Migrate from Azure App Service on Azure Stack Hub to Azure App Service

After reviewing the benefits of migration and planning your migration to Azure App Service from Azure App Service on Azure Stack Hub, it's time to focus on how to migrate.

Choose a migration landing zone

While planning your migration you will have identified your applications and chosen a migration landing zone for each application:

Azure App Service

Choose Azure App Service when:

  • Applications are cloud-ready.
  • Minimal operating system dependencies exist.
  • The application can run within Azure App Service sandbox constraints.

Create the Azure environment

Step 1: Create resource groups

Create resource groups for:

  • Production
  • Non-production
  • Shared services

Step 2: Configure networking

Create the required networking resources:

  • Virtual Networks
  • Subnets
  • Private Endpoints
  • DNS zones
  • VPN or ExpressRoute connectivity

Step 3: Provision App Service infrastructure

Provision:

Step 4: Configure supporting services

Create and configure:

  • Azure SQL Database
  • Azure Storage
  • Azure Key Vault
  • Application Insights
  • Azure Monitor

Migrate application code

Source-code deployment

Deploy applications using:

These approaches are recommended for modern applications that already have access to source code.

Migrate application configuration

Review and migrate the following settings.

Application settings

  • Connection strings
  • API keys
  • Environment variables

Authentication

Implement authentication using:

  • Microsoft Entra ID
  • Managed identities
  • OAuth or OpenID Connect providers

Secrets management

Store secrets in:

  • Azure Key Vault

Certificates

Import and validate:

  • TLS certificates
  • Custom domain certificates

Migrate data

Databases

Recommended targets include:

  • Azure SQL Database
  • SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines

Validate:

  • Database compatibility
  • Connection strings
  • Firewall and networking rules

File storage

Replace Azure Stack Hub file-share dependencies with:

  • Azure Files
  • Azure Blob Storage

Backup and recovery

Configure:

  • Database backups
  • Storage redundancy
  • Geo-recovery policies

Validate the migrated application

Functional validation

Verify:

  • Authentication and sign-in experiences
  • Business workflows
  • Data operations
  • API integrations

Performance validation

Verify:

  • Load characteristics
  • Scaling behavior
  • Startup performance

Security validation

Verify:

  • Authentication
  • Authorization
  • Certificate configuration
  • Network access controls

Perform production cutover

  1. Deploy the application to Azure.
  2. Complete validation testing.
  3. Synchronize final data changes.
  4. Freeze changes to the Azure Stack Hub deployment.
  5. Update DNS records.
  6. Monitor production traffic.
  7. Retain rollback options until migration validation is complete.

Post-migration activities

After migration:

  • Enable Application Insights.
  • Configure Azure Monitor alerts.
  • Enable automatic scale or autoscale by rules.
  • Configure backup policies.
  • Review cost optimization opportunities.
  • Review security recommendations.
  • Enable managed identities where applicable.

Migration checklist

Assessment

[ ] Inventory all applications. [ ] Document application dependencies. [ ] Assess compatibility with Azure App Service. [ ] Select the appropriate Azure target service.

Planning

[ ] Design the Azure landing zone. [ ] Design networking requirements. [ ] Define migration waves. [ ] Define rollback procedures.

Migration

[ ] Provision Azure resources. [ ] Migrate application code. [ ] Migrate databases. [ ] Migrate certificates. [ ] Migrate application settings and configuration.

Validation

[ ] Complete functional testing. [ ] Complete performance testing. [ ] Complete security testing. [ ] Obtain business sign-off.

Cutover

[ ] Update DNS records. [ ] Validate production workloads. [ ] Enable monitoring and alerting. [ ] Retire the Azure Stack Hub deployment.

Next steps

After successfully migrating to Azure App Service, consider adopting additional platform capabilities such as:

These capabilities can help further modernize applications, reduce operational overhead, and accelerate cloud-native adoption.

  • Last updated on