Azure Resource Template Dependencies / Application Insights

Question

I have a chicken and egg problem deploying Application Insights with my web application to Azure. In the ARM template, the Application Insights module is dependent upon the

Answer 1

The solution is to have the connection strings and app settings created as nested child resources of the web site. By using the child resource strategy, one can then make the appsettings dependent upon both the web site and application insights. This allows provisioning to occur in the following order:

1. Web Site
2. Application Insights
3. Web Site config / appsettings

The following two answers were helpful. The first one illustrates how to pull the instrumentation key. The second one illustrates how to nest app settings and connection strings as child resources of the web site.

How to pull the instrumentation key

How to nest app settings as child resources

Here is my final template:

{
  "$schema": "http://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2015-01-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
  "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
  "parameters": {
    "webSiteName": {
      "type": "string"
    },
    "aadTenant": {
      "type": "string"
    },
    "aadAudience": {
      "type": "string"
    },
    "endpoints": {
      "type": "string",
      "defaultValue": "n/a"
    },
    "apiEndpoint": {
      "type": "string",
      "defaultValue": "n/a"
    },
    "sqlConnStrName": {
      "type": "string"
    },
    "sqlConnStrValue": {
      "type": "string"
    },
    "skuName": {
      "type": "string",
      "defaultValue": "F1",
      "allowedValues": [
        "F1",
        "D1",
        "B1",
        "B2",
        "B3",
        "S1",
        "S2",
        "S3",
        "P1",
        "P2",
        "P3",
        "P4"
      ],
      "metadata": {
        "description": "Describes plan's pricing tier and instance size. Check details at https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/app-service/"
      }
    },
    "skuCapacity": {
      "type": "int",
      "defaultValue": 1,
      "minValue": 1,
      "metadata": {
        "description": "Describes plan's instance count"
      }
    }
  },
  "variables": {
    "hostingPlanName": "[concat(parameters('webSiteName'), '-hostingplan')]"
  },
  "resources": [
    {
      "apiVersion": "2015-08-01",
      "name": "[variables('hostingPlanName')]",
      "type": "Microsoft.Web/serverfarms",
      "location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
      "tags": {
        "displayName": "HostingPlan"
      },
      "sku": {
        "name": "[parameters('skuName')]",
        "capacity": "[parameters('skuCapacity')]"
      },
      "properties": {
        "name": "[variables('hostingPlanName')]"
      }
    },
    {
      "apiVersion": "2015-08-01",
      "name": "[parameters('webSiteName')]",
      "type": "Microsoft.Web/sites",
      "location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
      "dependsOn": [
        "[variables('hostingPlanName')]"
      ],
      "tags": {
        "[concat('hidden-related:', resourceId('Microsoft.Web/serverfarms', variables('hostingPlanName')))]": "empty",
        "displayName": "Website"
      },
      "properties": {
        "name": "[parameters('webSiteName')]",
        "serverFarmId": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Web/serverfarms', variables('hostingPlanName'))]"
      },
      "resources": [
        {
          "apiVersion": "2015-08-01",
          "name": "appsettings",
          "type": "config",
          "dependsOn": [
            "[parameters('webSiteName')]",
            "[concat('AppInsights', parameters('webSiteName'))]"
          ],
          "properties": {
            "ida:Tenant": "[parameters('aadTenant')]",
            "ida:Audience": "[parameters('aadAudience')]",
            "endpoints": "[parameters('endpoints')]",
            "apiEndpoint": "[parameters('apiEndpoint')]",
            "applicationInsightsInstrumentationKey": "[reference(resourceId('Microsoft.Insights/components', concat('AppInsights', parameters('webSiteName'))), '2014-04-01').InstrumentationKey]"
          }
        },
        {
          "apiVersion": "2015-08-01",
          "type": "config",
          "name": "connectionstrings",
          "dependsOn": [
            "[parameters('webSiteName')]"
          ],
          "properties": {
            "[parameters('sqlConnStrName')]": {
              "value": "[parameters('sqlConnStrValue')]",
              "type": "SQLServer"
            }
          }
        },
        {
          "apiVersion": "2015-08-01",
          "name": "logs",
          "type": "config",
          "dependsOn": [
            "[parameters('webSiteName')]"
          ],
          "properties": {
            "applicationLogs": {
              "fileSystem": {
                "level": "Off"
