Azure App Service Plan: Set Up and Scale with Easy Step-by-Step Guide

Azure App Service Plan is a game-changer for developers and businesses seeking to rapidly build, deploy, and scale web applications with minimal effort.

Azure App Service is more than a conventional app hosting solution; it is a fully managed platform offering a suite of tools and features that extend beyond traditional hosting capabilities.

It eliminates the need for manual server management and infrastructure setup, providing a cost-effective and flexible solution for deploying and scaling applications.

This blog provides a comprehensive overview of Azure App Service Plans with setup procedures, scaling options, and effective management strategies.

What is an Azure App Service Plan?

The Azure App Service Plan defines the pricing tier and compute resources (CPU, memory, storage) required to host your applications.

It includes:

  • Region: The Azure data center where the resources are deployed.
  • Instance Size: Specific compute resources (such as CPU, memory) allocated to the App Service.
  • Pricing Tier: Cost and features such as auto-scaling, SSL certificates, custom domains, etc.

With the App Service Plan, you can host multiple apps, and all apps share the same resources in the plan.

Key Features And Benefits Of Azure App Service Plan

Key Features

  • Scalability: Support scaling up (higher-tier instances) or out (more instances).
  • Flexibility: Options for development/testing, production workloads, and isolated environments.
  • Integrated Load Balancing: Built-in capabilities ensure application availability and reliability.
  • DevOps Integration: Supports CI/CD workflows with tools like Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, and Bitbucket.
  • Advanced Security Features: It offers enterprise-grade security through Azure App Service by protecting your applications and data with capabilities such as custom domains, SSL certificates, IP restrictions, and network isolation.  

Benefits

  • Cost Efficiency: Consolidate multiple apps in a single plan to share resources and reduce costs.
  • Global Reach and Availability: To minimize latency and enhance user experience worldwide, host your app in any of Azure’s global data centers.
  • Performance Optimization: Autoscaling keeps your app running smoothly during traffic spikes, while global deployment reduces latency for a faster user experience.
  • Developer Productivity: Simplifies application hosting by handling underlying infrastructure.  

Scenario: Setting Up Azure App Service for Scalable Web Application Hosting

A tech company is developing a customer-facing web app that needs to scale with user traffic and be hosted on a reliable platform.

Azure App Service Plan is a fully managed platform because it is easy to deploy, has high availability, and can scale resources.

Before deployment, an Azure App Service Plan needs to be created. This plan defines the app's compute resources, pricing tier, and region and enables resource scaling to ensure performance and cost efficiency as demand grows.

Prerequisites

Before you begin:

  • Ensure you have an active Azure subscription.
  • Plan your application’s workload to select the appropriate pricing tier.

Steps to Create an Azure App Service Plan

Step 1: Create an App Service Plan Using the Azure Portal

1) Navigate to the Azure Portal: Log in to the Azure Portal.

Azure Portal
Azure Portal

2) In the search bar, type App Service Plan and click the service.

Search for App Service Plan
Search for App Service Plan

3) Create a New Plan: Click "+ Create."

Create a new App Service Plan
Create a new App Service Plan

4) Configure Basic Settings:

  • Subscription: Choose the appropriate Azure subscription you’re using for the project.
  • Resource Group: This is a logical container that holds related Azure resources. You can select an existing group or create a new one for your project. We have created a new Resource Group named "test."
Create a new Resource Group
Create a new Resource Group
  • Name: Enter a unique name for your plan.
  • Region: Choose the region closest to your users for lower latency.
  • Pricing Tier: Click Change Size to select a tier that matches your workload needs (e.g., Free, Basic, Standard, Premium).
Configured the Name, Region, and Pricing Tier for the App Service Plan
Configured the Name, Region, and Pricing Tier for the App Service Plan

5) Review and Deploy:

  • After configuring, click Review + Create.
  • Verify the details and click Create.
Review and Create after checking all the required details
Review and Create after checking all the required details

Step 2: Navigate to Resource

  • Once the deployment is complete, navigate to your App Service Plan resource.
  • View the resource to start managing it.
Navigate to the resource to manage it
Navigate to the resource to manage it
Overview of our 'Test Service' plan
Overview of our 'Test Service' plan

Step 3: Create an App Service Plan Using Azure CLI

The Azure CLI is a powerful tool for managing Azure resources programmatically. Use the following codes:

1) For Log In:

az login

2) Create a Resource Group (if not already created):

az group create --name MyResourceGroup --location eastus

 3) Create the App Service Plan:

  •  Replace B1 with the desired pricing tier. Use --sku F1 for the free tier.
  • Add --is-linux for Linux-based hosting.
az appservice plan create --name MyAppServicePlan \ --resource-group MyResourceGroup \ --sku B1 \ --is-linux

4) Verify the Plan:

az appservice plan show --name MyAppServicePlan --resource-group MyResourceGroup

Scaling Your App Service Plan

Scaling ensures your applications can handle changing workloads. Azure offers two types of scaling:

1) Scale Up (Upgrade Pricing Tier):

  • In the Azure Portal, go to your App Service Plan.
  • Select Scale Up (App Service Plan).
Scale up plan
Scale up plan
  • Choose a higher pricing tier and save.
Choosing a higher tier to scale up
Choosing a higher tier to scale up

2) Scale Out (Increase Instances):

Add more instances to handle increased traffic.

  • Go to Scale Out (App Service Plan).
Scale Out plan
Scale Out plan
  • You can adjust the number of instances using the slider or autoscale settings (e.g., Scale Out when CPU > 70%). We have selected the "Manual" method in the Scale Out plan.
Manual method for Scale Out
Manual method for Scale Out

Autoscaling Tips: Use Azure Monitor to define rules that match your application's performance needs, ensuring efficiency and cost control.

End Product: What Do You Achieve?

By setting up an Azure App Service Plan, you achieve a scalable, cost-efficient hosting environment tailored to your application’s needs.

With minimal manual intervention, the platform ensures high availability, performance, and flexibility to adapt to changing demands.

Tips for Managing Azure App Service Plans

  • Monitor Resource Usage: The Azure Portal's Metrics blade allows you to monitor CPU, memory, and instance count and helps you identify application bottlenecks.
     Also, you can leverage Azure Application Insights to gain detailed insights into your app's performance, including requests, response times, errors, and dependencies, to help troubleshoot and improve your app.
  • Optimize Costs:  Consolidate multiple apps into a single plan to save costs. Use Reserved Instances for discounts on predictable workloads.
  • Leverage Autoscaling: Define autoscaling rules to add or remove instances based on demand dynamically. You can also create multiple profiles for different scenarios, such as scaling up during business hours and down during off-peak hours.
  • Review Pricing Tiers: Check your tier regularly to ensure it meets your app's needs. If it's too high, downgrade or upgrade for more features.

Conclusion

Azure App Service Plans provide a flexible and scalable foundation for hosting web applications. Whether deploying a small website or a large-scale enterprise solution, understanding and managing your App Service Plan effectively can optimize performance and cost.

Read More:


Azure App Service Plan: Set Up and Scale with Easy Step-by-Step Guide

Written By Prashansa Joshi

Dec 18, 2024

A cloud engineer with expertise in AWS and Azure services, driven by a passion for cloud technologies and automation. Skilled in designing and implementing scalable, secure, and cost-effective solutions across multi-cloud environments. Committed to continuous learning and leveraging best practices to optimize performance, streamline workflows, and drive innovation.

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