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Azure App Service

Short Introduction​

Azure App Service is Microsoft's fully managed platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offering for hosting web applications, REST APIs, and mobile backends. It provides built-in auto-scaling, load balancing, security, and DevOps integration without requiring infrastructure management.

Official Definition​

"Azure App Service is an HTTP-based service for hosting web applications, REST APIs, and mobile back ends. You can develop in your favorite language, be it .NET, .NET Core, Java, Ruby, Node.js, PHP, or Python."

Setup and Deployment Steps​

Azure CLI Setup​

# Login to Azure
az login

# Create resource group
az group create --name myResourceGroup --location "East US"

# Create App Service plan
az appservice plan create --name myAppServicePlan --resource-group myResourceGroup --sku B1

# Create web app
az webapp create --resource-group myResourceGroup --plan myAppServicePlan --name myUniqueAppName --runtime "DOTNET|8.0"

# Deploy from local folder
az webapp up --name myUniqueAppName --resource-group myResourceGroup

Bicep Template​

param appName string = 'myapp${uniqueString(resourceGroup().id)}'
param location string = resourceGroup().location

resource appServicePlan 'Microsoft.Web/serverfarms@2022-03-01' = {
  name: '${appName}-plan'
  location: location
  sku: {
    name: 'B1'
    tier: 'Basic'
  }
  properties: {
    reserved: false
  }
}

resource webApp 'Microsoft.Web/sites@2022-03-01' = {
  name: appName
  location: location
  properties: {
    serverFarmId: appServicePlan.id
    siteConfig: {
      netFrameworkVersion: 'v8.0'
      metadata: [
        {
          name: 'CURRENT_STACK'
          value: 'dotnet'
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Typical Usage and Integration with .NET Apps​

// Program.cs for App Service deployment
var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Add services
builder.Services.AddControllers();
builder.Services.AddEndpointsApiExplorer();
builder.Services.AddSwaggerGen();

// Configure for App Service
builder.Services.Configure<ForwardedHeadersOptions>(options =>
{
    options.ForwardedHeaders = ForwardedHeaders.XForwardedFor | ForwardedHeaders.XForwardedProto;
});

var app = builder.Build();

// Configure pipeline for App Service
app.UseForwardedHeaders();

if (app.Environment.IsDevelopment())
{
    app.UseSwagger();
    app.UseSwaggerUI();
}

app.UseHttpsRedirection();
app.UseAuthorization();
app.MapControllers();

app.Run();

Configuration in appsettings.json​

{
  "Logging": {
    "LogLevel": {
      "Default": "Information",
      "Microsoft.AspNetCore": "Warning"
    }
  },
  "AllowedHosts": "*",
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "DefaultConnection": "Server=tcp:myserver.database.windows.net,1433;Database=mydb;User ID=myuser;Password={your_password};Encrypt=True;"
  }
}

Use Cases​

  • Web applications and APIs requiring quick deployment
  • Applications needing built-in scaling and load balancing
  • DevOps integration with Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions
  • Applications requiring SSL certificates and custom domains
  • Staging and production slot deployments
  • Integration with other Azure services (SQL Database, Storage, etc.)

When to Use vs Alternatives​

Use Azure App Service when​

  • You need rapid deployment without infrastructure management
  • Auto-scaling based on metrics is important
  • Built-in CI/CD integration is valuable
  • SSL and custom domain management should be automated

Don't use when​

  • You need full control over the underlying OS
  • Custom software installation is required
  • Cost optimization for always-on applications is critical
  • Multi-cloud deployment is a requirement

Alternatives​

  • AWS: Elastic Beanstalk, AWS Lambda (serverless)
  • GCP: App Engine, Cloud Run
  • Self-hosted: Docker containers on VMs, Kubernetes

Market Pros/Cons and Cost Considerations​

Pros​

  • Zero infrastructure management
  • Built-in auto-scaling and load balancing
  • Integrated with Azure ecosystem
  • Easy SSL certificate management
  • Deployment slots for blue-green deployments

Cons​

  • Vendor lock-in to Azure
  • Limited customization of underlying infrastructure
  • Can be expensive for high-traffic applications
  • Cold start issues with lower-tier plans

Cost Considerations​

  • Free tier available (limited resources)
  • Basic plans start at ~$13/month
  • Standard plans (~$56/month) include staging slots
  • Premium plans (~$112/month) include advanced scaling