Building a Scalable eCommerce Platform with Microservices using .NET Core and Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

Introduction

In today's competitive digital marketplace, building a scalable and resilient eCommerce platform is a top priority for businesses. This comprehensive guide dives deep into how to architect and implement a cutting-edge eCommerce solution using microservices architecture, .NET Core, and Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).

If you're looking to transition from a monolithic to a microservices design, or want to understand how container orchestration with Kubernetes enhances scalability, you've come to the right place. This blog post is a one-stop resource for software architects, DevOps engineers, and .NET developers aiming to leverage cloud-native technologies and microservices patterns for eCommerce. Get ready to unlock the full potential of microservices, containerization, and cloud computing to build an eCommerce platform that's not just robust but also future-proof.

1. Design Principles

• SOLID principles, Domain-Driven Design (DDD), and CQRS (Command Query Responsibility Segregation) as they apply to eCommerce.

2. Data Storage

• Different Azure data storage options like Azure SQL Database for relational data, Cosmos DB for NoSQL, and Azure Blob Storage for images and files.

3. Communication Between Services

• Options like RESTful APIs, gRPC, Azure Event Grid, and Azure Service Bus.

eCommerce Microservices Templates

Product Catalog Service

• Description and responsibilities.
• Table schema for storing product information.

Inventory Service

• Description and responsibilities.
• Table schema for inventory management.

Order Management Service

• Description and responsibilities.
• Table schema for orders and transactions.

User and Authentication Service

• Description and responsibilities.
• Table schema for user data and authentication tokens.

Shopping Cart Service

• Description and responsibilities.
• Table schema for shopping cart data.

Low-Level Design and Implementation

Setting Up the Development Environment

• .NET Core, Azure CLI, and any other required tools.

Creating Microservices Templates

• Step-by-step guide to create the basic structure for each microservice, including code snippets.

Dockerizing the Microservices

• Create Dockerfiles for each service and push them to Azure Container Registry.

Deploying to AKS

• YAML configurations and kubectl commands to deploy services to AKS.

Implementing CI/CD

• Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions for continuous integration and deployment.

Monitoring and Logging

• Azure Monitor and Azure Application Insights.

Case Study: Building an eCommerce Platform

• Walk through the process of building a simplified eCommerce platform using the microservices templates and table schemas discussed.
• Discuss challenges, solutions, and best practices learned during the implementation.
• Now, in this particular section, I am going to take Product Catalog service as service. For Instance

Model Classes

• Product

public class Product
{
? ? public int Id { get; set; }
? ? public string Name { get; set; }
? ? public string Description { get; set; }
? ? public decimal Price { get; set; }
? ? public string ImageUrl { get; set; }
? ? public int CategoryId { get; set; }
? ? public Category Category { get; set; }
? ? // Additional properties like StockQuantity, SKU, etc.
}        

• Category

Products can belong to different categories like Electronics, Clothing, etc.

public class Category
{
? ? public int Id { get; set; }
? ? public string Name { get; set; }
? ? public List<Product> Products { get; set; }
}        

• Brand

Information about the brand of the product.

public class Brand
{
? ? public int Id { get; set; }
? ? public string Name { get; set; }
? ? public List<Product> Products { get; set; }
}        

• Tag

Tags can be used to add additional categorization and search functionality.

public class Tag
{
? ? public int Id { get; set; }
? ? public string Name { get; set; }
? ? public List<ProductTag> ProductTags { get; set; }
}        

• ProductTag

This is a join entity for the many-to-many relationship between Products and Tags.

public class ProductTag
{
? ? public int ProductId { get; set; }
? ? public Product Product { get; set; }
? ? public int TagId { get; set; }
? ? public Tag Tag { get; set; }
}        

Entity Framework Core Configuration

You can use Entity Framework Core to configure these models and their relationships.

// Inside your DbContext class
protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
{
? ? modelBuilder.Entity<ProductTag>()
? ? ? ? .HasKey(pt => new { pt.ProductId, pt.TagId });


? ? modelBuilder.Entity<ProductTag>()
? ? ? ? .HasOne(pt => pt.Product)
? ? ? ? .WithMany(p => p.ProductTags)
? ? ? ? .HasForeignKey(pt => pt.ProductId);


? ? modelBuilder.Entity<ProductTag>()
? ? ? ? .HasOne(pt => pt.Tag)
? ? ? ? .WithMany(t => t.ProductTags)
? ? ? ? .HasForeignKey(pt => pt.TagId);
}        

API Endpoints

You can expose several RESTful API endpoints to interact with the Product Catalog:

• GET /products: Retrieve a list of products.
• GET /products/{id}: Retrieve a specific product by ID.
• POST /products: Create a new product.
• PUT /products/{id}: Update an existing product.
• DELETE /products/{id}: Delete a product.

