Computing

The Rise of GitOps: Automating Deployment and Improving Reliability

March 14, 2023 Amazon, Azure, Best Practices, Cloud Computing, Cloud Native, Code Analysis, Code Quality, Computing, Development Process, DevOps, DevSecOps, Dynamic Analysis, Google Cloud, Kubernetes, Managed Services, Platforms, Resources, SecOps, Static Analysis No comments

GitOps is a relatively new approach to software delivery that has been gaining popularity in recent years. It is a set of practices for managing and deploying infrastructure and applications using Git as the single source of truth. In this blog post, we will explore the concept of GitOps, its key benefits, and some examples of how it is being used in the industry.

What is GitOps?

GitOps is a modern approach to software delivery that is based on the principles of Git and DevOps. It is a way of managing infrastructure and application deployments using Git as the single source of truth. The idea behind GitOps is to use Git to store the desired state of the infrastructure and applications, and then use automated tools to ensure that the actual state of the system matches the desired state.

The key benefit of GitOps is that it provides a simple, repeatable, and auditable way to manage infrastructure and application deployments. By using Git as the source of truth, teams can easily manage changes to the system and roll back to previous versions if needed. GitOps also provides a way to enforce compliance and security policies, as all changes to the system are tracked in Git.

How does GitOps work?

GitOps works by using Git as the single source of truth for managing infrastructure and application deployments. The desired state of the system is defined in a Git repository, and then automated tools are used to ensure that the actual state of the system matches the desired state.

The Git repository contains all of the configuration files and scripts needed to define the system. This includes everything from Kubernetes manifests to database schema changes. The Git repository also contains a set of policies and rules that define how changes to the system should be made.

Automated tools are then used to monitor the Git repository and ensure that the actual state of the system matches the desired state. This is done by continuously polling the Git repository and comparing the actual state of the system to the desired state. If there are any differences, the automated tools will take the necessary actions to bring the system back into compliance with the desired state.

With GitOps, infrastructure and application deployments are automated and triggered by changes to the Git repository. This approach enables teams to implement Continuous Delivery for their infrastructure and applications, allowing them to deploy changes faster and more frequently while maintaining stability.

GitOps relies on a few key principles to make infrastructure and application management more streamlined and efficient. These include:

  • Declarative Configuration: GitOps uses declarative configuration to define infrastructure and application states. This means that rather than writing scripts to configure infrastructure or applications, teams define the desired end state and let GitOps tools handle the rest.
  • Automation: With GitOps, deployments are fully automated and triggered by changes to the Git repository. This ensures that infrastructure and application states are always up to date and consistent across environments.
  • Version Control: GitOps relies on version control to ensure that all changes to infrastructure and application configurations are tracked and documented. This allows teams to easily roll back to previous versions of the configuration in case of issues or errors.
  • Observability: GitOps tools provide visibility into the state of infrastructure and applications, making it easy to identify issues and troubleshoot problems.

Key benefits of GitOps

GitOps offers several key benefits for managing infrastructure and application deployments:

  • Consistency: By using Git as the source of truth, teams can ensure that all changes to the system are tracked and auditable. This helps to enforce consistency across the system and reduces the risk of configuration drift.
  • Collaboration: GitOps encourages collaboration across teams by providing a single source of truth for the system. This helps to reduce silos and improve communication between teams.
  • Speed: GitOps enables teams to deploy changes to the system quickly and easily. By using automated tools to manage the deployment process, teams can reduce the time and effort required to make changes to the system.
  • Scalability: GitOps is highly scalable and can be used to manage large, complex systems. By using Git as the source of truth, teams can easily manage changes to the system and roll back to previous versions if needed.

Comparison between GitOps and Traditional Infrastructure Management:

  1. Deployment Speed: Traditional infrastructure management requires a lot of manual effort, which can result in delays and mistakes. With GitOps, the entire deployment process is automated, which significantly speeds up the deployment process.
  2. Consistency: In traditional infrastructure management, it’s easy to make mistakes or miss steps in the deployment process, leading to inconsistent deployments. GitOps, on the other hand, ensures that deployments are consistent and adhere to the same process, thanks to the version control system.
  3. Scalability: Traditional infrastructure management can be challenging to scale due to the manual effort required. GitOps enables scaling by automating the entire deployment process, ensuring that all deployments adhere to the same process and standard.
  4. Collaboration: In traditional infrastructure management, collaboration can be a challenge, especially when multiple teams are involved. With GitOps, collaboration is made easier since everything is version-controlled, making it easy to track changes and collaborate across teams.
  5. Security: Traditional infrastructure management can be prone to security vulnerabilities since it’s often difficult to track changes and ensure that all systems are up-to-date. GitOps improves security by ensuring that everything is version-controlled, making it easier to track changes and identify security issues.

