<s>
Azure	B-General_Concept
Web	I-General_Concept
Apps	I-General_Concept
is	O
a	O
cloud	B-Architecture
computing	I-Architecture
based	O
platform	O
for	O
hosting	O
websites	O
,	O
created	O
and	O
operated	O
by	O
Microsoft	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
a	O
platform	B-Application
as	I-Application
a	I-Application
service	I-Application
(	O
PaaS	B-Application
)	O
which	O
allows	O
publishing	O
Web	O
apps	O
running	O
on	O
multiple	O
frameworks	O
and	O
written	O
in	O
different	O
programming	O
languages	O
(	O
.NET	B-Application
,	O
node.js	B-Language
,	O
PHP	B-Application
,	O
Python	B-Language
and	O
Java	B-Language
)	O
,	O
including	O
Microsoft	O
proprietary	B-Application
ones	O
and	O
3rd	O
party	O
ones	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	B-General_Concept
Azure	I-General_Concept
Web	I-General_Concept
Sites	I-General_Concept
became	O
available	O
in	O
its	O
first	O
preview	O
version	O
in	O
June	O
2012	O
,	O
and	O
an	O
official	O
version	O
(	O
"	O
General	O
Availability	O
"	O
)	O
was	O
announced	O
in	O
June	O
2013	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	B-General_Concept
Azure	I-General_Concept
Web	I-General_Concept
Sites	I-General_Concept
was	O
originally	O
named	O
Windows	B-Application
Azure	I-Application
Web	O
Sites	O
,	O
but	O
was	O
renamed	O
as	O
part	O
of	O
a	O
re-branding	O
move	O
across	O
Azure	O
in	O
March	O
2014	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
Microsoft	O
started	O
allocating	O
resources	O
into	O
developing	O
its	O
numerous	O
cloud	O
solutions	O
,	O
a	O
group	O
was	O
formed	O
in	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Azure	I-Application
to	O
develop	O
Microsoft	B-General_Concept
Azure	I-General_Concept
Web	I-General_Concept
Sites	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	B-General_Concept
Azure	I-General_Concept
Web	I-General_Concept
Sites	I-General_Concept
was	O
announced	O
in	O
June	O
2012	O
as	O
a	O
preview	O
release	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
parallel	O
,	O
Microsoft	O
developed	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Azure	I-Application
Pack	O
,	O
which	O
offers	O
the	O
same	O
technology	O
that	O
can	O
be	O
installed	O
as	O
a	O
private-cloud	O
on	O
sets	O
of	O
servers	O
at	O
a	O
customer	O
's	O
site	O
and	O
under	O
direct	O
customer	O
control	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
mid-2013	O
,	O
both	O
Microsoft	B-General_Concept
Azure	I-General_Concept
Web	I-General_Concept
Sites	I-General_Concept
and	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Azure	I-Application
Pack	O
were	O
officially	O
released	O
to	O
the	O
public	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	B-General_Concept
Azure	I-General_Concept
Web	I-General_Concept
Sites	I-General_Concept
is	O
a	O
web-hosting	O
platform	O
that	O
supports	O
multiple	O
technologies	O
,	O
and	O
programming	O
languages	O
(	O
.NET	B-Application
,	O
node.js	B-Language
,	O
PHP	B-Application
,	O
Python	B-Language
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Users	O
with	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Azure	I-Application
subscriptions	O
can	O
create	O
Websites	O
,	O
and	O
deploy	O
content	O
and	O
code	O
into	O
the	O
Web	O
sites	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	B-General_Concept
Azure	I-General_Concept
Web	I-General_Concept
Sites	I-General_Concept
supports	O
a	O
website	O
creation	O
wizard	O
which	O
allows	O
the	O
user	O
to	O
create	O
a	O
blank	O
site	O
,	O
or	O
create	O
a	O
site	O
based	O
on	O
one	O
of	O
several	O
available	O
pre-configured	O
images	O
from	O
the	O
website	O
gallery	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
is	O
implemented	O
by	O
setting	O
a	O
CNAME	B-Protocol
record	I-Protocol
on	O
the	O
DNS	B-Application
server	O
that	O
hosts	O
the	O
user	O
's	O
domain	O
's	O
zone	O
to	O
point	O
at	O
the	O
user	O
's	O
web	O
site	O
hosted	O
in	O
Azure	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
some	O
for-pay	O
tiers	O
,	O
the	O
user	O
has	O
the	O
added	O
option	O
of	O
uploading	O
an	O
SSL	B-Protocol