Service Implementation for Product Catalog in .NET Core

Setting up the DbContext

First, let's set up the DbContext to manage the entities.

using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;

public class ProductCatalogDbContext : DbContext
{
? ? public DbSet<Product> Products { get; set; }
? ? public DbSet<Category> Categories { get; set; }
? ? public DbSet<Brand> Brands { get; set; }
? ? public DbSet<Tag> Tags { get; set; }
? ? public DbSet<ProductTag> ProductTags { get; set; }


? ? // ... OnModelCreating method to configure relationships
}        

Product Service

Create an interface for the product service.

public interface IProductService
{
? ? IEnumerable<Product> GetAllProducts();
? ? Product GetProductById(int id);
? ? void AddProduct(Product product);
? ? void UpdateProduct(Product product);
? ? void DeleteProduct(int id);
}        

Now, implement the service.

public class ProductService : IProductService
{
? ? private readonly ProductCatalogDbContext _dbContext;


? ? public ProductService(ProductCatalogDbContext dbContext)
? ? {
? ? ? ? _dbContext = dbContext;
? ? }


? ? public IEnumerable<Product> GetAllProducts()
? ? {
? ? ? ? return _dbContext.Products.Include(p => p.Category).ToList();
? ? }


? ? public Product GetProductById(int id)
? ? {
? ? ? ? return _dbContext.Products
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?.Include(p => p.Category)
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?.FirstOrDefault(p => p.Id == id);
? ? }


? ? public void AddProduct(Product product)
? ? {
? ? ? ? _dbContext.Products.Add(product);
? ? ? ? _dbContext.SaveChanges();
? ? }


? ? public void UpdateProduct(Product product)
? ? {
? ? ? ? _dbContext.Products.Update(product);
? ? ? ? _dbContext.SaveChanges();
? ? }


? ? public void DeleteProduct(int id)
? ? {
? ? ? ? var product = GetProductById(id);
? ? ? ? if (product != null)
? ? ? ? {
? ? ? ? ? ? _dbContext.Products.Remove(product);
? ? ? ? ? ? _dbContext.SaveChanges();
? ? ? ? }
? ? }
}        

Category Service

Similarly, you can create services for categories.

public interface ICategoryService
{
? ? IEnumerable<Category> GetAllCategories();
? ? // ... other methods
}


public class CategoryService : ICategoryService
{
? ? private readonly ProductCatalogDbContext _dbContext;


? ? public CategoryService(ProductCatalogDbContext dbContext)
? ? {
? ? ? ? _dbContext = dbContext;
? ? }


? ? public IEnumerable<Category> GetAllCategories()
? ? {
? ? ? ? return _dbContext.Categories.ToList();
? ? }


? ? // ... other methods
}        

Controllers

Finally, you can create controllers to expose these services via RESTful APIs.

[ApiController]
[Route("[controller]")]
public class ProductsController : ControllerBase
{
? ? private readonly IProductService _productService;


? ? public ProductsController(IProductService productService)
? ? {
? ? ? ? _productService = productService;
? ? }


? ? [HttpGet]
? ? public IEnumerable<Product> GetAll()
? ? {
? ? ? ? return _productService.GetAllProducts();
? ? }


? ? [HttpGet("{id}")]
? ? public Product GetById(int id)
? ? {
? ? ? ? return _productService.GetProductById(id);
? ? }


? ? [HttpPost]
? ? public void Add(Product product)
? ? {
? ? ? ? _productService.AddProduct(product);
? ? }


? ? [HttpPut("{id}")]
? ? public void Update(int id, Product product)
? ? {
? ? ? ? if (id != product.Id)
? ? ? ? {
? ? ? ? ? ? // Handle the ID mismatch
? ? ? ? ? ? return;
? ? ? ? }
? ? ? ? _productService.UpdateProduct(product);
? ? }


? ? [HttpDelete("{id}")]
? ? public void Delete(int id)
? ? {
? ? ? ? _productService.DeleteProduct(id);
? ? }
}        

Dependency Injection

Don't forget to register your services and DbContext in the Startup.cs file.

public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
? ? services.AddDbContext<ProductCatalogDbContext>(options =>
? ? ? ? options.UseSqlServer(Configuration.GetConnectionString("DefaultConnection")));


? ? services.AddScoped<IProductService, ProductService>();
? ? services.AddScoped<ICategoryService, CategoryService>();
? ? // ... other configurations
}        

Docker Configuration

Create a Dockerfile

Create a Dockerfile in the root directory of your .NET Core project.

