Hosting Options

Overview

The Dev Showcase portfolio is an ASP.NET Core 9.0 application that can be hosted on various platforms. This guide covers deployment options, configuration, and best practices for production hosting.

Hosting Platforms

Choose a hosting platform based on your needs:

Azure App Service

Managed PaaS with built-in scaling and deployment

IIS

Windows Server hosting with IIS integration

Linux Servers

Ubuntu, Debian, or RHEL with systemd

Docker

Container-based deployment for any platform

Azure App Service Deployment

Azure App Service provides the easiest deployment path for ASP.NET Core applications.

Create App Service

Create an Azure App Service resource:

az webapp create \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --plan myAppServicePlan \
  --name dev-showcase-portfolio \
  --runtime "DOTNET|9.0"

Configure Settings

Set environment variables:

az webapp config appsettings set \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --name dev-showcase-portfolio \
  --settings ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production

Deploy

Deploy using the Azure CLI or GitHub Actions:

az webapp deployment source config-zip \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --name dev-showcase-portfolio \
  --src ./publish.zip

Configure HTTPS

Enable HTTPS-only traffic:

az webapp update \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --name dev-showcase-portfolio \
  --https-only true

Azure App Service automatically handles certificate management, scaling, and load balancing.

IIS Hosting (Windows Server)

Deploy to Internet Information Services on Windows Server.

Install Prerequisites

Install required components:

.NET 9.0 Hosting Bundle
IIS with ASP.NET Core Module
URL Rewrite Module (for HTTPS redirection)

Publish Application

Create deployment package:

dotnet publish -c Release -o C:\inetpub\dev-showcase

Create IIS Site

Configure in IIS Manager:

Application Pool: No Managed Code
Physical Path: C:\inetpub\dev-showcase
Binding: HTTPS on port 443

Configure App Pool

Set application pool identity:

Identity: ApplicationPoolIdentity
.NET CLR Version: No Managed Code
Pipeline Mode: Integrated

web.config Configuration

IIS requires a web.config file (auto-generated during publish):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
  <system.webServer>
    <handlers>
      <add name="aspNetCore" path="*" verb="*" 
           modules="AspNetCoreModuleV2" 
           resourceType="Unspecified" />
    </handlers>
    <aspNetCore processPath="dotnet" 
                arguments=".\dev-showcase.dll" 
                stdoutLogEnabled="false" 
                stdoutLogFile=".\logs\stdout" 
                hostingModel="InProcess" />
  </system.webServer>
</configuration>

The ASP.NET Core Module bridges IIS and Kestrel, providing process management and performance optimizations.

Linux Server Deployment

Deploy to Ubuntu or other Linux distributions using systemd.

Install .NET Runtime

Install the .NET 9.0 runtime:

wget https://dot.net/v1/dotnet-install.sh -O dotnet-install.sh
chmod +x dotnet-install.sh
./dotnet-install.sh --channel 9.0 --runtime aspnetcore

Copy Application Files

Upload the published files:

scp -r ./publish/* user@server:/var/www/dev-showcase/

Create Systemd Service

Create /etc/systemd/system/dev-showcase.service:

[Unit]
Description=Dev Showcase Portfolio
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=notify
WorkingDirectory=/var/www/dev-showcase
ExecStart=/usr/bin/dotnet /var/www/dev-showcase/dev-showcase.dll
Restart=always
RestartSec=10
KillSignal=SIGINT
SyslogIdentifier=dev-showcase
User=www-data
Environment=ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production
Environment=DOTNET_PRINT_TELEMETRY_MESSAGE=false

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Start Service

Enable and start the service:

sudo systemctl enable dev-showcase
sudo systemctl start dev-showcase
sudo systemctl status dev-showcase

Configure Nginx Reverse Proxy

Create /etc/nginx/sites-available/dev-showcase:

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    server_name your-domain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:5000;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection keep-alive;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

Enable the site:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/dev-showcase /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Always run the application under a restricted user account (like www-data), never as root.

Docker Deployment

Containerize the application for portable deployment.

Dockerfile

Create a Dockerfile in the project root:

# Build stage
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:9.0 AS build
WORKDIR /src

COPY dev-showcase.csproj .
RUN dotnet restore

COPY . .
RUN dotnet publish -c Release -o /app/publish

# Runtime stage
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspnet:9.0
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=build /app/publish .

