🛒 Product Catalog API - Azure Container Apps

A production-ready, containerized REST API for managing product catalogs, built with .NET 8 and deployed to Azure Container Apps.

🎯 Project Overview

This project demonstrates modern cloud-native application development using Azure services. It's part of my Azure certification (AZ-204) preparation and portfolio development.

🚀 Live Deployment

Status: ✅ Currently deployed and running on Azure

Live API: https://ca-productcatalog-api.ambitiousmushroom-5fc6c415.eastus2.azurecontainerapps.io/swagger

Swagger UI: https://ca-productcatalog-api.ambitiousmushroom-5fc6c415.eastus2.azurecontainerapps.io/swagger

Azure Resources

• Container App: ca-productcatalog-api
• Container Registry: acrproductcataaron.azurecr.io
• SQL Server: sql-productcat-aaron.database.windows.net
• SQL Database: productcatalog-db (serverless)
• Key Vault: kv-productcat-aaron
• Container Apps Environment: cae-productcatalog
• Resource Group: rg-productcatalog
• Region: East US 2
• Monthly Cost: $8-12

Test the Live API

# Get product by ID
curl https://ca-productcatalog-api.ambitiousmushroom-5fc6c415.eastus2.azurecontainerapps.io/api/Products/1

# Get products by category
curl https://ca-productcatalog-api.ambitiousmushroom-5fc6c415.eastus2.azurecontainerapps.io/api/Products/category/Electronics

Sample Data

The API comes pre-seeded with sample products:

1. Laptop - High-performance laptop for development ($1299.99)
2. Wireless Mouse - Ergonomic wireless mouse ($29.99)
3. Mechanical Keyboard - RGB mechanical keyboard ($149.99)

✨ Features

• ✅ RESTful API - Standard HTTP methods and status codes
• ✅ Containerized - Docker containerization for consistency
• ✅ Cloud-Native - Deployed to Azure Container Apps
• ✅ Secure - Azure Key Vault for secrets management
• ✅ Scalable - Auto-scaling with Azure Container Apps
• ✅ Database - Azure SQL Database with Entity Framework Core
• ✅ API Documentation - Interactive Swagger/OpenAPI documentation
• ✅ Managed Identity - Secure authentication to Azure services

🗺️ Architecture

Technology Stack

• Backend: .NET 8 (C#)
• Framework: ASP.NET Core Web API
• ORM: Entity Framework Core
• Database: Azure SQL Database (Serverless tier)
• Container Registry: Azure Container Registry
• Hosting: Azure Container Apps
• Secrets Management: Azure Key Vault
• Authentication: Azure Managed Identity

Architecture Diagram

┌─────────────┐      HTTPS      ┌──────────────────────┐
│   Client    │ ─────────────────▶│  Azure Container     │
│  (Browser)  │                  │       Apps           │
└─────────────┘                  └──────────────────────┘
                                          │
                                          │ Managed Identity
                                          ▼
                         ┌────────────────────────────────┐
                         │                                │
                    ┌────▼──────┐              ┌──────────▼─────────┐
                    │  Azure   │              │   Azure SQL       │
                    │ Key Vault│              │   Database        │
                    │          │              │  (Serverless)     │
                    └──────────┘              └───────────────────┘
                         │
                         │ Connection String
                         └──────────────────────────────────────────┘

🚀 API Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/Products/{id}	Get product by ID
GET	/api/Products/category/{category}	Get products by category

Example Requests

# Get a product by ID
curl https://ca-productcatalog-api.ambitiousmushroom-5fc6c415.eastus2.azurecontainerapps.io/api/Products/1

# Get all Electronics
curl https://ca-productcatalog-api.ambitiousmushroom-5fc6c415.eastus2.azurecontainerapps.io/api/Products/category/Electronics

# Get all Accessories
curl https://ca-productcatalog-api.ambitiousmushroom-5fc6c415.eastus2.azurecontainerapps.io/api/Products/category/Accessories

Example Response

{
  "id": 1,
  "name": "Laptop",
  "description": "High-performance laptop for development",
  "price": 1299.99,
  "stockQuantity": 50,
  "category": "Electronics",
  "createdAt": "2026-02-09T15:01:57.4795313Z",
  "updatedAt": "2026-02-09T15:01:57.4795313Z"
}

🛠️ Local Development

Prerequisites

• .NET 8 SDK
• Docker Desktop
• Azure CLI
• Git

Running Locally

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/fraze-dev/product-catalog-api.git
cd product-catalog-api/ProductCatalog.Api

