Microservices & Containerisation met .NET Aspire

Rick Neeft

Developer @VECOZO

LinkedIn: rneeft
Blog: rickneeft.dev
GitHub: rneeft

Agenda

• Gymnastics
• Theory
• Introduction
• Case
• Give it a go
• .NET Aspire
• Identity Provider
• Messaging

Gymnastics

• Who is using Windows

Gymnastics

• Windows User: Who knows what WSL is?

Gymnastics

• Who is using Linux

Gymnastics

• Who is using MacOS

Gymnastics

• Who is using dotnet for programming?

Gymnastics

• Who is using Java for programming?

Gymnastics

• Who is using something else for programming?

Gymnastics

• Who knows what Docker is?

Gymnastics

• Who knows what Virtual machines are?

Microservices & Containerisation met .NET Aspire

From Monoliths to Modern Deployment

The theory, just a little bit, I promise

In the early days: Monoliths

What is a monolith?

• Single, unified codebase
• All components tightly coupled

Challenges:

• Difficult to scale specific parts
• Risky deployments (entire app goes down)
• Long development and release cycles

_{^{Image from 2001: A Space Odyssey}}

The Rise of Microservices

Why Microservices?

• Decouple components for flexibility
• Faster independent deployments
• Technology diversity per service

Key Principles:

• Single Responsibility per service
• Communication over APIs or messaging
• Independent scaling

_{^{Photo by Wolfgang Weiser: https://www.pexels.com/photo/container-ships-at-busy-hamburg-port-31637364/}}

Deploying Microservices

Key Features:

• Each service is deployed independently
• Uses containers (e.g., Docker)
• Orchestrated by platforms like Kubernetes
• Updates via CI/CD pipelines

Common Stack:

• Docker → Package
• Kubernetes → Deploy & Scale
• CI/CD → Automate release (e.g., GitHub Actions, GitLab, Jenkins)

What will we do today

• Docker (compose) deployment
• Use .NET Aspire

Docker

• Platform for developing, shipping and running application
• Package with loosely isolated environments: containers
• Containers are 'lightweight' and portable.

How? Dockerfile

• Like a Recipe
• Describes how to build an docker image
• Docker image: read-only instructions to create the container

Dockerfile - Example

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspnet:9.0 AS base
USER $APP_UID
WORKDIR /app
EXPOSE 8080
EXPOSE 8081

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:9.0 AS build
ARG BUILD_CONFIGURATION=Release
WORKDIR /src
COPY ["src/InsuranceDetails.Api/InsuranceDetails.Api.csproj", "src/InsuranceDetails.Api/"]
RUN dotnet restore "src/InsuranceDetails.Api/InsuranceDetails.Api.csproj"
COPY . .
WORKDIR "/src/src/InsuranceDetails.Api"
RUN dotnet build "./InsuranceDetails.Api.csproj" -c $BUILD_CONFIGURATION -o /app/build

FROM build AS publish
ARG BUILD_CONFIGURATION=Release
RUN dotnet publish "./InsuranceDetails.Api.csproj" -c $BUILD_CONFIGURATION -o /app/publish /p:UseAppHost=false

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

Docker compose

• If the dockerfile is a recipe then Compose is your menu

Docker compose - Example

services:
  sqlserver:
    image: mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest
    container_name: mssql
    environment:
      SA_PASSWORD: YourStrongPassword123!
      ACCEPT_EULA: "Y"
    ports:
      - "1433:1433"
    volumes:
      - sqlserver-data:/var/opt/mssql

  insurancedetails-api:
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: src/InsuranceDetails.Api/Dockerfile
    container_name: insurancedetails-api
    environment:
      ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT: Development
      ConnectionStrings__InsuranceDetailsDb: "Server=sqlserver;Database=InsuranceDetailsDb;User Id=sa;Password=YourStrongPassword123!;TrustServerCertificate=True;"
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
      - "8081:8081"
    depends_on:
      - sqlserver

volumes:
  sqlserver-data:

Theory - Questions?

Dutch Healthcare System

• Every citizen has basic health insurance (Basisverzekering)
• You can add supplementary insurance (Aanvullende verzekering)
  • e.g. dental care, physiotherapy, travel vaccinations
• Health insurers = private companies (e.g. Menzis, CZ)
• Health providers = GPs, hospitals, specialists

But who is insured where and for what?

First product (dienst) of VECOZO

COV - Insurance Data Check (Controle op Verzekeringsgegevens)

COV - Controle op Verzekeringsgegevens

Questions?

So far

Lets go!!

https://www.rickneeft.dev/aspire-course-site/

https://github.com/rneeft/workshop-avans-2-juni