Azure cloud is there a way to run application that connects to other applications outside organization via socket connection?

Question

Our organization is all running on the Azure Cloud. So far, we have not created any virtual dedicated servers on the cloud.

1.

Suppose I need to create an application that will need to open the Socket connection to application running outside our company and listen for incoming messages from the vendor. Is there a way to accomplish it without creating a dedicated virtual server on the cloud?

2.

What if I want to create an application that opens a socket connection and serves internal applications connecting to my app - same question - can I achieve it without having created virtual servers - Windows or Linux-based? For example, I want my application to be a server that accepts Web Socket connections. How to do it without spawning dedicated virtual servers?

Do Azure function apps provide anything that will allow my components to run all day and listen for incoming socket connections?

Thanks

Leonard

Answer 1

Hello @Leonard Bernstein - Thanks for reaching out, and posting on the MS Q&A.

Regarding:

Suppose I need to create an application that will need to open the Socket connection to application running outside our company and listen for incoming messages from the vendor. Is there a way to accomplish it without creating a dedicated virtual server on the cloud?

Azure Functions is a serverless platform as a service (PaaS) in Azure that runs small, single-task code without requiring new infrastructure to be spun up. As such, you'll not need to create dedicated servers as all of the management tasks relating to the underlying infrastructure are taken care of by Azure. If all the resources from your organization are already running on the public Azure cloud, you should have no problem establishing a WebSocket connection to an application hosted elsewhere.

As for:

Do Azure function apps provide anything that will allow my components to run all day and listen for incoming socket connections?

I'd recommend that you explore the Azure Web PubSub service which provides support for generic WebSocket communication. You can connect your Azure Functions to Web PubSub such that your function listens for message events throughout the day and executes your code when a message arrives:

1. Azure Web PubSub trigger and bindings for Azure Functions
2. Tutorial: Create a serverless notification app with Azure Functions and Azure Web PubSub service

I hope this helps, and gives you a starting point. If you have any follow-up questions, feel free to raise them in the comments below.

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