What is azure app service

In this article we will discuss what is azure app service.

App Service is a Platform as a Service (PaaS) offering from Microsoft. We use it to host web applications, REST API's and backend services for mobile applications.

It doesn't really matter which programming language or framework you have used. Web applications and services that are developed using any of the following programming languages or frameworks can be hosted using azure app service. It could be

.NET
.NET Core
Java
Ruby
Node.js
PHP
Python

Azure App Service v/s On-premise Hosting

How is hosting on azure app service different from hosting on your own on-premise server. In other words, why would anyone use azure app service instead of using other alternatives to host their applications.

Well, to understand this, it is very important you understand the difference between IaaS and Paas. We discussed these 2 concepts in detail in Parts 11 and 12 of our cloud computing tutorial.

With on-premise web hosting, you or your organisation is reponsible for managing pretty much everything.

You may have to spec out and procure physical servers, storage, networking equipment and all the related hardware.
Make sure there is main power supply, back-up power supply, cooling system etc are in place.
Install and set up the network
Install and configure virtualization software, operating system, any middleware or runtime components that your application needs
Install and configure a web server like IIS, Apache, Nginx etc.

Azure App Service is a Platform as a Service (PaaS) offering. This means you or your organization is only responsible for managing your business application and it's data. Everything else is managed by Azure. You don't have to worry about any of the things like, managing the network or underlying infrastructure. Installing the operating system updates, critical patches, runtime or middleware components. All these are taken care by Azure. This gives you, even more time to concentrate on what matters to your business.

Benefits of using azure app service

Fully managed environment

It's a fully managed environment, meaning App Service automatically patches and maintains the OS and language frameworks for you. You get the time to focus on designing, developing and maintaining your application and data.

Multiple programming languages and frameworks are supported

Azure App Service supports a wide variety of programming languages and frameworks.

.NET
.NET Core
Java
Ruby
Node.js
PHP
Python

You can also run PowerShell and other scripts or executables as background services.

Scalability

Based on the demand for your application, App Service can scale resources up and down or in and out. You can do this either manually if you want to or automatically based on metrics like CPU utilization for example.

Compliance

App Service is ISO (International Organization for Standardization), SOC (Service Organization Controls), and PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliant.

Security

Authenticate users with Azure Active Directory or any of the external authentication providers like Google, Facebook, Twitter, or Microsoft.

Support for Containerization and Docker

You can also host a custom Windows or Linux container in App Service. So, if you want to, you can dockerize your app and host it in App Service. You can also run multi-container apps with Docker Compose. We will discuss how to do all these in our upcoming videos.

DevOps optimization

Set up CI/CD i.e continuous integration and deployment with Azure DevOps, GitHub, BitBucket, Docker Hub, or Azure Container Registry.

Access on-premises data

With App Service you can still access data on your on-premise servers using Hybrid Connections and Azure Virtual Networks.

We will discuss how to create App Service and host your application in our next video.