Overview

Student Bank is a mock core banking application that allows students to interact with Checking and Savings accounts, a mock stock market, and more.

Getting Started (Development)

Copy and edit the appsettings.json*.dist files:

    cp src/WebApi/appsettings.json.dist src/WebApi/appsettings.json
    cp src/WebApi/appsettings.Development.json.dist src/WebApi/appsettings.Development.json

Be sure to edit the ConnectionStrings__Default setting if you are not using docker-compose.

Next, run docker-compose up if you don't already have an MSSQL server to use for development.

Ensure that the dotnet development certificates are trusted by your machine by running dotnet dev-certs https --trust. You'll be prompted to import them.

Finally, run dotnet run --project src/WebApi to fetch nuget packages and start the app.

Development Tips

Secret needed for JWT

TIP: By default, a secret is stored in the src/WebApi/launchSettings.json file. It is only used during development and an error will be thrown if no secret is provided when running the application in Release mode.

• AppConfig__Secret should be a long, private string used to generate JWT tokens. Changing this invalidates tokens.

Migrations

To setup migrations, you must install the Entity Framework command line tools:

dotnet tool install --global dotnet-ef
dotnet ef

Generating Migrations

Migrations and database contexts are stored in a separate assembly than the server to enable easier sharing between servers, utilities and other applications in general. This adds a little bit more complexity to generating migrations, in addition to two different database technologies being supported.

    cd src/Infrastructure
    dotnet ef migrations add {NAME}

Deploying to Production in Azure

This code was designed to run in Azure, however; it can be run anywhere. This guide is intended to walk you through how to deploy the app using Azure App Service.

Azure SQL Configuration

Begin by creating a new Azure SQL database. Choose an appropriate pricing tier, though it is recommended to use the Basic tier initially for this workload to save costs and grow as needed.

Next, grant the Managed Identity for your Azure App Service App the Reader role on the SQL Server Instance. This can be done using the Access Control (IAM) option on the Azure SQL Server blade.

Optionally, it is highly recommended to restrict access to the Azure SQL Server instance via the Security > Networking option in the SQL Server blade. Note the database name and server for later use when configuring the App Service App.

Azure App Service Configuration

Note: This application has not been tested against the F1 free tier of App Service. It may run out of compute or memory and crash under load.

Begin by creating a new Azure App Service on a Linux App Service Plan. The B1 tier is recommended to begin with to save costs.

Ensure that a System assigned Managed Identity is enabled for use with Azure SQL Database.

Optionally, but recommended: Configure a custom domain and SSL, however; the app will function just fine using the URL Microsoft assigns to the App Service. Note that using the App Service Managed Certificate can save costs and the certificate will automatically renew.

Add the following Configuration entries using the Configuration blade of the App Service:

Name	Comment
AllowedOrigins__{0,1,2,...}	Used for CQRS. One or more URLs allowed to access the site. E.g. https://fluffy-bunny-00001.azurestaticapps.net
AppConfig__Secret	A unique string used to sign JWT requests. Recommended to generate two GUIDs and concatenate them.
AppConfig__TokenLifetime	The amount of time in minutes JWT tokens are valid for. The client must refresh the token once it expires. Default: 15 minutes.
ConnectionStrings__Default	The database connection string. E.g. using Managed Identity: Server=my-db.database.windows.net,1433;Database=prod_studentbank;UID=a;Authentication=Active Directory Interactive

On the Configuration > General settings page, ensure the following is set:

• Stack: .NET
• Major version: .NET 6
• Minor version: .NET 6 (LTS)
• Always on: On
• HTTPS Only: On
• Minimum TLS Version: 1.2

Azure SQL Database Configuration

Tip: You can look up the name of your Managed Identity by searching Azure Active Directory for the GUID found in the App Service App's Identities blade option.

Next, Follow the directions from Microsoft to enable Azure AD authentication if it's not already enabled.

Finally, create a login and grant it permissions to the database. Here's an example on how to create a user record and assign it db_owner permissions on a database:

    CREATE USER [studentbank] FROM EXTERNAL PROVIDER
    ALTER ROLE db_owner ADD MEMBER [studentbank]

Where studentbank is the name of your App Service App.

Start the App

Click the Start button on the Overview page of the App Service App to run it. Check the Log Stream for any errors that might have occurred during startup. If everything is working correctly, you can navigate to https://my-site.domain.tld/graphql (where my-site.domain.tld is the URL of your site from Azure App Service) to be presented with the BananaCakePop GraphQL Web IDE.