Introducing Azure API Management Policy Toolkit
We’re excited to announce the early release of the Azure API Management Policy Toolkit, a set of libraries and tools designed to change how developers work with API Management policies, making policy management more approachable, testable, and efficient for developers. Empowering developers with Azure API Management Policy Toolkit Policies have always been at the core of Azure API Management, offering powerful capabilities to secure, change behavior, and transform requests and responses to the APIs. Recently, we've made the policies easier to understand and manage by adding Copilot for Azure features for Azure API Management. This allows you to create and explain policies with AI help directly within the Azure portal. This powerful tool lets developers create policies using simple prompts or get detailed explanations of existing policies. This makes it much easier for new users to write policies and makes all users more productive. Now, with the Policy Toolkit, we’re taking another significant step forward. This toolkit brings policy management even closer to the developer experience you know. Elevating policy development experience Azure API Management policies are written in Razor format, which for those unfamiliar with it can be difficult to read and understand, especially when dealing with large policy documents that include expressions. Testing and debugging policy changes requires deployment to a live Azure API Management instance, which slows down feedback loop even for small edits. The Policy Toolkit addresses these challenges. You can now author your policies in C#, a language that feels natural and familiar to many developers and write tests against them. This shift improves the policy writing experience for developers, makes policies more readable, and shortens the feedback loop for policy changes. Key toolkit features to transform your workflow: Consistent policy authoring. Write policies in C#. No more learning Razor syntax and mixing XML and C# in the same document. Syntax checking: Compile your policy documents to catch syntax errors and generate Razor-based equivalents. Unit testing: Write unit tests alongside your policies using your favorite unit testing framework. CI/CD integration: Integrate Policy Toolkit into automation pipelines for testing and compilation into Razor syntax for deployment. Current Limitations While we’re excited about the capabilities of the Policy Toolkit, we want to be transparent about its current limitation: Not all policies are supported yet, but we’re actively working on expanding the coverage. We are working on making the Policy Toolkit available as a NuGet package. In the meantime, you’ll need to build the solution on your own. Unit testing is limited to policy expressions and is not supported for entire policy documents yet. Get Started Today! We want you to try the Azure API Management Policy Toolkit and to see if it helps streamlining your policy management workflow. Check out documentation to get started. We’re eager to hear your feedback! By bringing policy management closer to the developer, we’re opening new possibilities to efficiently manage your API Management policies. Whether you’re using the AI-assisted approach with Copilot for Azure or diving deep into C# with the Policy Toolkit, we’re committed to making policy management more approachable and powerful.Introducing GenAI Gateway Capabilities in Azure API Management
We are thrilled to announce GenAI Gateway capabilities in Azure API Management – a set of features designed specifically for GenAI use cases. Azure OpenAI service offers a diverse set of tools, providing access to advanced models like GPT3.5-Turbo to GPT-4 and GPT-4 Vision, enabling developers to build intelligent applications that can understand, interpret, and generate human-like text and images. One of the main resources you have in Azure OpenAI is tokens. Azure OpenAI assigns quota for your model deployments expressed in tokens-per-minute (TPMs) which is then distributed across your model consumers that can be represented by different applications, developer teams, departments within the company, etc. Starting with a single application integration, Azure makes it easy to connect your app to Azure OpenAI. Your intelligent application connects to Azure OpenAI directly using API Key with a TPM limit configured directly on the model deployment level. However, when you start growing your application portfolio, you are presented with multiple apps calling single or even multiple Azure OpenAI endpoints deployed as Pay-as-you-go or Provisioned Throughput Units (PTUs) instances. That comes with certain challenges: How can we track token usage across multiple applications? How can we do cross charges for multiple applications/teams that use Azure OpenAI models? How can we make sure that a single app does not consume the whole TPM quota, leaving other apps with no option to use Azure OpenAI models? How can we make sure that the API key is securely distributed across multiple applications? How can we distribute load