As the world becomes increasingly digital, businesses are looking for ways to make their web applications more accessible to users around the globe. One way to achieve this is by deploying your web app globally, which can improve performance, increase availability, and reduce latency. Azure Front Door is a cloud-based service provided by Microsoft that makes it easy to deploy web apps globally. In this tutorial, we will walk you through the steps required to deploy a web app globally with Azure Front Door.
Prerequisites
To follow this tutorial, you will need the following:
- An Azure subscription
- A web app deployed in Azure
- A custom domain name
- An SSL/TLS certificate for the custom domain name
Step 1: Create a Front Door resource
The first step in deploying your web app globally with Azure Front Door is to create a Front Door resource.
- Log in to the Azure portal.
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Click on “Create a resource” in the left-hand menu.
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In the search box, type “Front Door”.
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Select “Front Door” from the search results.
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Click on “Create” to begin creating a new Front Door resource.
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In the “Basics” tab, enter a name for your Front Door resource.
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Select the subscription, resource group, and location where you want to deploy your Front Door resource.
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Click on “Review + create” to review your settings.
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Once you have reviewed your settings, click on “Create” to create your Front Door resource.
Step 2: Add a frontend host
Now that you have created a Front Door resource, the next step is to add a frontend host. A frontend host is the domain name that you want to use for your web app.
- In the Azure portal, navigate to your Front Door resource.
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Click on “Frontend hosts”.
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Click on “Add”.
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Enter the name of your custom domain name (e.g. www.example.com).
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If you have an SSL/TLS certificate for your custom domain name, click on “Add certificate” and upload your certificate.
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Click on “Add” to add your frontend host.
Step 3: Add a backend pool
The next step is to add a backend pool. A backend pool is the collection of web app instances that your Front Door resource will load balance traffic across.
- In the Azure portal, navigate to your Front Door resource.
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Click on “Backend pools”.
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Click on “Add”.
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Enter a name for your backend pool.
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Under “Backend pool host name type”, select “Custom host name” and enter the hostname of your web app (e.g. mywebapp.azurewebsites.net).
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Click on “Add” to add your backend pool.
Step 4: Create a routing rule
The final step is to create a routing rule. A routing rule determines how traffic should be routed to your web app instances.
- In the Azure portal, navigate to your Front Door resource.
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Click on “Routing rules”.
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Click on “Add”.
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Enter a name for your routing rule.
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Under “Frontend hosts”, select the custom domain name that you added in Step 2.
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Under “Backend pool”, select the backend pool that you created in Step 3.
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Under “Routing settings”, select the protocol that your web app uses (e.g. HTTP or HTTPS).
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Under “Route type”, select “Forward”.
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Click on “Add” to add your routing rule.
Step 5: Update DNS records
The final step is to update your DNS records to point to your Front Door resource.
- In your DNS provider’s control panel, create a CNAME record for your custom domain name that points to the hostname of your Front Door resource (e.g. yourfrontdoorresource.azurefd.net).
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Wait for the DNS record to propagate (this can take up to 24 hours).
Once the DNS record has propagated, users around the globe will be able to access your web app through your custom domain name, and traffic will be load balanced across your web app instances by your Front Door resource.
Conclusion
Deploying a web app globally with Azure Front Door is a powerful way to improve the performance and availability of your web app. By following the steps outlined in this tutorial, you can easily deploy your web app globally and provide a fast and reliable experience to users around the world. If you have any questions or need further assistance, don’t hesitate to reach out to Azure support.