Create a Simple Azure Web App with PowerShell

Hello, this post will show you the steps to create a free, very simple web app in the Microsoft Azure platform using PowerShell.

You will need an existing subscription or sign up for a new one to follow this post. The app service plan selected is the free tier so you will not be charged / count against your Azure credits.

Use must have Azure PowerShell installed. You can get it from the Azure Microsoft site.

Authenticate to Azure using Azure Resource Manager:

You can list your subscriptions with the following command (the command on the second line will output just the subscription names):

Select the subscription you want to use:

Create a Resource Group:

Tags are a great way to manage resources and are created in PowerShell using a hashtable.

Create an App Service Plan:

Create a Web App:

Note: The web app name must be globally unique. Creating the web app will create the URL: http://webappname.azurewebsites.net.

If your deployment fails, check for the error message: New-AzureRmWebApp : Website with given name simple-web-app134 already exists.

Change the name of the web app or add a random number onto the end.

That’s it. You should now be able to browse to the default template by entering the URL: yoursitename.azurewebsites.net.

To delete all of the resources (warning, this will delete everything in the resource group, make sure you are targeting the correct resource group). Add the -Force switch parameter if you don’t want the confirmation prompts:

This is handy when using the app service plans that cost money. I sometimes create a standard plan for trying out deployment slots, so I will use it while testing, then delete it afterwards. If I need it again, I’ll simply run the PowerShell commands again.

I’ve scripted this out and put it on github with variables if you’re interested in taking a look.

That’s it for now, cheers.