Tutorial: Use dynamic configuration in an ASP.NET Core app

Article
11/10/2021
8 minutes to read

ASP.NET Core has a pluggable configuration system that can read configuration data from a variety of sources. It can handle changes dynamically without causing an application to restart. ASP.NET Core supports the binding of configuration settings to strongly typed .NET classes. It injects them into your code by using IOptionsSnapshot<T>, which automatically reloads the application's configuration when the underlying data changes.

This tutorial shows how you can implement dynamic configuration updates in your code. It builds on the web app introduced in the quickstarts. Before you continue, finish Create an ASP.NET Core app with App Configuration first.

You can use any code editor to do the steps in this tutorial. Visual Studio Code is an excellent option that's available on the Windows, macOS, and Linux platforms.

In this tutorial, you learn how to:

Set up your application to update its configuration in response to changes in an App Configuration store.
Inject the latest configuration in your application's controllers.

Prerequisites

To do this tutorial, install the .NET Core SDK.

If you don't have an Azure subscription, create an Azure free account before you begin.

Before you continue, finish Create an ASP.NET Core app with App Configuration first.

Add a sentinel key

A sentinel key is a special key that you update after you complete the change of all other keys. Your application monitors the sentinel key. When a change is detected, your application refreshes all configuration values. This approach helps to ensure the consistency of configuration in your application and reduces the overall number of requests made to App Configuration, compared to monitoring all keys for changes.

In the Azure portal, select Configuration Explorer > Create > Key-value.
For Key, enter TestApp:Settings:Sentinel. For Value, enter 1. Leave Label and Content type blank.
Select Apply.

Note

If you aren't using a sentinel key, you need to manually register every key you want to monitor.

Reload data from App Configuration

Add a reference to the Microsoft.Azure.AppConfiguration.AspNetCore NuGet package by running the following command:
```
dotnet add package Microsoft.Azure.AppConfiguration.AspNetCore
```

Open Program.cs, and update the CreateWebHostBuilder method to add the config.AddAzureAppConfiguration() method.

public static IHostBuilder CreateHostBuilder(string[] args) =>
    Host.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
        .ConfigureWebHostDefaults(webBuilder =>
            webBuilder.ConfigureAppConfiguration((hostingContext, config) =>
            {
                var settings = config.Build();
                config.AddAzureAppConfiguration(options =>
                {
                    options.Connect(settings["ConnectionStrings:AppConfig"])
                           .ConfigureRefresh(refresh =>
                                {
                                    refresh.Register("TestApp:Settings:Sentinel", refreshAll: true)
                                           .SetCacheExpiration(new TimeSpan(0, 5, 0));
                                });
                });
            })
        .UseStartup<Startup>());

public static IHostBuilder CreateHostBuilder(string[] args) =>
    Host.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
        .ConfigureWebHostDefaults(webBuilder =>
            webBuilder.ConfigureAppConfiguration((hostingContext, config) =>
            {
                var settings = config.Build();
                config.AddAzureAppConfiguration(options =>
                {
                    options.Connect(settings["ConnectionStrings:AppConfig"])
                           .ConfigureRefresh(refresh =>
                                {
                                    refresh.Register("TestApp:Settings:Sentinel", refreshAll: true)
                                           .SetCacheExpiration(new TimeSpan(0, 5, 0));
                                });
                });
            })
        .UseStartup<Startup>());

public static IWebHostBuilder CreateWebHostBuilder(string[] args) =>
    WebHost.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
        .ConfigureAppConfiguration((hostingContext, config) =>
        {
            var settings = config.Build();

            config.AddAzureAppConfiguration(options =>
            {
                options.Connect(settings["ConnectionStrings:AppConfig"])
                       .ConfigureRefresh(refresh =>
                            {
                                refresh.Register("TestApp:Settings:Sentinel", refreshAll: true)
                                       .SetCacheExpiration(new TimeSpan(0, 5, 0));
                            });
            });
        })
        .UseStartup<Startup>();

In the ConfigureRefresh method, you register keys within your App Configuration store that you want to monitor for changes. The refreshAll parameter to the Register method indicates that all configuration values should be refreshed if the registered key changes. The SetCacheExpiration method specifies the minimum time that must elapse before a new request is made to App Configuration to check for any configuration changes. In this example, you override the default expiration time of 30 seconds specifying a time of 5 minutes instead. This reduces the potential number of requests made to your App Configuration store.

