Deploy on Azure

Run Elixium on Microsoft Azure using Azure Container Apps for containers, Azure Database for PostgreSQL for the database, and Azure Blob Storage for objects. This guide covers a production-ready deployment using managed Azure services.

Prerequisites

Azure subscription with an active resource group
Azure CLI configured (az login)
Docker installed locally (for image pull/push)
Elixium enterprise license key

Architecture Overview

Component	Azure Service	Notes
Frontend + API	Azure Container Apps	Serverless containers, scales to zero
Database	Azure Database for PostgreSQL (Flexible Server)	Managed backups, HA optional
File Storage	Azure Blob Storage	S3-compatible via Azurite or gateway
Authentication	Azure Container Apps (Keycloak)	Backed by PostgreSQL
AI Inference	Gemini (default), OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, or Ollama (external GPU)	Cloud AI provider or self-hosted Ollama
Container Registry	Azure Container Registry (ACR)	Mirror images from GHCR

Step 1: Create Resource Group & Container Registry

Set up the resource group and push Elixium images to Azure Container Registry:

# Create resource group
az group create --name elixium-rg --location <region>

# Create Azure Container Registry
az acr create --resource-group elixium-rg \
  --name elixiumacr --sku Basic

# Log in to ACR
az acr login --name elixiumacr

# Pull from GHCR and push to ACR
docker login ghcr.io
docker pull ghcr.io/indirecttek/elixium-app:latest
docker pull ghcr.io/indirecttek/elixium-api:latest

docker tag ghcr.io/indirecttek/elixium-app:latest \
  elixiumacr.azurecr.io/elixium-app:latest
docker tag ghcr.io/indirecttek/elixium-api:latest \
  elixiumacr.azurecr.io/elixium-api:latest

docker push elixiumacr.azurecr.io/elixium-app:latest
docker push elixiumacr.azurecr.io/elixium-api:latest

Step 2: Provision Infrastructure

Azure Database for PostgreSQL

az postgres flexible-server create \
  --resource-group elixium-rg \
  --name elixium-db \
  --location <region> \
  --admin-user elixium \
  --admin-password <your-secure-password> \
  --sku-name Standard_B1ms \
  --version 16 \
  --storage-size 32

az postgres flexible-server db create \
  --resource-group elixium-rg \
  --server-name elixium-db \
  --database-name elixium

Azure Blob Storage

az storage account create \
  --resource-group elixium-rg \
  --name elixiumuploads \
  --location <region> \
  --sku Standard_LRS

# Create container for uploads
az storage container create \
  --account-name elixiumuploads \
  --name elixium-uploads \
  --public-access blob

# Get storage key for S3-compatible access
az storage account keys list \
  --resource-group elixium-rg \
  --account-name elixiumuploads

Step 3: Create Container Apps Environment

Azure Container Apps provides a managed environment for running containers with built-in scaling, HTTPS ingress, and service discovery:

# Create Container Apps environment
az containerapp env create \
  --resource-group elixium-rg \
  --name elixium-env \
  --location <region>

# Enable ACR access for the environment
az containerapp env identity assign \
  --resource-group elixium-rg \
  --name elixium-env \
  --system-assigned

Step 4: Deploy Container Apps

Keycloak

az containerapp create \
  --resource-group elixium-rg \
  --environment elixium-env \
  --name keycloak \
  --image quay.io/keycloak/keycloak:23.0 \
  --target-port 8080 \
  --ingress external \
  --cpu 1.0 --memory 2.0Gi \
  --min-replicas 1 --max-replicas 2 \
  --command "start" "--import-realm" "--health-enabled=true" \
  --env-vars \
    KC_DB=postgres \
    KC_DB_URL="jdbc:postgresql://elixium-db.postgres.database.azure.com:5432/elixium" \
    KC_DB_USERNAME=elixium \
    KC_DB_PASSWORD=<your-secure-password> \
    KC_HOSTNAME_STRICT=false \
    KC_HTTP_ENABLED=true \
    KC_HEALTH_ENABLED=true

