Sunday, 13 November 2022

Previously

In the previous article I talked about publishing this blog website to an Azure Web App.

Publishing the ASPNET website to Azure

Intro & Goal

Have you ever had multiple applications running on different App Service Plans? Sometimes there's a good reason and it's for the best. But at other times it might be a better idea to consolidate your applications on one App Service Plan.

Azure App Service Plan Documentation

Check Should I put an app in a new plan or an existing plan? for more details

For my blog website I have created a Web App in a dedicated App Service Plan of type Free F1 Plan. On it's own, this is not a bad idea. It's a small website I just started, there's not a lot of traffic and I didn't mind the default Azure url.

Upscaling the App Service Plan
Moving the App Service
Conclusion

Upscaling the App Service Plan

So now I've changed my mind. I already have another website running in Azure, https://www.theridion.it, which is my company website. It's also a small website and it already had an App Service Plan. So why not put both websites on the same App Service Plan? The App Service Plan for my company website is of type D1, also Shared Infrastructure. The main visible difference between F and D1 Plans is that the D1 Plan support configuration for Custom Domains. With the option to configure the Custom Domains, you can have a clean url of your own choosing instead of the default azurewebsites.net domain url. And obviously, we're moving away from the Free plan so that comes with an extra cost.

Another important but not so obvious detail of the Shared Infrastructure Plan is that each application in the Service Plan pays for the CPU quota.

App Service Plan Documentation

Check How much does my App Service plan cost? for mor details

Moving the App Service

Now I'm going to focus on moving my blog website to the previously existing App Service Plan. And this can't be any easier.

The following steps were taken:
  1. In the Azure Portal, navigate to the App Service you wish to move.
  2. Navigate to the App Service Plan section in the sub menu and click Change App Service Plan.
  3. You get to see the details of the App Service's current App Service Plan. In my case, I'm moving the App Service to an existing App Service Plan. But you can also move it to a completely new one in case your situation requires so.
  4. Be aware that moving an App Service might have implications regarding to the App Service Plan you wish to move to. The exact requirements can be found in the Azure App Service Plan Documentation Move an app to another App Service plan.
  5. Click Ok to finalize. And that's it.

Conclusion

Not only is this functionality provided out of the box without having to script around. What surprises me the most is that the move process is really fast. In a fraction of a second, the change is effectuated without practically no downtime. Be aware that this is not an elaborate web application, so the impact is minimal. Depending on the size and complexity of your application, the impact can differ.

Documentation Reference

Next

In the next article I'm going to discuss how to map a custom domain to the App Service.

Map a custom domain to your App Service