ASP.NET SignalR is a library for web developers that simplifies the process of adding real-time web functionality to applications. Real-time web functionality enables server-side code to push content to clients instantly. This library is available in both the flavors – ASP.NET and ASP.NET Core. Besides that they are open source libraries and available in github to use.
ASP.NET SignalR is developed and deployed along with web applications to provide real time communication. Its the responsibility of DevOps to take care of the performance, availability, reliability of the SignalR component. Furthermore it requires a constant monitoring of the infrastructure to support scale-out, sticky sessions etc. They are complex in nature when considered at a large scale. Wouldn’t it be great to consider a service offering to handle all such difficult stuffs for us and our focus is to build the application functionality? The answer is “Azure SignalR Service“.

Azure SignalR Service is a “Platform As A Service” introduced in //BUILD2018. Currently it’s “In Preview” and available in 5 regions only (East US, West US, West US 2, Southeast Asia and West Europe – the list may change over the period of time). It is a “Fully Managed Service” and takes care of the performance(scale-out), connection reliability etc. as part of the offering. Probably a similar kind of service offered by Pusher.

The service works seamlessly with ASP.NET Core 2.1. Initially there are two pricing options available

• Dev/Test – FREE with limited compute capacity
• Standard – “Pay As You Go” model with high compute capacity

This article will guide you how to create the Azure SignalR Service from Azure Portal.
Open Azure Portal and “Create a resource”. Search for SignalR Service and click to open the create resource panel.

Pressing create will open the details panel. Please check the details mentioned blow

• Resource Name – Name of the service instance
• Subscription – By default, it will be filled in with the subscription details
• Resource Group – Select any existing or new resource group. Resource group helps you to group the services for better manageability
• Location – Choose the region near to your location
• Pricing Tier – Choose the Pricing Tier
• Unit Count – Select the unit count. Choosing Dev/Test will restrict you to use 1 unit only

Pressing create will provision the service. Once done, you will receive a notification in the portal.
Once created, open the service and go to Keys section to retrieve the primary or secondary connection string. These keys allow you to connect to the SignalR service. If one of the keys are compromised, you can use another key to continue.

Last but not least, you can monitor the connections and number of messages to track the service. Click on Overview to see the dashboard.

Its time to give it a try and share the feedback with the team.