Getting Started With Azure Spring Apps and MongoDB Atlas: A Step-by-Step Guide
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Embrace the fusion of cloud computing and modern application development as we delve into the integration of Azure
Spring Apps
and MongoDB. In this tutorial, we'll guide you through the process of creating
and deploying a Spring Boot
application in the Azure Cloud, leveraging the strengths of Azure's platform, Spring Boot's simplicity, and MongoDB's
capabilities.
Whether you're a developer venturing into the cloud landscape or looking to refine your cloud-native skills, this
step-by-step guide provides a concise roadmap. By the end of this journey, you'll have a fully functional Spring Boot
application seamlessly running on Azure Spring
Apps, with MongoDB handling your data storage needs and a REST API ready
for interaction. Let's explore the synergy of these technologies and propel your cloud-native endeavors forward.
- Java 17
- Maven 3.8.7
- Git (or you can download the zip folder and unzip it locally)
- MongoDB Atlas cluster (the M0 free tier is enough for this tutorial). If you don't have one, you can create one for free.
- Install the Azure CLI to be able to deploy your Azure Spring App.
I'm using Debian, so I just had to run a single command line to install the Azure CLI. Read the documentation for your
operating system.
1 curl -sL https://aka.ms/InstallAzureCLIDeb | sudo bash
Once it's installed, you should be able to run this command.
1 az --version
It should return something like this.
1 azure-cli 2.56.0 2 3 core 2.56.0 4 telemetry 1.1.0 5 6 Extensions: 7 spring 1.19.2 8 9 Dependencies: 10 msal 1.24.0b2 11 azure-mgmt-resource 23.1.0b2 12 13 Python location '/opt/az/bin/python3' 14 Extensions directory '/home/polux/.azure/cliextensions' 15 16 Python (Linux) 3.11.5 (main, Jan 8 2024, 09:08:48) [GCC 12.2.0] 17 18 Legal docs and information: aka.ms/AzureCliLegal 19 20 21 Your CLI is up-to-date.
Note: It's normal if you don't have the Spring extension yet. We'll install it in a minute.
You can log into your Azure account using the following command.
1 az login
It should open a web browser in which you can authenticate to Azure. Then, the command should print something like this.
1 [ 2 { 3 "cloudName": "AzureCloud", 4 "homeTenantId": "<MY_TENANT_ID>", 5 "id": "<MY_SUBSCRIPTION_ID>", 6 "isDefault": true, 7 "managedByTenants": [], 8 "name": "MDB-DevRel", 9 "state": "Enabled", 10 "tenantId": "<MY_TENANT_ID>", 11 "user": { 12 "name": "maxime.beugnet@mongodb.com", 13 "type": "user" 14 } 15 } 16 ]
Once you are logged into your Azure account, you can type the following command to install the Spring extension.
1 az extension add -n spring
To begin with, on the home page of Azure, click on
Create a resource.
Then, select Azure Spring Apps in the marketplace.
Create a new Azure Spring App.
Now, you can select your subscription and your resource group. Create a new one if necessary. You can also create a
service name and select the region.
For the other options, you can use your best judgment depending on your situation but here is what I did for this
tutorial, which isn't meant for production use...
- Basics:
- Hosting: "Basic" (not for production use, but it's fine for me)
- Zone Redundant: Disable
- Deploy sample project: No
- Diagnostic settings:
- Enable by default.
- Application Insights:
- Disable (You probably want to keep this in production)
- Networking:
- Deploy in your own virtual network: No
- Tags:
- I didn't add any
Here is my
Review and create summary:
Once you are happy, click on
Create and wait a minute for your deployment to be ready to use.In this tutorial, we are deploying
this Java, Spring Boot, and MongoDB template,
available on GitHub. If you want to learn more about this template, you can read
my article, but in a few words:
It's a simple CRUD Spring application that manages
a
persons collection, stored in MongoDB with a REST API.- Clone or download a zip of this repository.
1 git clone git@github.com:mongodb-developer/java-spring-boot-mongodb-starter.git
1 cd java-spring-boot-mongodb-starter 2 mvn clean package
If everything went as planned, you should now have a JAR file available in your
target folder
named java-spring-boot-mongodb-starter-1.0.0.jar.In Azure, you can now click on
Go to resource to access your new Azure Spring App.
