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We have been using Azure Cloud Services (Web Roles) since 2013. We use it, because In-Role cache was the only available cache at that time in order for Web Farm to work in Azure.

As of today, App Service (formerly Web App/Web Sites) and Redis Cache are available, and App Service can do pretty much what Cloud Services offers.

According to this comparison, we only see 4 minor areas (IMHO) that App Service can't do –

  • Remote desktop access to servers
  • Install any custom MSI
  • Ability to define/execute start-up tasks
  • Can listen to ETW events

Question

Does it worth converting existing Cloud Service to App Service while updating In-Role cache to Redis Cache anyway?

In other words, should we even consider hosting in Azure Cloud Service (instead host in App Service)?

Win
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    Whether you shift from Cloud Service to App Service will depend on your app's specific needs/dependencies, and whether the limits imposed by App Service impact you. I posted an answer a while back [here](http://stackoverflow.com/a/10941526/272109) which illustrates many of the differences (such as being limited to ports 80/443 for inbound traffic on Web Apps). I probably should update that post again, but the majority of it still holds true. – David Makogon Jul 06 '16 at 03:35
  • @DavidMakogon Thank you for the comment. 3 years ago, using Cloud Service *(Web Roles and Worker Role)* made perfectly sense, because a lot of features were not available for App Service/Web App. According to [this new documentation](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/choose-web-site-cloud-service-vm/), I now feel like Microsoft itself is promoting App Serice/Web App. – Win Jul 06 '16 at 04:25
  • @Win Have you moved to App Service at the end? If so how do you find it now? – Artyom Oct 20 '16 at 08:08
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    @Artyom I recently spoke with ***Azure Support Team***. They said they definitely support ***Cloud Service***; only reason it said ***Classic*** in new SPA Portal is they haven’t move all the features from [old portal](https://manage.windowsazure.com). Since we run some start-up tasks, and need RDP access, we decided to continue using ***Cloud Service*** *(now with Windows 2012 R2, SQL 2016, Redis Cache and Application Insights)*. – Win Oct 20 '16 at 21:58

1 Answers1

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I think you may get opinions on this question more than facts, so here is my opinion.

I've been using Azure since the early days when it was just Cloud Services and have done my fair share of edge case implementation with them.

Today (say the past 1-2 years), I've take the approach that I start off with Web Apps and WebJobs until I find a reason not too. For the majority of my clients App Services works fine, though there are some projects that still need Cloud Services.

I find easy deployment and management of WebApps and WebJobs the huge win for me - not having to create that monster package file and redeploy the whole thing just for small changes adds up over time.

I also find WebJobs (using the SDK) are faster to be productive with than with WebRoles - though I sometimes find I need a WebApp with no UI to host the webjobs if they are processor and memory hogs. The fact that you can have your code watch a queue using the QueueTrigger just by adding a single attribute is huge time saver and cuts out all that boilerplate code.

I've used Redis on projects too (though none at the moment) and it was easy to work with - once you work out a few kinks and get used to it.

Jason Haley
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    Thank you for your opinion. I already replaced In-Role cache with new Redis cache *(it was a lot easier than I thought)*, but I'm debating whether converting it to App Service. As you said, it is pain in the neck to recreate and upload package file even for a small change. – Win Jul 06 '16 at 00:01