across multiple Azure OpenAI endpoints? How can we make sure that PTUs are used first before falling back to Pay-as-you-go instances? To tackle these operational and scalability challenges, Azure API Management has built a set of GenAI Gateway capabilities: Azure OpenAI Token Limit Policy Azure OpenAI Emit Token Metric Policy Load Balancer and Circuit Breaker Import Azure OpenAI as an API Azure OpenAI Semantic Caching Policy (in public preview) Azure OpenAI Token Limit Policy Azure OpenAI Token Limit policy allows you to manage and enforce limits per API consumer based on the usage of Azure OpenAI tokens. With this policy you can set limits, expressed in tokens-per-minute (TPM). This policy provides flexibility to assign token-based limits on any counter key, such as Subscription Key, IP Address or any other arbitrary key defined through policy expression. Azure OpenAI Token Limit policy also enables pre-calculation of prompt tokens on the Azure API Management side, minimizing unnecessary request to the Azure OpenAI backend if the prompt already exceeds the limit. Learn more about this policy here. Azure OpenAI Emit Token Metric Policy Azure OpenAI enables you to configure token usage metrics to be sent to Azure Applications Insights, providing overview of the utilization of Azure OpenAI models across multiple applications or API consumers. This policy captures prompt, completions, and total token usage metrics and sends them to Application Insights namespace of your choice. Moreover, you can configure or select from pre-defined dimensions to split token usage metrics, enabling granular analysis by Subscription ID, IP Address, or any custom dimension of your choice. Learn more about this policy here. Load Balancer and Circuit Breaker Load Balancer and Circuit Breaker features allow you to spread the load across multiple Azure OpenAI endpoints. With support for round-robin, weighted (new), and priority-based (new) load balancing, you can now define your own load distribution strategy according to your specific requirements. Define priorities within the load balancer configuration to ensure optimal utilization of specific Azure OpenAI endpoints, particularly those purchased as PTUs. In the event of any disruption, a circuit breaker mechanism kicks in, seamlessly transitioning to lower-priority instances based on predefined rules. Our updated circuit breaker now features dynamic trip duration, leveraging values from the retry-after header provided by the backend. This ensures precise and timely recovery of the backends, maximizing the utilization of your priority backends to their fullest. Learn more about load balancer and circuit breaker here. Import Azure OpenAI as an API New Import Azure OpenAI as an API in Azure API management provides an easy single click experience to import your existing Azure OpenAI endpoints as APIs. We streamline the onboarding process by automatically importing the OpenAPI schema for Azure OpenAI and setting up authentication to the Azure OpenAI endpoint using managed identity, removing the need for manual configuration. Additionally, within the same user-friendly experience, you can pre-configure Azure OpenAI policies, such as token limit and emit token metric, enabling swift and convenient setup. Learn more about Import Azure OpenAI as an API here. Azure OpenAI Semantic Caching policy Azure OpenAI Semantic Caching policy empowers you to optimize token usage by leveraging semantic caching, which stores completions for prompts with similar meaning. Our semantic caching mechanism leverages Azure Redis Enterprise or any other external cache compatible with RediSearch and onboarded to Azure API Management. By leveraging the Azure OpenAI Embeddings model, this policy identifies semantically similar prompts and stores their respective completions in the cache. This approach ensures completions reuse, resulting in reduced token consumption and improved response performance. Learn more about semantic caching policy here. Get Started with GenAI Gateway Capabilities in Azure API Management We’re excited to introduce these GenAI Gateway capabilities in Azure API Management, designed to empower developers to efficiently manage and scale their applications leveraging Azure OpenAI services. Get started today and bring your intelligent application development to the next level with Azure API Management.Choosing the right Azure API Management tier for your networking scenarios
There are different options when it comes to integrating your API Management with your Azure Virtual Network (VNet) which are important to understand. These options will depend on your network perimeter access requirements and the available tiers and features in Azure API Management. This blog post aims to guide you through the different options available on both the classic tiers and v2 tiers of Azure API Management, to help you decide which choice works best for your requirements. We need to define how are we going to call the tiers : developer, basic, standard , premium. For example v1 tiers, classical tiers, etc…Azure API Center Plugin for GitHub Copilot for Azure
