Deploy an ASP.NET Core container to Azure App Service using Visual Studio

  • 2 minutes to read

This tutorial walks you through using Visual Studio to publish your containerized ASP.NET Core web application to an Azure App Service. Azure App Service is an appropriate service for a single-container web app hosted in Azure.

If you don't have an Azure subscription, create a free account before you begin.

Prerequisites

To complete this tutorial:

  • Install the latest version of Visual Studio 2017 with the "ASP.NET and web development" workload

Create an ASP.NET Core web app

The following steps guide you through creating a basic ASP.NET Core app that will be used in this tutorial.

  1. From the Visual Studio menu, select File > New > Project.
  2. Under the Templates section of the New Project dialog box, select Visual C# > Web.
  3. Select ASP.NET Core Web Application.
  4. Give your new application a name (or take the default) and select OK.
  5. Select Web Application.
  6. Check the Enable Docker Support checkbox.
  7. Select the Linux container type and click OK. Windows containers are not supported to deploy to Azure App Service as a container.
  1. From the Visual Studio start window, choose Create a new project.
  2. Choose ASP.NET Core Web Application, and choose Next.
  3. Give your new application a name (or take the default) and choose Create.
  4. Choose Web Application.
  5. Choose whether or not you want SSL support by using the Configure for HTTPS checkbox.
  6. Check the Enable Docker Support checkbox.
  7. Select the Linux container type, and click Create. Windows containers are not supported to deploy to Azure App Service as a container.

Deploy the container to Azure

  1. Right-click your project in Solution Explorer and choose Publish.

  2. On the publish target dialog, choose App Service Linux.

  3. You can publish only to App Service, or you can publish to both App Service and Azure Container Registry (ACR). To publish the container in an Azure Container Registry (ACR), choose Create new App Service for containers, and click Publish.

    Screenshot of publish dialog

    To publish only to an Azure App Service without using Azure Container Registry, choose Create new, and click Publish.

  4. Check that you're signed in with the account that's associated with your Azure subscription, and choose a unique name, subscription, resource group, hosting plan, and container registry (if applicable), or accept the defaults.

    Screenshot of publish settings

  5. Choose Create. Your container is deployed to Azure in the resource group and container registry you selected. This process takes a bit of time. When it's completed, the Publish tab shows information about what was published, including the site URL.

    Screenshot of publish tab

  6. Click on the site link to verify your app works as expected in Azure.

    Screenshot of web application

  7. The publishing profile is saved with all the details you selected, such as the resource group and container registry.

  8. To deploy again with the same publishing profile, use the Publish button, the Publish button on the Web Publish Activity window, or right-click on the project in Solution Explorer and choose the Publish item on the context-menu.

Clean up resources

To remove all Azure resources associated with this tutorial, delete the resource group using the Azure portal. To find the resource group associated with a published web application, choose View > Other Windows > Web Publish Activity, and then choose the gear icon. The Publish tab opens, which contains the resource group.

In the Azure portal, choose Resource groups, select the resource group to open its details page. Verify that this is the correct resource group, and then choose Remove resource group, type the name, and choose Delete.

Next steps

Set up continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) with Azure Pipelines.

See also

Deploy to Azure Container Registry