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In the current technical preview, Azure lets you create 10 ASP.NET websites. They are given domains such as http://yourappname.azurewebsites.net. Is there currently any way to point a domain name to this website? Or are there any plans to support this in the future?

Jim
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    @ThunderRabbit: For the new Windows Azure Web Sites, this is simply unavailable right with *shared* model. With *reserved* model, custom domain names are available. – David Makogon Jun 14 '12 at 07:45
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    update 2015: Custom domain names cannot be used with Free websites. Only for Shared, Basic, or Standard mode. http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/web-sites-custom-domain-name/ – GibboK Feb 20 '15 at 23:42

5 Answers5

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Update 18-sep-2012: Windows Azure Web Sites tiers:

  • Free: Allows you to test the Web Site Features
  • Shared: Cheap hosting (with 5 GB/month free) that supports both CNAMEs, A-Records and naked domains.
  • Reserved: Same as shared, but you get a dedicated VM

Read all about it in Scott Guthrie's post: Announcing: Great Improvements to Windows Azure Web Sites

Original Answer:

At the moment this is only possible for reserved instances (using a CNAME), this means it's not possible for the free sites you can create (which are shared):

You can only used custom domains in reserved mode. You can’t set a CNAME like you can in Web Roles because multiple sites share the same IP address. Switch to reserved mode and set your CNAME in the configuration and it should work.

http://blog.ntotten.com/2012/06/07/10-things-about-windows-azure-web-sites/

Microsoft confirmed that they will add support shared sites in the future:

https://twitter.com/scottgu/status/210972290719031298

Zain Rizvi
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Sandrino Di Mattia
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Fast forward two years, it is still not possible to have CNAME directed to Azure free website. The reasons are commercial and not technical. MS says that it is not possible because multiple sites share a same IP. But don't know why I have this dedicated server at GoDaddy that has one IP but hosts 7 different domains :-) So it can't be a technical reason. Of course, if they start allowing it, nobody would want to subscribe to paid versions.

Allen King
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For what it's worth, it's now (finally) available for about $10/month, in shared and Reserved modes). I've tested it and it's working perfectly, after the little DNS dance for the naked domain. This was the missing piece to Azure for some small sites I run.

The Gu has all the info: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2012/09/17/announcing-great-improvements-to-windows-azure-web-sites.aspx

Jay Querido
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    $10/month just to use your own domain seems kinda steep. Is anybody looking to use Azure in place of Godaddy Hosting which is only like $7/month including a SQL DB, Web site hosting and a lot of bandwidth. I really want to move my small web biz and db to Azure, but it would appear I'm looking at 500% price increase compared to my home solution even with Static IP cost. – Hell.Bent Mar 21 '13 at 19:28
  • For me, having a BizSpark subscription with some free traffic etc., this is the perfect solution. Thanks! – Tillito Oct 22 '14 at 19:21
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You will soon be able to use Custom Domain without having to upgrade your plan to RESERVED. We are introducing a new Shared mode. The new Shared mode will have some cost, but it is a lot less than reserved mode, and it will support Custom Domain. Please check back at the http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/ soon for more info.

Thomas Pham
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As mentioned by Sandrino, this is possible only for reserved instances.

Not sure about Scott Guthrie answer. Check this thread.
It is stated that at this time there is no plans to support custom domains for shared instances.
It also contains a request to comment on Scott's answer.

Update:
It might be available for a fee (same thread)

eitanpo
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