Modern .NET Configuration Practices

Modern .NET applications mark a major shift from the legacy .NET Framework era. With that evolution comes a critical need to rethink how we manage configuration. Gone are the days of fragile web.config files and hardcoded secrets in source control. These outdated practices are not just inefficient, they’re a recipe for outages. As someone with a background in resiliency engineering, I’ve seen firsthand how a single mismanaged configuration change can take down an entire system. This session is about preventing that. We’ll cover how configuration works under the hood, and more importantly, how to test configuration changes safely so you can deploy with confidence and avoid costly surprises. We’ll also dive into practical, battle-tested strategies for modernizing configuration management in your .NET projects while boosting security, scalability, and uptime. You’ll Learn How To: Strongly Typed Configuration: Improve readability and catch errors early. Configuration Providers: Leverage JSON, XML, INI, environment variables, Azure App Config, and Key Vault effectively. Dependency Injection Integration: Modularize and simplify your configuration logic. Options Pattern: Enable flexible, scalable settings across your app. Containerized Applications: Securely manage secrets and environment-specific configs in Docker and Kubernetes. Deployment Strategies: Inject configurations safely using Azure DevOps Pipelines, GitHub Actions, and Kubernetes manifests. .NET Aspire Configuration: Streamline service-oriented setups in distributed systems. Whether you're building cloud-native apps or modernizing legacy systems, this session will equip you with the tools and mindset to make configuration a strength, not a liability.