Examples of GitOps in Action

Here are some examples of GitOps in action:

  1. Kubernetes: GitOps is widely used in Kubernetes environments, where a Git repository is used to store the configuration files for Kubernetes resources. Whenever a change is made to the repository, it triggers a deployment of the updated resources to the Kubernetes cluster.
  2. CloudFormation: In Amazon Web Services (AWS), CloudFormation is used to manage infrastructure as code. GitOps can be used to manage CloudFormation templates stored in a Git repository, enabling developers to manage infrastructure using GitOps principles.
  3. Terraform: Terraform is an open-source infrastructure as code tool that is widely used in the cloud-native ecosystem. GitOps can be used to manage Terraform code, allowing teams to manage infrastructure in a more repeatable and auditable manner.
  4. Helm: Helm is a package manager for Kubernetes, and it is commonly used to manage complex applications in Kubernetes. GitOps can be used to manage Helm charts, enabling teams to deploy and manage applications using GitOps principles.
  5. Serverless: GitOps can also be used to manage serverless environments, where a Git repository is used to store configuration files for serverless functions. Whenever a change is made to the repository, it triggers a deployment of the updated functions to the serverless environment.

Real-world Examples of GitOps in Action

GitOps has become increasingly popular in various industries, from finance to healthcare to e-commerce. Here are some examples of companies that have adopted GitOps and how they are using it:

Weaveworks

Weaveworks, a provider of Kubernetes tools and services, uses GitOps to manage its own infrastructure and help customers manage theirs. By using GitOps, Weaveworks has been able to implement Continuous Delivery for its infrastructure, allowing the company to make changes quickly and easily while maintaining stability.

Weaveworks also uses GitOps to manage its customers’ infrastructure, providing a more efficient and reliable way to deploy and manage Kubernetes clusters. This approach has helped Weaveworks to reduce the time and effort required to manage infrastructure for its customers, allowing them to focus on developing and delivering their applications.

Zalando

Zalando, a leading European e-commerce company, has implemented GitOps as part of its platform engineering approach. With GitOps, Zalando has been able to standardize its infrastructure and application management processes, making it easier to deploy changes and maintain consistency across environments.

Zalando uses GitOps to manage its Kubernetes clusters and other infrastructure components, allowing teams to quickly and easily deploy changes without disrupting other parts of the system. By using GitOps, Zalando has been able to reduce the risk of downtime and ensure that its systems are always up to date and secure.

Autodesk

Autodesk, a software company that specializes in design software for architects, engineers, and construction professionals, has implemented GitOps as part of its infrastructure management strategy. By using GitOps, Autodesk has been able to automate its infrastructure deployments and reduce the time and effort required to manage its systems.

Autodesk uses GitOps to manage its Kubernetes clusters, ensuring that all deployments are consistent and up to date. The company has implemented Argo CD, a popular GitOps tool, to manage its infrastructure. With Argo CD, Autodesk has been able to automate its deployments and ensure that all changes to its infrastructure are tracked and audited.

By implementing GitOps, Autodesk has seen significant benefits in terms of infrastructure management. The company has been able to reduce the time and effort required to manage its systems, while also improving the consistency and reliability of its deployments. This has allowed Autodesk to focus more on its core business of developing and improving its design software.

Booking.com

Booking.com, one of the world’s largest online travel companies, has also embraced GitOps as part of its infrastructure management strategy. The company uses GitOps to manage its Kubernetes clusters, ensuring that all deployments are automated and consistent across its infrastructure.

Booking.com uses Flux, a popular GitOps tool, to manage its infrastructure. With Flux, the company has been able to automate its deployments, reducing the risk of human error and ensuring that all changes to its infrastructure are tracked and audited.

By using GitOps, Booking.com has seen significant benefits in terms of infrastructure management. The company has been able to reduce the time and effort required to manage its systems, while also improving the reliability and consistency of its deployments. This has allowed Booking.com to focus more on developing new features and improving its online travel platform.

