Windows Azure Pack: Web Sites Overview
Applies To: Windows Azure Pack
Overview of Web Sites Roles
The Windows Azure Pack: Web Sites service uses a minimum of 6 server roles: Controller, Management Server, Front End, Web Worker, File Server, and Publisher. Also required is a SQL Server for the Web Sites runtime database. These roles are separate from, and in addition to, the servers that form an Express or Distributed installation of the Service Management API. The roles can be installed on physical servers or virtual machines.
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The Windows Azure Pack Web Sites service includes the following server roles:
Web Sites Controller - The controller provisions and manages the other Web Sites Roles. This role is installed first.
Management Server - This server exposes a REST endpoint that handles management traffic to the Windows Azure Pack Web Sites Management API.
Web Workers - These are web servers that process client web requests. Web workers are either Shared or Reserved (at minimum, one of each is required) to provide differentiated levels of service to customers. Reserved workers are categorized into small, medium, and large sizes.
Important
Because Web Workers run customer code, they represent a potential risk to the Web Sites infrastructure. After installation, you should configure IP Filtering from the Management Portal for Administrators to reduce the risk. For more information, see Configure IP filtering.
Front End - Accepts web requests from clients, routes requests to Web Workers, and returns web worker responses to clients. Front End servers are responsible for load balancing and SSL termination.
File Server - Provides file services for hosting web site content. The File Server houses all of the application files for every web site that runs on the Web Sites Cloud. For more detailed information, see Capacity Planning for Windows Azure Pack: Web Sites.
Publisher - Provides content publishing to the Web Sites farm for FTP clients, Visual Studio, and WebMatrix through the Web Deploy and FTP protocols.
Overview of SQL Server roles
A Windows Azure Pack environment that includes Windows Azure Pack: Web Sites requires the following three database categories:
Service Management API database - The core installation of the Windows Azure Pack Service Management API uses a SQL Server to store its configuration data. This database should have already been installed before performing the steps in this deployment guide. For more information, see Microsoft SQL Server versions supported in a Windows Azure Pack deployment in the Deploy Windows Azure Pack for Windows Server guide.
Web Sites Runtime Database - Prior to installing Windows Azure Pack: Web Sites, you will need to prepare a SQL Server to contain the runtime database that Web Sites uses for its operations. For more information, see Prepare a SQL Server to hold the Windows Azure Pack Web Sites Runtime Database.
Application Databases - If your usage scenario includes providing database functionality for the tenant web sites, you will need to install separate SQL server and/or MySQL databases to provide this service. For more information, see Provision SQL Server and MySQL Application Databases for Tenant Use.
For information on scaling up SQL Server, see Configuring SQL Server for High Availability.