Introduction

In this article we will use Azure Storage Static site feature to deploy the AngularUI site.

Why use Azure Storage

AngularUI is a static website, therefore it can be deployed in Azure storage which provides features specifically designed for static websites. such as Custom Domains, and SSL. Also; using Azure Storage is much cheaper than deploying an app Service on Azure.

Steps

• Create Storage Account
• Enable Static Website feature
• OPTIONAL Enable Custom Domain
• Publish files to Azure Storage

Create Storage Account

Follow this article: Create a storage account and make sure that you are using at least StorageV2 (general purpose v2) account kind.

Enable Static Site feature

Go to the newly created storage account and navigate to Static website from the side menu.

if you do not see this option: make sure that you are using at least StorageV2 (general purpose v2) account kind.

• Set Static website: Enabled
• Set Index document name: index.html
• Set Error document path: index.html

OPTIONAL: Custom Domain

You can use Azure Storage Static website feature to have your Custom domain redirected to it with SSL enabled.

For that to work, you must serve the contents of the static website from Azure CDN.

Follow this article to create Azure CDN end point that will serve the contents over HTTPS on a custom domain.

Remember to update the settings in appsettings.json files below to reflect the new URL for your static site, as now they will be served from the CDN over a custom domain.

Then add the task as described in the RELEASE pipeline below, to purge the cache on every release.

Update appsettings.json

Update the HOST appsettings.json with the following:

• ClientRootAddress: replaced with the static website primary end point ex: https://xxxxxx.z33.web.core.windows.net
• CorsOrigins: add the static website primary end point

Update the AngularUI appsettings.json with the following:

• appBaseUrl: replaced with the static website primary end point ex: https://xxxxxx.z33.web.core.windows.net

Publish files to Azure Storage

Once you enable the static website feature on Azure storage, it will automatically create a special container with the name $web.

note you cannot change this name.

It is assumed that you already have a dist folder built and ready for publishing.

Manual Publishing

You can manually upload your dist files using Azure Storage Explorer to the $web container.

Automated publishing using Azure Pipelines

We will create a RELEASE pipeline here to do the following:

• Pick up the drop folder from the BUILD pipeline or any other source
• Delete everything that exists in $web (always clean the storage container before we upload a new version)
• OPTIONAL (with custom domain) purge the Azure CDN cache if using a custom domain
• Publish the files to the $web container

Steps to create a Release Pipeline

• Go to Azure DevOps
• Click Pipelines from the side menu
• Click Releases
• Click New > New release pipeline
• Click Empty job
• Click Add an artifact and select the source of the AngularUI dist folder
• Click on Stage 1 jobs link
• Click + to add a new Task to the Agent job
• Add the following tasks (in this order)
  • Azure CLI
  • Azure CLI (optional with custom domain)
  • Azure File Copy
• configure the tasks settings as below

Azure CLI: Settings

• Name: Delete all $web container files
• Azure Subscription: (select your subscription)
• Script Location: Inline Script
• Inline Script
  • az storage blob delete-batch --account-name [STORAGE-ACCOUNT-NAME] --source $web

OPTIONAL (with custom domain): Azure CLI: Settings

• Name: Purge the Azure CDN cache end point
• Azure Subscription: (select your subscription)
• Script Location: Inline Script
• Inline Script
  • az cdn endpoint purge -n [AZURE-CDN-END-POINT-NAME] -g [AZURE-CDN-RESOURCE-GROUP-NAME] --profile-name [AZURE-CDN-PROFILE-NAME] --content-paths "/*"

Azure File Copy: Settings

note: (switch to Task Version 3 if it is not the default).

• Name: Copy new files to $web container
• Source: (select the source of the drop folder)
• Azure Subscription: (select your subscription)
• Destination Type: Azure Blob
• RM Storage Account: (storage account name)
• Container Name: $web

That's it, now you can queue a release.