Azure Container Apps and Bicep – Deploying Dependent Resources

jobs:
  build-and-deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:

      # Checkout code 
    - uses: actions/checkout@main

      # Log into Azure
    - uses: azure/login@v1
      with:
        creds: ${{ secrets.AZURE_CREDENTIALS }}

      # Deploy Bicep file
    - name: deploy
      uses: azure/arm-deploy@v1
      with:
        subscriptionId: ${{ secrets.AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION }}
        resourceGroupName: ${{ secrets.AZURE_RG }}
        template: ./deploy/main.bicep
        parameters: sqlAdminUsername=${{ secrets.SQL_USERNAME }} sqlAdmin=${{ secrets.SQL_PASSWORD }}
        failOnStdErr: false

1. Use the @secure() decorator for all sensitive parameters.  This will ensure the underlying Azure Resource Manager won’t log any passwords or sensitive variables. An example of this can be seen in the container registry bicep file below on line 6.
2. Do not output secrets in your bicep files. I’ve often seen outputs which will include a username or password so it can be used by another module. The values could be compromised by anyone who has access to the deployment. To avoid this, you can add your secrets to Key Vault or use managed identities. An example of this would be:

output userName string = containerRegistry.listCredentials().username 

Resource and Module Files

//logAnalytics.bicep 

resource keyVault 'Microsoft.KeyVault/vaults@2022-07-01' existing = {
  name: keyVaultName
}

resource logAnalytics 'Microsoft.OperationalInsights/workspaces@2020-10-01' = {
  name: logAnalyticsWorkspaceName
  location: location
  tags: tags
  properties: {
   retentionInDays: 30
   features: {
    searchVersion: 1
   }
   sku: {
    name: 'PerGB2018'
   } 
  }
}

//set up a shared secret in key vault which containts the log analytics primary shared key
resource sharedKeySecret 'Microsoft.KeyVault/vaults/secrets@2022-07-01' = {
  name: sharedKeyName
  parent: keyVault
  properties: {
    value: logAnalytics.listKeys().primarySharedKey
  }
}

//containerAppEnvironment.bicep

param containerEnvironmentName string
param location string
param logAnalyticsCustomerId string
@secure()
param logAnalyticsSharedKey string
param tags object

resource env 'Microsoft.App/managedEnvironments@2022-03-01' = {
  name: containerEnvironmentName
  location: location
  tags: tags
  properties: {
    appLogsConfiguration: {
      destination: 'log-analytics'
      logAnalyticsConfiguration: {
        customerId: logAnalyticsCustomerId
        sharedKey: logAnalyticsSharedKey
      }
    }
  }
}

output containerAppEnvId string = env.id

//containerRegistry.bicep

resource keyVault 'Microsoft.KeyVault/vaults@2022-07-01' existing = {
  name: keyVaultName
}

resource containerRegistry 'Microsoft.ContainerRegistry/registries@2022-02-01-preview' = {
  name: crName
  location: location
  tags: tags
  sku: {
    name: 'Basic'
  }
  properties: {
    adminUserEnabled: true
  }
  identity: {
    type: 'SystemAssigned'
  }
}

//adding container registry username to keyvault
resource acrUsername 'Microsoft.KeyVault/vaults/secrets@2022-07-01' = {
  name: usernameSecret
  parent: keyVault
  properties: {
    value: containerRegistry.listCredentials().username
  }
}

//adding container registry password to key vault
resource acrPasswordSecret1 'Microsoft.KeyVault/vaults/secrets@2022-07-01' = {
  name: primaryPasswordSecret
  parent: keyVault
  properties: {
    value: containerRegistry.listCredentials().passwords[0].value
  }
}

//containerApp.bicep

resource containerApp 'Microsoft.App/containerApps@2022-03-01' = {
  name: containerAppName
  location: location
  tags: tags
  properties: {
   managedEnvironmentId: containerAppEnvId
   configuration: {
    activeRevisionsMode: 'Single'
    ingress: {
      external: true
      transport: 'http'
      targetPort: 3500
      allowInsecure: false
      traffic: [
        {
          latestRevision: true
          weight: 100
        }
      ]
    }
    secrets: [
      {
        name: 'container-registry-password'
        value: acrPasswordSecret
      }
    ]
    registries: [
      {
        server: acrServerName
        username: acrUsername
        passwordSecretRef: 'container-registry-password'
      }
    ]
   }
   template: {
    containers: [
      {
        name: containerAppName
        image: '${acrServerName}/epic-app:latest'
        env: envVariables
        resources: {
          cpu: 1
          memory: '2.0Gi'
        }
      }
    ]
    scale: {
      minReplicas: 1
      maxReplicas: 10
    }
   } 
  }
  identity: {
    type: 'SystemAssigned'
  }
}

//main.bicep

resource keyVault 'Microsoft.KeyVault/vaults@2022-07-01' = {
  name: keyVaultName
  location: location
  tags: tags
  properties: {
    sku: {
      family: 'A'
      name: 'standard'
    }
    tenantId: tenant().tenantId
    enabledForDeployment: true
    enabledForTemplateDeployment: true
    enableSoftDelete: false
    accessPolicies: [
    ]
  }
}

//module invocations:

module logAnalytics 'logAnalytics.bicep' = {
  name: 'log-analytics'
  params: {
    tags: tags
    keyVaultName: keyVault.name
    location: location
    logAnalyticsWorkspaceName: logAnalyticsWorkspaceName
  }
}

module containerEnv 'containerAppEnvironment.bicep' = {
  name: 'container-app-env'
  params: {
    containerEnvironmentName: containerEnvironmentName
    location: location
    logAnalyticsCustomerId: logAnalytics.outputs.customerId 
    logAnalyticsSharedKey: keyVault.getSecret('law-shared-key')
    tags: tags
  }
}

module containerRegistry 'containerRegistry.bicep' = {
  name: 'acr'
  params: {
    tags: tags
    crName: containerRegistryName
    keyVaultName: keyVault.name
    location: location
  }
}

module containerApp 'containerapp.bicep' = if (isContainerImagePresent){
  name: 'container-app'
  params: {
    tags: tags
    location: location
    containerAppName: containerAppName
    envVariables: containerAppEnvVariables
    containerAppEnvId: containerEnv.outputs.containerAppEnvId
    acrServerName: containerRegistry.outputs.serverName
    acrUsername: keyVault.getSecret('acr-username-shared-key')
    acrPasswordSecret: keyVault.getSecret('acr-password-shared-key')  
  }
}

az deployment group create --resource-group rg-epic-app --template-file main.bicep --parameters isContainerImagePresent=t

Conclusion