Here are some more industry examples of companies utilizing GitOps:

  1. SoundCloud – SoundCloud, the popular music streaming platform, has implemented GitOps to manage their infrastructure as code. They use a combination of Kubernetes and GitLab to automate their deployments and make it easy for their developers to spin up new environments.
  2. SAP – SAP, the software giant, has also embraced GitOps. They use the approach to manage their cloud infrastructure, ensuring that all changes are tracked and can be easily reverted if necessary. They have also developed their own GitOps tool called “Kyma” which provides a platform for developers to easily create cloud-native applications.
  3. Alibaba Cloud – Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of the Alibaba Group, has implemented GitOps as part of their DevOps practices. They use a combination of GitLab and Kubernetes to manage their cloud infrastructure, allowing them to rapidly deploy new services and ensure that they are always up-to-date.
  4. Ticketmaster – Ticketmaster, the global ticket sales and distribution company, uses GitOps to manage their cloud infrastructure across multiple regions. They have implemented a GitOps workflow using Kubernetes and Jenkins, which allows them to easily deploy new services and ensure that their infrastructure is always up-to-date and secure.

These examples show that GitOps is not just a theoretical concept, but a real-world approach that is being embraced by some of the world’s largest companies. By using GitOps, organizations can streamline their development processes, reduce errors and downtime, and improve their overall security posture.

Conclusion

GitOps has revolutionized the way software engineering is done. By using Git as the single source of truth for infrastructure management, organizations can automate their deployments and reduce the time and effort required to manage their systems. With GitOps, developers can focus more on developing new features and improving their software, while operations teams can focus on ensuring that the infrastructure is reliable, secure, and up-to-date.

In this blog post, we have explored what GitOps is and how it works, as well as some key examples of GitOps in action. We have seen how GitOps is being used by companies like Autodesk and Booking.com to automate their infrastructure deployments and reduce the time and effort required to manage their systems.

If you are interested in learning more about GitOps, there are many resources available online, including tutorials, blog posts, and videos. By embracing GitOps, organizations can streamline their infrastructure management and focus more on delivering value to their customers.”

Key Takeaways

  • GitOps is a methodology that applies the principles of Git to infrastructure management and application delivery.
  • GitOps enables developers to focus on delivering applications, while operations teams focus on managing infrastructure.
  • GitOps promotes automation, observability, repeatability, and increased security in the software development lifecycle.
  • GitOps encourages collaboration between teams, reducing silos and increasing communication.
  • GitOps provides benefits such as increased reliability, faster time to market, reduced downtime, and improved scalability.

Difference between workload managed identity, Pod Managed Identity and AKS Managed Identity

March 12, 2023 Azure, Azure, Azure Kubernetes Service(AKS), Cloud Computing, Cloud Native, Cloud Strategy, Computing, Emerging Technologies, Intelligent Cloud, Kubernetes, Managed Services, Microsoft, PaaS, Platforms No comments

Azure Kubernetes Service(AKS) offers several options for managing identities within Kubernetes clusters, including AKS Managed Identity, Pod Managed Identity, and Workload Managed Identity. Here’s a comparison of these three options:

Key FeaturesAKS Managed IdentityPod Managed IdentityWorkload Managed Identity
OverviewA built-in feature of AKS that allows you to assign an Azure AD identity to your entire clusterAllows you to assign an Azure AD identity to an individual podAllows you to assign an Azure AD identity to a Kubernetes workload, which can represent one or more pods
ScopeCluster-widePod-specificWorkload-specific
Identity TypeService PrincipalManaged Service IdentityManaged Service Identity
Identity LocationClusterNodeNode
UsageGenerally used for cluster-wide permissions, such as managing Azure resourcesUseful for individual pod permissions, such as accessing Azure Key Vault secretsUseful for workload-specific permissions, such as accessing a database
LimitationsLimited to one identity per clusterLimited to one identity per podNone
Configuration ComplexityRequires configuration of AKS cluster and Azure ADRequires configuration of individual pods and Azure ADRequires configuration of Kubernetes workloads and Azure AD
Key features Comparison Table

Here are a few examples of how you might use each type of identity in AKS:

AKS Managed Identity

Suppose you have an AKS cluster that needs to access Azure resources, such as an Azure Key Vault or Azure Storage account. You can use AKS Managed Identity to assign an Azure AD identity to your entire cluster, and then grant that identity permissions to access the Azure resources. This way, you don’t need to manage individual service principals or access tokens for each pod.

Pod Managed Identity

Suppose you have a pod in your AKS cluster that needs to access a secret in Azure Key Vault. You can use Pod Managed Identity to assign an Azure AD identity to the pod, and then grant that identity permissions to access the secret in Azure Key Vault. This way, you don’t need to manage a separate service principal for the pod, and you can ensure that the pod only has access to the resources it needs.

