Configuration Service Setup

Configuration Service Overview

Audience: Platform teams setting up production configuration management infrastructure for their organization.

A configuration service is essential for managing 1fe widget data and environment-specific configurations. This guide covers how to set up Azure App Configuration as the foundation for automated widget data recording.

Why You Need a Configuration Service

We need to record and manage widget metadata and deployment records.

Our CI/CD pipelines automatically record and manage:

• 📋 Widget metadata - Version information, deployment status, change history
• 📅 Deployment records - Timestamps, environment targets

Azure App Configuration Setup

This guide shows how to set up Azure App Configuration, which is what we use for managing widget metadata and configuration data for 1fe applications. While you can choose any configuration management service that fits your needs, we’ll focus on Azure App Configuration here. For alternatives, see the Alternative Configuration Services section at the bottom of this guide.

For a comprehensive overview of Azure App Configuration’s capabilities and benefits, see the Azure App Configuration overview.

Setup Instructions:

1. Access the Azure Portal
   Open your web browser and go to the Azure Portal
   Log in with your Azure account credentials.

2. Navigate to App Configuration
   In the search bar at the very top of the portal, type App Configuration
   From the search results, select App Configuration services.

3. Create a New Resource
   On the App Configuration services page, click the + Create button (usually located at the top-left)
   This will open a form to configure your new App Configuration resource.

4. Configure Resource Settings
   Subscription: Use the dropdown to select the Azure subscription you want to use
   Resource group: Select an existing one or click Create new and give it a name (e.g., 1fe-resources)
   Resource name: Enter a unique name for your App Configuration instance (e.g., 1fe-config-yourname)
   Location: Choose the geographic region where you want to host this service
   Pricing tier: Select Standard for most cases (recommended).

5. Review and Create
   Click the Review + create button at the bottom of the form
   Azure will validate your settings
   After validation passes, click the Create button to start deployment.

6. Access Your Configuration Store
   After deployment is complete, click Go to resource
   This takes you to the overview page for your new App Configuration resource.

7. Get Connection String
   In your App Configuration resource, go to Settings > Access keys
   Copy the Connection string under either the Read-write or Read-only key
   Store this securely for use in your CI/CD pipelines.

Using the Connection String in CI/CD

Environment Variable Configuration:

The connection string you copied in the last step needs to be configured as an environment variable named AZURE_APP_CONFIG_CONNECTION_STRING in your CI/CD pipeline. This enables automated widget metadata management during deployments.

For GitHub Actions: Add this connection string as a repository secret. For detailed instructions on configuring this and other required secrets, see the Secrets Management section in the CI/CD Pipeline setup guide.

Automatic Configuration Management

Widget configurations are automatically created by CI/CD pipelines during deployment. You do not need to manually add key-value pairs. The pipelines will:

• 📝 Create widget metadata entries when widgets are deployed
• 🔄 Update version information and deployment status
• 📚 Maintain historical records of widget changes
• 🏷️ Manage environment-specific configurations using labels

To view your widget data, go to Settings > Configuration explorer after your first widget deployment.

Automated Key Naming Convention

Our pipelines automatically use consistent naming patterns:

• integration:@1fe/playground - Widget-specific settings (format: environment:widget-name)

Alternative Configuration Services

While this guide focuses on Azure App Configuration, you can use other configuration management services for your 1fe applications:

Cloud Provider Services:

• Azure App Configuration
• Azure Key Vault
• AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store
• AWS AppConfig
• Google Cloud Secret Manager
• Google Cloud Runtime Config

Third-Party Services:

• HashiCorp Vault
• Consul
• etcd
• Redis

Next Steps

After setting up configuration service:

1. Implement CI/CD Integration
2. Configure Widget Development Environment
3. Deploy Your First Widget