Azure Service that can schedule my API calls in AKS

Question

I have this .NET long running API process/function that usually runs 30 mins in one execution that is hosted in AKS. This API is usually executed from the users coming from the front end of the app.

Due to concurrent executions from users, this is causing exhaustion of the app so I'm planning to implement a some sort of a queueing mechanism with the help of a scheduler(s).

What possibly is applicable Azure service that can execute my API in AKS on a scheduled basis (let's say every minute) and possibly check the database for some flagging values.

I need a way to check the table for some flagging value if there a currently running process or its been completed so it can process the next one, otherwise ignore the call until current on is complete.

I was looking into Azure Web Apps, Web Jobs or Batch Jobs but kinda confused which is applicable with my case.

Please advise thank you in advance.

Answer 1

There are a couple of options here.

1. Hangfire

Hangfire is an open-source library that can run background jobs in queues. In your case, you can enqueue each request from the client in a queue. Then Hangfire server will process them one by one (even with retry if the job fails). Hangfire supports SQL Server or Redis. You can query the storage to see the status of the queued jobs.

Hangfire can also run scheduled jobs, which will take care of that only one job run at a time.

2. Azure Service Bus

A more expensive option is to use Azure Service Bus for your queueing capability. For scheduled jobs, you can use AKS CronJobs but you will implement the check yourself to see if there is a job already running.

Overall, I would recommend Hangfire, which can meet your requirements and is cheaper.