AZ-204: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure Certification Video Training Course

AZ-204: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure certification video training course by prepaway along with practice test questions and answers, study guide and exam dumps provides the ultimate training package to help you pass.

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22. AZ-203/204 - Lab - Azure Functions - Visual Studio Code

Hi. Welcome back. Now in this chapter, I want to go through an example of how you can work with Azure functions from Visual Studio code, just as an example. Now, for this, we have to ensure that we install the Azure function extension for Visual Studio so we can go on to extensions. So if you don't have it, we can go on to Azure functions.

You can search for it and install it. I'll also search for C Sharp in case I don't have it, so I'll go ahead and install C Sharp as well. Now that we have this in place, you can see we have an extra feature of Azure functions over here. So let's go on to that. Let's sign into our Azure account. So I'll choose my account. So I'm now signed in. Now we can actually go ahead and create a new function right here itself. It's saying this is not a functional project. Let's go ahead and create a new one. So we can go ahead and choose our underlying programming language. I can go ahead and choose my template, so I can choose an HTTP trigger. I can provide a name. Click on "enter." I can just provide a namespace, and we'll leave it as is. Click on "enter." I'll choose the access rights as a function. And now it's going ahead and creating a new function from scratch over here.

And if you look at the function itself, most of the code remains the same. So we've recorded our findings. We can see that we have our reading of request-querying parameters over here, the reading of the request body. Now we can go ahead and start debugging this. Now, when you try to debug your code, if it's asking or prompting you to have the Azure function coders installed to debug your local functions, you can go and click on "Install." Now, in case you're not getting this message, that's because you don't have NPM installed. To do so, navigate to Node JS and ensure that NPM is installed. That's a nodepackage manager. Visual Studio code will actually use NPM to download the required zero-function tools. So now it's time to start writing code. I'll go ahead and allow access.

You can now see we have a URL for our trigger, so we can go onto it.So I'll go on to a new tab so we can go ahead and pass a name parameter. And here we can see that our trigger or function has executed successfully. So we can also build our solutions in Visual Studio code. You can now deploy your function app to Azure as well. So you can go ahead and choose your subscription. You can go ahead and choose an existing Azure function app or create a new function app. Now, I could go ahead and choose an existing function up. So it will proceed to deploy this Azure function onto your Function app. I'll click on "deploy." So now it's publishing our function on the Function app.

When the deployment is finished, if I go to my app services, if I actually go to the demo app 9000. So here we can see our demo trigger app. Now the only thing is that when you actually publish it from Visual Studio code, your functions go into a read-only state. So in order to make your functions readable, you go to your Function App. You then proceed to the function app settings. You then proceed to Platform Features. You go on to the app service editor. You go on to that function. You proceed to Function JSON and simply remove the generated by line. This will automatically save this particular file. You can now go to your functions and click on Refresh. And now you can see you don't have the read-only tag for your functions, right? So in this chapter, I'm going to show you how you can build and deploy your Azure functions from Visual Studio code.

23. AZ-203/204 - Azure Durable Functions

Hi, and welcome back. Now in this chapter, we will go through Azure's durable functions. Before we move on to Azuredurable functions, keep in mind that function execution is stateless. So you go ahead and invoke the function, and it gives you an Now let's say that you have a series of Azure functions that need to be executed as part of a workflow.

So let's say that after function one executes, you need to have function two execute. And after that, function three. And let's say you need information that needs to be passed from one function to another. Or let's say you have another scenario wherein you have one function that needs to go ahead and execute two functions. In pallet. This is kind of a fan-out scenario. Now, in such cases, yes, technically, you can implement this, but as normal as your functions are, this can be a little bit tricky. So firstly, it's because you need to ensure the workflow of the functions that execute one after the other in this case. Next, you have to ensure that you understand what the state of the function is at any given point in time.

And if you need to ensure data flows from one function to another, you also have to take care of this as well. So there is an easier way of doing this with the help of Azure's durable functions. So they're showing another diagram on the general implementation of Azure durable functions. We'll actually go ahead and go to Azure and carry out a very simple implementation because all of the templates for Azure durable functions are already in place. So first, what you have is a trigger function. So this is an HTTP trigger function. So first, you go ahead and trigger this trigger function via an HTTP request. After that, the trigger function will go ahead and initiate something known as an orchestrator function.

So this orchestrator function has the responsibility of executing a workflow, taking care of the state of the workflow, and understanding which functions need to be executed as part of the workflow. Everything can be done through the orchestra function. The orchestra function can then go ahead and run one or many activity functions. So the "active function," as the name implies, is the one that does the actual activity. So let's say one activity function runs as part of the orchestrated workflow. Then the orchestra actually goes to sleep. When this activity function finishes executing, it will then go ahead and awaken the orchestra function. Again, the orchestrator function will go ahead and run the next activity function.

That's part of the workflow. So let's go out onto Azure. I want to show you a quick implementation of Azure durable functions. So, here we are in Azure. Now I have a function app in place, so I just made sure I created a new function app. Now I'm going to go ahead and create three functions. So one is our trigger function. Another is the orchestrator function, and the other is the activity function. Now I'm going to go ahead and use the templates that are available as part of the function apps. Because I just want to understand the logic behind having these durable functions, I'm going deeper into how these functions work. So let's go ahead and create a new function. So in the templates, I'm going to search for "durable."

So I'm going to start with the long-lasting functions. STB starter I'll give you a name. I'll go ahead and create the function. Now that you have this function in place, let me go ahead and create another function. So this will be our orchestrator function. So I'll just scroll down and choose durable functions. Orchestrator I'll give a name; hit create. Now this orchestrator function is going to go ahead and call an activity function. So over here, I can go ahead and give the name of the activity function. So it's going to call three times. I'm going to go ahead and add some values over here.

