Can Azure Host Your Website? Here’s The Answer [Guide]
To host your website effectively while keeping costs down and providing powerful options for scalability and ease of use, Microsoft Azure may be the right service for you.
But can it host your website?
Yes, it can!
It may sound complicated at first with all the options available but Azure is essentially a really, really fancy hosting solution, just like other cloud providers (AWS, GCP, IBM Cloud, etc.)
So what does it take to host your website on Azure?
Why Should You Host Your Website on Azure?
The hosting space has been around for decades now… Why would you even consider hosting your website on Azure when there are so many options available already?
With a traditional hosting provider, you can:
- Share server resources with other people to host multiple websites: a decent option back in the day but a complete waste of time and money today with services like Azure allowing for cheaper resource management at higher speeds and reliability.
- Create a so-called “VPS,” or Virtual Private Server. This means you’re still sharing resources on a server with other people but have your own little room reserved for your needs. It’s just like renting a room in an apartment with 5 other flatmates.
- Rent an entire server and use it as your own, the equivalent of renting out an entire apartment to live in by yourself or with your family. More expensive but more effective at satisfying the needs of a person or organization that grows out of its nest.
These three options still exist today, and you know what? You shouldn’t choose either one, because a cloud service like Azure can do all of this and more for you.
The one reason why you would want to go with a traditional hosting provider rather than a cloud service is personalized support and a no hands-on approach.
If you go with a hosting provider like Hostgator, GoDaddy, or Liquid Web, you’ll get that type of support. With cloud services, you’re left learning on your own unless you purchase a big plan.
But better resource management isn’t the only reason why you should go with a cloud provider like Azure to host your website. Here are 3 benefits you won’t want to miss…
Benefit 1: Your Website Can Go Live in <15 Minutes with Azure
By far, the biggest benefit of working with Azure is speed of deployment. Choose the type of website you want to host and have it go live in less than 15 minutes with the right settings.
Seriously, it’s that easy. If you want to host a WordPress website, all you need to do is head on over to the Microsoft Azure Marketplace and download the WordPress app.
Choose a name for your app, set up your database, and you’re done! Your website is ready to go directly on Azure’s “App Services” product, made to scale at any point in time.
This can be done with any setup:
- A static website built with simple HTML, CSS, and JavaScript using Azure’s ultra-fast “Static Web Apps” service which uses code pulled directly from GitHub.
- Any out-of-the-box CMS like WordPress, Joomla, Magento, Drupal, and Ghost. Simply find the right app to use in the marketplace and you’re good to go.
- An app built from a technology stack such as LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP), MEAN (MongoDB, ExpressJS, AngularJS, NoSQL), or Ruby on Rails.
- A fully-custom setup, with technologies specifically defined by you as the information architect. This is the more advanced version of working with Azure cloud.
Whether your needs are small or huge, Azure not only helps you host your website but gives you the tools necessary to manage any issues that arise at a moment’s notice.
Benefit 2: Azure Doesn’t Compromise on Hosting Speed
Unlike traditional hosting providers, cloud services like Azure don’t really care whether someone is using your server resources or not. Why? Because everyone is using them at all times.
Cloud services like Azure are built to redistribute and scale resources depending on the use you make of them. No need to worry about shared hosting making your site hyper sluggish.
And the beautiful thing is, Azure doesn’t cost that much, especially for small website owners who want to get started quickly but without shelling out huge piles of cash upfront.
On top of the $170 worth of service that Microsoft offers to get started, hosting a simple static or WordPress website on Azure should run you about $9 to $15 a month.
The more you scale, the higher the price. Once you reach a certain level of use out of Azure, you can expect prices to be comparable to traditional hosting providers.
Benefit 3: There Is No Physical “Server” To Care For
Even if virtualized, a VPS still runs on a physical server divided into sections. With the addition of cloud VPS products, hosting providers are often using Azure as the VPS’s backdrop.
What this means is that even with the benefits of cloud applied to a traditional hosting provider, you’re still paying a higher price for using Azure’s infrastructure and the provider’s support.
So, your choice comes down to either a platform where you don’t have to worry about physical servers and pay as little as you use or a marked-up service with additional support.
The problems with physical servers are clear:
- These machines have to be physically moved from one place to another if you want to provide more power or add slots to the storage unit. They also need maintenance from IT professionals and are expensive to operate within an organization.
- With so much of the machine’s resources often not being used, a lot of it goes to waste, making the bill higher at the end of the month and the amount of value that was generated the exact same. Hosting a website shouldn’t be a luxury!
- Perhaps most importantly, you run the risk of losing your entire database with information that is stored in physical units without backups. Seriously, most hosting providers are happy to sell you servers without any type of backup service…
Running a website isn’t a complex task for a server, but it is an important task for most businesses who are moving their operations to an online world.
So, if you want to make the right move with your website hosting, consider starting with Azure. It’s one of the most user-friendly cloud providers, and it works wonders at it.
Get Started Hosting Your Website with Azure Today
While easy to understand when compared to other platforms in its genre, Azure is still a fairly technical product. This means you may feel overwhelmed or lost in a sea of options.
Depending on your needs, working with an IT service provider like LogicV is a great alternative to getting things done on your own, especially if you’re trying to scale your business:
- You can rely on a team of trusted Azure experts to set up your website hosting environment the right way and connect it to the rest of your technology.
- Website configurations will be handled by people who specialize in Azure business solutions, including website hosting (either simple or complex).
- As a business owner, you claim back your time to focus on things that matter most to your organization while outsourcing IT work you don’t want to think about.
Either way, Azure is an amazing solution to host your website, and we recommend you get started today. With cloud becoming more and more ubiquitous, you won’t regret it.