Deploy Your Java Web App On Azure App Service In 12 Easy Steps

Microsoft made significant changes to its cloud platform by launching Azure App Service last year. Azure App Service is a fully managed PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) offering that enables creating mobile and web applications for any platform or device. It integrates with your app through SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) solutions, connects to on-premises applications, and automates your business processes. 

The new service also includes capabilities to automate business processes across hosted and on-premise APIs and services such as Office 365, Dropbox, Salesforce.com, SAP, Facebook, and Twitter and Oracle databases. These data sources can be combined with a visual drag-and-drop builder to use its outcome in your mobile and web applications.

Some of its other salient features and capabilities include: 

• Multiple frameworks & languages: Azure App service provides best-in-class support for ASP.NET, Java, Node.js, Python, and PHP. Windows PowerShell and various other scripts or executables can be run on App Service virtual machines.
• DevOps optimization: App Service enables setting up continuous deployment and integration using Visual Studio Team Services, BitBucket, or GitHub. It promotes updates via test and staging environments. You can perform A/B testing and manage applications in App Service through Azure PowerShell or the cross-platform CLI (command-line interface).
• Integrates with SaaS platforms & on-premises data: More than 50 connectors for enterprise systems are available such as Oracle, SAP, and Siebel, SaaS services such as Microsoft Office 365 and Salesforce, and internet services such as Twitter and Facebook. You can even access on-premise data with the help of Azure Virtual Networks and Hybrid Connections.
• Scale apps globally with high availability: Scale your applications up or down with App Services either automatically or manually. You can host your apps on Microsoft’s ever-expanding global data centers while the App Service SLA guarantees high availability.
• Application templates: The Azure Marketplace offers an extensive list of templates for your application. With the help of a wizard, you can install any popular open source solutions such as WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla.
• Visual Studio Integration: App Services provides dedicated tools in Visual Studio to streamline your building, deploying, and debugging tasks.
• Security: Azure App Service is ISO, SOC and PCI complaint.

Besides these capabilities, App Service additionally provides inbuilt development operations, automatic patching, and staging and production support. Basically, Azure App Service offers everything an enterprise would need to create powerful Web Apps, Mobile Apps, Logic Apps and API apps in a single instance. 

As an example, we have covered a quick tutorial on “How to create a Java web app in Azure App Service”. 

There are multiple ways to set up a Java web app using App Service. We recommend you to consult a dedicated Java application development company as each application has specific requirements.

Steps To Create Java Web App in Azure Service App:

Step 1: Login to the Azure Portal.

Step 2: Click New > Web + Mobile > Web App.

Step 3: Now enter a new name for your web app in 'Web App' box. Ensure you enter a unique name in azurewebsites.net domain as the URL of your app will be {name}.azurewebsites.net. If the name entered is not unique, a red exclamation mark will appear in the text box.

Step 4: Choose a 'Resource Group' or create a new one.

Step 5: Choose an App Service plan or Location or create a new one. See the Azure App Service plans overview for more information.

Step 6: Now click on 'Create'.

Step 7: Once the web app is created, click on Web Apps > {your web app}.

Step 8: Now click on 'Settings' in the web app blade, and click on 'Application Settings'. It will ask you to select the desired Java version. Once you do that, select the Java minor version.

Step 9: If you choose Newest, your web app will use the newest minor version available in Azure App Service for the Java major version. The Newest item will be unique to Java apps created from 'Application Settings'. If the Java app is created from the gallery, then you will have to manage your container and JVM changes on your own.

Step 10: Select the desired container. By selecting a container name that starts with Newest, the web app will be kept at the latest version of web container major version which is available in App Service. 

Step 11: Click save. In a few moments, the app will transform into a Java based app and configured to use the container you selected.

Step 12: Click Web apps > {your new web app} and click on the URL to browse to the new site. The web page will confirm that your Java-based app is now created.

If you have any queries or feedback about Azure App Service or how to develop Java applications on Azure, feel free to let us know in the comments.