So these values will be passed on to the activity function. Let me go ahead and just click on save once done. Let me go ahead and now add the activity function. So I'll search for "durable" again, and I'll choose "durable functions." The function's name will be Activity. Remember, this is the same name that we gave at the orchestra function. So the orchestrator function is actually going to go ahead and call these activity functions. So let me go ahead and hit create. So over here, it's just going to go ahead and return a string. So now we have three functions. We have our activity function, our starter function, and our workflow function. Now in order to go ahead and trigger our orchestrator function, we are going to go on to the starter function and get the function URL. Let me go ahead and copy it.

Now in the Postman tool, in a new request, let me add that URL. Here we have to replace what is the name of the orchestrator function, so that's the workflow function. To make sure this is a post request, let's go ahead and hit send. We're going to get some uris over here now. I'm going to go on to the status query: get Uri. This will give us the status of the activity functions. So please allow me to click this. It will go ahead and open the request in a new tab in the PM tool. Let me go and run Send.And over here, you can see the runtime status as "completed and here, you can see your output. So our starter function triggers the orchestrator function, and the orchestra function ensures it runs the activity functions, right? So this marks the end of this chapter, wherein we have looked at durable functions.

24. AZ-203/204 - Quick Note

Hi. Welcome back. Now, just a quick note when it comes to Azure functions. So over here, I have the objectives for the exam in place. Now, we've already gone ahead and covered the basics of Azure functions. We looked at the SAP trigger function. We looked at the timer trigger. Now, I also want to go through output bindings and how we implement certain data operations. Now, for that, I actually want to go ahead and first cover developing for Azure Storage because I want to show how we can connect Azure functions to Azure Storage accounts. So that's why I'm actually going to come back to Azure functions when it comes to bindings in the section for developing Azure Storage. So first, let me go ahead and actually complete developing solutions for blob storage. After that, I'll add chapters on how to work with binding as your functions. So just a quick note on this:

Develop for Azure Storage

1. AZ-203/204 - What are storage accounts

Hi Nawarm. Welcome back. Now, in this chapter, we are going to talk about storage accounts. So first, I'll just give a quick primer on what exactly the purpose of storage accounts is, and then we'll go much deeper into storage accounts themselves. So first, let's try to understand what the purpose of storage accounts is. And I'll do that with the help of an example. Now, I'm going to be using one of the services that are available in the storage account, which is the Blob service.

So this is used for object-level storage in a storage account. Now, a typical example of where you could use this is if you have an application. Now users might be using this application to maybe upload videos, photos, or images. So let's say you have a YouTube-like application that's taking on videos. So the user uploads the videos to your application. Now, your application could be hosted in your on-premises environment or in an Azure virtual machine. Now, where exactly are you going to store these videos? Are you going to store these videos on the VM itself? Well, no.

Why? Because this could be a point of failure. So if your VM goes down, you don't have your videos. The storage comes next. How much storage do you want for your virtual machine just so that you can store the videos themselves? As a result, the solution is to use the Blob service in Azure stored accounts. So when a video has been uploaded by your application, your application can then store the video using the Blob service in the Azure storage account. So what are the key benefits of this? Firstly, there is decoupling. So your service, which is hosting your videos, is separate from your application and your virtual machine. So if anyone goes down, you still have the videos in place in the storage account.

That's one of the benefits. Another advantage is that this storage account service is highly available, dependable, and scalable. Soon, you need to think about the amount of storage in the storage account. This is automatically managed for you. Your application can just keep on storing the videos on your storage account, right? So a storage account is a place on NewCloud where you can actually store your data. So data imply I said one example is your objects, your videos, and your files. So this is an introduction to storage accounts. Now, in the next chapter, I'll talk about the different services that are available in the storage account.

2. AZ-203/204 - Azure storage accounts - service types

Hi, and welcome back. Now, in this chapter, I'd like to discuss the services available in Azure Storage accounts. So in the last chapter, we just had a brief introduction to storage accounts. Now, we have already looked at the Blob service and the Blob storage account.

So in the prime example, I said this could be used to store the videos from your application. So you could do something similar with object-level storage. So you will use the Blob storage or the Blob service to store any type of object in a storage account. This is also used for storing disc files for your virtual machine.

As a result, the VM must store its disc on Azure. It's actually stored in a storage account using the Blob service. So all of these are stored as virtual hard disc files, or VHD. Now, apart from the block service, you also have another service known as the table service. So let's say your application needs to store tables like the ones shown here. So maybe it needs to store user information.

So, when a user enters their information, you'll need somewhere to save it. So if you're storing it in the application, are you storing it in a file on the virtual machine or in your application? What you can do is use a table service to create a table, and then make your application write that data onto the table. So use a service when you want to have a very simple structure for your tables and you also want quick access to your tables from your application. Now, apart from the block service and the table service, we also have the file service.

So the file service is nothing but file shares in your storage account. So you could have file shares that can be accessed by different users or by different virtual machines. So you connect to the file share using SMB. Apart from the file service, you also have the queue service.

So the queue service is used for receiving and sending messages. So sometimes you might have different components in your application, and these components need to send or receive messages. So maybe one component in your application needs to send a message to another component.

So what you can do is make this component write the message to a queue, and then this component can actually pick up the message from that queue. So this is the benefit of having the queue service. So there are different services available in Azure Storage. So this marks the end of this chapter. Let's move on to the next chapter, where we'll go more in depth into the features of the storage account.

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