Quickstart: Create a service connection in Azure Spring Apps with the Azure CLI

Article
04/13/2023

This quickstart shows you how to connect Azure Spring Apps to other Cloud resources using the Azure CLI and Service Connector.

Service Connector lets you quickly connect compute services to cloud services, while managing your connection's authentication and networking settings.

Prerequisites

An Azure subscription. If you don't have an Azure subscription, create an Azure free account before you begin.
At least one application hosted by Azure Spring Apps in a region supported by Service Connector. If you don't have one, deploy your first application to Azure Spring Apps.

Use the Bash environment in Azure Cloud Shell. For more information, see Quickstart for Bash in Azure Cloud Shell.
If you prefer to run CLI reference commands locally, install the Azure CLI. If you're running on Windows or macOS, consider running Azure CLI in a Docker container. For more information, see How to run the Azure CLI in a Docker container.
- If you're using a local installation, sign in to the Azure CLI by using the az login command. To finish the authentication process, follow the steps displayed in your terminal. For other sign-in options, see Sign in with the Azure CLI.
- When you're prompted, install the Azure CLI extension on first use. For more information about extensions, see Use extensions with the Azure CLI.
- Run az version to find the version and dependent libraries that are installed. To upgrade to the latest version, run az upgrade.

Version 2.37.0 or higher of the Azure CLI. To upgrade to the latest version, run az upgrade. If using Azure Cloud Shell, the latest version is already installed.
The Azure Spring Apps extension must be installed in the Azure CLI or the Cloud Shell. To install it, run az extension add --name spring.

Initial set up

If you're using Service Connector for the first time, start by running the command az provider register to register the Service Connector resource provider.
```
az provider register -n Microsoft.ServiceLinker
```
Tip

You can check if the resource provider has already been registered by running the command az provider show -n "Microsoft.ServiceLinker" --query registrationState. If the output is Registered, then Service Connector has already been registered.
Optionally, run the command az spring connection list-support-types to get a list of supported target services for Azure Spring Apps.
```
az spring connection list-support-types --output table
```
Tip

If the az spring command isn't recognized by the system, check that you have installed the required extension by running az extension add --name spring.

Create a service connection

Create a connection from Azure Spring Apps using an access key or a managed identity.

Access key
Managed identity

Run the az spring connection create command to create a service connection between Azure Spring Apps and an Azure Blob Storage using an access key.
```
az spring connection create storage-blob --secret
```

Provide the following information at the CLI or Cloud Shell's request:

Setting	Description
`The resource group which contains the spring-cloud`	The name of the resource group that contains app hosted by Azure Spring Apps.
`Name of the spring-cloud service`	The name of the Azure Spring Apps resource.
`Name of the spring-cloud app`	The name of the application hosted by Azure Spring Apps that connects to the target service.
`The resource group which contains the storage account`	The name of the resource group with the storage account.
`Name of the storage account`	The name of the storage account you want to connect to. In this guide, we're using a Blob Storage.

Tip

If you don't have a Blob Storage, you can run az spring connection create storage-blob --new --secret to provision a new Blob Storage and directly connect it to your application hosted by Azure Spring Apps using a connection string.

Important

To use a managed identity, you must have the permission to modify role assignments in Microsoft Entra ID. Without this permission, your connection creation will fail. Ask your subscription owner to grant you a role assignment permission or use an access key to create the connection.

Run the az spring connection create command to create a service connection to a Blob Storage with a system-assigned managed identity

Provide the following information at the CLI or Cloud Shell's request:

az spring connection create storage-blob --system-identity

Setting	Description
`The resource group which contains the spring-cloud`	The name of the resource group that contains an app hosted by Azure Spring Apps.
`Name of the spring-cloud service`	The name of the Azure Spring Apps resource.
`Name of the spring-cloud app`	The name of the application hosted by Azure Spring Apps that connects to the target service.
`The resource group which contains the storage account`	The name of the resource group with the storage account.
`Name of the storage account`	The name of the storage account you want to connect to. In this guide, we're using a Blob Storage.

Tip

If you don't have a Blob Storage, you can run az spring connection create storage-blob --new --system-identity to provision a new Blob Storage and directly connect it to your application hosted by Azure Spring Apps using a managed identity.

View connections

Run az spring connection list command to list all of your Azure Spring Apps' provisioned connections.

Replace the placeholders <azure-spring-apps-resource-group>, <azure-spring-apps-name>, and <app-name> from the command below with the name of your Azure Spring Apps resource group, the name of your Azure Spring Apps resource, and the name of your application. You can also remove the --output table option to view more information about your connections.

az spring connection list --resource-group <azure-spring-apps-resource-group> --service <azure-spring-apps-name> --app <app-name>--output table

The output also displays the provisioning state of your connections: failed or succeeded.

Next steps

Check the guides below for more information about Service Connector and Azure Spring Apps.

Tutorial: Azure Spring Apps + MySQL

Tutorial: Azure Spring Apps + Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud