Mapping naked domains and www. domains to Azure web apps

Azure web apps can be mapped to multiple domains, as well as naked domains.

To do this, you will need access to your domain name's DNS settings.

Go Naked

A naked domain is the domain without the "www." that you often see on websites. There are various reasons for using a naked url, that I won't go into in this post.

Jump into your domain name's DNS settings. Create a CNAME entry for awverify.yourwebsite.com, and point it to your azure domain (e.g. awverify.yourwebsite.azurewebsites.net). This tells azure that you are the owner of the domain.

Now, go into your Azure control panel and locate your web app.

Select "Buy Domains" and then "Bring External Domains":

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You will then be shown a dialogue on the right with a text box where you can enter you naked domain name (e.g. yoursite.com - no www):

After you enter the naked domain, azure will load for a minute whilst is checks for your awverify CNAME dns entry.

Once verified, you can then point your actual domain to your Azure website.

Note: You can use a CNAME or an A record DNS entry to resolve the naked domain of your site. Both methods are listed below:

Method 1. Using an A record DNS entry pointed to the IP shown in the azure portal

Once verified, you Azure will reveal an IP address. This should show up just below the text box where you entered the domain name. If it doesn't show, wait a few minutes and refresh the entire page. The IP address should then be displayed.

Head over to your DNS settings and enter an a record for "*"resolving to your ip address listed in Azure. You should now have a working naked domain name.

Method 2. Using a CNAME DNS entry pointed to the azure alias

Head over to your DNS settings and enter a CNAME record for "*" resolving to yourwebsite.azurewebsites.net. You should now have a working naked domain name.

The merits of using an A record vs a CNAME entry are not something that I will go into in this post. You can read more about the two DNS entry types here.

Pointing a www. to your azure application as well (or any other subdomain)

As well as having a naked domain work, you will probably also want your www to work as well. This can be done using the same methods above, but crucially you will need to tell Azure that you also have ownership of the subdomain as well:

e.g. In order to verify www.yourwebiste.com, you need to create a CNAME dns entry for awverify.www.yourwebsite.com that resolves to awverify.yourwebiste.azurewebsites.net

In order to verify blog.yourwebiste.com, you need to create a CNAME dns entry for awverify.blog.yourwebsite.com that resolves to awverify.yourwebiste.azurewebsites.net

Again, once verified, you are free to setup and A record or CNAME record DNS entry to point to your Azure Web App.