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Deploying .NET Applications to Azure and AWS: Step-by-Step Guide

Cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS) provide powerful tools to deploy, scale, and manage .NET applications. For developers and enterprises, knowing how to package and deploy .NET workloads in both environments is a must-have skill. This article provides a step-by-step guide to deploying .NET applications to Azure and AWS.

1. Preparing Your .NET Application for Deployment

Before deploying, ensure your app is:

  • Built in Release mode for performance.

  • Configured with appsettings.json or environment-specific settings.

  • Tested locally using dotnet run or Docker.

  • Using connection strings and secrets from secure stores (not hard-coded).

2. Deploying to Azure

a. Using Azure App Service

Azure App Service is a fully managed platform for hosting .NET apps.

Steps

  1. Install the Azure CLI.

  2. Authenticate:

    az login

  3. Create a Resource Group:

    az group create --name MyResourceGroup --location eastus

  4. Create an App Service Plan:

    az appservice plan create --name MyPlan --resource-group MyResourceGroup --sku B1 --is-linux

  5. Deploy the .NET app:

    az webapp create --resource-group MyResourceGroup --plan MyPlan --name MyDotNetApp --runtime "DOTNET:8"

  6. Publish using Visual Studio or dotnet publish.

b. Using Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

  1. Containerize your app with Docker.

  2. Push the image to Azure Container Registry (ACR).

  3. Deploy to AKS using Helm charts or YAML manifests.

3. Deploying to AWS

a. Using AWS Elastic Beanstalk

Elastic Beanstalk provides simple deployment for .NET apps.

Steps

  1. Install the AWS CLI.

  2. Configure credentials:

    aws configure

  3. Create an Elastic Beanstalk application:

    eb init -p "dotnet-core-8" MyDotNetApp

  4. Deploy the app:

    eb create MyDotNetEnv

b. Using Amazon ECS (Elastic Container Service)

  1. Dockerize your .NET app.

  2. Push the image to Amazon ECR (Elastic Container Registry).

  3. Deploy using ECS with Fargate for serverless containers.

4. Deployment Best Practices

  • Use CI/CD pipelines with GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, or AWS CodePipeline.

  • Store secrets in Azure Key Vault or AWS Secrets Manager.

  • Enable monitoring with Azure Application Insights or AWS CloudWatch.

  • Scale automatically with Azure Auto-Scaling or AWS Auto Scaling Groups.

5. Conclusion

Deploying .NET apps to Azure and AWS is now simpler than ever, thanks to managed services like App Service and Elastic Beanstalk, as well as container-based options like AKS and ECS. By mastering these approaches, .NET developers can confidently run cloud-native applications that are scalable, secure, and resilient across both major cloud platforms.

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