Workload Managed Identity

Suppose you have a Kubernetes workload in your AKS cluster that needs to access a database hosted in Azure. You can use Workload Managed Identity to assign an Azure AD identity to the workload, and then grant that identity permissions to access the database. This way, you can ensure that the workload only has access to the database, and you don’t need to manage a separate service principal for each pod in the workload.

In summary, each type of AKS identity has its own strengths and use cases. AKS Managed Identity is useful for cluster-wide permissions, Pod Managed Identity is useful for individual pod permissions, and Workload Managed Identity is useful for workload-specific permissions. By choosing the right type of identity for your needs, you can simplify identity management and ensure that your AKS workloads have secure and controlled access to Azure resources.

AKS Workload Identity

March 11, 2023 Azure, Azure, Azure Kubernetes Service(AKS), Cloud Computing, Cloud Native, Computing, Intelligent Cloud, Kubernetes, Managed Services, Microsoft, PaaS, Platforms No comments

AKS workload identity is a feature of Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) that enables you to use Azure Active Directory (AAD) to manage access to Azure resources from within a Kubernetes cluster. In this blog post, we’ll explore how AKS workload identity works and how to use it with an example code.

How does AKS workload identity work?

AKS workload identity works by creating an AAD service principal that is associated with a Kubernetes namespace. This service principal can be used by pods within the namespace to access Azure resources, such as storage accounts, without needing to store secrets or access tokens within the pod configuration.

When a pod needs to access an Azure resource, it sends a request to the Kubernetes API server, which forwards the request to the Azure Identity Binding Controller. The controller then looks up the AAD service principal associated with the namespace and retrieves an access token from AAD on behalf of the pod. This access token is then used to authenticate the pod to the Azure resource.

How to use AKS workload identity

To use AKS workload identity, you need to have an Azure subscription, an AKS cluster, and an AAD tenant. Here are the steps to set up AKS workload identity and use it in your application:

1. Create an AAD application registration

First, you need to create an AAD application registration for your AKS cluster. This application registration will be used to create the service principal that is associated with your Kubernetes namespace.

You can create an application registration by following these steps:

  1. Go to the Azure portal and navigate to your AAD tenant.
  2. Click on “App registrations” and then click on “New registration”.
  3. Give your application a name and select “Accounts in this organizational directory only” for the supported account types.
  4. Under “Redirect URI (optional)”, select “Web” and enter a dummy URI.
  5. Click on “Register”.

Make a note of the “Application (client) ID” and “Directory (tenant) ID” for later use.

2. Grant permissions to the AAD application registration

Next, you need to grant permissions to the AAD application registration to access the Azure resources that you want to use in your application.

You can grant permissions by following these steps:

  1. Go to the Azure portal and navigate to the resource that you want to grant access to.
  2. Click on “Access control (IAM)” and then click on “Add role assignment”.
  3. Select the role that you want to assign and then search for the name of your AAD application registration.
  4. Select your AAD application registration from the list and then click on “Save”.

3. Create a Kubernetes namespace with AKS workload identity enabled

Next, you need to create a Kubernetes namespace with AKS workload identity enabled. This namespace will be associated with the AAD service principal that you created in step 1.

You can create a namespace with AKS workload identity enabled by following these steps:

  1. Create a Kubernetes namespace with the following annotations:
#yaml code
apiVersion: v1
kind: Namespace
metadata:
  name: <your-namespace-name>
  annotations:
    "aadpodidentitybinding": "binding-name"
  1. Create an AKS identity binding with the following annotations:
#yaml codeapiVersion: aadpodidentity.k8s.io/v1
kind: AzureIdentityBinding
metadata:
  name: binding-name
spec:
  azureIdentity: <your-azure-identity>
  selector: <your-selector>

4. Use AKS workload identity in your application

Finally, you can use AKS workload identity in your application by configuring your application to use the service principal associated with your Kubernetes namespace.

