Azure App Service App Cloning Using PowerShell

With the release of Azure PowerShell version 1.1.0, a new option has been added to New-AzWebApp that lets you clone an existing App Service app to a newly created app in a different region or in the same region. This option enables customers to deploy a number of apps across different regions quickly and easily.

App cloning is supported for Standard, Premium, Premium V2, and Isolated app service plans. The new feature uses the same limitations as App Service Backup feature, see Back up an app in Azure App Service.

Cloning an existing app

Scenario: An existing app in China East region, and you want to clone the contents to a new app in China North region. It can be accomplished by using the Azure Resource Manager version of the PowerShell cmdlet to create a new app with the -SourceWebApp option.

Knowing the resource group name that contains the source app, you can use the following PowerShell command to get the source app's information (in this case named source-webapp):

$srcapp = Get-AzWebApp -ResourceGroupName SourceAzureResourceGroup -Name source-webapp

To create a new App Service Plan, you can use New-AzAppServicePlan command as in the following example

New-AzAppServicePlan -Location "China North" -ResourceGroupName DestinationAzureResourceGroup -Name DestinationAppServicePlan -Tier Standard

Using the New-AzWebApp command, you can create the new app in the China North region, and tie it to an existing App Service Plan. Moreover, you can use the same resource group as the source app, or define a new resource group, as shown in the following command:

$destapp = New-AzWebApp -ResourceGroupName DestinationAzureResourceGroup -Name dest-webapp -Location "China North" -AppServicePlan DestinationAppServicePlan -SourceWebApp $srcapp

To clone an existing app including all associated deployment slots, you need to use the IncludeSourceWebAppSlots parameter. Note that the IncludeSourceWebAppSlots parameter is only supported for cloning an entire app including all of its slots. The following PowerShell command demonstrates the use of that parameter with the New-AzWebApp command:

$destapp = New-AzWebApp -ResourceGroupName DestinationAzureResourceGroup -Name dest-webapp -Location "China North" -AppServicePlan DestinationAppServicePlan -SourceWebApp $srcapp -IncludeSourceWebAppSlots

To clone an existing app within the same region, you need to create a new resource group and a new app service plan in the same region, and then use the following PowerShell command to clone the app:

$destapp = New-AzWebApp -ResourceGroupName NewAzureResourceGroup -Name dest-webapp -Location "China East" -AppServicePlan NewAppServicePlan -SourceWebApp $srcapp

Cloning an existing App to an App Service Environment

Scenario: An existing app in China East region, and you want to clone the contents to a new app to an existing App Service Environment (ASE).

Knowing the resource group name that contains the source app, you can use the following PowerShell command to get the source app's information (in this case named source-webapp):

$srcapp = Get-AzWebApp -ResourceGroupName SourceAzureResourceGroup -Name source-webapp

Knowing the ASE's name, and the resource group name that the ASE belongs to, you can create the new app in the existing ASE, as shown in the following command:

$destapp = New-AzWebApp -ResourceGroupName DestinationAzureResourceGroup -Name dest-webapp -Location "China North" -AppServicePlan DestinationAppServicePlan -ASEName DestinationASE -ASEResourceGroupName DestinationASEResourceGroupName -SourceWebApp $srcapp

The Location parameter is required due to legacy reason, but it is ignored when you create the app in an ASE.

Cloning an existing App Slot

Scenario: You want to clone an existing deployment slot of an app to either a new app or a new slot. The new app can be in the same region as the original app slot or in a different region.

Knowing the resource group name that contains the source app, you can use the following PowerShell command to get the source app slot's information (in this case named source-appslot) tied to source-app:

$srcappslot = Get-AzWebAppSlot -ResourceGroupName SourceAzureResourceGroup -Name source-app -Slot source-appslot

The following command demonstrates creating a clone of the source app to a new app:

$destapp = New-AzWebApp -ResourceGroupName DestinationAzureResourceGroup -Name dest-app -Location "China North" -AppServicePlan DestinationAppServicePlan -SourceWebApp $srcappslot

Configuring Traffic Manager while cloning an app

Creating multi-region apps and configuring Azure Traffic Manager to route traffic to all these apps, is an important scenario to ensure that customers' apps are highly available. When cloning an existing app, you have the option to connect both apps to either a new traffic manager profile or an existing one. Only Azure Resource Manager version of Traffic Manager is supported.

Creating a new Traffic Manager profile while cloning an app

Scenario: You want to clone an app to another region, while configuring an Azure Resource Manager traffic manager profile that includes both apps. The following command demonstrates creating a clone of the source app to a new app while configuring a new Traffic Manager profile:

$destapp = New-AzWebApp -ResourceGroupName DestinationAzureResourceGroup -Name dest-webapp -Location "China East" -AppServicePlan DestinationAppServicePlan -SourceWebApp $srcapp -TrafficManagerProfileName newTrafficManagerProfile

Adding new cloned app to an existing Traffic Manager profile

Scenario: You already have an Azure Resource Manager traffic manager profile and want to add both apps as endpoints. To do so, you first need to assemble the existing traffic manager profile ID. You need the subscription ID, the resource group name, and the existing traffic manager profile name.

$TMProfileID = "/subscriptions/<Your subscription ID goes here>/resourceGroups/<Your resource group name goes here>/providers/Microsoft.TrafficManagerProfiles/ExistingTrafficManagerProfileName"

After having the traffic manger ID, the following command demonstrates creating a clone of the source app to a new app while adding them to an existing Traffic Manager profile:

$destapp = New-AzWebApp -ResourceGroupName <Resource group name> -Name dest-webapp -Location "China East" -AppServicePlan DestinationAppServicePlan -SourceWebApp $srcapp -TrafficManagerProfileId $TMProfileID

Current Restrictions

Here are the known restrictions of app cloning:

• Auto scale settings are not cloned
• Backup schedule settings are not cloned
• VNET settings are not cloned
• App Insights are not automatically set up on the destination app
• Easy Auth settings are not cloned
• Kudu Extension are not cloned
• TiP rules are not cloned
• Database content is not cloned
• Outbound IP Addresses changes if cloning to a different scale unit

References

• App Service Cloning
• Back up an app in Azure App Service
• Azure Resource Manager support for Azure Traffic Manager Preview
• Introduction to App Service Environment
• Using Azure PowerShell with Azure Resource Manager