Note

For testing purposes, you may want to lower the cache refresh expiration time.

To actually trigger a configuration refresh, you'll use the App Configuration middleware. You'll see how to do this in a later step.

Add a Settings.cs file in the Controllers directory that defines and implements a new Settings class. Replace the namespace with the name of your project.

namespace TestAppConfig
{
    public class Settings
    {
        public string BackgroundColor { get; set; }
        public long FontSize { get; set; }
        public string FontColor { get; set; }
        public string Message { get; set; }
    }
}

Open Startup.cs, and update the ConfigureServices method. Call Configure<Settings> to bind configuration data to the Settings class. Call AddAzureAppConfiguration to add App Configuration components to the service collection of your application.

public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
    services.Configure<Settings>(Configuration.GetSection("TestApp:Settings"));
    services.AddControllersWithViews();
    services.AddAzureAppConfiguration();
}

public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
    services.Configure<Settings>(Configuration.GetSection("TestApp:Settings"));
    services.AddControllersWithViews();
    services.AddAzureAppConfiguration();
}

public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
    services.Configure<Settings>(Configuration.GetSection("TestApp:Settings"));
    services.AddMvc().SetCompatibilityVersion(CompatibilityVersion.Version_2_1);
    services.AddAzureAppConfiguration();
}

Update the Configure method, and add a call to UseAzureAppConfiguration. It enables your application to use the App Configuration middleware to handle the configuration updates for you automatically.

public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IWebHostEnvironment env)
{
        if (env.IsDevelopment())
        {
            app.UseDeveloperExceptionPage();
        }
        else
        {
            app.UseExceptionHandler("/Home/Error");
            // The default HSTS value is 30 days. You may want to change this for production scenarios, see https://aka.ms/aspnetcore-hsts.
            app.UseHsts();
        }

        // Add the following line:
        app.UseAzureAppConfiguration();

        app.UseHttpsRedirection();

        app.UseStaticFiles();

        app.UseRouting();

        app.UseAuthorization();

        app.UseEndpoints(endpoints =>
        {
            endpoints.MapControllerRoute(
                name: "default",
                pattern: "{controller=Home}/{action=Index}/{id?}");
        });
}

public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IWebHostEnvironment env)
{
        if (env.IsDevelopment())
        {
            app.UseDeveloperExceptionPage();
        }
        else
        {
            app.UseExceptionHandler("/Home/Error");
            // The default HSTS value is 30 days. You may want to change this for production scenarios, see https://aka.ms/aspnetcore-hsts.
            app.UseHsts();
        }

        // Add the following line:
        app.UseAzureAppConfiguration();

        app.UseHttpsRedirection();

        app.UseStaticFiles();

        app.UseRouting();

        app.UseAuthorization();

        app.UseEndpoints(endpoints =>
        {
            endpoints.MapControllerRoute(
                name: "default",
                pattern: "{controller=Home}/{action=Index}/{id?}");
        });
}

public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IHostingEnvironment env)
{
    app.UseAzureAppConfiguration();

    services.Configure<CookiePolicyOptions>(options =>
    {
        options.CheckConsentNeeded = context => true;
        options.MinimumSameSitePolicy = SameSiteMode.None;
    });

    app.UseMvc();
}

Note

The App Configuration middleware monitors the sentinel key or any other keys you registered for refreshing in the ConfigureRefresh call in the previous step. The middleware is triggered upon every incoming request to your application. However, the middleware will only send requests to check the value in App Configuration when the cache expiration time you set has passed. When a change is detected, it will either update all the configuration if the sentinel key is used or update the registered keys' values only.

If a request to App Configuration for change detection fails, your application will continue to use the cached configuration. Another check will be made when the configured cache expiration time has passed again, and there are new incoming requests to your application.
The configuration refresh happens asynchronously to the processing of your application incoming requests. It will not block or slow down the incoming request that triggered the refresh. The request that triggered the refresh may not get the updated configuration values, but subsequent requests will do.
To ensure the middleware is triggered, call app.UseAzureAppConfiguration() as early as appropriate in your request pipeline so another middleware will not short-circuit it in your application.