# Restore dependencies
dotnet restore

# Run the application
dotnet run

# Access Swagger UI
# Open browser to: http://localhost:5081/swagger

Running with Docker

# Build the Docker image
docker build -t product-catalog-api:local .

# Run the container
docker run -d -p 8080:8080 --name product-api product-catalog-api:local

# Access Swagger UI
# Open browser to: http://localhost:8080/swagger

☁️ Azure Deployment

Deployment Steps

1. Create Azure Resources

# Create resource group
az group create --name rg-productcatalog --location eastus2

# Create Container Registry
az acr create \
  --resource-group rg-productcatalog \
  --name acrproductcataaron \
  --sku Basic \
  --admin-enabled true

# Create SQL Server and Database
az sql server create \
  --resource-group rg-productcatalog \
  --name sql-productcat-aaron \
  --location eastus2 \
  --admin-user sqladmin \
  --admin-password YourStr0ngP@ssw0rd!

az sql db create \
  --resource-group rg-productcatalog \
  --server sql-productcat-aaron \
  --name productcatalog-db \
  --edition GeneralPurpose \
  --compute-model Serverless \
  --family Gen5 \
  --capacity 1

# Create Key Vault
az keyvault create \
  --resource-group rg-productcatalog \
  --name kv-productcat-aaron \
  --location eastus2

2. Build and Push Docker Image

# Login to ACR
az acr login --name acrproductcataaron

# Build and tag image
docker build -t product-catalog-api:latest .
docker tag product-catalog-api:latest acrproductcataaron.azurecr.io/product-catalog-api:latest

# Push to ACR
docker push acrproductcataaron.azurecr.io/product-catalog-api:latest

3. Deploy to Container Apps

# Create Container Apps Environment
az containerapp env create \
  --resource-group rg-productcatalog \
  --name cae-productcatalog \
  --location eastus2

# Deploy Container App
az containerapp create \
  --resource-group rg-productcatalog \
  --name ca-productcatalog-api \
  --environment cae-productcatalog \
  --image acrproductcataaron.azurecr.io/product-catalog-api:latest \
  --target-port 8080 \
  --ingress external \
  --registry-server acrproductcataaron.azurecr.io \
  --min-replicas 1 \
  --max-replicas 3

🔒 Security

• Managed Identity: Used for secure authentication to Azure Key Vault
• Key Vault: Stores database connection strings securely
• SQL Authentication: Uses SQL authentication with strong passwords
• HTTPS: All external traffic is encrypted
• No Secrets in Code: All sensitive information stored in environment variables or Key Vault

📊 Database Schema

Products Table

Column	Type	Description
Id	int	Primary key (auto-increment)
Name	string	Product name (required, max 200 chars)
Description	string	Product description (max 1000 chars)
Price	decimal	Product price (18,2 precision)
StockQuantity	int	Available stock count
Category	string	Product category (required, max 100 chars)
CreatedAt	datetime	Record creation timestamp
UpdatedAt	datetime	Last update timestamp

🧪 Testing

Test in Swagger UI

1. Navigate to the Swagger UI: https://ca-productcatalog-api.ambitiousmushroom-5fc6c415.eastus2.azurecontainerapps.io/swagger
2. Try the GET /api/Products/{id} endpoint
3. Try the GET /api/Products/category/{category} endpoint
4. Explore the available endpoints and schemas

📚 What I Learned

This project helped me master several Azure services and concepts:

• ✅ Azure Container Apps - Deploying containerized applications
• ✅ Azure Container Registry - Managing Docker images
• ✅ Azure SQL Database - Serverless database configuration
• ✅ Azure Key Vault - Secrets management
• ✅ Managed Identity - Secure authentication between Azure services
• ✅ Docker - Containerizing .NET applications
• ✅ Entity Framework Core - Database migrations and seeding
• ✅ RESTful API Design - Best practices for API development
• ✅ Troubleshooting - Debugging container crashes and connection issues

🎓 AZ-204 Exam Coverage

This project covers the following AZ-204 exam objectives:

• Develop Azure Container Apps (NEW - heavily tested!)
• Implement containerized solutions
• Configure Azure Container Registry
• Implement Azure SQL Database solutions
• Implement Azure Key Vault
• Configure managed identities
• Monitor and troubleshoot solutions

🚀 Future Enhancements

• Add full CRUD operations (POST, PUT, DELETE endpoints)
• Add authentication and authorization (Azure AD B2C)
• Implement caching with Azure Cache for Redis
• Add Application Insights for detailed monitoring
• Implement CI/CD pipeline with GitHub Actions
• Add automated testing (unit tests, integration tests)
• Implement API versioning
• Add rate limiting
• Implement pagination for large result sets

📄 License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.

👤 Author

Aaron Fraze

• GitHub: @fraze-dev
• Pursuing Microsoft Azure Developer Associate (AZ-204) certification
• University of South Florida - Azure for Students subscription

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Built as part of Azure AZ-204 certification preparation
• Third project in my Azure portfolio series
• Thanks to the Azure and .NET communities for excellent documentation

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