Automatic Regeneration of Azure Managed Connectors Connection keys in VS Code Extension

[Guest WSilveira]

Starting with version 4.57.6, the Azure Logic Apps (Standard) extension for Visual Studio Code will automatically regenerate the connection keys required to allow the extension to access Azure Managed Connections. This will allow the same Azure Managed Connection to be used for projects for longer than 7 days without any user intervention.

 

 

 

Notice that this will not renew the key, for security purposes, but generate a new key and update the configuration to use the newly generated key instead.

 

 

 

The connection keys will be evaluated at two points in time to make sure the Azure Managed Connection keys are not expired:

 

 

 

• When the project is opened in VS Code - guaranteeing that if the connection key is required during design time, to access dynamically generated values, for example, the key is valid.
  
• When a project is executed - before the Logic Apps Standard host starts, - guaranteeing that the connection can be used during runtime.
  

 

 

 

[HEADING=1]What are those connection keys anyway?[/HEADING]

 

 

 

When a logic app needs to use Azure Managed Connections, that logic app requires authorization to access the connection, since each Azure Managed Connection is a discreet resource in Azure. That was always the case - both on Logic Apps Consumption and Logic Apps Standard. In the Consumption sku, all of this is managed by the engine behind the scenes. For Logic Apps Standard, on the other hand, each application must have its own authorization, guaranteeing that only authorized applications have access to those connections.

 

 

 

This access can be authorized using two methods:

 

 

 

• Managed identity authorization - this is the default method when you associate an action to a connection in a workflow using the portal designer, or when you deploy the logic app to the portal via VS Code.
  
• Raw authorization using connection keys - this is the only supported method of authorization when you associate an action to a connection in a workflow using the designer in VS Code. Those keys are valid for 7 days.
  

 

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