Rediger

Deploy Data API builder to Azure Kubernetes Service

This guide shows you how to deploy Data API builder (DAB) to Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) using a custom container image pushed to Azure Container Registry. AKS provides managed Kubernetes with built-in scaling, health probes, and secret management.

Diagram of the overall architecture after deployment to Azure Kubernetes Service is complete.

Prerequisites

Build the configuration file

  1. Create a local directory for your configuration files.

  2. Initialize a base configuration file using dab init. Use the @env() function for the connection string so the secret is injected at runtime, not baked into the image.

    dab init \
  --database-type mssql \
  --connection-string "@env('DATABASE_CONNECTION_STRING')"

  3. Add at least one entity using dab add. Repeat for each table or view you want to expose.

    dab add Books \
  --source dbo.Books \
  --permissions "anonymous:read"

  4. Review dab-config.json before continuing.

Build and push a custom container image

Build an image that includes dab-config.json at /App/dab-config.json.

  1. Create an Azure Container Registry if you don't already have one.

    az acr create \
  --resource-group <resource-group> \
  --name <registry-name> \
  --sku Basic \
  --admin-enabled true

  2. Create a Dockerfile in the same directory as dab-config.json.

    FROM mcr.microsoft.com/azure-databases/data-api-builder:latest
COPY dab-config.json /App/dab-config.json

  3. Build and push the image using ACR Tasks.

    az acr build \
  --registry <registry-name> \
  --image dab:latest \
  .

  4. Note the full image reference: <registry-name>.azurecr.io/dab:latest.

Connect AKS to ACR

Grant your AKS cluster pull access to the registry.

az aks update \
  --name <cluster-name> \
  --resource-group <resource-group> \
  --attach-acr <registry-name>

Store the connection string as a Kubernetes secret

Store the database connection string as a Kubernetes secret so it's never in the manifest file.

kubectl create secret generic dab-secrets \
  --from-literal=DATABASE_CONNECTION_STRING="<your-connection-string>"

Warning

Never place connection strings directly in Kubernetes manifest files or container images. Use secrets or Azure Key Vault.

Create the Kubernetes manifest

Create a file named dab-deployment.yaml with the following content. Replace <registry-name> with your ACR name.

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: dab
  labels:
    app: dab
spec:
  replicas: 2
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: dab
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: dab
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: dab
          image: <registry-name>.azurecr.io/dab:latest
          ports:
            - containerPort: 5000
          env:
            - name: DATABASE_CONNECTION_STRING
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: dab-secrets
                  key: DATABASE_CONNECTION_STRING
          readinessProbe:
            httpGet:
              path: /health
              port: 5000
            initialDelaySeconds: 5
            periodSeconds: 10
          livenessProbe:
            httpGet:
              path: /health
              port: 5000
            initialDelaySeconds: 15
            periodSeconds: 20
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: dab-service
spec:
  selector:
    app: dab
  ports:
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 80
      targetPort: 5000
  type: LoadBalancer

Note

The readinessProbe and livenessProbe use the DAB /health endpoint. For more information, see Health checks.

Deploy to AKS

  1. Get credentials for your cluster.

    az aks get-credentials \
  --resource-group <resource-group> \
  --name <cluster-name>

  2. Apply the manifest.

    kubectl apply -f dab-deployment.yaml

  3. Watch the rollout until pods are ready.

    kubectl rollout status deployment/dab

  4. Get the external IP address assigned to the service.

    kubectl get service dab-service

    The EXTERNAL-IP column shows the public IP address. Allow a minute for the load balancer to provision.

Verify the deployment

  1. Browse to http://<external-ip>/health. A healthy response looks like:

    {
  "status": "healthy",
  "version": "2.0.0",
  "app-name": "dab_oss_2.0.0"
}

  2. Test an entity endpoint.

    curl http://<external-ip>/api/Books

Scale the deployment

Change the replica count to scale horizontally.

kubectl scale deployment/dab --replicas=4

Or update spec.replicas in dab-deployment.yaml and reapply.

Clean up resources

Remove the deployment and service when no longer needed.

kubectl delete -f dab-deployment.yaml
kubectl delete secret dab-secrets

To delete the AKS cluster and registry, remove the resource group.

az group delete \
  --name <resource-group> \
  --yes --no-wait

Related content

  • Last updated on