Here’s an example code snippet in C# that demonstrates how to use AKS workload identity with the Azure SDK for .NET:

#csharp code
using System;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Microsoft.Azure.Storage;
using Microsoft.Azure.Storage.Blob;
using Microsoft.Azure.Services.AppAuthentication;

namespace AKSWorkloadIdentityExample
{
    class Program
    {
        static async Task Main(string[] args)
        {
            // create a new instance of AzureServiceTokenProvider
            var tokenProvider = new AzureServiceTokenProvider();

            // create a new instance of CloudStorageAccount using the AKS identity endpoint
            var storageAccount = new CloudStorageAccount(new Microsoft.Azure.Storage.Auth.TokenCredentialAdapter(tokenProvider), "<your-storage-account-name>", endpointSuffix: null, useHttps: true);

            // create a new instance of CloudBlobClient using the CloudStorageAccount
            var blobClient = storageAccount.CreateCloudBlobClient();

            // use the CloudBlobClient to retrieve the contents of a blob
            var container = blobClient.GetContainerReference("<your-container-name>");
            var blob = container.GetBlockBlobReference("<your-blob-name>");
            var contents = await blob.DownloadTextAsync();

            Console.WriteLine(contents);
        }
    }
}

In this example, we create a new instance of AzureServiceTokenProvider, which uses the AKS identity endpoint to retrieve an access token for the AAD service principal associated with the Kubernetes namespace. We then use this token provider to create a new instance of CloudStorageAccount, passing in the name of the storage account we want to access.

Next, we create a new instance of CloudBlobClient using the CloudStorageAccount, and use it to retrieve the contents of a blob. Note that we don’t need to pass any secrets or access tokens to the CloudBlobClient. Instead, the AKS identity endpoint handles authentication on our behalf, making it much easier to manage access to Azure resources from within our Kubernetes cluster.

I hope this example helps you understand how to use AKS workload identity with the Azure SDK for .NET!

Conclusion

AKS workload identity is a powerful feature of AKS that enables you to use AAD to manage access to Azure resources from within your Kubernetes cluster. By using AKS workload identity, you can avoid storing secrets or access tokens within your pod configurations, making it easier to manage security and access control in your application.

In this blog post, we’ve explored how AKS workload identity works and how to use it in your application. We’ve also seen an example code snippet that demonstrates how to use AKS workload identity with the Azure SDK for Go. Hopefully, this has given you a better understanding of how AKS workload identity can be used to simplify access control in your Kubernetes applications.

References

Introduction to Kubernetes

April 22, 2018 Cloud Computing, Cloud Native Computing Foundation, Computing, Emerging Technologies, Google Cloud, IaaS, OpenSource, PaaS, Platforms No comments

What is Kubernetes?

Kubernetes (a.k.a K8s) is an open-source system for automating deployment, scaling and management of containerized applications that was originally designed by Google and now maintained by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation.

What Kubernetes can do?
Kubernetes has a number of features in cloud computing world, it can be thought as a :

  • A container platform
  • A microservices platform
  • A portable cloud platform and a lot more

Kubernetes defines a set of building blocks (“primitives”) which collectively provide mechanisms for deploying, maintaining, and scaling applications. The components which make up Kubernetes are designed to be loosely coupled and extensible so that it can meet a wide variety of different workloads. The extensibility is provided in large part by the Kubernetes API, which is used by internal components as well as extensions and containers running on Kubernetes.

If you are interested  to know more, learn more about Kubernates  through Official tutorials:

Some useful online training is:

What’s Azure Container Service (ACS/AKS)

April 12, 2018 Application Virtualization, Azure, Azure Container Service, Cloud Computing, Cloud Services, Computing, Containers, Docker, Emerging Technologies, IaaS, Kubernates, Microsoft, OpenSource, Orchestrator, OS Virtualization, PaaS, Virtual Machines, Virtualization, Windows Azure Development No comments

I will start with history: Sometime around 2016, Microsoft launched an IaaS service called Azure Container Service a.k.an ACS serves as a bridge between Azure Ecosystem and existing container ecosystem being used widely by the developer community around the world.

kubernates_azureIt helps as a gateway for infrastructure engineers and developers to manage underlying infrastructure such as Virtual Machines, Storage, Network Load Balancing services individually than the application itself.  The application developer doesn’t have to worry about planet-scale of the application, instead, a container orchestrator can manage the scale up and scale down of your application environment based on peaks and downs of your application usage.

It offers an option to select from 3 major container orchestrators available today such as DC/OS, Swarm, Docker, and Kubernates.   ACS along with your choice of container orchestrators works efficiently with different container ecosystems to enable the promise of application virtualization.

To make it simpler, ACS is your Super Glue to gel your Azure infrastructure and your container orchestrator together. Means you will be able to make your fully managed container cluster in a matter of minutes with Azure.

ACS is for making your microservices dream come true, by providing individual services scale according to the demand and automatically reduce the scale, if usage is low. You don’t have to worry, ACS and your container orchestrator will take care of you.

