Azure Web Apps – The Ideal Platform for Hosting Web Applications

Web app hosting is the process of publishing an application on the internet for users to use at any time and from any location. Traditionally, web app hosting has been a cumbersome task and has required a high level of financial capability to create the full infrastructure of checking when the server is up, getting the updated OS (operating system), and running IIS (Internet Information Services).

But now the current trend is to go with hosting service platforms such as Microsoft Azure Web App , which will take care of all your web application’s infrastructure needs at a very minimal cost. According to the reports, the global web hosting services market is projected to grow from $57.66 billion in 2020 with a CAGR of 10.60% to reach $130.12 billion by 2028.

In this article, we'll let you know the advantages of using Azure Web Apps and why businesses should use Azure Web App hosting services.

Benefits of using Azure Web Apps

Azure Web Apps is a cloud-computing platform from Microsoft that has been designed with the purpose of helping software developers and businesses to easily and quickly create, deploy, and manage web applications.

1. Ease of Use

One of the primary advantages of Azure Web Apps is that it allows software developers to easily create and deploy web applications. Instead, developers can use the platform to quickly create and deploy their applications without having to worry about hardware and software compatibility issues.

2. Scalability

Users can scale their applications easily and quickly, which allows them to ensure that they are paying only for the resources that they need. This helps users optimize their hosting performance and minimize their costs.

3. Cost-Effective

Azure Web Apps offers its users a cost-effective hosting solution. It allows software developers to host their applications without having to pay for expensive infrastructure or invest in additional hardware. Additionally, the platform offers its users the ability to pay only for the services they use, which makes it an ideal choice for the clients with limited budgets.

4. Reliability

In addition to its ease of use, less costing and scalability, Azure Web application also provides users with a reliable hosting platform. It is built on reliable infrastructure, which ensures that the platform runs smoothly and is able to handle large amounts of traffic without any disruption.

5. Security

This platform (an Azure serverless web app hosting platform) provides high levels of security and ensures that all web applications are safe from malicious attacks or unauthorized access.

6. Availability

The Azure web application platform offers high availability and uptime, which ensures that applications remain up and running even during peak usage periods.

7. Time Saving

When compared to operating system patches, Azure Web Apps are Microsoft's cloud offering that saves time in web development processes, maintenance, and testing.

Why should businesses use Azure Web Apps hosting services?

Azure Web Apps offers numerous benefits to businesses, including cost savings, time savings, and much more. It eliminates the need for businesses to hire a dedicated web development team or spend extra money on hardware and software infrastructure. Here is the extensive list of benefits that a business can get from Azure Web Apps:

1. Pay as you go feature

Businesses that opt for Microsoft Azure web application can go for the "pay as you go" option, which means they can pay according to their monthly budget and needs with short-term contractual commitments without paying any extra fees.

2. Get the savings plan

Businesses can easily get the discounts if they choose to pay a fixed hourly amount for a tenure of one to three years. The users can also get the estimated cost of using the Azure Web App hosting services using the Azure pricing calculator before they start with it.

3. Increases developer’s productivity

The Microsoft Azure Web App helps in increasing the developer's productivity with the feature of quick deployment from various Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) such as Visual Studio. The developers can also connect with the different databases through the Azure Marketplace. The Azure portal also provides quick and custom domains, single sign-on integration, and monitoring of the apps.

4. No need to maintain the server infrastructure

The Azure app server , which is actually an Azure serverless web app , will handle all server infrastructure, leaving the developer to focus on deploying the apps while Azure handles the rest.

5. Ensures security and standards

It provides multi-level security and authentication and maintains the ISO (Information Security Standards), SOC 2 (System and Organization Controls) accounting standards, and PCI DSS security standards, as well as being the best service provider to deliver on enterprise-level service level agreements.

6. Supports multiple languages

Microsoft Azure web app supports multiple languages on the operating system, such as Node.js, PHP, etc., on Windows and Linux.

7. Easy deployment and scaling

As the businesses are operating at a global level with remote workers working from any part of the world, the Azure Web Apps will help them deploy apps anytime and anywhere with a single click. Also, it allows managers to automatically scale their applications as the number of team members increases or decreases, making it an ideal choice for businesses that are looking for scalability.

8. Offers hybrid model

Apps deployed on Azure Web Apps can be easily run on both cloud platforms with Azure national clouds and businesses' in-house platforms with Azure Stack, having excellent performance, security, and scaling features.

9. Quick observations

The Azure Web Apps will keep up with the checks on the performance of the web applications and provide recommendations as well. The Azure Monitor will provide detailed analysis to the developers regarding the app response time, throughput, error trend, and memory consumed.

10. Integration to SaaS

As Azure Web Apps is a Platform as a service (PaaS), the apps deployed on them can be easily integrated to SaaS (Software as a service) platforms such as Office 365, Dropbox, Salesforce, etc. which help in reducing the time and cost.

Conclusion

Therefore, Azure Web Apps is an efficient and cost-effective solution for hosting web applications for businesses. It is easy to use, reliable, secure, and offers high availability and uptime. It also allows businesses to scale their applications as needed, which makes it an ideal choice for businesses of all sizes looking for ways to optimize their hosting performance.

Certified cloud company in Pune India - Cloud IBN can be your Azure Web App hosting services provider, and we have been one of the premium hosting service providers over the last 20 years. We are also a Microsoft Azure Gold Cloud Partner with a certified team of experts for providing high-quality services on Microsoft Azure.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How do I backup my Azure Web App?

The Azure Web App backupcan be done in two ways: automatic backups and custom backups.

• The automatic backups are available in the regular way from the pricing tiers, and they require the storage account, whereas custom backups can be requested by the user and do not require the storage account.
• The backup size offered in automatic backups is 30 GB and does not provide backup for linked databases, whereas custom backups provide 10 GB of backup size and provide 4 GB of backup for linked databases such as SQL, MySQL, and Azure databases.
• Automatic backups cannot be downloaded and do not offer the partial backup facility, whereas custom backups can be downloaded and are supported for partial backups.
• Automated backup settings cannot be changed and are done on an hourly basis, whereas custom backups can be changed according to the user's requirements.

What is the difference between Azure Web Apps and Azure App Service?

Microsoft Azure offers two types of services, which are Azure Web Apps and Azure App Service. Both are PaaS platforms that provide hosting for web applications, but there are some differences between the two. The usage of both services is totally dependent on the developer’s needs and choices.

• Azure Web Apps is simpler to use, supports more languages, and provides auto-scaling and monitoring facilities as compared to the Azure App Service.
• When compared to Azure Web Apps , Azure App Service is older, offers more flexibility, supports web, mobile, and APIs, and helps with the deployment of apps in containers.

What is the difference between websites and web applications?

Both terms are often confusing for the users, but there are differences between a website and a web application.

• A website provides static content that can only be read by the users, whereas a web application is an interactive tool for the end users and can be modified by them.
• Authentication is not required for the websites, but web applications require it.
• The website is the complete product and can be accessed with the help of the browser, whereas the web application is a part of the website.
• The integration process is simpler for websites, and the changes can be done easily after the deployment, but web development has a complex integration process, and the changes are tough and time-consuming after the deployment.