ComUnity Platform – Azure Marketplace Reference
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📘 Azure Marketplace Deployment Guide – Step-by-step deployment instructions
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Overview
This document provides technical reference information for the ComUnity Platform Azure Marketplace offering. Use this alongside the Deployment Guide for detailed specifications, credential management, and architecture details. For an introduction to ComUnity and platform engineering concepts, see the ComUnity Platform - Technical Overview section.
Deployment Flow Overview
The deployment process follows these stages:
1. Marketplace Offer
Plan selection dropdown (Innovator, Town, etc.)
—
2. Basics Tab
Subscription, Resource Group, Region, Password, Application Name fields
—
3. Review + Create
Configuration summary, Co-Admin Access Permission checkbox, validation
1-2 min
4. Deployment Started
"Deployment is in progress" with Correlation ID
—
5. Managed App Created
Managed Application shows "Created" status
~2 min
6. Resources Provisioning
Resources appear in Managed Resource Group (30 total)
10-15 min
7. Custom Script Running
VM extension installing platform components
30-45 min
8. Deployment Complete
All resources show "Succeeded" status
—
Marketplace Offer Details
Offer Naming
The marketplace offer appears as "City as a Platform" or "ComUnity Platform". The "City as a Platform" naming reflects the target market of municipalities and smart city initiatives, but the toolkit deployed is the full ComUnity Developer Toolkit.
Available Plans
Seven pricing plans are available, scaled by municipality size:
Innovator
Sandbox/testing environments
Town
Small municipalities
Small City
Small city deployments
Medium City
Medium city deployments
Large City
Large city deployments
Metropolis
Metropolitan areas
Mega City
Major metropolitan regions
All plans deploy identical toolkit resources; the difference is in billing structure and support tiers. For testing, select the Innovator plan as noted in the marketplace listing.
What Gets Deployed
The marketplace deployment creates a Development environment only. QA and Production environments must be provisioned separately using the Infrastructure Management feature within the toolkit.
Resource Architecture
Resource Group Structure
The deployment creates a nested structure:
Marketplace Resource Group
User-created resource group containing the Managed Application wrapper
Managed Application
Azure marketplace wrapper that manages the lifecycle of deployed resources
Managed Resource Group
Auto-created resource group containing all actual platform resources
Navigating to Resources
From Marketplace Resource Group → Managed Application → Managed Resource Group:
Open your marketplace resource group (e.g.,
JPGTestMarketplaceDec)You'll see the Managed Application listed (e.g.,
JPGTestMarketPlaceApp)Click on the Managed Application to open its overview
In the Essentials section, click the Managed resource group link (e.g.,
mrg-city-as-a-platform24_4-preview-...)This opens the resource group containing all 30 platform resources
Azure Resources Created
The managed resource group contains approximately 30 resources:
Virtual Machine
(varies)
Hosts all platform components and services
Virtual Network
(varies)
Network infrastructure for VM and services
Network Security Group
(varies)
Firewall rules controlling inbound/outbound traffic
Public IP Address
(varies)
External access point for toolkit
Network Interface
(varies)
VM network connectivity
SQL Server
(varies)
Database server for platform and project databases
SQL Databases
(multiple)
Platform database, project databases
Storage Account
(varies)
File and media storage
Managed Disk
(varies)
VM operating system storage
Container Apps Environment
dev
Hosts observability container apps
Container App
grafana
Observability dashboards
Container App
loki
Log aggregation
Container App
tempo
Distributed tracing
Container App
prometheus
Metrics collection
Container App
thanos
Long-term metrics storage
Container App
otel-collector
OpenTelemetry data collection
Application Insights
appinsights*[suffix]*
Application monitoring and telemetry
App Configuration
appconfig*[suffix]*
Centralized application settings
Key Vault
kvcmty*[suffix]*
Secure storage for secrets and certificates
Log Analytics Workspace
obs-workspace
Centralized logging for observability
Note: Resource names include auto-generated suffixes (e.g.,
eukrhl5h4bmgc) to ensure uniqueness.
Platform Components (on VM)
The following services are installed on the Virtual Machine:
Config Hub
Centralized configuration management for all services
Auth Server
Authentication and authorization services (OAuth 2.0, Microsoft Entra)
Core Web Services
Platform APIs and core business logic
Deployment Agent
Automated deployment orchestration, database provisioning
Communications Server
Email, SMS, WhatsApp, and InApp messaging
Scheduler
Background job processing and scheduled tasks
Custom Web
Application hosting for built projects
Media Server
Media file processing and delivery
Data Services
Data access layer and ORM services
Credentials Reference
Credential Types
Toolkit Admin
admin@communityplatform.com
admin (default)
Web toolkit access
VM Administrator
azureuser (auto-set)
User-specified during deployment (Password field)
Remote Desktop (RDP) access
SQL Server Admin
Auto-generated
Auto-generated
Database management
Note: The VM username
azureuseris automatically configured during deployment. The Password you enter in the deployment form is used for this VM account.
