are Azure containers PaaS or IaaS?
Azure containers are more IaaS than PaaS.
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