Migrating Logic Apps from Consumption to Standard: Real Lessons and Big Wins – part 2

A Journey to Logic app Standard

In my previous post (see part1 & part3), I discussed the initial lessons learned when migrating from Logic App Consumption to Logic App Standard. This post dives deeper into specific differences and insights to help you navigate the shift smoothly. We’ll dive deeper into the migration process, covering topics like enhanced XML support, security, direct workflow invocation, and strategies for efficient deployments. I’ll share practical tips and highlight specific configuration settings that can make your Logic Apps run more smoothly and securely.

Leverage ‘Invoke Workflow’ action

With Logic App Standard, you can now call workflows directly within the same Logic App, making it easier to build reusable components and pass data across different layers. This feature is especially useful for complex workflows, where maintaining modular, reusable logic is key.

There are two main approaches for invoking workflows: synchronous (sync) and asynchronous (async):

• Asynchronous Approach: In the async approach, the called workflow immediately returns an HTTP 202 (Accepted) response to the calling workflow, allowing it to proceed without waiting. The invoked workflow then continues executing its business logic independently. This method is suitable for scenarios where immediate feedback is sufficient, and the process can complete in the background.
• Synchronous Approach: In this setup, the called workflow performs all actions and, as its final step, returns an HTTP response to the initiating workflow. This approach ensures that the calling workflow waits for the full completion of the invoked workflow, making it ideal when you need to handle all processing within a single request.

Enhanced XML Support – XSLT Mappings and Parse XML

Logic App Standard offers significantly improved support for XML operations, a welcome update for those with BizTalk backgrounds or who handle extensive XML messaging. The new XML capabilities include:

• XSLT 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 support with no limits on map file size.
• No extra cost per deployed XSLT map, unlike in Consumption.
• Improved deployment options, including Visual Studio integration for EDI. One minor change: the file extension now needs to be *.xslt rather than *.xsl. A small detail, but worth noting!

For more on XML support, check out the official documentation here.

Do you need XML Parsing and Validation with XSD? Similar to JSON parsing, you can now parse XML directly within Logic App Standard and specify an XSD for validation, making XML data handling much easier.

• Transform XML: Execute an XLST mapping.
• XML Validation: Validate XML against an XSD schema.
• XML compose with schema: Generate XML data, using an XSD file.
• XML parse with schema: Prase XML content with an XSD schema (similar to parse json, but with XML)

Improved Managed Identity Support

As more organisations adopt passwordless security, managed identities are becoming essential for role-based access control (RBAC). Logic App Standard supports both system-assigned and user-assigned managed identities. However, keep in mind that not all connectors currently support managed identity, so it’s best to run a small test before fully integrating this feature into your workflows.

Also, some connectors don’t support both types of managed identity, so there is also some additional checks to do once you start using them – this is especially the case with the new built-in connectors.

Also interesting is that with the environment variables available under Azure Logic App Standard, we can now use the managed identity RBAC to connect to the Azure key vault for application settings.

Microsoft has some extensive documentation available here: Authenticate access and connections to Azure resources with managed identities in Azure Logic Apps

Faster Automated Deployments

Logic App Standard supports zip deployment, creating a seamless experience similar to Azure Functions. By compiling your solution in advance, you can release it as a single zip file, speeding up the overall deployment process compared to logic app consumption.

• Faster, Streamlined Deployment: Bundle workflows in one zip, reducing deployment time and simplifying CI/CD.
• Efficient Resource Use: Deploy as a single resource, lowering release complexity.
• Easy Rollbacks: Quickly redeploy previous versions if needed.
• Fewer Errors: Packaging workflows together helps avoid versioning issues or cross-dependencies.

Unlike in Logic App Consumption, where each workflow is a separate deployment, Logic App Standard allows you to deploy multiple workflows in a single action. Since you aren’t creating new Azure resources with each workflow, this approach simplifies your release pipeline setup and reduces configuration tasks. More details here.

Staging Environments for Zero Downtime

In some teams, downtime during the release process is a luxury they can’t afford. Logic Apps now support deployment slots, allowing you to deploy updates with minimal disruption, aiming for zero downtime. Deployment slots create isolated, non-production environments where you can test and validate the release process before swapping to production. This feature is great for ensuring your app remains available to users, even during updates. It’s also free ;)

Even if your system allows a bit of downtime, deployment often impacts other dependent applications, creating a ripple effect. Minimising or eliminating this downtime simplifies the release process and reduces stress across connected services.

Key benefits:

• Seamless Swaps: Easily swap a deployment slot with production without affecting performance or availability, enabling smooth updates.
• Safe, Read-Only Testing: Validate updates in a read-only staging environment, so you know exactly what will go live.
• Easy Rollbacks: If issues arise, you can quickly roll back to a previous version, preserving system integrity with minimal impact.