How Do I Use Azure Deployment Slots?

If you’re looking to test and deploy your applications with more efficiency and less downtime, Azure deployment slots may be the solution you’re searching for. With Azure deployment slots, you can easily create staging environments for your application, test them and deploy them without any interruption to your live site. In this tutorial, we’ll cover everything you need to know about Azure deployment slots and how to use them effectively.

Understanding Azure Deployment Slots

Azure Deployment Slots are instances of an application hosted on an Azure App Service that allow developers to test new features or changes in a staging environment before deploying them to production. Each slot is a separate instance of the same application, with its own configuration settings, connection strings and environment variables.

When creating a new deployment slot, it’s important to keep in mind that the configuration settings from the production slot will be automatically copied over. This allows developers to test their changes in an environment that is as close as possible to the production environment without any additional configuration.

Creating a Deployment Slot

To create a new deployment slot in Azure:

1. Login to your Azure Portal
2. Select your Web App from the list of resources
3. Select “Deployment Slots” from the menu on the left-hand side of the screen
4. Click on “Add Slot”
5. Name your new slot (e.g. “Staging”) and click OK

Once you’ve completed these steps, a new deployment slot will be created with its own unique URL.

Configuring Azure Deployment Slots

After creating a new deployment slot, it’s important to configure it properly before deploying any code changes. Some things that should be configured include:

• Connection Strings: Ensure that all necessary connection strings are added for the new slot. These can be found in the “Connection Strings” section of your Web App settings.
• Environment Variables: If any environment variables are required for your application, ensure that they are added to the new slot’s configuration settings.

  These can be found in the “Application Settings” section of your Web App settings.

• Scaling: Determine if you need to increase or decrease the number of instances for your new deployment slot. This can be done in the “Scale up (App Service plan)” section of your Web App settings.

Deploying Code Changes to Azure Deployment Slots

After configuring the new deployment slot, it’s time to deploy code changes. Here’s how:

1. Select your Web App from the list of resources in Azure Portal
2. Select “Deployment Center” from the menu on the left-hand side of the screen
3. Select your desired source control option (Git, GitHub, Bitbucket or External Repository)
4. Click on “Configure” and follow the steps provided to link your repository with Azure
5. Select your deployment branch (e. master) and click OK
6. In the list of deployment slots, select the one you want to deploy code changes to (e. Staging)
7. Click on “Deploy” and wait for Azure to complete deploying changes

Once deployed, you can test out any changes made in this new environment before deploying them to production.

Swapping Deployment Slots

After testing out any changes made within a deployment slot, it’s time to swap it with production. To do this:

1. Select your Web App from the list of resources in Azure Portal
2. Select “Deployment Slots” from the menu on the left-hand side of the screen
3. Select the deployment slot you want to swap (e. Staging)
4. Click on “Swap”
5. Select your desired swap options and click OK

The swapping process is quick and seamless, with minimal downtime for your users.

Conclusion

Azure deployment slots can make a big difference in streamlining your application updates and reducing any downtime that may occur. With a little setup time, testing changes in a staging environment becomes easy and efficient. Try out Azure deployment slots today to see how they can benefit your development process!