If you are a beginner to container-based infrastructure for your applications, you don’t have to take the pain at all of setting up Kubernates on your own, instead, ACS will simplify your implementation with a couple of easier click thru’s and your container infrastructure is ready to be fully managed by you. As simple as that.

What is Azure Container Kubernates Service (AKS) then?

As I am writing today, Microsoft has a new fully managed PaaS service called as Azure Container Service (AKS) or Managed Kubernates, meaning that Kubernates would be your default fully managed container orchestrator, if you choose Azure Container Service. But you would be able to deploy other open-source container orchestrators if you prefer to choose to have your own unmanaged Kubernates, Docker or DC/OS and then add your specific management and monitoring tools.

This service is currently available in PUBLIC PREVIEW, you can get started from here

Means though it is a fully managed service, you still have the option to manage it your own using your preferred set of tools and orchestrators.

Charging Model

Whether you manage your AKS service with your own set of tools and orchestrator or you use Fully Managed Kubernates, you only need to pay for resources you consume. No need to worry about per-cluster charges like other providers.

Useful References:

Getting Started local development with Azure Cosmos DB services – Part 1

May 20, 2017 .NET, Azure, Azure SDK, Azure SDK Tools, Azure Tools, Cloud Computing, Computing, CosmosDB, Data Services, Document DB, Emerging Technologies, KnowledgeBase, Microsoft, PaaS, Visual Studio 2013, Visual Studio 2015, Visual Studio 2017, VS2013, VS2015, VS2017, Windows 10, Windows Azure Development, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, Windowz Azure 1 comment , ,

Azure Cosmos DB is a multi-API, multi-model highly scalable NoSQL database services from Microsoft Azure platform. In order to develop an application consuming Azure Cosmos DB requires an azure live subscription or emulator in your local machine.

The Azure Cosmos DB Emulator provides a local development/test environment for Azure Cosmos DB development purposes. Using Azure Cosmos DB Emulator, you can develop and test your application locally, without needing an azure subscription or without subscription costs.

With this article I am going to take you through necessary steps and requirements to set up your local environment.

1. Pre-Requisites:

Azure Cosmos DB emulator has the following software and hardware requirements:

  • Software requirements
    • Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, or Windows 10
  • Minimum Hardware requirements
    • 2 GB RAM
    • 10 GB available hard disk space

2. Installation:

  • Download Azure Cosmos DB Emulator   (DocumentDb.Install.msi)   ** do not get confused by the name. Azure Cosmos DB is a super set of Document DB, and the DocumentDb emulator they tweaked a bit to support Cosmos Db.
  • Install DocumentDb.Install.msi

Additionally Azure CosmosDB emulator can be run on Docker for Windows. After installing Docker for Windows, you can pull the Emulator image from Docker Hub.

docker pull microsoft/azure-documentdb-emulator

imageimageimage

3. Start/Launch Azure Cosmos DB Emulator:

image image

After some time you can see the emulator started. When the Azure Cosmos DB emulator launches it will automatically open the Azure Cosmos DB Data Explorer in your browser.

The address will appear as https://localhost:8081/_explorer/index.html

Incase you have closed browser and later would like to open the explorer again, you can open the Data Explorer by right clicking on the taskbar menu.

image

image

Now you can write some sample app to try it, or download already created sample applications from Microsoft depending on the preferred platform of your choice.

4. Limitation of Azure Cosmos DB Emulator: (or Differences between Azure Cosmos DB Emulator vs Real Cosmos DB Cloud Service)

Since the Azure Cosmos DB Emulator provides an emulated environment running on a local developer workstation, there are some fundamental differences between the emulator and an Azure Cosmos DB account in the cloud:

The following table is also helpful in determining when to use Cosmos DB Emulator and when direct cloud service. Depending on the choice of requirement, you would need to use associated services efficiently.


Cosmos DB Emulator Cosmos DB Cloud Service
Supports only a single fixed account and a well-known master key. Key regeneration is not possible. Supports multiple accounts and different master keys. You can regenerate keys any time from Azure Portal.
Non scalable Highly scalable
Does not support larger data sets Support for large data sets
Does not simulate consistency levels Different Consistency levels available
Does not simulate multi-region replication Configurable as part of the platform, as needed basis.
Does not support quota override feature Supports document size limit increases, increased partitioned collection storage etc.
Might not support most recent changes to Cosmos Db platform Most recent platform update will be available.

Hope this article was helpful for your initial start. If you would need to understand further on Azure Cosmos DB development follow the links. I will be writing further insights in later sessions.