certificate	O
and	O
configuring	O
the	O
site	O
to	O
be	O
bound	O
to	O
HTTPS	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
Once	O
a	O
site	O
has	O
been	O
created	O
,	O
the	O
user	O
can	O
add	O
or	O
modify	O
its	O
content	O
using	O
multiple	O
deployment	O
methods	O
,	O
including	O
Web	O
Deploy	O
(	O
MSDeploy	O
)	O
,	O
TFS	B-Application
(	O
via	O
Visual	B-Application
Studio	I-Application
)	O
,	O
FTP	B-Protocol
,	O
FTPS	B-Protocol
,	O
WebMatrix	B-Application
,	O
CodePlex	B-Protocol
,	O
GitHub	B-Application
,	O
Dropbox	B-Application
,	O
Bitbucket	B-Protocol
,	O
Mercurial	B-Protocol
and	O
local	O
Git	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
User-selected	O
placement	O
in	O
one	O
or	O
multiple	O
data	B-Operating_System
centers	I-Operating_System
across	O
the	O
globe	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Continuous	O
monitoring	O
of	O
site	O
metrics	O
such	O
as	O
CPU	B-Device
time	O
,	O
Data	O
in	O
,	O
Data	O
out	O
,	O
HTTP	B-Protocol
errors	O
and	O
additional	O
metrics	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Websites	O
are	O
hosted	O
on	O
IIS	B-Application
8.0	O
running	O
on	O
a	O
custom	O
version	O
of	O
Windows	B-Device
Server	I-Device
2012	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	B-General_Concept
Azure	I-General_Concept
Web	I-General_Concept
Sites	I-General_Concept
is	O
implemented	O
as	O
websites	O
that	O
are	O
dynamically	O
created	O
on-demand	O
on	O
servers	O
running	O
Windows	B-Device
Server	I-Device
2012	I-Device
and	O
IIS	B-Application
8.0	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
a	O
client	O
posts	O
a	O
request	O
to	O
a	O
web	O
site	O
,	O
Microsoft	B-General_Concept
Azure	I-General_Concept
Web	I-General_Concept
Sites	I-General_Concept
dynamically	O
provisions	O
the	O
site	O
on	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
Azure	O
virtual	B-Architecture
machines	I-Architecture
pointing	O
it	O
at	O
content	O
stored	O
in	O
Azure	O
Storage	O
containers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Azure	O
Virtual	B-Architecture
Machines	I-Architecture
are	O
deployed	O
in	O
groups	O
called	O
"	O
Stamps	O
"	O
,	O
which	O
may	O
contain	O
hundreds	O
of	O
such	O
machines	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	O
deploys	O
these	O
stamps	O
in	O
its	O
Azure	O
data	B-Operating_System
centers	I-Operating_System
across	O
the	O
world	O
,	O
and	O
adds	O
more	O
stamps	O
as	O
demand	O
grows	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Standard	O
tier	O
supports	O
SSL	B-Protocol
(	O
both	O
SNI	B-Protocol
and	O
IP-based	O
)	O
,	O
scaling	O
out	O
to	O
up	O
to	O
10	O
instances	O
,	O
and	O
file	O
storage	O
of	O
up	O
to	O
50	O
GB	O
of	O
content	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Basic	O
and	O
Standard	O
tier	O
websites	O
can	O
be	O
deployed	O
on	O
3	O
sizes	O
of	O
virtual	B-Architecture
machines	I-Architecture
:	O
Small	O
VMs	O
with	O
1	O
virtual	O
CPU	B-Device
and	O
1.75GB	O
of	O
RAM	O
,	O
Medium	O
VMs	O
with	O
2	O
virtual	O
CPUs	B-Device
and	O
3.5	O
GB	O
of	O
RAM	O
,	O
and	O
Large	O
VMs	O
with	O
4	O
virtual	O
CPUs	B-Device
and	O
7GB	O
of	O
available	O
RAM	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	O
operates	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Azure	I-Application
in	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
data	B-Operating_System
centers	I-Operating_System
throughout	O
the	O
world	O
with	O
Microsoft	B-General_Concept
Azure	I-General_Concept
Web	I-General_Concept
Sites	I-General_Concept
available	O
in	O
a	O
subset	O
of	O
these	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
deploying	O
websites	O
on	O
Microsoft	B-General_Concept
Azure	I-General_Concept
Web	I-General_Concept
Sites	I-General_Concept
customers	O
can	O
choose	O
to	O
deploy	O
sites	O
in	O
a	O
data	B-Operating_System
center	I-Operating_System
in	O
any	O
of	O
the	O
following	O
geographical	O
regions	O
:	O
East	O
US	O
,	O
North	O
central	O
US	O
,	O
West	O
US	O
,	O
East	O
Asia	O
,	O
Brazil	O
South	O
,	O
North	O
Europe	O
,	O
West	O
Europe	O
,	O
Japan	O
East	O
or	O
Japan	O
West	O
.	O
</s>