Elixium API

az containerapp create \
  --resource-group elixium-rg \
  --environment elixium-env \
  --name elixium-api \
  --image elixiumacr.azurecr.io/elixium-api:latest \
  --registry-server elixiumacr.azurecr.io \
  --target-port 3001 \
  --ingress external \
  --cpu 1.0 --memory 2.0Gi \
  --min-replicas 1 --max-replicas 4 \
  --env-vars \
    ELIXIUM_MODE=local \
    NODE_ENV=production \
    DATABASE_URL="postgresql://elixium:<password>@elixium-db.postgres.database.azure.com:5432/elixium?sslmode=require" \
    KEYCLOAK_URL=https://<keycloak-app-url> \
    KEYCLOAK_REALM=elixium \
    KEYCLOAK_CLIENT_SECRET=<your-client-secret> \
    AI_PROVIDER=gemini \
    MINIO_ENDPOINT=elixiumuploads.blob.core.windows.net \
    ELIXIUM_LICENSE_KEY=<your-license-key>

Elixium App (Frontend)

az containerapp create \
  --resource-group elixium-rg \
  --environment elixium-env \
  --name elixium-app \
  --image elixiumacr.azurecr.io/elixium-app:latest \
  --registry-server elixiumacr.azurecr.io \
  --target-port 3000 \
  --ingress external \
  --cpu 0.5 --memory 1.0Gi \
  --min-replicas 1 --max-replicas 4 \
  --env-vars \
    ELIXIUM_MODE=local \
    NODE_ENV=production \
    NEXT_PUBLIC_ELIXIUM_MODE=local \
    NEXT_PUBLIC_KEYCLOAK_URL=https://<keycloak-app-url>

Step 5: Custom Domain & TLS

# Add custom domain to Container App
az containerapp hostname add \
  --resource-group elixium-rg \
  --name elixium-app \
  --hostname elixium.yourcompany.com

# Bind a managed certificate (auto-renewing TLS)
az containerapp hostname bind \
  --resource-group elixium-rg \
  --name elixium-app \
  --hostname elixium.yourcompany.com \
  --environment elixium-env \
  --validation-method CNAME

Add the CNAME record shown in the output to your DNS provider. Azure Container Apps provides free managed TLS certificates that auto-renew.

Estimated Monthly Cost

Service	Configuration	Est. Cost
Container Apps (3 apps)	App + API + Keycloak, min 1 replica	~$80
PostgreSQL Flexible Server	Standard_B1ms, 32GB storage	~$50
Blob Storage	Standard LRS, minimal usage	<$1
AI Provider (optional GPU)	Gemini API or Ollama on NC-series VM	$0–$350
Total (without GPU)		~$160/mo

Budget Option: Single Azure VM (~$35/mo)

For small teams (under 10 users), you can run all Elixium services on a single Azure VM using the same Docker Compose setup from the self-hosted guide. This eliminates the cost of Container Apps, managed PostgreSQL, and other services.

Terraform via Command Center (Coming Soon)

Terraform modules for Azure (including Azure Government) are on the roadmap. Once available, you'll be able to download a pre-configured deployment bundle from your Elixium Command Center (Settings → Deployment → Download Bundle) — the same workflow available today for AWS. In the meantime, use the manual setup below.

Manual Setup

Launch an Azure VM and follow the Self-Hosted (Docker) guide:

# 1. Create resource group
az group create --name elixium-rg --location <region>

# 2. Launch the VM
az vm create \
  --resource-group elixium-rg \
  --name elixium \
  --image Ubuntu2204 \
  --size Standard_B2s \
  --admin-username azureuser \
  --generate-ssh-keys \
  --os-disk-size-gb 30 \
  --public-ip-sku Standard

# 3. Open ports
az vm open-port --resource-group elixium-rg \
  --name elixium --port 80,443,3000

# 4. SSH in and install Docker
ssh azureuser@<public-ip>
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y docker.io docker-compose-v2
sudo systemctl enable --now docker

# 5. Follow the Self-Hosted (Docker) guide from here

Service	Configuration	Est. Cost
Azure VM	Standard_B2s (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM)	~$30
OS Disk	30GB Standard SSD	~$2
Public IP	Standard static IP	~$4
Total		~$36/mo

Trade-offs: No auto-scaling, no managed database backups (set up pg_dump cron), and a single point of failure. Great for getting started — you can migrate to the managed architecture above as your team grows.

Need help with your Azure deployment? Contact [email protected] or back to self-hosted docs.