# Use the SDK image to build the app
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspnet:5.0 AS base
WORKDIR /app
EXPOSE 80


FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:5.0 AS build
WORKDIR /src
COPY ["MyApp/MyApp.csproj", "MyApp/"]
RUN dotnet restore "MyApp/MyApp.csproj"
COPY . .
WORKDIR "/src/MyApp"
RUN dotnet build "MyApp.csproj" -c Release -o /app/build


FROM build AS publish
RUN dotnet publish "MyApp.csproj" -c Release -o /app/publish


FROM base AS final
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=publish /app/publish .
ENTRYPOINT ["dotnet", "MyApp.dll"]        

Build Docker Image

docker build -t myapp:latest .        

Push to Azure Container Registry (ACR)

docker tag myapp:latest myacr.azurecr.io/myapp:latest
docker push myacr.azurecr.io/myapp:latest        

Kubernetes Configuration

Create a Deployment YAML File (deployment.yaml)

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
? name: myapp-deployment
spec:
? replicas: 3
? selector:
? ? matchLabels:
? ? ? app: myapp
? template:
? ? metadata:
? ? ? labels:
? ? ? ? app: myapp
? ? spec:
? ? ? containers:
? ? ? - name: myapp
? ? ? ? image: myacr.azurecr.io/myapp:latest
? ? ? ? ports:
? ? ? ? - containerPort: 80        

Apply the Deployment

Create a Deployment YAML File (deployment.yaml)

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
? name: myapp-deployment
spec:
? replicas: 3
? selector:
? ? matchLabels:
? ? ? app: myapp
? template:
? ? metadata:
? ? ? labels:
? ? ? ? app: myapp
? ? spec:
? ? ? containers:
? ? ? - name: myapp
? ? ? ? image: myacr.azurecr.io/myapp:latest
? ? ? ? ports:
? ? ? ? - containerPort: 80        

Apply the Deployment

kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml        

Azure DevOps CI/CD Pipeline

1. Create a New Pipeline

• Go to your Azure DevOps dashboard.
• Click on "Pipelines" and then "Create Pipeline".

1. Configure Source Control

• Choose your source control (e.g., GitHub, Azure Repos).

1. Configure the Build Pipeline

• Choose "ASP.NET Core" as the template.
• Modify the generated YAML file to include Docker build and push steps.

trigger:
- main


pool:
? vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'


variables:
? dockerRegistryServiceConnection: '<Your Service Connection>'
? imageRepository: 'myapp'
? containerRegistry: 'myacr.azurecr.io'
? dockerfilePath: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/MyApp/Dockerfile'
? tag: '$(Build.BuildId)'


steps:
- task: Docker@2
? inputs:
? ? containerRegistry: $(dockerRegistryServiceConnection)
? ? repository: $(imageRepository)
? ? command: 'buildAndPush'
? ? Dockerfile: $(dockerfilePath)
? ? tags: $(tag)        

Configure the Release Pipeline

• Create a new Release Pipeline.
• Add an Artifact that points to the build pipeline.
• Add a stage to deploy to your Kubernetes cluster.
• Use the "Kubernetes" task to apply your deployment.yaml.

- task: Kubernetes@1
? inputs:
? ? connectionType: 'Azure Resource Manager'
? ? azureSubscriptionEndpoint: '<Your Azure Subscription>'
? ? azureResourceGroup: '<Your Resource Group>'
? ? kubernetesCluster: '<Your AKS Cluster>'
? ? command: 'apply'
? ? useConfigurationFile: true
? ? configurationPath: 'deployment.yaml'        

Trigger the Pipeline

Once everything is set up, you can manually trigger the pipeline or push a change to your repository to trigger it automatically.

This should give you a comprehensive overview of how to Dockerize your .NET Core application, deploy it to an Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster, and set up a CI/CD pipeline using Azure DevOps.

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