MS Azure Intermediate: Creating an App Service

Name: MS Azure Intermediate: Creating an App Service
Author: Steven Burnley

Learn about app services and how these are used to deploy web applications.

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Course: On-Demand

In this lesson, I'll show you how to host web applications in Azure, and how to set up the basics of an application service plan and a web app service. One of the things to know about web apps in an Azure subscription is that it supports applications written in many of the popular programming languages. That means that an Azure web app is capable of hosting many different vendors, web applications not just Microsoft web applications. This includes Java, JavaScript, .net, and Ruby on Rails. Those are some of the most popular development platforms ever. You'll also notice in the middle of the page that it hosts more than just custom applications written in development tools, it also hosts many common content management platforms such as WordPress or Joomla. So between custom written applications or deploying third party or open source applications, you'll find that web apps are a very flexible way for you to host solutions in the cloud. Let's go to the Azure portal and talk about the foundations for setting up a web application in Azure. The first thing that we need to do before we would deploy web applications in an Azure subscription is we must create a web application. Let's search for that now in the search menu up at the top of the screen. You can see here that application services pops up when we type web apps, let's select that menu option. You can see that this subscription does not have any web applications installed yet, we can create one by using the create button at the top of the screen, let's click that now. We're now presented with the configuration requirements for creating a web application in an Azure subscription. As with all Azure resources, the first thing that we must do is select the resource group where we would like the resource deployed. We'll select rg1. The next thing we'll have to do is pick a name for our web application. It's very common for web applications to have custom names assigned to your organization, such as your domain.com. We can configure DNS names like that after the web application has been created. For now, when the web application is first created, you must give it a custom name to be hosted in the domain azurewebsites.net. Every website hosted in Azure can be reached in this domain .azurewebsites.net. That means we must pick a globally unique name here. Let's type that in now, you can see that we have selected a globally unique name across the Azure Cloud, so now our website will be called demokcwebapp.azurewebsites.net that will be the default name for the site. We'll show you how to apply different domain names so that you can provide something more friendly or customized for your organization. The next thing that we need to do is pick the runtime environment for our application code. This shows you the flexibility of an Azure subscription, meaning that your developers could have written a custom application in any of the programming languages listed below. This would include applications written on microsoft.net framework, the Go programming language, Java, node, which is JavaScript, PHP, Python, and Ruby. All of these platforms and many different versions of these platforms can be hosted in an Azure web app. We're gonna select a .net application, specifically .net 6. The next thing we need to select is the region where we would like this hosted. In this particular case, we are presented with a default location of the East US. One of the benefits of an Azure subscription is the ability to create and deploy resources anywhere in the world. It's always recommended for you to create your resources close to the users who will use them. For example, if I'm in the United States in the East US I might be tempted to choose that as my region for my web server, but if most of my customers will be residing in Canada, it would make more sense for me to select one of the data centers in Canada for my web hosting. You have the power as the administrator of an Azure subscription to create resources anywhere in the world, so take advantage of this and create resources close to the users that will use them, that will give them the best performance. In this case, I'll leave it at the default of East US. The next option that we have is where we will select the hardware hosting plan for our web server. We do not have one set up yet so we're gonna create one on the fly, so I'm gonna click the create new button. I'm gonna call this my web hosting plan. Now that I've created this web hosting plan, I'm now presented with the option for what sort of hardware services I would like to purchase for this plan. This is gonna determine the performance of my web server. Let's click the explore pricing plans to see what sort of hosting options are available in Azure. An important thing to consider on the right hand side of the screen is the cost per month. You can see that hosting plans range widely from as low as $10 a month to several thousand dollars per month. This is all based upon the performance requirements of your program. A mid-range plan would be something like the standard S1 plan, meaning you could host a web server for around $43 a month. Another thing to keep in mind is that you will be able to install more than one web app on this service plan. So if you have several web applications that could share the resources of one of these plans, you can actually deploy it that way and perhaps save money by combining websites onto a single service plan. We're gonna go ahead and select the standard S1 plan and click select. Now that I have selected a web hosting plan and I know my monthly budget, I am now ready to deploy my web application server. So let's click review and create. Azure will now validate the parameters that we configured and because of past validation, we can now select the create button. Azure is now provisioning the resources to create our new web application server and first web app called Demo KC Web app. In a moment we'll be able to click the go to resource button and examine the results of this creation process. Azure has completed the configuration of this resource so let's click the go to resource button. You can now see that we have successfully created a web application called demokcwebapp. You can also see on the right hand side of the screen there is now a URL associated with this website. If I click the copy button and start a new tab in my browser, you'll notice that I can actually go to my brand new website. Of course, we have not deployed any of our custom application code to this site so we are presented with a default screen showing us confirmation that the website is up and running and waiting for us to deploy our custom application code. Stay tuned for the next lesson where I will show you how to deploy a web application to this web application service.

Intermediate Provider : Steven Burnley 3 Lessons · 29m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

In these lessons you will learn about app services and how they are used to host web applications. App services are a flexible way for developers to deploy web applications based on a variety of programming languages. These lessons will teach you how to deploy web applications and configure their settings. One of the most common uses of a cloud subscription is hosting web applications for customers or members of an organization, and Azure is the perfect tool.

To host web applications in an Azure subscription, you will create an app service, a resource type that allows you to deploy applications across a variety of programming languages and operating systems. We will review the configuration options for deploying app services, including selecting a geographical location and the appropriate hardware plan. You will also learn how to provide deployment credentials to developers, allowing them to install their custom applications. We will also cover how to change configuration options, including app settings and connection strings, which will allow you to customize the configuration of your application in the Azure portal.

What You'll Learn

Explore common uses for app services and how they host web applications
Examine options for creating an app service, including geographical location and hardware plan
Deploy web applications across a variety of programming languages and operating systems
Provide deployment credentials to developers so they can install custom applications
Configure app settings and connection strings to customize an application in the Azure portal
Manage a deployed web application within an Azure subscription

Key Takeaways

App services are a flexible way for developers to deploy web applications based on a variety of programming languages.
An app service is a resource type that lets you deploy applications across a variety of programming languages and operating systems.
Creating an app service includes configuration options such as selecting a geographical location and the appropriate hardware plan.
Deployment credentials can be provided to developers, allowing them to install their custom applications.
App settings and connection strings can be changed to customize an application's configuration in the Azure portal.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this course cover?

It teaches what app services are and how they are used to host web applications, how to deploy web applications, and how to configure their settings in Azure, including app settings and connection strings.

What will I be able to do after taking this course?

You will be able to explore common uses for app services, examine options for creating app services, and deploy an app service.

What configuration options are discussed for creating an app service?

The course reviews configuration options for deploying app services, including selecting a geographical location and the appropriate hardware plan.

What lessons are included?

The course includes three lessons: Creating a Web App Service, Deploying a Web Application, and Managing a Web Application.

What skills does this course build?

It builds skills in Application Deployment, Application Services, Azure API Apps, Azure Cloud Services, Azure Web Apps, and Web Services.