Azure Container Instances (ACI) Features

Azure Container Instances (ACI) offers the fastest and simplest way to run a container in Azure. You can make Azure Container Instances work for your application by using it for event-driven applications, development and test, and high-performance computing scenarios.

Key Features

Container Groups

Run multiple containers together as a single unit. A container group is the smallest deployable compute resource in Azure Container Instances. All containers in a container group share the same lifecycle, network resources, and storage resources.

Virtual Networks (VNet) Integration

Deploy containers directly into your Azure Virtual Network, enabling secure communication with other resources in your VNet, such as Azure SQL Database or Azure Storage. You can assign a virtual network IP address and a DNS name label to your container group.

Customizable Compute Resources

Specify the exact CPU and memory requirements for your containers. ACI allows you to request a specific number of vCPUs and gigabytes of memory for your container group, ensuring optimal performance and cost-efficiency.

Persistent Storage

Mount Azure Files shares or empty directories as volumes to your containers. This allows for stateful applications and persistent data storage, ensuring data is not lost when containers restart.

Secure Secrets Management

Inject sensitive information like passwords and API keys directly into your containers as environment variables or mounted files from Azure Key Vault. This enhances the security of your containerized applications.

Resource Governance

Define resource limits and quotas for your container groups to manage costs and prevent runaway resource consumption. ACI supports various deployment options including ARM templates, Bicep, Azure CLI, and Azure PowerShell.

Event-Driven Scenarios

ACI is ideal for running containers in response to events. Integrate with Azure Functions, Logic Apps, or Event Grid to trigger container execution on demand, perfect for batch jobs and background processing.

Development and Testing

Quickly spin up individual containers or small groups of containers for development, testing, and staging environments without the overhead of managing a full orchestration platform like Kubernetes.

High-Performance Computing (HPC)

Run CPU-intensive or memory-intensive workloads, such as scientific simulations or data analytics, in a scalable and cost-effective manner. ACI provides access to powerful compute resources on demand.

Getting Started

To get started with Azure Container Instances, you can use the Azure CLI:

az container create \
    --resource-group myResourceGroup \
    --name mycontainer \
    --image myacr.azurecr.io/myapp:v1 \
    --dns-name-label myapp \
    --ports 80

For more detailed information, please refer to the official Azure Container Instances documentation.