eshop-distributed

A distributed e-commerce reference application built with .NET Aspire, demonstrating modern microservices architecture, cloud-native patterns, and Generative AI integration.

Overview

This project showcases a distributed system implementation using .NET Aspire to orchestrate multiple microservices and backing stores. It includes a Blazor Server frontend, backend APIs for Catalog and Basket, and integrates with various infrastructure services like Redis, RabbitMQ, Keycloak, and Ollama for AI capabilities.

Architecture

The system consists of the following components:

graph TD
    subgraph "Frontend"
        WebApp["WebApp (Blazor Server)"]
    end

    subgraph "Backing Services"
        Redis["Redis (Cache)"]
        RabbitMQ["RabbitMQ (Event Bus)"]
        Postgres["PostgreSQL (Catalog DB)"]
        Keycloak["Keycloak (Identity)"]
        Ollama["Ollama (AI Models)"]
    end

    subgraph "Services"
        Catalog["Catalog Service"]
        Basket["Basket Service"]
    end

    %% Relationships
    WebApp -->|HTTP| Catalog
    WebApp -->|HTTP| Basket
    WebApp -->|Output Cache| Redis
    
    Catalog -->|PostgreSQL| Postgres
    Catalog -->|Publish| RabbitMQ
    Catalog -->|"AI/Embeddings"| Ollama
    
    Basket -->|Distributed Cache| Redis
    Basket -->|Subscribe| RabbitMQ
    Basket -->|Auth| Keycloak
    Basket -->|HTTP| Catalog

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Components

• AppHost: The .NET Aspire orchestrator project that manages the lifecycle and configuration of all services and containers.
• ServiceDefaults: Shared project containing default configurations for OpenTelemetry, Health Checks, and Service Discovery.
• WebApp: A Blazor Server application serving as the frontend user interface.
• Catalog: Microservice responsible for managing product data, utilizing PostgreSQL for storage and Ollama for AI-powered features (embeddings/text generation).
• Basket: Microservice for managing user shopping carts, utilizing Redis for performant caching and Keycloak for identity management.

Infrastructure & Backing Services

• App Host Orchestration: Automatically provisions and configures containers for development.
• PostgreSQL: Relational database for the Catalog service.
• Redis: Distributed cache and output cache provider.
• RabbitMQ: Message broker for asynchronous event-driven communication.
• Keycloak: Identity and Access Management (IAM) solution.
• Ollama: Local LLM provider hosting llama3.2 and all-minilm models for AI features.
• SQL Server: Available as an additional database option.

Prerequisites

Ensure you have the following installed to run the solution:

• .NET 8 SDK (or later)
• Docker Desktop (Required for containers)
• Visual Studio 2022 (Version 17.9+ with .NET Aspire workload) OR VS Code with C# Dev Kit.

Getting Started

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/datngw/dotnet-aspire.git
   cd dotnet-aspire

2. Trust the HTTPS development certificate:

   dotnet dev-certs https --trust

3. Run the application: Navigate to the AppHost directory and run:

   cd AppHost
   dotnet run

   Or simply press F5 in Visual Studio with AppHost set as the startup project.

4. Access the Dashboard: The .NET Aspire Dashboard will launch automatically, providing a central view of all running services, logs, traces, and metrics. You can access the WebApp and other service endpoints directly from there.

Project Structure

eshop-distributed/
├── AppHost/                # .NET Aspire Orchestrator
│   └── Program.cs          # Service registration & orchestration
├── ServiceDefaults/        # Shared defaults (OpenTelemetry, HealthChecks)
│   └── Extensions.cs       # Cross-cutting concerns configuration
├── WebApp/                 # Blazor Server Frontend
│   ├── ApiClients/         # Typed HTTP clients for backend services
│   ├── Components/         # Blazor UI components & pages
│   ├── Services/           # Frontend business logic
│   └── wwwroot/            # Static assets (CSS, JS, images)
├── Catalog/                # Product Service (Minimal API)
│   ├── Data/               # Database context & migrations (PostgreSQL)
│   ├── Endpoints/          # API route definitions
│   ├── Models/             # Domain entities & DTOs
│   └── Services/           # Business logic & AI integration
└── Basket/                 # Basket Service (Minimal API)
    ├── Endpoints/          # API route definitions
    ├── EventHandlers/      # RabbitMQ event consumers
    ├── Models/             # Domain entities (Redis)
    └── Services/           # Business logic

References

• Course: .NET Aspire & GenAI: Develop Distributed Architectures