Nathan Araújo

Posted on Sep 12

Exploring Azure Functions for Synthetic Monitoring with Playwright: A Complete Guide - Part 4

#monitoring #serverless #testing #azure

Azure Functions Deployment

Deploy your Synthetic Monitoring solution to Azure in 4 simple phases.

Phase 1: Create Azure Resources

1. Create Function App

Azure Portal → Create Resource → Function App
Configure:
- Name: synthetic-monitoring-func-prod
- Runtime: Node.js 18
- Plan: Functions Premium (production)
- Storage: Create new
- Application Insights: Enable

2. Create Storage Account (for artifacts)

Azure Portal → Storage Accounts → Create
Configure:
- Name: syntheticartifacts[suffix]
- Performance: Standard
- Create container: test-artifacts

3. Get Connection Strings

Application Insights: Properties → Connection String
Storage Account: Access Keys → Connection String

Phase 2: Configure Function App

Add these variables in Function App → Settings → Environment Variables:

APPLICATIONINSIGHTS_CONNECTION_STRING=[App Insights Connection String]
AZURE_STORAGE_CONNECTION_STRING=[Storage Account Connection String]
BLOB_CONTAINER_NAME=test-artifacts
baseUrl=https://your-target-application.com
SYNTHETIC_MONITOR_SCHEDULE=0 */5 * * * *
... others env variables

Phase 3: Setup Azure DevOps Pipeline

1. Create Build Pipeline

Create azure-pipelines.yml in your repo:

trigger:
  - main

pool:
  vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'

steps:
- task: NodeTool@0
  inputs:
    versionSpec: '18.x'

- script: npm ci
  displayName: 'Install dependencies'

- script: npx playwright install --with-deps chromium
  displayName: 'Install Playwright'

- script: npm run build
  displayName: 'Build TypeScript'

- task: ArchiveFiles@2
  inputs:
    archiveFile: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/function-app.zip'
    includeRootFolder: false

- task: PublishBuildArtifacts@1
  inputs:
    artifactName: 'function-app'

Or classic mode

2. Create Release Pipeline

Pipelines → Releases → New Pipeline
Add Artifact: Link to build pipeline
Add Stage: Deploy to Function App
Configure Task:
- Azure Function App Deploy
- App Service name: synthetic-monitoring-func-prod
- Package: $(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)/_[BuildName]/function-app/function-app.zip

Phase 3: Deploy and Monitor

1. Deploy

Commit code → Build runs automatically
Release pipeline → Deploy to Function App
Verify function is running in Azure Portal

2. Monitor

Application Insights → Live Metrics (real-time monitoring)
Function App → Monitoring → Log Stream (logs in real time)
Function App → Functions → syntheticMonitorFunctionName (execution history)
Storage Account → test-artifacts (uploaded reports on failures)

Quick Checklist

[ ] Function App created with Application Insights
[ ] Storage Account created with container
[ ] Connection strings configured in Function App
[ ] Build pipeline runs successfully
[ ] Release pipeline deploys to Function App
[ ] Function executes and sends telemetry
[ ] Test artifacts upload on failures

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