Use the latest configuration data

Open HomeController.cs in the Controllers directory, and add a reference to the Microsoft.Extensions.Options package.
```
using Microsoft.Extensions.Options;
```

Update the HomeController class to receive Settings through dependency injection, and make use of its values.

public class HomeController : Controller
{
    private readonly Settings _settings;
    private readonly ILogger<HomeController> _logger;

    public HomeController(ILogger<HomeController> logger, IOptionsSnapshot<Settings> settings)
    {
        _logger = logger;
        _settings = settings.Value;
    }

    public IActionResult Index()
    {
        ViewData["BackgroundColor"] = _settings.BackgroundColor;
        ViewData["FontSize"] = _settings.FontSize;
        ViewData["FontColor"] = _settings.FontColor;
        ViewData["Message"] = _settings.Message;

        return View();
    }

    // ...
}

public class HomeController : Controller
{
    private readonly Settings _settings;
    private readonly ILogger<HomeController> _logger;

    public HomeController(ILogger<HomeController> logger, IOptionsSnapshot<Settings> settings)
    {
        _logger = logger;
        _settings = settings.Value;
    }

    public IActionResult Index()
    {
        ViewData["BackgroundColor"] = _settings.BackgroundColor;
        ViewData["FontSize"] = _settings.FontSize;
        ViewData["FontColor"] = _settings.FontColor;
        ViewData["Message"] = _settings.Message;

        return View();
    }

    // ...
}

public class HomeController : Controller
{
    private readonly Settings _settings;
    public HomeController(IOptionsSnapshot<Settings> settings)
    {
        _settings = settings.Value;
    }

    public IActionResult Index()
    {
        ViewData["BackgroundColor"] = _settings.BackgroundColor;
        ViewData["FontSize"] = _settings.FontSize;
        ViewData["FontColor"] = _settings.FontColor;
        ViewData["Message"] = _settings.Message;

        return View();
    }
}

Tip

To learn more about the options pattern when reading configuration values, see Options Patterns in ASP.NET Core.

Open Index.cshtml in the Views > Home directory, and replace its content with the following script:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<style>
    body {
        background-color: @ViewData["BackgroundColor"]
    }
    h1 {
        color: @ViewData["FontColor"];
        font-size: @ViewData["FontSize"]px;
    }
</style>
<head>
    <title>Index View</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>@ViewData["Message"]</h1>
</body>
</html>

Build and run the app locally

To build the app by using the .NET Core CLI, run the following command in the command shell:
```
    dotnet build
```
After the build successfully completes, run the following command to run the web app locally:
```
    dotnet run
```
Open a browser window, and go to the URL shown in the dotnet run output.
Sign in to the Azure portal. Select All resources, and select the App Configuration store instance that you created in the quickstart.

Select Configuration Explorer, and update the values of the following keys. Remember to update the sentinel key at last.

Key	Value
TestApp:Settings:BackgroundColor	green
TestApp:Settings:FontColor	lightGray
TestApp:Settings:Message	Data from Azure App Configuration - now with live updates!
TestApp:Settings:Sentinel	2

Refresh the browser page to see the new configuration settings. You may need to refresh more than once for the changes to be reflected, or change your cache expiration time to less than 5 minutes.

Clean up resources

If you do not want to continue using the resources created in this article, delete the resource group you created here to avoid charges.

Important

Deleting a resource group is irreversible. The resource group and all the resources in it are permanently deleted. Make sure that you don't accidentally delete the wrong resource group or resources. If you created the resources for this article inside a resource group that contains other resources you want to keep, delete each resource individually from its respective pane instead of deleting the resource group.

Sign in to the Azure portal, and select Resource groups.
In the Filter by name box, enter the name of your resource group.
In the result list, select the resource group name to see an overview.
Select Delete resource group.
You're asked to confirm the deletion of the resource group. Enter the name of your resource group to confirm, and select Delete.

After a few moments, the resource group and all its resources are deleted.

Next steps

In this tutorial, you enabled your ASP.NET Core web app to dynamically refresh configuration settings from App Configuration. To learn how to use an Azure-managed identity to streamline the access to App Configuration, continue to the next tutorial.

Managed identity integration

Tutorial: Use dynamic configuration in an ASP.NET Core app

Prerequisites

Add a sentinel key

Reload data from App Configuration

Use the latest configuration data

Build and run the app locally

Clean up resources

Next steps

Feedback