Azure Static Web Apps
In the ever-evolving world of cloud computing, Microsoft's Azure stands out as a prominent platform with a vast array of services for building, deploying, and managing applications in the cloud. One such service, Azure Static Web Apps, has grown and matured since its launch in 2020. In this article, we will explore the current features, benefits, and use cases of Azure Static Web Apps for your Jamstack projects.
Thom Krupa
- Website: azure.microsoft.com
- Founded: 2020
- Infrastructure: Azure
- Serverless: Node.jsPythonC#PowerShellJava
Last update: March 16, 2023
What are Static Web Apps?
A Static Web App is Microsoft's terminology for a Jamstack application. Jamstack is an architectural approach for creating fast, secure, and scalable web applications using pre-rendered pages and serverless functions. Azure Static Web Apps facilitates the process of deploying and managing Jamstack applications on Microsoft's cloud.
Features and Benefits of Azure Static Web Apps
Azure Static Web Apps offers a multitude of features that make it a powerful platform for deploying Jamstack applications. One of the key aspects is the ability to configure custom domains and automatically provision free SSL certificates, ensuring secure connections for your users.
Seamless integration with both GitHub and Azure DevOps provides continuous integration and deployment capabilities for your projects. This makes it easy to manage your application's development and deployment process.
The platform also ensures fast and responsive performance for users worldwide through automatic global distribution using Azure's Content Delivery Network (CDN). Moreover, it supports serverless APIs using Azure Functions, which allows developers to create and deploy serverless functions in various languages, including Node.js, Python, and C#.
Built-in authentication and authorization features support multiple identity providers such as Azure Active Directory, GitHub, Google, and Facebook. Additionally, customizable routing and access control enable developers to define custom routes, fallback routes, and access restrictions based on user roles.
Dashboard
The Azure Static Web Apps Dashboard UI, while appearing somewhat intricate at first glance, adheres to the Azure design philosophy. It exudes a robust, professional feel characteristic of enterprise-grade software.
After successful deployment, you will have a link to your website and many usage metrics like requests, function hits, and errors. You can't easily revert to specific deployment from the dashboard. The only option is to revert the git commit, but that won't bring back your data if you fetch it from a headless CMS.
Conclusion
Azure Static Web Apps has come a long way since its inception, providing developers with a robust and feature-rich platform for building, deploying, and managing Jamstack applications. With seamless integration with GitHub and Azure DevOps, global distribution through Azure CDN, and support for serverless APIs, Azure Static Web Apps has become a strong contender in the market. If you're considering deploying your next Jamstack project, Microsoft's Azure Static Web Apps is undoubtedly worth exploring.
- Automatic HTTPS
- Integrates with GIthub, Azure DevOps and other
- Serverless functions
- Static Websites.
- Serverless apps.