GitHub Copilot has quickly become a developer’s best friend with its intuitive chat interface and seamless IDE integration. Now, we’re taking it a step further with GitHub Copilot for Azure, a GitHub Copilot extension designed to supercharge your Azure development tasks. 🎉 Introducing the Public Preview of the Azure API Center Plugin for GitHub Copilot for Azure! 🎉 What is a GitHub Copilot for Azure plugin? A plugin extends the capabilities of GitHub Copilot for Azure, allowing for modular customization without altering its core functionality. The API Center plugin for GitHub Copilot enables developers to incorporate Azure API Center context into their workflows. This integration helps tailor the outcomes to better meet specific needs, enhancing the overall development experience by making API creation and management more efficient and aligned with best practices. Key Features of the Azure API Center Plugin With this new plugin, you can effortlessly handle a variety of API-related tasks, making your development process smoother and more efficient: Generating API Specifications: Simply describe your requirements in natural language, and GitHub Copilot for Azure will create new API specifications tailored to your needs. It can also help you register these APIs into API Center swiftly. Designing Compliant APIs: Use GitHub Copilot for Azure to design API specifications that comply with API Center governance. The AI assistance ensures that your APIs are designed according to best practices and standards. Why This Matters The Azure API Center plugin for GitHub Copilot for Azure is a game-changer for developers working on the Azure platform. By integrating AI-driven assistance into your API development workflow, you can: Save Time: Automate the creation and registration of API specifications. Ensure Quality: Design APIs that adhere to best practices and compliance standards. Enhance Productivity: Focus on higher-level tasks while the plugin handles routine API-related tasks. Get Started Today! We invite you to explore the public preview and experience how the Azure API Center plugin for GitHub Copilot for Azure can enhance your development workflow. Join us in this exciting journey to make API development smarter and more efficient! If you have any questions or would like to connect, feel free to reach out to Julia Kasper on LinkedIn.Azure API Management Turns 10: Celebrating a Decade of Customer-Driven Innovation and Success
This September marks a truly special occasion: Azure API Management turns 10! Since our launch in 2014, we've been on an incredible journey, transforming how businesses connect, scale and secure their digital ecosystems. As the first cloud provider to integrate API management into its platform, Azure has led the way in helping organizations seamlessly navigate the evolving digital landscape.Azure Integration Services Quarterly Highlights and Insights 2024'Q1
Welcome to the first in a new series of quarterly blogs that will feature the latest and greatest from Azure Integration Services. With so many exciting new Azure products, Microsoft events, and updates from our partners and customers throughout the year, this series is your chance to revisit the highlights that continue to enable digital transformation with Azure Integration Services.Logic Apps Aviators Newsletter - March 2025
In this issue: Ace Aviator of the Month News from our product group News from our community Ace Aviator of the Month March’s Ace Aviator: Dieter Gobeyn What’s your role and title? What are your responsibilities? I work as an Azure Solution Architect; however, I remain very hands-on and regularly develop solutions to stay close to the technology. I design and deliver end-to-end solutions, ranging from architectural analysis to full implementation. My responsibilities include solution design, integration analysis, contributing to development, reviewing colleagues’ work, and proposing improvements to our platform. I also provide Production support when necessary. Can you give us some insights into your day-to-day activities and what a typical day in your role looks like? My days can vary greatly, but collaboration with my globally distributed team is always a priority. I begin my day promptly at 8 AM to align with different time zones. After our daily stand-up, I often reach out to colleagues to see if they need assistance or follow-up on mails/team messages. A significant portion of my day involves solution design—gathering requirements, outlining integration strategies, and collaborating with stakeholders. I also identify potential enhancements, perform preliminary analysis, and translate them into user stories. I also spend time on technical development, building features, testing them thoroughly, and updating documentation for both internal and client use. On occasions where deeper investigation is needed, I support advanced troubleshooting, collaborating with our support team if issues demand additional expertise. If a release is scheduled, I sometimes manage deployment activities in the evening. What motivates