              },
              "azureTableStorage": {
                "level": "Off",
                "sasUrl": null
              },
              "azureBlobStorage": {
                "level": "Information",
                "sasUrl": "TO DO: pass in a SAS Url",
                "retentionInDays": null
              }
            },
            "httpLogs": {
              "fileSystem": {
                "retentionInMb": 40,
                "enabled": true
              }
            },
            "failedRequestsTracing": {
              "enabled": true
            },
            "detailedErrorMessages": {
              "enabled": true
            }
          }
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "apiVersion": "2014-04-01",
      "name": "[concat(variables('hostingPlanName'), '-', resourceGroup().name)]",
      "type": "Microsoft.Insights/autoscalesettings",
      "location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
      "tags": {
        "[concat('hidden-link:', resourceId('Microsoft.Web/serverfarms', variables('hostingPlanName')))]": "Resource",
        "displayName": "AutoScaleSettings"
      },
      "dependsOn": [
        "[variables('hostingPlanName')]"
      ],
      "properties": {
        "profiles": [
          {
            "name": "Default",
            "capacity": {
              "minimum": 1,
              "maximum": 2,
              "default": 1
            },
            "rules": [
              {
                "metricTrigger": {
                  "metricName": "CpuPercentage",
                  "metricResourceUri": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Web/serverfarms', variables('hostingPlanName'))]",
                  "timeGrain": "PT1M",
                  "statistic": "Average",
                  "timeWindow": "PT10M",
                  "timeAggregation": "Average",
                  "operator": "GreaterThan",
                  "threshold": 80.0
                },
                "scaleAction": {
                  "direction": "Increase",
                  "type": "ChangeCount",
                  "value": 1,
                  "cooldown": "PT10M"
                }
              },
              {
                "metricTrigger": {
                  "metricName": "CpuPercentage",
                  "metricResourceUri": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Web/serverfarms', variables('hostingPlanName'))]",
                  "timeGrain": "PT1M",
                  "statistic": "Average",
                  "timeWindow": "PT1H",
                  "timeAggregation": "Average",
                  "operator": "LessThan",
                  "threshold": 60.0
                },
                "scaleAction": {
                  "direction": "Decrease",
                  "type": "ChangeCount",
                  "value": 1,
                  "cooldown": "PT1H"
                }
              }
            ]
          }
        ],
        "enabled": false,
        "name": "[concat(variables('hostingPlanName'), '-', resourceGroup().name)]",
        "targetResourceUri": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Web/serverfarms', variables('hostingPlanName'))]"
      }
    },
    {
      "apiVersion": "2014-04-01",
      "name": "[concat('ServerErrors ', parameters('webSiteName'))]",
      "type": "Microsoft.Insights/alertrules",
      "location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
      "dependsOn": [
        "[parameters('webSiteName')]"
      ],
      "tags": {
        "[concat('hidden-link:', resourceId('Microsoft.Web/sites', parameters('webSiteName')))]": "Resource",
        "displayName": "ServerErrorsAlertRule"
      },
      "properties": {
        "name": "[concat('ServerErrors ', parameters('webSiteName'))]",
        "description": "[concat(parameters('webSiteName'), ' has some server errors, status code 5xx.')]",
        "isEnabled": true,
        "condition": {
          "odata.type": "Microsoft.Azure.Management.Insights.Models.ThresholdRuleCondition",
          "dataSource": {
            "odata.type": "Microsoft.Azure.Management.Insights.Models.RuleMetricDataSource",
            "resourceUri": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Web/sites', parameters('webSiteName'))]",
            "metricName": "Http5xx"
          },
          "operator": "GreaterThan",
          "threshold": 5.0,
          "windowSize": "PT5M"
        },
        "action": {
          "odata.type": "Microsoft.Azure.Management.Insights.Models.RuleEmailAction",
          "sendToServiceOwners": true,
          "customEmails": ["you@example.com"]
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "apiVersion": "2014-04-01",
      "name": "[concat('ForbiddenRequests ', parameters('webSiteName'))]",
      "type": "Microsoft.Insights/alertrules",
      "location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
      "dependsOn": [
