Tutorial: Map an existing custom DNS name to Azure App Service

• 08/25/2020
• 13 minutes to read
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Azure App Service provides a highly scalable, self-patching web hosting service. This tutorial shows you how to map an existing custom Domain Name System (DNS) name to App Service.

In this tutorial, you learn how to:

Prerequisites

To complete this tutorial:

• Create an App Service app, or use an app that you created for another tutorial.

• Purchase a domain name, and make sure you have access to the DNS registry for your domain provider (such as GoDaddy).

  For example, to add DNS entries for contoso.com and www.contoso.com, you must be able to configure the DNS settings for the contoso.com root domain.

  Note

  If you don't have an existing domain name, consider purchasing a domain by using the Azure portal.

Prepare the app

To map a custom DNS name to a web app, the web app's App Service plan must be a paid tier (Shared, Basic, Standard, Premium, or Consumption for Azure Functions). In this step, you make sure that the App Service app is in the supported pricing tier.

Sign in to Azure

Open the Azure portal, and sign in with your Azure account.

Select the app in the Azure portal

1. Search for and select App Services.

   

2. On the App Services page, select the name of your Azure app.

   

You see the management page of the App Service app.

Check the pricing tier

1. In the left pane of the app page, scroll to the Settings section and select Scale up (App Service plan).

   

2. The app's current tier is highlighted by a blue border. Check to make sure that the app isn't in the F1 tier. Custom DNS isn't supported in the F1 tier.

   

3. If the App Service plan isn't in the F1 tier, close the Scale up page and skip to Map a CNAME record.

Scale up the App Service plan

1. Select any of the non-free tiers (D1, B1, B2, B3, or any tier in the Production category). For additional options, select See additional options.

2. Select Apply.

   

   When you see the following notification, the scale operation is complete.

   

Get a domain verification ID

To add a custom domain to your app, you need to verify your ownership of the domain by adding a verification ID as a TXT record with your domain provider. In the left pane of your app page, select Custom domains. Copy the ID in the Custom Domain Verification ID box in the Custom Domains page for the next step.

Map your domain

You can use either a CNAME record or an A record to map a custom DNS name to App Service. Follow the respective steps:

• Map a CNAME record
• Map an A record
• Map a wildcard domain (with a CNAME record)

Map a CNAME record

In the tutorial example, you add a CNAME record for the www subdomain (for example, www.contoso.com).

If you have a subdomain other than www, replace www with your subdomain (for example, with sub if your custom domain is sub.constoso.com).

Access DNS records with a domain provider

1. Sign in to the website of your domain provider.

2. Find the page for managing DNS records. Every domain provider has its own DNS records interface, so consult the provider's documentation. Look for areas of the site labeled Domain Name, DNS, or Name Server Management.

   Often, you can find the DNS records page by viewing your account information and then looking for a link such as My domains. Go to that page, and then look for a link that's named something like Zone file, DNS Records, or Advanced configuration.

   The following screenshot is an example of a DNS records page:

   

3. In the example screenshot, select Add to create a record. Some providers have different links to add different record types. Again, consult the provider's documentation.

Create the CNAME record

Map a subdomain to the app's default domain name (<app-name>.azurewebsites.net, where <app-name> is the name of your app). To create a CNAME mapping for the www subdomain, create two records:

After you add the CNAME and TXT records, the DNS records page looks like the following example:

Enable the CNAME record mapping in Azure

1. In the left pane of the app page in the Azure portal, select Custom domains.

   

2. On the Custom domains page of the app, add the fully qualified custom DNS name (www.contoso.com) to the list.

3. Select Add custom domain.

   

4. Type the fully qualified domain name that you added a CNAME record for, such as www.contoso.com.

5. Select Validate. The Add custom domain page appears.

6. Make sure that Hostname record type is set to CNAME (www.example.com or any subdomain). Select Add custom domain.

   

   It might take some time for the new custom domain to be reflected in the app's Custom Domains page. Refresh the browser to update the data.

   

   Note

   A warning label for your custom domain means that it's not yet bound to a TLS/SSL certificate. Any HTTPS request from a browser to your custom domain will receive an error or warning, depending on the browser. To add a TLS binding, see Secure a custom DNS name with a TLS/SSL binding in Azure App Service.

   If you missed a step or made a typo somewhere earlier, a verification error appears at the bottom of the page.

   

Map an A record

In the tutorial example, you add an A record for the root domain (for example, contoso.com).

Copy the app's IP address

To map an A record, you need the app's external IP address. You can find this IP address on the app's Custom Domains page in the Azure portal.

1. In the left pane of the app page in the Azure portal, select Custom domains.

   

2. On the Custom Domains page, copy the app's IP address.

   

Access DNS records with a domain provider

1. Sign in to the website of your domain provider.

2. Find the page for managing DNS records. Every domain provider has its own DNS records interface, so consult the provider's documentation. Look for areas of the site labeled Domain Name, DNS, or Name Server Management.

   Often, you can find the DNS records page by viewing your account information and then looking for a link such as My domains. Go to that page, and then look for a link that's named something like Zone file, DNS Records, or Advanced configuration.

   The following screenshot is an example of a DNS records page:

   

3. In the example screenshot, select Add to create a record. Some providers have different links to add different record types. Again, consult the provider's documentation.

