Introduction

Azure Logic Apps is an innovative platform that allows developers to create and deploy workflow-based integrations of the applications and services they use in their daily work. This gives them greater flexibility, speed, and reliability in their application development processes. With the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, it becomes possible to create and manage logic applications without worrying about the infrastructure. Azure provides us with provisioning, scalability, security, and monitoring capabilities. In this tutorial, we will discuss how to develop and deploy Logic Apps with Azure.

Prerequisites

To follow this tutorial, you should have:

1. An active Azure subscription
2. A basic understanding of Visual Studio Code and its extensions
3. Knowledge of YAML and JSON syntax
4. Knowledge of Microsoft Azure Resources and Services such as Virtual Machines, Storage Account, etc.

Step 1: Create a Logic App

The first step in creating a logic app with Azure is to create a new Logic App resource on your Azure Subscription. To do this, log in to your Azure Portal and navigate to the + Create a resource button.

Under the Integrate tab, select the Logic App option.

In the Logic App panel, configure your settings like the name of your Logic App, the Subscription, Resource Group, and Location to deploy. Review the settings to ensure that they’re set to the appropriate values. Then click on the Create button to create the Logic App.

You can also create the Logic App with Azure CLI or PowerShell. To do this, follow the instructions provided by Azure Docs.

Step 2: Authoring a Logic App with Designer

Once your Logic App is up and running, you can start authoring workflows using the Logic App Designer. The Logic App Designer is a drag and drop visual interface for building workflows.

In the Azure Portal, navigate to your newly created Logic App resource. Click on the Logic App Designer menu item in the left pane. Alternatively, you can select the Logic App Designer under Development Tools.

In the Logic App Designer, you can see two panes. The left pane is a toolbox that contains actions, triggers, and connectors. The right pane is a canvas where you will build your workflow.

To create a new flow, drag an action or trigger connector from the left pane to the right pane. In our example, let’s use the HTTP Request - When a request is received trigger. This trigger listens for an HTTP request and responds when a request is received.

After adding the trigger, you will see an example of the incoming request, and a URL that you can use to send requests to your Logic App.

Next, we’ll add an action to the workflow. Actions are the units of processing that Logic Apps execute when a trigger occurs. In this example, we’ll add an action that will send an email notification when the trigger condition is fulfilled.

Select the Add new step button in the upper right corner of the right pane. In the Search box, enter “send an email” and select the “Office 365 Outlook – Send an email” action.

In the following panel, enter the email information like recipient, subject, and email body. Once done, click on Save to save these parameters.

Now, your workflow is ready. It listens for an incoming HTTP request and sends an email once the trigger is fulfilled.

Step 3: Deployment of Logic App

Once you have authored and tested your Logic App, you will want to deploy it to a production environment.

First, you will need to create an Azure Resource Group where the Logic App will be deployed.

Under the Services menu, select Resource groups, and click on the + Add button to create a new Resource Group. Name your resource group, and choose the appropriate subscription and location.

Once you have created your Resource Group, you can then deploy your Logic App using one of the two deployment models available in Azure:

• Azure Resource Manager deployment model
• Classic deployment model

The Azure Resource Manager (ARM) deployment model is a more modern and recommended deployment model for Azure Services. In this tutorial, we will be deploying our Logic App using the Azure Resource Manager deployment model.

To deploy your Logic App using ARM, you will need to create an ARM template. An ARM template is a JSON file that describes the infrastructure and configuration of your Azure resources. The ARM template includes the Logic App workflow definition, as well as any other resources required for your Logic App.

You can create the ARM template using the Azure CLI or Visual Studio Code with Azure Extensions.

In Visual Studio Code, navigate to the Extensions tab, search for and install the Azure Resource Manager Tools and its dependencies.

Next, create a new folder and initialize a git repository using the git init command. Then, open the folder in Visual Studio Code.

To create an ARM template for your Logic App, navigate to the Azure: Create an ARM template for Logic App option under the Azure tab in the left pane.

This will create and populate a deploymentTemplate.json file in your project directory.

Update the ARM template with the appropriate values for your Logic App resource, including the parameters, variables, and resources. Be sure to include all of the resources that your Logic App requires, such as a connection to the HTTP service.

Once you have modified the template, you can check its syntax by running az group deployment validate. If your ARM template is valid, you can then deploy it using az group deployment create.

Step 4: Monitor and Troubleshoot your Logic App

Azure provides an easy way to monitor and troubleshoot your Logic App.

Navigate to the Logic App resource in Azure Portal and select the Logic App runs option in the left pane. This will provide you with run history for the Logic App, including any error messages, trigger, action, and status for each run.

If you require more advanced monitoring and analysis capabilities, consider using Azure Application Insights by integrating it directly into the Logic App.

Azure Logic Apps provides deep monitoring and tracking of its workflow. This includes:

• Detailed diagnostics for workflows
• Tracking of events within Logic Apps
• Recording of trigger, action, and condition
• Identification of bottlenecks and delays
• Availability of visual workflows and run history for analytics and reporting

In addition, Azure Log Analytics is available for deeper troubleshooting of Logic Apps, including custom log searches and analysis.

With the monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities in Azure, you can effectively troubleshoot any issues your Logic App encounters to ensure its reliability and performance.

Conclusion

Developing and deploying Logic Apps with Azure doesn’t have to be challenging. The process is easy, and you can create robust workflows using the drag-and-drop designer. You can monitor your Logic Apps to detect any success or failure and troubleshoot the issues in case of failure. With this tutorial, you now have the basics to begin creating and deploying Logic Apps with Azure.