Quickstart: Create a Traffic Manager profile for a highly available web application using Azure PowerShell

This quickstart describes how to create a Traffic Manager profile that delivers high availability for your web application.

In this quickstart, you'll create two instances of a web application. Each of them is running in a different Azure region. You'll create a Traffic Manager profile based on endpoint priority. The profile directs user traffic to the primary site running the web application. Traffic Manager continuously monitors the web application. If the primary site is unavailable, it provides automatic failover to the backup site.

If you don't have an Azure subscription, create a trial subscription now.

If you choose to install and use PowerShell locally, this article requires the Azure PowerShell module version 5.4.1 or later. Run Get-Module -ListAvailable Az to find the installed version. If you need to upgrade, see Install Azure PowerShell module. If you're running PowerShell locally, you also need to run Connect-AzAccount -Environment AzureChinaCloud to create a connection with Azure.

Create a resource group using New-AzResourceGroup.

# Variables
$Location1="ChinaEast"

# Create a Resource Group
New-AzResourceGroup -Name MyResourceGroup -Location $Location1

Create a Traffic Manager profile using New-AzTrafficManagerProfile that directs user traffic based on endpoint priority.

# Generates a random value
$Random=(New-Guid).ToString().Substring(0,8)
$mytrafficmanagerprofile="mytrafficmanagerprofile$Random"

New-AzTrafficManagerProfile `
-Name $mytrafficmanagerprofile `
-ResourceGroupName MyResourceGroup `
-TrafficRoutingMethod Priority `
-MonitorPath '/' `
-MonitorProtocol "HTTP" `
-RelativeDnsName $mytrafficmanagerprofile `
-Ttl 30 `
-MonitorPort 80

For this quickstart, you'll need two instances of a web application deployed in two different Azure regions (China North and China East). Each will serve as primary and failover endpoints for Traffic Manager.

Create Web App service plans using New-AzAppServicePlan for the two instances of the web application that you'll deploy in two different Azure regions.

# Variables
$Location1="ChinaEast"
$Location2="ChinaNorth"

# Create an App service plan
New-AzAppservicePlan -Name "myAppServicePlanChinaEast$Random" -ResourceGroupName MyResourceGroup -Location $Location1 -Tier Standard
New-AzAppservicePlan -Name "myAppServicePlanChinaNorth$Random" -ResourceGroupName MyResourceGroup -Location $Location2 -Tier Standard

Create two instances the web application using New-AzWebApp in the App Service plans in the China East and China North Azure regions.

$App1ResourceId=(New-AzWebApp -Name myWebAppChinaEast -ResourceGroupName MyResourceGroup -Location $Location1 -AppServicePlan "myAppServicePlanChinaEast").Id
$App2ResourceId=(New-AzWebApp -Name myWebAppChinaNorth -ResourceGroupName MyResourceGroup -Location $Location2 -AppServicePlan "myAppServicePlanChinaNorth").Id

Add the two Web Apps as Traffic Manager endpoints using New-AzTrafficManagerEndpoint to the Traffic Manager profile as follows:

• Add the Web App located in the China East Azure region as the primary endpoint to route all the user traffic.
• Add the Web App located in the China North Azure region as the failover endpoint. When the primary endpoint is unavailable, traffic automatically routes to the failover endpoint.

New-AzTrafficManagerEndpoint -Name "myPrimaryEndpoint" `
-ResourceGroupName MyResourceGroup `
-ProfileName "$mytrafficmanagerprofile" `
-Type AzureEndpoints `
-TargetResourceId $App1ResourceId `
-EndpointStatus "Enabled"

New-AzTrafficManagerEndpoint -Name "myFailoverEndpoint" `
-ResourceGroupName MyResourceGroup `
-ProfileName "$mytrafficmanagerprofile" `
-Type AzureEndpoints `
-TargetResourceId $App2ResourceId `
-EndpointStatus "Enabled"

In this section, you'll check the domain name of your Traffic Manager profile. You'll also configure the primary endpoint to be unavailable. Finally, you get to see that the web app is still available. It's because Traffic Manager sends the traffic to the failover endpoint.

Determine the DNS name of the Traffic Manager profile using Get-AzTrafficManagerProfile.

Get-AzTrafficManagerProfile -Name $mytrafficmanagerprofile `
-ResourceGroupName MyResourceGroup

Copy the RelativeDnsName value. The DNS name of your Traffic Manager profile is http://<relativednsname>.trafficmanager.cn.

1. In a web browser, enter the DNS name of your Traffic Manager profile (http://<relativednsname>.trafficmanager.cn) to view your Web App's default website.

   Note

   In this quickstart scenario, all requests route to the primary endpoint. It is set to Priority 1.

2. To view Traffic Manager failover in action, disable your primary site using Disable-AzTrafficManagerEndpoint.

   Disable-AzTrafficManagerEndpoint -Name "myPrimaryEndpoint" `
   -Type AzureEndpoints `
   -ProfileName $mytrafficmanagerprofile `
   -ResourceGroupName MyResourceGroup `
   -Force
   

3. Copy the DNS name of your Traffic Manager profile (http://<relativednsname>.trafficmanager.cn) to view the website in a new web browser session.

4. Verify that the web app is still available.

When you're done, delete the resource groups, web applications, and all related resources using Remove-AzResourceGroup.

Remove-AzResourceGroup -Name MyResourceGroup

In this quickstart, you created a Traffic Manager profile that provides high availability for your web application. To learn more about routing traffic, continue to the Traffic Manager tutorials.