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Managing Test Environments and Deployments

This section guides you through:

  • Creating a new test environment
  • Understanding deployment options:
    • Single deployments
    • Versioned services
    • Multi-region locations
    • App Service plan variations
  • Deploying and testing the Bank Holiday service
  • Managing configuration via vault and environment files

Step 1: Create a Test Environment​

There are two types of deployable environments in Variant:

  • Test: UAT, SIT, etc.
  • Production: Prod, Pre-prod, etc.

Click the Environments menu and then Create new environment:

This triggers the DevOps.CreateUserEnv operation. It provisions a full Azure resource group structure including:

  • App Insights
  • Storage Account
  • Key Vault
  • Managed Identity

Provisioning takes around 2 minutes depending on Azure load.

You can choose:

  • Consumption Plan: Free, pay-per-use, not always on
  • Workflow Plan: Premium, always on
  • Create your own: You can define new templates tailored to performance, region, and cost needs.

Step 2: Review the Environment​

Once created, the environment dashboard shows:

Each environment includes:

  • A services.json file. This contains all the services available for release

  • An environments.yaml file:

These control how services are deployed and configured.

Services are hosted on App Services, either:

  • Azure Function Apps (default)>
  • Container Apps (optional)>

Step 3: Deploying a Single Service​

To deploy your first service, update your environments.json with:

Services:
  - id: bankholidays
    deployment:
      type: FunctionApp
      template: Consumption

# {{END_OF_SERVICES_MARKER}}

Click Preview Changes and you'll see a dialog:

If your service contains secrets or secure keys, Variant will warn you. These can be moved into the Key Vault using Variant’s vault system.

Add a Secret to the Vault​

Go to the Vault menu and click Add:

Once added, reference the secret in your service configuration:

Add Secret to Service Deployment​

Update your services.json entry:

  - id: bankholidays
    deployment:
      type: FunctionApp
      template: Consumption
    settings:
      BankHolidays:
        AccessKey: >-
          @Microsoft.KeyVault(VaultName=${This.Variant.Environment.Id}-${This.Variant.Subscription.Id}-kv;SecretName=BankHoliday-AccessKey)

Preview again:

Click Update Services to deploy:

Use your App Service URL + Authorization header to test:

Step 4: Deploying to Multiple Locations or Versions​

Variant supports multiple deployments of the same service:

Option 1: Multi-Location via Consumption Plan​

The Consumption template supports:

  • Deploying individual services per location
  • One App Service Plan per deployment
Services:
  - id: bankholidays
    deployment:
      type: FunctionApp
      template: Consumption

  - id: bankholidays-ukwest
    serviceId: bankholidays
    version: 0.0.1
    deployment:
      type: FunctionApp
      template: Consumption
    settings:
      Location: ukwest

Option 2: Workflow Plan (Always-On)​

This is a premium App Service Plan shared by all services (the Sku property determines the size and cost of this template):

Workflow:
  DeploymentPipe: Deployment.FunctionApp.Default_V1.0.0
  ResourceGroupName: ${This.Variant.Environment.Id}-${This.Variant.Subscription.Id}-rg
  Location: ${?ServiceDeployment.settings.Location ?? This.Variant.Environment.ResourceGroupLocation}
  AppInsightsName: ${This.Variant.Environment.Id}-${This.Variant.Subscription.Id}-ai
  PlanName: ${This.Variant.Environment.Id}-${This.Variant.Subscription.Id}-workflow-plan
  PlanSku: P0V3
  AppName: ${This.Variant.Environment.Id}-${This.Variant.Subscription.Id}-${Service.Id}${Service.Suffix}-fa
  Url: https://${This.Variant.Environment.Id}-${This.Variant.Subscription.Id}-${Service.Id}${Service.Suffix}-fa.azurewebsites.net
  AlwaysOn: true

Choosing the template determines which App Service Plan will be used.

Option 3: Create Your Own Templates​

You can create reusable deployment templates with custom configurations. For example:

Workflow-WestEurope:
  DeploymentPipe: Deployment.FunctionApp.Default_V1.0.0
  ResourceGroupName: ${This.Variant.Environment.Id}-${This.Variant.Subscription.Id}-rg
  Location: westeurope
  AppInsightsName: ${This.Variant.Environment.Id}-${This.Variant.Subscription.Id}-ai
  PlanName: ${This.Variant.Environment.Id}-${This.Variant.Subscription.Id}-workflow-westeurope-plan
  PlanSku: B1
  AppName: ${This.Variant.Environment.Id}-${This.Variant.Subscription.Id}-${Service.Id}${Service.Suffix}-fa
  Url: https://${This.Variant.Environment.Id}-${This.Variant.Subscription.Id}-${Service.Id}${Service.Suffix}-fa.azurewebsites.net
  AlwaysOn: true

Changes made to the above are :

  1. Location
  2. Plan name
  3. Plan size: B1 resource type (Azure recommended for dev and test envs.)

Deploying with a custom template:

Services:
  ...
  - id: bankholidays-westeurope
    serviceId: bankholidays
    deployment:
      type: FunctionApp
      template: Workflow-WestEurope

Step 5: Reviewing the Deployed Services​

Your final services.json should look like:

Services:
  - id: bankholidays
    deployment:
      type: FunctionApp
      template: Consumption

  - id: bankholidays-ukwest
    serviceId: bankholidays
    deployment:
      type: FunctionApp
      template: Consumption
    settings:
      Location: ukwest

  - id: bankholidays-westeurope
    serviceId: bankholidays
    deployment:
      type: FunctionApp
      template: Workflow-WestEurope

# {{END_OF_SERVICES_MARKER}}

You should now see your deployed services:

You've now successfully deployed a single service across multiple Azure regions and templates.