Java on Azure with JHipster

As full-stack Java developers look to modernize their applications for the cloud, it is essential to find a platform that provides scalability, flexibility, and strong support for the Java ecosystem. Azure Container Apps provides an ideal environment for running Java applications. Built-in Java support It offers features such as automatic JVM memory alignment, managed Spring components, and integrated JVM monitoring. paired with this JHipsterA powerful tool for creating and deploying Spring Boot applications, you can easily build, deploy, and scale full-stack web applications on Azure.

In this blog post, we will see how to use JHipster to deploy a full-stack web application to Azure Container Apps with a React front-end, Spring Boot back-end, and various database options such as PostgreSQL and MongoDB. It also guides you through how to enable Java stack features after deployment to take advantage of improved Java support.

What is JHipster?

JHipster An open source development platform designed to create, develop, and deploy modern web applications and microservice architectures. It stands for “Java Hipster” and provides scaffolding for full-stack applications using popular frameworks and technologies. As one of The most successful application generatorJHipster combines the best practices of modern Java development with a front-end framework to help developers quickly create secure, production-ready applications.

Why does Azure Container Apps use Java?

Java remains the primary programming language for building enterprise-grade applications, and Azure Container Apps Built-in support Comprehensive support for the Java ecosystem. Here’s why Azure Container Apps is a great fit for Java applications:

• Seamless Java integration: Azure Container Apps natively supports Spring Boot and other popular Java frameworks, making it easy to deploy and performance tune your Java applications.
• Integrated JVM monitoring and diagnostics: Utilize Azure Monitor Java Virtual Machine (JVM) metrics Gain deep insight into the performance of your Java applications and easily troubleshoot problems.
• Managed Service: Azure Container Apps provides Java components as managed services: Service Registry (Eureka Server)Config Server and Spring Boot Admin provide service discovery, centralized configuration management, and Spring Boot application monitoring to simplify microservice management and improve application observability.
• Dynamic scaling: Automatically scale Java services based on HTTP requests, events, or custom metrics without managing the underlying infrastructure.

Azure Container Apps allows Java developers to build cloud-native applications and deploy them easily using best practices built into the platform.

Step-by-step guide: Deploy Java applications to Azure using JHipster Azure Container Apps

This section walks you through deploying a full-stack ToDo application to Azure using: JHipster Azure container app. This guide covers prerequisites, installing the generator, building the project, and deploying to Azure.

prerequisites

The following prerequisites are required to run the JHipster application locally: Make sure you have the following tools installed and configured on your local computer:

1. Java 17 or higher: Required to run the Spring Boot API backend.

To deploy an application to Azure, you need the following prerequisites: Make sure you have access to the following tools for your deployment process:

1. Azure subscription: Deploying to Azure Container Apps requires an active Azure subscription. You can start with a free monthly grant that includes 180,000 vCPU seconds, 360,000 GiB/s, and 2 million requests per month.

Step 1: Install JHipster Azure Container App Generator

First, you need to install the JHipster Azure Container Apps generator globally. This tool simplifies deploying your JHipster application to Azure Container Apps.

npm install -g generator-jhipster-azure-container-apps

Step 2: Run the generator

To create a JHipster application with Azure Container Apps support, use the following command:

jhipster-azure-container-apps

Step 3: Run the application locally

You can easily run and test your JHipster application locally before deploying it to Azure.

For backend:

1. Go to: Source/API Select a directory and build the backend manually.

We used Maven here, but you can also choose your own package installation utility.

mvn clean package -DskipTests

2. Run the backend Java service.

java -jar target/{artifactname}-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar

3. Access the backend API locally from:

http://localhost:3100/

For frontend:

1. Go to: Source/Web Create a directory and build the frontend.

npm install

2. Start the development server.

npm run dev

3.Access the frontend locally from the following location:

http://localhost:3000/

Step 4: Deploy to Azure for free

When you’re ready to deploy your application, you can use the Azure developer CLI (azd) to set up Azure resources and deploy your project. Azure Container Apps offers a free monthly grant that includes 180,000 vCPU seconds, 360,000 GiB/s, and 2 million monthly requests.

1. Log in to the Azure developer CLI. You only need to do this once after installation.

azd auth login

Note: If you’re using Windows powershell Installed.

2. Navigate to your project directory and deploy to Azure using the following command:

azd up

Make sure Docker is running when running this.

This command provisions the required Azure resources and deploys the application.

3. If the deployment is successful, you will see the following output:

SUCCESS: Your up workflow to provision and deploy to Azure completed in .

output of power Deploy Service API and Service Web Deployment Endpoint for accessing the To Do application.

Manage your applications in Azure Container Apps with built-in Java support.

Now that your application is running, you can take full advantage of the scalability and flexibility of Azure Container Apps for your Java projects.

Azure Container Apps provides built-in functionality. Java support Enhance your applications with features like automatic memory alignment, diagnostics, and managed Spring components. To enable these features, simply go to the “Manage” section of your development stack on your application’s overview page and select “Java.” This unlocks advanced Java support to improve the performance and monitoring capabilities of your cloud-native Java applications.

A detailed Java experience with Azure Container Apps can be found at: Announcing general availability of Java environments in Azure Container Apps.