Now, we can create our first microservice. Click on
Create App.
Insert a name for your application, select Java 17, and click
Create.
You can now access your new microservice.
In our Java project, our
application.properties file contains the following:1 spring.data.mongodb.uri=${MONGODB_URI:mongodb://localhost}
This means that our Spring application will try to find a MongoDB URI in the
MONGODB_URI environment variable first,
and will default to mongodb://localhost if it doesn't exist.As we want to connect our microservice to our cluster in MongoDB Atlas, we have to set this environment variable
correctly.
1 mongodb+srv://user:password@free.ab12c.mongodb.net/?retryWrites=true&w=majority
- Create a new environment variable in your configuration.
Note: If you don't have a database user, it's time
to create one and use the login and password in your connection string.
MongoDB Atlas clusters only accept TCP connections from known IP addresses.
As our Spring application will try to connect to our MongoDB cluster, we need to add the IP address of our microservice
in the Atlas Network Access list.
- Retrieve the outbound IP address in the
Networkingtab of our Azure Spring App.
- Add this IP address to the network access list in Atlas.
We can now deploy our JAR file!
Click on the
Apps tab and Deploy app.
You'll see the instructions to deploy your application.
- We have to set our
Subscription ID:
1 az account set -s <SUBSCRIPTION_ID>
- We can deploy!
1 az spring app deploy -s mongodb-spring-apps -g MaximeSpringApps -n mongodb-persons-app --artifact-path target/java-spring-boot-mongodb-starter-1.0.0.jar
If everything went well, you should see some logs happily telling you that the Spring app fired up successfully and
hooked up with our MongoDB Atlas cluster.
Finally, we need to assign an endpoint to our service to start discussing with the REST API.
Retrieve the endpoint to test the REST API. For me, it's:
1 https://mongodb-spring-apps-mongodb-persons-app.azuremicroservices.io
You can create a
person using the following cURL command. Don't forget to change the endpoint.1 curl -X 'POST' \ 2 'https://mongodb-spring-apps-mongodb-persons-app.azuremicroservices.io/api/person' \ 3 -H 'accept: */*' \ 4 -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \ 5 -d '{ 6 "firstName": "Maxime", 7 "lastName": "Beugnet", 8 "age": 35, 9 "address": { 10 "number": 123, 11 "street": "rue de la Paix", 12 "postcode": "75000", 13 "city": "Paris", 14 "country": "France" 15 }, 16 "insurance": true, 17 "cars": [ 18 { 19 "brand": "Peugeot", 20 "model": "3008", 21 "maxSpeedKmH": 280 22 } 23 ] 24 }'
You can retrieve the persons from the MongoDB cluster in Atlas using the following
cURL command.1 curl "https://mongodb-spring-apps-mongodb-persons-app.azuremicroservices.io/api/persons"
Which should print something like this.
1 [ 2 { 3 "id": "65adc7d0a227f7388c594704", 4 "firstName": "Maxime", 5 "lastName": "Beugnet", 6 "age": 35, 7 "address": { 8 "number": 123, 9 "street": "rue de la Paix", 10 "postcode": "75000", 11 "city": "Paris", 12 "country": "France" 13 }, 14 "createdAt": "2024-01-22T01:55:23.093+00:00", 15 "insurance": true, 16 "cars": [ 17 { 18 "brand": "Peugeot", 19 "model": "3008", 20 "maxSpeedKmH": 280.0 21 } 22 ] 23 } 24 ]
In our MongoDB Atlas cluster, we can confirm that the data was saved correctly.
1 https://<YOUR_ENDPOINT>/swagger-ui/index.html
And that's a wrap! You've smoothly navigated the realms of Azure Spring Apps and MongoDB, crafting a dynamic Spring Boot
application in the Azure Cloud. Your microservice is up, the REST API is ready, and MongoDB is seamlessly managing your
data.
Consider creating a free Atlas cluster and start exploring all the features
MongoDB Atlas has to offer.
Got questions or itching to share your success? Head over to
the MongoDB Community Forum – we're all ears and ready to help!
Cheers to your successful deployment, and here's to the exciting ventures ahead! Happy coding! 🚀