Credential Retrieval
Toolkit Admin Credentials
Default credentials are fixed. Change immediately after first login via the toolkit's user management interface.
VM Credentials
The password is set during deployment and cannot be retrieved afterward. If lost:
Use Azure Portal's VM password reset feature, or
Redeploy the toolkit with a new password
SQL Server Credentials
Known Limitation: SQL credentials are auto-generated during deployment but are not currently exposed to users in the deployment outputs. This is being addressed in future versions.
Workaround: Contact ComUnity support to retrieve SQL credentials if direct database access is required.
When VM Access Is Needed
Most toolkit users never need VM access. VM login is required for:
Installing additional software on the VM
Reviewing VM-level logs for troubleshooting
Configuring Windows-level settings
Advanced maintenance operations
Access method: Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) to the public IP address
Configuration Parameters
Deployment Form Fields (Basics Tab)
Subscription
Yes
Must have Contributor or Owner role
Resource Group
Yes
Create new recommended. Use clear naming convention.
Region
Yes
Select region closest to users. All Azure regions supported.
Password
Yes
12+ chars, upper/lower/number/special required
Confirm password
Yes
Must match Password field
Application Name
Yes
Used in resource naming. Keep concise.
Managed Resource Group
Auto
Auto-populated with timestamp (e.g., mrg-city-as-a-platform24_4-preview-20251201140556). Cannot be edited.
Review + Create Tab
Before deployment, you must accept:
Co-Admin Access Permission
Grants ComUnity (the Provider) administrative access to Azure resources for support and management. Required checkbox.
Validation
Azure runs final validation before enabling the Create button
Viewing Deployment Parameters
After deployment, you can view configuration values:
Navigate to your Marketplace Resource Group
Click on the Managed Application
In the left sidebar under Settings, click Parameters and Outputs
Note: Passwords are not displayed for security reasons.
Installation Script Behaviour
Custom Script Extension
The Custom Script Extension runs a PowerShell script that:
Installs Windows components and prerequisites
Tests that all prerequisites installed correctly
Extracts platform component archive
Installs each platform service sequentially
Configures database connections
Loads platform icons and default data
Starts all services
Runs verification tests
Idempotent Design
The installation script is designed to be idempotent—it can be run multiple times safely:
Checks if services are already installed before installing
Skips completed steps on re-run
Always runs verification tests
Retries failed steps up to 3 times before failing
This means redeploying to the same resource group will pick up from where installation left off if a previous deployment failed.
Timing Breakdown
Windows components installation
5–10 minutes
Prerequisites testing
2–3 minutes
Platform archive extraction
5–8 minutes
Service installation (all components)
10–15 minutes
Platform icons loading
5–10 minutes
Final verification
2–3 minutes
Total
30–45 minutes
Known Limitations
SQL credentials not exposed
Auto-generated but not shown. Contact support for retrieval. Enhancement planned.
VM username auto-set
Automatically configured as azureuser. Cannot be customized during deployment.
Toolkit admin credentials fixed
Default admin/admin. Must change after login. Custom credentials during deploy planned.
App Registration required post-deploy
Manual setup required. Cannot be automated due to permission constraints. See Post-Deployment Setup.
Limited deployment feedback
Script may hang without clear error. Check Deployments view for status. Redeployment may resolve transient issues.
Dev environment only
QA/Production require Infrastructure Management feature. By design.
HTTP only by default
SSL/HTTPS requires post-deployment domain and certificate setup.
Co-Admin Access required
Must accept provider access permission to deploy. Required for support and management.
Region Considerations
The toolkit uses only standard Azure managed services and should deploy successfully in any Azure region. However:
Latency: Deploy to a region close to your users. Cross-region access increases response times.
Testing: Primary testing has been done in South Africa North. Other regions should work identically.
Resource availability: VM sizes may vary by region. The deployment template selects appropriate available SKUs.
Support Procedures
Support Contact Information
Support contact details are displayed in the Managed Application overview page after deployment:
Support Name
Ann Scott
Support Email
anns@comunityplatform.com
Support Phone
+27 82 453 9034
Support Link
https://www.comunityplatform.com/get_started.html
When to Contact Support
Deployment exceeds 90 minutes
Custom Script Extension fails with errors
Need SQL Server credentials
App Registration setup assistance
Domain and SSL configuration
Project build failures after deployment
Information to Provide
Azure subscription ID
Resource group name(s)
Deployment timestamp
Error messages from Deployments view (screenshots helpful)
Deployment operation details (tracking ID if available)
Related Documentation
Step-by-step deployment instructions
Creating QA and Production environments
App Registration Setup Guide
Configuring Azure AD for project builds (Coming Soon...)
Configuring monitoring and analytics
Technical architecture overview
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