Hosting a Website into Azure using FTP

This blog will help you to host your own existing website into Microsoft's Cloud Computing Platform Azure with just a few single clicks.

In this blog you will understand how to host your existing website into azure.To host your website into Azure, you need to have an azure account with a subscription. In case you don’t have you can always create by going to the Azure Portal ( www.portal.azure.com )

Microsoft Azure makes the hosting of website much easier with a few single clicks. Once your account is ready you will go to Azure Portal. Here is how it looks like.

Requirements

1. Azure Account with a Subscription( Dreamspark, free trial,etc..)
2. Existing Website
3. Any Editor ( say Notepad)

 

Step 1 - Create a Web app using Azure Portal.

Now click on New, select Web + Mobile and then Web App. Fill out the details to create a web app. 

 

If you check the checkbox “Pin to dashboard”, your web app tile will be displayed on the dashboard. Click on create to create a web app. Your app name will be concatenated with azurewebsites.net and it will be the URL for your web app. Once it is created click on the web app and you can see the details related to it.You can see here how it looks like. 

 

 

Step 2 - Connect to Azure using FTP

If you click on that URL, it will open your currently created web app. We want our website to be displayed when it is hosted. So, now we will be try to host our website using FTP by uploading our files. 

 

When you click on Get Publish Profile it will download a file with an extension PublishSettings. Open that file using a notepad and you will be able to see all the details related to FTP Settings,

Publish URL, username, password. These will be used to connect using ftp to the Azure.

So, open the file and you will be able to see publish URL as above

Publish URL = ftp://waws-prod-sn1-011.ftp.azurewebsites.windows.net/site/wwwroot

Now copy the same URL and open it in the File Explorer.

 

 

You will be able to see a prompt to give your username and password. Enter the username and password by copying it from the PublishSettings File and click on Log In.

 

 

 

Step 3 - Copy your files into the folder connected to Azure

 

 

 

 

 

Once the files are copied, go back to the azure portal and click on your web URL, you will be able to see your website. Let’s see what i am getting when i click on the URL.The URL is http://ajaykumarjogawath.azurewebsites.net/

 

 

 

Yay!! My website got hosted. So, this is one simple way of hosting your website into Azure using FTP. Apart from this, we can also host your website using Visual Studio, Visual Studio Online, Web Matrix and Git.