        "[parameters('webSiteName')]"
      ],
      "tags": {
        "[concat('hidden-link:', resourceId('Microsoft.Web/sites', parameters('webSiteName')))]": "Resource",
        "displayName": "ForbiddenRequestsAlertRule"
      },
      "properties": {
        "name": "[concat('ForbiddenRequests ', parameters('webSiteName'))]",
        "description": "[concat(parameters('webSiteName'), ' has some requests that are forbidden, status code 403.')]",
        "isEnabled": true,
        "condition": {
          "odata.type": "Microsoft.Azure.Management.Insights.Models.ThresholdRuleCondition",
          "dataSource": {
            "odata.type": "Microsoft.Azure.Management.Insights.Models.RuleMetricDataSource",
            "resourceUri": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Web/sites', parameters('webSiteName'))]",
            "metricName": "Http403"
          },
          "operator": "GreaterThan",
          "threshold": 5,
          "windowSize": "PT5M"
        },
        "action": {
          "odata.type": "Microsoft.Azure.Management.Insights.Models.RuleEmailAction",
          "sendToServiceOwners": true,
          "customEmails": [ ]
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "apiVersion": "2014-04-01",
      "name": "[concat('CPUHigh ', variables('hostingPlanName'))]",
      "type": "Microsoft.Insights/alertrules",
      "location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
      "dependsOn": [
        "[variables('hostingPlanName')]"
      ],
      "tags": {
        "[concat('hidden-link:', resourceId('Microsoft.Web/serverfarms', variables('hostingPlanName')))]": "Resource",
        "displayName": "CPUHighAlertRule"
      },
      "properties": {
        "name": "[concat('CPUHigh ', variables('hostingPlanName'))]",
        "description": "[concat('The average CPU is high across all the instances of ', variables('hostingPlanName'))]",
        "isEnabled": false,
        "condition": {
          "odata.type": "Microsoft.Azure.Management.Insights.Models.ThresholdRuleCondition",
          "dataSource": {
            "odata.type": "Microsoft.Azure.Management.Insights.Models.RuleMetricDataSource",
            "resourceUri": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Web/serverfarms', variables('hostingPlanName'))]",
            "metricName": "CpuPercentage"
          },
          "operator": "GreaterThan",
          "threshold": 90,
          "windowSize": "PT15M"
        },
        "action": {
          "odata.type": "Microsoft.Azure.Management.Insights.Models.RuleEmailAction",
          "sendToServiceOwners": true,
          "customEmails": [ ]
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "apiVersion": "2014-04-01",
      "name": "[concat('LongHttpQueue ', variables('hostingPlanName'))]",
      "type": "Microsoft.Insights/alertrules",
      "location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
      "dependsOn": [
        "[variables('hostingPlanName')]"
      ],
      "tags": {
        "[concat('hidden-link:', resourceId('Microsoft.Web/serverfarms', variables('hostingPlanName')))]": "Resource",
        "displayName": "AutoScaleSettings"
      },
      "properties": {
        "name": "[concat('LongHttpQueue ', variables('hostingPlanName'))]",
        "description": "[concat('The HTTP queue for the instances of ', variables('hostingPlanName'), ' has a large number of pending requests.')]",
        "isEnabled": false,
        "condition": {
          "odata.type": "Microsoft.Azure.Management.Insights.Models.ThresholdRuleCondition",
          "dataSource": {
            "odata.type": "Microsoft.Azure.Management.Insights.Models.RuleMetricDataSource",
            "resourceUri": "[concat(resourceGroup().id, '/providers/Microsoft.Web/serverfarms/', variables('hostingPlanName'))]",
            "metricName": "HttpQueueLength"
          },
          "operator": "GreaterThan",
          "threshold": 100.0,
          "windowSize": "PT5M"
        },
        "action": {
          "odata.type": "Microsoft.Azure.Management.Insights.Models.RuleEmailAction",
          "sendToServiceOwners": true,
          "customEmails": [ ]
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "apiVersion": "2014-04-01",
      "name": "[concat('AppInsights', parameters('webSiteName'))]",
      "type": "Microsoft.Insights/components",
      "location": "Central US",
      "dependsOn": [
        "[parameters('webSiteName')]"
      ],
      "tags": {
        "[concat('hidden-link:', resourceId('Microsoft.Web/sites', parameters('webSiteName')))]": "Resource",
        "displayName": "AppInsightsComponent"
      },
      "properties": {
        "ApplicationId": "[parameters('webSiteName')]"
      }
    }
  ],
  "outputs": {
    "siteUri": {
      "type": "string",
      "value": "[reference(concat('Microsoft.Web/sites/', parameters('webSiteName')), '2015-08-01').hostnames[0]]"
    }
  }

}