Spring, the application framework developed by the brilliant minds at VMware, has become the most popular tools in the industry for building scalable, feature rich apps that are web ready. It’s ability to frontend, backend, run API calls, and even manage microservices is the reason it’s popularity has exploded. Spring comes with a large library of features like security, authentication, and even build in CRUD databases like H2. Deploying a Spring app can be as simple as standing up a server and running a .jar file inside of it, but cloud providers have made the process even easier with their hosted app platforms, like Azure App Services.
Where Microsoft took this one step further was Azure Spring Apps, an application hosting solution purpose built for Spring application. This gave developers an even faster time-to-market and less time configuring their environment. Just upload your app, point it to a domain, and go!
There was one drawback, however. Scaling.
This is where the Azure Spring Apps Landing Zone Accelerator comes into play. While it’s not a simple plug and play scenario, and calls us back to the complex environment build that is necessary for a scalable solution. Luckily, Microsoft gives us a detailed playbook to follow when designing and implementing a Spring app at scale. Microsoft coins these as guidelines and recommendations, meaning you are free to customize and build with your needs as you see fit.
Considerations:
Cost: You will incur more costs in your Azure bill by utilizing this framework. Microsoft recommends using their Azure Pricing Calculator to determine cost. You can also work with your Cloud Solution Provider or Microsoft Partner for design and cost assistance.
CDN Needs: Microsoft’s blob storage is a great option for a CDN, and it is recommended to utilize one for static content such as images, videos, static pages, and more. If you already have a CDN of choice, please refer to their documentation on integrating it with the Azure platform. If you want to learn more about blob storage and CDN networks, please read this article.
Knowledge Gaps: If you or your organizations familiarity with Azure is lacking the expertise to properly deploy and manage a Landing Zone, reach out to your Microsoft rep or Partner for options on managed services. A great Managed Service Provider (MSP) can make a big difference in the success of your deployment.
