An Azure Web App is an Azure App Service application that you use to host MDriven Turnkey and, optionally, MDriven Server for users who need to run an MDriven application from an Azure URL.
What runs in an Azure Web App
An Azure Web App provides the web application location. Its files are deployed under site\wwwroot.
For an MDriven deployment, you can use either of these layouts:
| Layout | Azure Web Apps | File locations | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Separate applications | Two Azure Web Apps | Deploy Turnkey to site\wwwroot in one app. Deploy MDriven Server to site\wwwroot in the other app.
|
Turnkey and MDriven Server have separate Azure application URLs. |
| One application | One Azure Web App | Deploy Turnkey to site\wwwroot. Deploy MDriven Server to site\wwwroot\__MDrivenServer.
|
Turnkey is at the app root and MDriven Server is available at https://<your-app-domain>/__MDrivenServer/.
|
For example, if your app domain is contoso.azurewebsites.net, the single-app layout exposes MDriven Server at https://contoso.azurewebsites.net/__MDrivenServer/.
Create and deploy an Azure Web App
Use HowTos:Install MDriven Server and Turnkey on Microsoft Azure for the complete installation procedure.
- Sign in to the Azure portal.
- Create an Azure Web App and create or select an App Service Plan. An App Service Plan is the Azure resource that provides the server capacity for one or more applications.
- Create a second Azure Web App if you will run MDriven Server separately from Turnkey.
- In the Azure Web App, select Overview and select Get publish profile to download the publishing profile.
- Download the current MDriven Turnkey and MDriven Server packages from MDriven downloads.
- Deploy the files to the required
site\wwwrootlocation. Azure supports deployment methods including Zip Deploy, OneDrive, GitHub, and FTP.
Configure one Azure Web App for both applications
When Turnkey and MDriven Server share one Azure Web App, configure MDriven Server as a virtual application.
- In the Azure portal, open the Azure Web App.
- Select Settings > Configuration > Path mappings.
- Add a virtual application with these values:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Virtual path | /__MDrivenServer
|
| Physical path | site\wwwroot\__MDrivenServer
|
- Set the virtual application type to Application.
- Do not select any checklist items for the virtual application.
The Turnkey application remains in site\wwwroot. The MDriven Server virtual application uses site\wwwroot\__MDrivenServer.
Application configuration files
In both the MDriven Server and Turnkey application files, create App_Data/CommandLineOverride.xml. This file is required for .NET Core applications using IIS and specifies the application location.
To reset the initial MDriven Server password, create App_Data/PwdReset.txt in the MDriven Server files. Put the new password in this file, deploy the update, and sign in with user name a and that password. Delete PwdReset.txt after you have verified the new password.
Choose an App Service Plan and name
Choose an Azure region close to your users to reduce network latency. For example, select a North Europe location when most users are in that region.
The Azure Web App name must be unique in the azurewebsites.net namespace. For example, if contoso is unavailable, use a unique name such as contoso-demo-1010 and access the app through its Azure URL.
The App Service Plan tier determines the available server resources. The free tier has limited resources; select a tier that fits the workload you intend to run.
Security and custom domains
You can protect a Turnkey Azure Web App with Azure Active Directory through Documentation:Openid AzureAD. Register the Turnkey sign-in URL in Azure AD. For example, register https://contoso.azurewebsites.net/Account/Login, then configure the Azure AD authority and application ID in the Turnkey OpenID configuration.
For a custom domain and HTTPS certificate, see Documentation:Lets encrypt. The documented Azure setup uses the Azure Let's Encrypt extension, storage connection strings named AzureWebJobsDashboard and AzureWebJobsStorage, and an Azure AD application registration with contributor access to the resource group.
Scaling considerations
Before scaling an Azure Web App, review Documentation:Scaling out Turnkey on Azure. Azure App Service has platform-specific operating-system behavior, file-system behavior, and app settings that affect an application running on multiple instances.