What is our primary use case?
We're working on the premium, dynamic, and standard price sharing on Microsoft Azure App Service, and most of our APIs are hosted on Microsoft Azure App Service. We're also using the platform for API calls and security management.
We're not currently using Microsoft Azure App Service for any static web. We have a lot of API calls daily that try to access services because our applications are interconnected with either Coupa or Microsoft Dynamics 365.
What is most valuable?
What I found most valuable in Microsoft Azure App Service is that it's a PaaS.
I also like that it supports Docker and multiple frameworks so that you can work on Java, Ruby on Rails, PHP, and Python.
Another valuable feature of Microsoft Azure App Service is DevOps optimization.
The platform also has connectors and supports on-premise servers, including the IIS server. Microsoft Azure App Service is helpful when my company needs to do some API configurations with SaaS and IIS. However, it still depends on the use case.
I also find Microsoft Azure App Service templates valuable because of their compatibility with WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.
Microsoft Azure App Service also gives you access to the Azure Marketplace, which helps my company work on Azure functions.
I also like that the platform allows you to have a serverless environment for codes you can run from the server side.
I find Microsoft Azure App Service secure, which is another pro. You can go for the newest security protocol version, TLS 1.2 because TLS 1.0 and 1.1 have depreciated. Microsoft Azure App Service lets you efficiently manage security via private and public key certificates.
Overall, my company had an excellent experience with Microsoft Azure App Service regarding serverless configuring, serverless environments for websites, API calls, and microservices.
What needs improvement?
Limited integration is an area for improvement in Microsoft Azure App Service.
Another area for improvement in the platform is multi-language support. That still needs to be added because, at the moment, my team still has to work on specific Python languages whenever the API calls need to be configured.
The pricing tier for Microsoft Azure App Service also has room for improvement because it significantly varies. For example, you have premium and dynamic pricing, and people on P2 should be offered dynamic pricing or the high-priced tier on offer could still be worked on.
I want a lifecycle pipeline feature, similar to Azure Pipelines from Microsoft Azure App Service. For example, when configuring the pipelines, I should be able to configure the cloud security posture for a specific deployment. By default, there should be a prebuilt cloud security option that can be configured before moving into the production environment.
Microsoft Azure App Service should also give you a clue regarding the risks. It would be best if you didn't have to connect to other modules because that wouldn't be as beneficial to platform users, mainly because Microsoft Azure App Service has a lot of security development kits.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been working with Microsoft Azure App Service for three to four years. We're still using it.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Azure App Service is a PaaS, so it's pretty stable.
In the past three or four years, my company deployed it with Coupa and Microsoft Dynamics 365, yet I haven't seen any outages.
Microsoft Azure App Service is a Microsoft service, so it has 99.99% stability. I haven't seen any service-related issues from it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft Azure App Service is scalable, so if you want to utilize it more, you can go for the recommended price tier. What's best about the platform cost-wise is its detection feature, which tells you if your utilization isn't high in terms of memory, so that advisory helps you manage cost. You'll get a recommendation on which Microsoft Azure App Service module to use.
You'll also find it easy to decide whether to scale up or down for the production or if you need to create an isolated environment.
How are customer service and support?
My company is a gold customer of Microsoft Azure App Service, so Microsoft provides premium technical support. It depends on the issue. For example, if my team has a P1 problem, support will call immediately. The support provided is similar to Cisco Smart Net, where support is very supportive, and it's especially recommended if you have a critical issue and your environment is down.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Apart from Microsoft Azure App Service, my company also uses the AWS serverless API solution, Amazon API Gateway, where microservices and risk APIs run. It's used side by side with Microsoft Azure App Service. As I belong to the security team, I'd always prefer Microsoft Azure App Service because it's pretty systematic, and Microsoft does checks and balances.
If you go for Amazon API Gateway, it's cheap and can give you different configurations. However, it's pretty tricky, security-wise, because you still have to enable a couple of new services for security. You cannot manage security easily on Amazon API Gateway. You still have to configure Security Hub and GuardDuty. It's tricky regarding security and data ingestion of logs because you still need to send that to Amazon CloudWatch directly.
I'm not as comfortable with Amazon API Gateway, which is another reason I prefer Microsoft Azure App Service; However, Microsoft Azure App Service is expensive, but I understand that because of its structure, schematics, easy management, and better security. It's secure by default with security-by-design parameters, and Microsoft would manage significant areas.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup for Microsoft Azure App Service isn't that complex, but it still depends on experience. It's a basic deployment where you define the subscription and the resources you need to connect, depending on how you connect further. For example, you need to configure the code or container or contain it as a static web. Then, you can choose operating systems, such as Linux or Windows, and select the region.
If you need to connect Microsoft Azure App Service to the GitHub repositories for DevOps, you can also connect it. It would be best if you then defined the networks, the monitoring, and the tags. You also define your application insights. For example, it could be a crown jewel app you will configure. You can also configure the detection, and the process is also straightforward to define, security-wise.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Microsoft Azure App Service is an expensive platform, but it depends on the data ingestion. There's a pay-as-you-go plan and a savings plan for compute, but total costs depend on data ingestion and disk space.
For high performance, security, and isolation, Microsoft offers a disk space of 1 TB, with a pay-as-you-go price of $40 per hour, if I'm not mistaken, but that could be lower depending on your key account manager if I remember correctly.
You have options cost-wise. You either go with the standard service plan or the premium plan for Microsoft Azure App Service. If you go for the premium plan, it's expensive, but it depends on your risk appetite.
If you go for Amazon API Gateway or AWS, it would be cheaper, but what's your risk appetite, security-wise? You can still enjoy security from AWS, but that means enabling six modules, for example, Security Hub, GuardDuty, etc. Then, for data log ingestion, you still need to enable Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose, so that would make the costs more expensive.
In comparison, you can go for the premium Microsoft Azure App Service plan and enable the platform and services. The data will automatically be adjusted toward your Microsoft Sentinel account. You also don't need to procure Microsoft Defender for Cloud because, by default, Microsoft provides security.
Going for Microsoft Azure App Service also means that Microsoft Azure will also manage identity protection.
What other advice do I have?
I'm working on Microsoft Azure App Service, end-to-end security such as Amazon GuardDuty, and AWS Security Hub.
My company uses SQL services, AWS RDS, PaaS, and SaaS.
My team also works on all Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Azure WAF, Azure Network Watcher, and Azure Service Map modules.
My company works on endpoint security and related solutions, such as Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager and Microsoft Purview DLP.
Microsoft Azure App Service is a mobile development platform. It's a serverless environment.
My company has an interconnection with Microsoft Azure App Service, with API calls coming from the platform, so there's no specific user but a service account used by the company.
My rating for Microsoft Azure App Service is seven out of ten based on the features used within the company.
My company is a customer of Microsoft Azure App Service.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.