Azure WebJob

Introduction

 
In this article, we will see an overview of Azure WebJob, when it is used, and primary information before creating the Web Job 
 
Pre-requisites
 
Before we start with the understanding of what is Azure WebJob, we should know,

Azure WebJob

 
Most applications can have dependent functionalities, for example, when we add any item in Azure blob storage queues, blobs, service bus queues, clean up the data source or database, provision the resources, etc. When we perform certain processing, another example is sending an email daily to the users. These types of functionalities are called event-driven background processes. In short, a background job runs at a specific interval or event.
 
Azure WebJob helps us to run business logic in the background, recurrently, or on certain events. Hence, Azure WebJob is famous for its ‘event-driven background processing’ method. Azure WebJob can run continuously, on-demand, on a schedule, or manually too. Azure WebJob is part of Platform as a Service (PaaS), meaning you pay as you use. Azure WebJob runs under the context of a web app, API app or mobile app. If you need a higher number of resources to execute the Azure WebJob then the entire service plan needs to be upgraded. We can easily monitor the Azure WebJob run history using Azure portal. Also, we can publish multiple WebJobs to a single web app.
 
Azure WebJob can run the program or script in the background. Below is the list of supported file types. Hence, there is no worry about the expertise if the developer wants to use a specific language to implement the web job.
  • .cmd, .bat, .exe (using Windows cmd)
  • .ps1 (using PowerShell)
  • .sh (using Bash)
  • .php (using PHP)
  • .py (using Python)
  • .js (using Node.js)
  • .jar (using Java)
There are two major types of Azure WebJob:
  1. Continous – The Azure WebJob is continuously running in the background or run of events. We need to keep ‘Always ON’ setting enabled on the Azure WebJob for such type of WebJob. It supports remote debugging.
  2. Triggered – Runs only when triggered manually or on a schedule. It doesn’t support remote debugging.

    When we create an Azure WebJob in Azure, then there are some important settings to take note of:

    1. Name – Name of AzureWebJob
    2. File Upload – Upload the output file program like a zip file of executables or scripts.
    3. Type – Continuous/ Triggered
    4. CRON Expression – CRON expression has numbers to indicate the time to run the Azure WebJob. The numbers in a CRON expression refer to a time and date, not a time span.

  3. Next - Get started with the Azure WebJobs SDK
References
  • https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service/webjobs-create#cron-expressions
  • https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/functions-bindings-timer#ncrontab-expressions
  • https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service/webjobs-sdk-get-started
  • https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service/webjobs-dotnet-deploy-vs
  • Pricing tears

Conclusion

 
In this article, we have seen an overview of Azure WebJob. Keep Learning