and inspires you to be an active member of the Aviators/Microsoft community? I’ve always valued the sense of community that comes from sharing knowledge. Early in my career, attending events and meeting fellow professionals helped me bridge the gap between theory and real-world practice. This informal environment encourages deeper, hands-on knowledge exchange, which often goes beyond what official documentation can provide. Now that I’m in a more senior role, I believe it’s my responsibility—and pleasure—to give back. Contributing to the community enables me to keep learning, connect with fantastic people, and grow both technically and personally. Looking back, what advice do you wish you had been given earlier that you’d now share with those looking to get into STEM/technology? Master the fundamentals, not just the tools. It’s easy to get caught up in the newest frameworks, cloud platforms, and programming languages. However, what remains constant are the core concepts such as networking, data structures, security, and system design. By understanding the ‘why’ behind each technology, you’ll be better equipped to design future-proof solutions and adapt fast as tools and trends evolve. What has helped you grow professionally? Curiosity and a commitment to continuous learning have been key. I’m always keen to understand the ‘why’ behind how things work. Outside my normal job, I pursue Microsoft Reactor sessions, community events, and personal projects to expand my skills. Just as important is receiving open, honest feedback from peers and being honest with oneself. Having mentors or colleagues who offer both challenges and support is crucial for growth, as they provide fresh perspectives and help you refine your skills. In many cases, I’ve found it takes effort outside standard working hours to truly develop my skills, but it has always been worth it. If you had a magic wand that could create a feature in Logic Apps, what would it be and why? I’d love to see more uniformity & predictability across adapters, for example in terms of their availability for both stateless and stateful workflows. Currently, certain adapters—like the timer trigger—are either unavailable in stateless workflows or behave differently. Unifying adapter support would not only simplify solution design decisions, but also reduce proof-of-concept overhead and streamline transitions between stateless and stateful workflows as requirements evolve. News from our product group Logic Apps Live Feb 2025 Missed Logic Apps Live in February? You can watch it here. You will find a live demo for the Exporting Logic Apps Standard to VS Code, some updates on the new Data Mapper User Experience and lots of examples on how to leverage Logic Apps to create your Gen AI solutions. Exporting Logic App Standard to VS Code Bringing existing Logic Apps Standard deployed in Azure to VS Code are now simpler with the new Create Logic Apps Workspaces from package. New & Improved Data Mapper UX in Azure Logic Apps – Now in Public Preview! We’re excited to announce that a UX update for Data Mapper in Azure Logic Apps is now in Public Preview! We have continuously improved Data Mapper, which is already generally available (GA), based on customer feedback. Parse or chunk content for workflows in Azure Logic Apps (Preview) When working with Azure AI Search or Azure OpenAI actions, it's often necessary to convert content into tokens or divide large documents into smaller pieces. The Data Operations actions, "Parse a document" and "Chunk text," can help by transforming content like PDFs, CSVs, and Excel files into tokenized strings and splitting them based on the number of tokens. These outputs can then be used in subsequent actions within your workflow. Connect to Azure AI services from workflows in Azure Logic Apps Integrate enterprise services, systems, and data with AI technologies by connecting your logic app workflows to Azure OpenAI and Azure AI Search resources. This guide offers an overview and practical examples on how to use these connector operations effectively in your workflow. Power Automate migration to Azure Logic Apps (Standard) Development teams often need to build scalable, secure, and efficient automation solutions. If your team is considering migrating flows from Microsoft Power Automate to Standard workflows in Azure Logic Apps, this guide outlines the key advantages of making the transition. Azure Logic Apps (Standard) is particularly beneficial for enterprises running complex, high-volume, and security-sensitive workloads. AI playbook, examples, and other resources for workflows in Azure Logic Apps AI capabilities are increasingly essential in applications and software, offering time-saving and innovative tasks like chat interactions. They also facilitate the creation of integration workloads across various services, systems, apps, and data within enterprises. This guide provides building blocks, examples, samples, and resources to demonstrate how to use AI services, such as Azure OpenAI and Azure AI Search, in conjunction with other services and systems to build automated