Centrc FastForge Reference Application (dotnet/React/SQL)

Centric's FastForge platform is our opionated framework for starting certain classes of cloud-hosted web and mobile applications based on a mainstream framework. The projects in this repository are based on the dotnet framework with a React user interface and Microsoft SQL Server.

Directory Structure

• Root - contains files useable or using data from the varous projects. There are four projects (outlined below) that contain the source for the major components of this software, API, Testing, Infrastructure, and DevOps
• api - dotnet core API consumed by the webapp
• webapp - React single-page web application
• e2e - contains the end-to-end functional testing framework and a starter set of tests.
• tf-infrastructure - Terraform scripts to build the various cloud-based environments.
• pipelines-azure-devops - Azure DevOps build-pipeline YAML files
• github/workflows - GitHub Actions workflows YAML files

Prerequisites

1. Complete the FastForge Foundation Steps

   Visit the Centric Consulting FastForge-Foundation GitHub Repository to complete the appropriate steps. < NOTE: The prerequisites and steps outlined in the FastForge Foundation Steps must be completed prior to these deployment steps.

Prerequisite Installations

• Docker (Desktop)
• dotnet core

If enhanced Azure Infrastructure management is desired:

• Code Editor installed
• Terraform package installed
• GIT installed
• Azure PowerShell Modules installed

GitHub Deployment Step 1: Build, Stage & Test the API/WebApp

Once the steps outlined in the FastForge Foundation Repository have been followed, the following tasks can be performed to deploy FastForge:

1. This repository should already be generated within your Organization’s GitHub
2. Navigate to the Settings tab within your Organization’s GitHub main page and create Secrets needed in order to connect to the previously provisioned Azure Container Registry. The variable information can be found under the Access Keys section of the Azure Container Registry
   1. REGISTRY_LOGIN_SERVER: Name of Container Registry created in FastForge Foundation Repository steps.azurecr.io. (Example: exampleCR123.azurecr.io)
   2. REGISTRY_USERNAME: Chosen Username
   3. REGISTRY_PASSWORD: Chosen Password (Be sure to adjust this variable if the password is refreshed on the Container Registry)
3. Once the above Secrets values are created, the first workflow can run:
   1. Navigate to the Actions tab within your Organization’s GitHub main page and select the BuildTestStage-apiWebApp (run 1st) workflow, and select “Run workflow” on the right-hand side

GitHub Deployment Step 2: Deploy Application Infrastructure

After the Public GitHub Repository is created and the workflow associated to the YAML file (BuildTestStage-apiWebApp.yml) successfully runs, the following steps can occur to deploy the needed Azure Infrastructure for a specified cloud environment:

1. Five additional secrets need to be created:
   1. AZURE_CREDENTIALS: Process of creation
   2. CLIENT_ID: Client ID of Azure crednetials in the AZURE_CREDENTIALS
   3. CLIENT_SECRET: Client Secret of Azure crednetials in the AZURE_CREDENTIALS
   4. SUBSCRIPTION_ID: Subscription ID associated to the Azure Subscription
   5. TENANT_ID: Tenant ID of Azure crednetials in the AZURE_CREDENTIALS
2. [OPTIONAL] Within GitHub Public Repositories, Environments (Settings > Environments > New environment) can be created to place manual approvals for infrastructure changes when the terraform workflow runs. The name of the Environment should reflect the environment being built. Line #70 - #71 in the Infrastructure.yml file can be uncommented to reflect the name of the Environment created. (NOTE: this step is available for Public repositories by default, but requires a GitHub Enterprise license for Private repositories
   1. If the Environment is created, select to add up to 6 resources that will approve infrastructure deployments. This step will force manual intervention to occur between the “Terraform Plan” and “Terraform Apply” stages within the workflow.
3. Update the terraform.tfvars file for the appropriate environment (/tf-infrastructure/dev-env) with the required values for deployment
4. Open the Infrastructure.yml file and adjust the “env” variables to reflect where the tfstate file will be located for the Terraform managed resources:
   1. resourceGroup: Name of the Resource Group created in the Prerequisites step #5
   2. storageAccountName: Name of the Storage Account created in the Prerequisites step #5
   3. storageContainerName: Name of the Container created in the Prerequisites step #5
   4. storageKey: Name of the .tfstate file. Must be in <name>.tfstate format. It is best practice to have the name reflect the environment
5. Save/commit all changes and follow the process outlined in the previous section, but select the second workflow Infrastructure (run 2nd) to run

GitHub Deployment Step 3: Deploy Environment API/WebApp

The last step in the build of FastForge is the deployment of each environment’s API and WebApp. The following steps are required to complete the deployment:

1. Use the env section within the YAML file (Deploy-apiWebApp.yml) to store the following variable:
   1. apiAppName: Name of app service created in the previous section step #3 (defined in the terraform.tfvars file)
2. Save/commit all changes in the YAML file
3. Navigate to the Settings tab within your Organization’s GitHub main page and create the last secret needed in order to connect to the storage account that was provisioned in the previous section
   1. AZURE_STORAGE_ACCOUNT_CS: Connection String for the created Storage Account
4. Set the Service Principal created in the previous section to have the following permissions at the subscription level:
   1. Storage Blob Data Contributor
   2. Storage Blob Data Owner
5. Navigate to the Actions tab within your Organization’s GitHub main page and select the third workflow Deploy-apiWebApp.yml to run
   1. After running the workflow, the API/WebApp will be built for the designated environment
6. When needed, repeat the above steps to deploy the API/WebApp for each subsequent environment. The previous section must occur first for each environment in order to have the resources required to deploy the API/WebApp associated with this section

GitHub Deployment Step 5: Trigger Configurations for Automation

The last step in the build of FastForge is the changing of triggers within the 3 YAML files. Editing the YAML files to implement triggers creates a different workflow when code changes are pushed to the repository. The Workflows will now automatically trigger upon code changes to the repo and will follow the order in which they were initially deployed.

1. Edit the YAML files used in steps 2-4 and follow the commented instructions defined in each file:
   1. buildteststage-apiWebApp-pipeline.yml - BuildTestStage-apiWebApp (run 1st):
      1. Step 5: Replace lines 2-3. Uncomment lines 4 - 10
   2. infrastructure.yml - Infrastructure (run 2nd):
      1. Step 5: Replace lines 2-3. Uncomment lines 4 – 7
   3. deploy-apiWebApp-pipeline.yml - Deploy-apiWebApp-pipeline (run 3rd):
      1. Step 5: Replace lines 2-3. Uncomment lines 4 – 7