EXPOSE 8080
EXPOSE 8081

ENV ASPNETCORE_URLS=http://+:8080
ENV ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production

ENTRYPOINT ["dotnet", "dev-showcase.dll"]

Build and Run

Docker
Docker Compose

# Build image
docker build -t dev-showcase:latest .

# Run container
docker run -d \
  --name dev-showcase \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -e ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production \
  dev-showcase:latest

# View logs
docker logs dev-showcase

Create docker-compose.yml:

version: '3.8'
services:
  web:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    environment:
      - ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production
      - ASPNETCORE_URLS=http://+:8080
    restart: unless-stopped

Deploy:

docker-compose up -d

Environment Configuration

Set critical environment variables for production:

Required Variables

# Environment
ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production

# URLs (if not using default 5000/5001)
ASPNETCORE_URLS=http://+:8080;https://+:8443

# Forwarded headers (behind reverse proxy)
ASPNETCORE_FORWARDEDHEADERS_ENABLED=true

Logging Configuration

Update appsettings.Production.json:

{
  "Logging": {
    "LogLevel": {
      "Default": "Warning",
      "Microsoft.AspNetCore": "Warning",
      "Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime": "Information"
    }
  },
  "AllowedHosts": "your-domain.com"
}

Use structured logging with providers like Azure Application Insights, Seq, or Serilog for production monitoring.

HTTPS Configuration

Certificate Options

Let's Encrypt
Azure Managed Certificate
Custom Certificate

Free SSL certificates with automatic renewal:

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d your-domain.com

Use your own certificate:

builder.WebHost.ConfigureKestrel(options =>
{
    options.ConfigureHttpsDefaults(httpsOptions =>
    {
        httpsOptions.ServerCertificate = 
            new X509Certificate2("certificate.pfx", "password");
    });
});

HSTS Configuration

From Program.cs:8:

app.UseHsts();

HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) forces HTTPS connections. Configured in production mode only.

Monitoring and Logging

Health Checks

Add health check endpoints:

builder.Services.AddHealthChecks();
app.MapHealthChecks("/health");

Application Insights

For Azure deployments:

dotnet add package Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.AspNetCore

builder.Services.AddApplicationInsightsTelemetry();

Log Aggregation

Common log destinations:

File logs: Write to /var/log/dev-showcase/
Serilog: Structured logging to multiple sinks
Azure Monitor: Cloud-native monitoring
ELK Stack: Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana

Production Best Practices

Security

Enable HTTPS only
Configure AllowedHosts
Use secure headers
Regular security updates

Performance

Enable response compression
Configure output caching
Use CDN for static assets
Monitor application metrics

Reliability

Configure health checks
Set up automatic restarts
Implement graceful shutdown
Use load balancing

Maintenance

Automated backups
Blue-green deployments
Rolling updates
Rollback procedures

Troubleshooting

Application won't start

Check the logs for startup errors:

# Systemd
sudo journalctl -u dev-showcase -n 50

# Docker
docker logs dev-showcase

# Azure
az webapp log tail --name dev-showcase-portfolio --resource-group myResourceGroup

502 Bad Gateway (Nginx)

Verify the application is running:

sudo systemctl status dev-showcase
curl http://localhost:5000

Check Nginx proxy configuration and firewall rules.

Static files not loading

Ensure static file middleware is configured:

app.UseStaticFiles();
app.MapStaticAssets();

Verify files are included in the publish output.

Language files not found

Check that wwwroot/languages/ directory is published:

ls publish/wwwroot/languages/

Should contain en.json and es.json.

Next Steps

Building

Learn about the build process

Customization

Customize your portfolio

Getting Started

Core Concepts

Components

Customization

Deployment

Overview

Hosting Platforms

Azure App Service

IIS

Linux Servers

Docker

Azure App Service Deployment

IIS Hosting (Windows Server)

web.config Configuration

Linux Server Deployment

Docker Deployment

Dockerfile

Build and Run

Environment Configuration

Required Variables

Logging Configuration

HTTPS Configuration

Certificate Options

HSTS Configuration

Monitoring and Logging

Health Checks

Application Insights

Log Aggregation

Production Best Practices

Security

Performance

Reliability

Maintenance

Troubleshooting

Next Steps

Building

Customization

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Getting Started

Core Concepts

Components

Customization

Deployment

​Overview

​Hosting Platforms

Azure App Service

IIS

Linux Servers

Docker

​Azure App Service Deployment

​IIS Hosting (Windows Server)

​web.config Configuration

​Linux Server Deployment

​Docker Deployment

​Dockerfile

​Build and Run

​Environment Configuration

​Required Variables

​Logging Configuration

​HTTPS Configuration

​Certificate Options

​HSTS Configuration

​Monitoring and Logging

​Health Checks

​Application Insights

​Log Aggregation

​Production Best Practices

Security

Performance

Reliability

Maintenance

​Troubleshooting

​Next Steps

Building

Customization

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Overview

Hosting Platforms

Azure App Service Deployment

IIS Hosting (Windows Server)

web.config Configuration

Linux Server Deployment

Docker Deployment

Dockerfile

Build and Run

Environment Configuration

Required Variables

Logging Configuration

HTTPS Configuration

Certificate Options

HSTS Configuration

Monitoring and Logging

Health Checks

Application Insights

Log Aggregation

Production Best Practices

Troubleshooting

Next Steps