Azure ACI – Best Practices

Hey Blog!

Here’s some best practices to share about Azure ACI (Azure Container Services) I thought that might be helpful for the community to share.

Azure Container Instances (ACI) is a fast and simple way to run containers in the Azure cloud. Here are some best practices to follow when using ACI:

1. Use environment variables to configure containers: Avoid hardcoding values in your containers, instead use environment variables. This makes it easy to change values without having to rebuild your containers.
2. Use managed identities: Managed identities allow your containers to authenticate to Azure services without having to manage secrets or certificates. This makes it easier to secure your environment.
3. Use Azure Storage for persistent storage: When using ACI, it is recommended to use Azure Storage for persistent storage instead of storing data within the containers. This makes it easier to manage and scale your storage.
4. Use Azure Monitor for logging and monitoring: Azure Monitor provides logging and monitoring capabilities for ACI, allowing you to track the performance of your containers and troubleshoot issues.
5. Use auto-scaling: ACI supports auto-scaling, which allows you to automatically adjust the number of containers based on demand. This helps ensure that your applications are always running at optimal performance.
6. Use network security groups: Use network security groups to restrict access to your containers. This helps ensure that only authorized users and systems can access your containers.
7. Use tags: Tagging your ACI containers helps you to manage and organize your containers. You can use tags to categorize containers by environment, team, application, etc.
8. Plan for disaster recovery: Consider how you will recover from a disaster, such as a failure in a single region or the loss of a single container. Make sure to have a disaster recovery plan in place to minimize downtime and data loss.
9. Stay up-to-date: Keep your ACI containers up-to-date with the latest security patches and updates. This helps ensure that your containers are secure and free from vulnerabilities.

By following these best practices, you can maximize the benefits of ACI and ensure that your containers are running optimally in the Azure cloud.

Cheers!