Create the A record

To map an A record to an app, usually to the root domain, create two records:

After the records are added, the DNS records page looks like the following example:

Enable the A record mapping in the app

Back in the app's Custom Domains page in the Azure portal, add the fully qualified custom DNS name (for example, contoso.com) to the list.

1. Select Add custom domain.

   

2. Type the fully qualified domain name that you configured the A record for, such as contoso.com.

3. Select Validate. The Add custom domain page is shown.

4. Make sure that Hostname record type is set to A record (example.com). Select Add custom domain.

   

   It might take some time for the new custom domain to be reflected in the app's Custom Domains page. Refresh the browser to update the data.

   

   Note

   A warning label for your custom domain means that it's not yet bound to a TLS/SSL certificate. Any HTTPS request from a browser to your custom domain will receive an error or warning, depending on the browser. To add a TLS binding, see Secure a custom DNS name with a TLS/SSL binding in Azure App Service.

   If you missed a step or made a typo somewhere earlier, a verification error appears at the bottom of the page.

   

Map a wildcard domain

In the tutorial example, you map a wildcard DNS name (for example, *.contoso.com) to the App Service app by adding a CNAME record.

Access DNS records with a domain provider

1. Sign in to the website of your domain provider.

2. Find the page for managing DNS records. Every domain provider has its own DNS records interface, so consult the provider's documentation. Look for areas of the site labeled Domain Name, DNS, or Name Server Management.

   Often, you can find the DNS records page by viewing your account information and then looking for a link such as My domains. Go to that page, and then look for a link that's named something like Zone file, DNS Records, or Advanced configuration.

   The following screenshot is an example of a DNS records page:

   

3. In the example screenshot, select Add to create a record. Some providers have different links to add different record types. Again, consult the provider's documentation.

Create the CNAME record

Map a wildcard name * to the app's default domain name (<app-name>.azurewebsites.net, where <app-name> is the name of your app). To map the wildcard name, create two records:

For the *.contoso.com domain example, the CNAME record will map the name * to <app-name>.azurewebsites.net.

When the CNAME is added, the DNS records page looks like the following example:

Enable the CNAME record mapping in the app

You can now add any subdomain that matches the wildcard name to the app (for example, sub1.contoso.com, sub2.contoso.com and *.contoso.com both match *.contoso.com).

1. In the left pane of the app page in the Azure portal, select Custom domains.

   

2. Select Add custom domain.

   

3. Type a fully qualified domain name that matches the wildcard domain (for example, sub1.contoso.com), and then select Validate.

   The Add custom domain button is activated.

4. Make sure that Hostname record type is set to CNAME record (www.example.com or any subdomain). Select Add custom domain.

   

   It might take some time for the new custom domain to be reflected in the app's Custom Domains page. Refresh the browser to update the data.

5. Select the + icon again to add another custom domain that matches the wildcard domain. For example, add sub2.contoso.com.

   

   Note

   A warning label for your custom domain means that it's not yet bound to a TLS/SSL certificate. Any HTTPS request from a browser to your custom domain will receive an error or warning, depending on the browser. To add a TLS binding, see Secure a custom DNS name with a TLS/SSL binding in Azure App Service.

Test in a browser

Browse to the DNS names that you configured earlier (for example, contoso.com, www.contoso.com, sub1.contoso.com, and sub2.contoso.com).

Resolve 404 "Not Found"

If you receive an HTTP 404 (Not Found) error when you browse to the URL of your custom domain, verify that your domain resolves to your app's IP address by using WhatsmyDNS.net. If not, it might be because of one of the following reasons:

• The custom domain configured is missing an A record or a CNAME record.
• The browser client has cached the old IP address of your domain. Clear the cache, and test DNS resolution again. On a Windows machine, you clear the cache with ipconfig /flushdns.

Migrate an active domain

To migrate a live site and its DNS domain name to App Service with no downtime, see Migrate an active DNS name to Azure App Service.

Redirect to a custom directory

By default, App Service directs web requests to the root directory of your app code. But certain web frameworks don't start in the root directory. For example, Laravel starts in the public subdirectory. To continue the contoso.com DNS example, such an app is accessible at http://contoso.com/public, but you want to direct http://contoso.com to the public directory instead. This step doesn't involve DNS resolution but is about customizing the virtual directory.

To do customize a virtual directory, select Application settings in the left pane of your web app page.

At the bottom of the page, the root virtual directory / points to site\wwwroot by default, which is the root directory of your app code. Change it to point to the site\wwwroot\public instead, for example, and save your changes.

After the operation finishes, your app should return the right page at the root path (for example, http://contoso.com).

Automate with scripts

You can automate management of custom domains with scripts by using the Azure CLI or Azure PowerShell.

Azure CLI

The following command adds a configured custom DNS name to an App Service app.

az webapp config hostname add \
    --webapp-name <app-name> \
    --resource-group <resource_group_name> \
    --hostname <fully_qualified_domain_name>

For more information, see Map a custom domain to a web app.

Azure PowerShell

The following command adds a configured custom DNS name to an App Service app.

Set-AzWebApp `
    -Name <app-name> `
    -ResourceGroupName <resource_group_name> ` 
    -HostNames @("<fully_qualified_domain_name>","<app-name>.azurewebsites.net")

For more information, see Assign a custom domain to a web app.

Next steps

In this tutorial, you learned how to:

Continue to the next tutorial to learn how to bind a custom TLS/SSL certificate to a web app.