workflows in Azure Logic Apps. Collect ETW trace in Logic App Standard An Inline C# script to collect Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) and store it in a text file, from within your Logic Apps. Typical Storage access issues troubleshooting With this blog post we intend to provide you more tools and visibility on how to troubleshoot your Logic App and accelerate your service availability restore. Download Logic App content for Consumption and Standard Logic App in the Portal It's common to see customers needing to download the JSON contents for their Logic Apps, either to keep a copy of the code or to initiate CI/CD. The methods to download this are very simple, accessible on a single button. Running Powershell inline with Az commands- Logic App Standard With the availability of the Inline "Execute Powershell code" action, a few questions have been brought to us like for example how to execute Az commands with this action. Deploy Logic App Standard with Application Routing Feature Based on Terraform and Azure Pipeline This article shared a mature plan to deploy logic app standard then set the application routing features automatically. It's based on Terraform template and Azure DevOps Pipeline. News from our community Azure Logic Apps: create Standard Logic App projects in Visual Studio Code from Azure portal export Post by Stefano Demiliani How many times you had the need to create a new Azure Logic App workflow starting from an existing one? Personally, this happens a lot of time… Starting with version 5.18.7 (published some days ago), the Azure Logic Apps (Standard) extension for Visual Studio Code provides the capability to create Standard Azure Logic App projects from an existing Logic App exported from the Azure portal. Bridging the Gap: Azure Logic Apps Meets On-Prem Fileshares Post by Tim D'haeyer The end of BizTalk Server is fast approaching, signaling a significant shift in the Microsoft integration landscape. With this transition, the era of on-premises integration is drawing to a close, prompting many organizations to migrate their integration workloads to Azure. One key challenge in this process is: “How can I read and write from an on-premises file share using Logic Apps?” Thankfully, this functionality has been available for some time with Azure Logic Apps Standard. Azure Logic Apps vs. Power Apps vs. Power Automate: What to Use When? Post by Prashant Singh The Architect’s Dilemma: Logic Apps vs. Power Apps vs. Power Automate! In my latest blog, I compare Logic Apps, Power Automate, and Power Apps—helping you pick the right one! Securing Azure Logic Apps: Prevent SQL Injection in Complex SQL Server Queries Post by Cameron McKay Executing COMPLEX queries as raw SQL is tempting in Logic App workflows. It's clear how to protect SQL CRUD actions in Logic Apps. BUT how do we protect our complex queries? In the Logic App Standard tier, built-in connectors run locally within the same process as the logic app Post by Sandro Pereira In the Logic App Standard tier, built-in connectors run locally within the same process as the logic app, reducing latency and improving performance. This contrasts with the Consumption model, where many connectors rely on external dependencies, leading to potential delays due to network round-trips. This makes Logic App Standard an ideal choice for scenarios where performance and low-latency integration are critical, such as real-time data processing and enterprise API integrations. Scaling Logic Apps Hybrid Post by Massimo Crippa Logic Apps Hybrid provides a consistent development, deployment, and observability experience across both cloud and edge applications. But what about scaling? Let's dive into that in this blog post. Calling API Management in a different subscription on LA Standard Post by Sandro Pereira Welcome again to another Logic Apps Best Practices, Tips, and Tricks post. Today, we will discuss how to call from Logic App Standard an API exposed in API Management from a different subscription using the in-app API Management connector. How to enable API Management Connector inside VS Code Logic App Standard Workflow Designer Post by Sandro Pereira If you’ve been working with Azure Logic Apps Standard in Visual Studio Code and noticed that the API Management connector is conspicuously absent from the list of connectors inside the workflow designer, you’re not alone. This is a typical behavior that many developers encounter, and understanding why it happens—and how to enable it—can save you a lot of headaches. Do you have strict security requirements for your workflows? Azure Logic Apps is the solution. Post by Stefano Demiliani Azure Logic Apps offers robust solutions for enterprise-level workflows, emphasizing high performance, scalability, and stringent security measures. This article explores how Logic Apps ensures business continuity with geo-redundancy, automated backups, and advanced security features like IP restrictions and VNET integration. Discover why Azure Logic Apps is the preferred choice for secure and scalable automation in large organizations.
