Table of Contents

1. 🎯 What You’ll Learn in This Blog
2. 🖥️ Hosting a Web App Inside a Virtual Machine
3. 💻 Creating the Web App in Visual Studio
4. 🚀 Hosting the App in IIS
5. ❗ Local Access vs Public Access
6. 🔐 Securing the Web App in VM
7. 🛡️ The Right Solution – Application Gateway
8. 🧩 Final Thoughts

🎯 What You’ll Learn in This Blog

In this blog, we will:

• Deploy a web application inside an Azure Virtual Machine
• Install and configure IIS + .NET 8 Hosting Bundle
• Create an ASP.NET Core MVC app using Visual Studio
• Publish the app and host it on the VM using IIS on port 8080
• Understand why the app is accessible only locally and not via public IP
• Learn the security risks of exposing VMs directly to the internet
• See how Azure Application Gateway protects the web app

By the end, you’ll know how to host a real web app in a VM—and more importantly, how to secure it 🔐.

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🖥️ Hosting a Web App Inside a Virtual Machine

To run a web application inside a VM, we must first turn the VM into a web server.

🧰 Step 1 – Connect to the VM

• Use Remote Desktop (RDP) to log in to your Azure VM
• Open Server Manager

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🌐 Step 2 – Install IIS (Web Server)

1. Go to
   👉 Server Manager → Add Roles and Features
2. Select:
   ✔ Web Server (IIS) role
   ✔ Under features, enable IIS 6 Management Compatibility
3. Wait for installation to finish ⏳

After installation you will see:

C:\inetpub\wwwroot

This folder contains the default IIS landing page.

✅ You can test it inside the VM by opening:
http://localhost

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⚙️ Step 3 – Install .NET 8 Hosting Bundle

Download and install the latest .NET 8 Hosting Bundle inside the VM so IIS can run ASP.NET Core apps.

💡 Without this bundle, IIS cannot host .NET applications.

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💻 Creating the Web App in Visual Studio

🧪 Step 4 – Build an ASP.NET Core App

1. Open Visual Studio
2. Create a project:
   👉 ASP.NET Core Web App (Model–View–Controller)
3. Make a small UI change to:
   • Home → Index.cshtml
     (so you can recognize your app later)

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📦 Step 5 – Publish as Folder

1. Right click project → Publish
2. Choose → Publish to Folder

In settings select:

• ✅ Self-contained deployment
  (so app runs without external dependencies)

3. Copy the published folder into the VM.

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🚀 Hosting the App in IIS

🛠️ Step 6 – Configure IIS Website

1. Open IIS Manager in the VM
2. Remove the default website
3. Click Add Website

Configure:

• 📁 Physical path → your published folder
• 🌐 Port → 8080

📌 The publish folder must be the parent of the wwwroot folder.

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👀 Step 7 – Test Locally

Click Browse :8080

Your web app opens at:

👉 http://localhost:8080

🎉 The app is now running inside the VM!

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❗ Local Access vs Public Access

Right now:

• ✅ App works inside the VM
• ❌ App is NOT accessible using the VM’s public IP

You could open port 8080 to the internet…
👉 But this is a BAD idea.

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🔐 Securing the Web App in VM

Exposing a VM directly to the internet introduces serious risks.

⚠️ Common Security Threats

1. 🚨 DDoS Attacks
   Bots flood your app with requests so real users cannot access it.
2. 🧨 Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
   Malicious scripts injected into your pages.
3. 💉 SQL Injection
   Attackers manipulate database queries.
4. 📉 HTTP Protocol Violations
   Malformed requests to crash or exploit the app.

❌ Opening inbound port 8080 is NOT recommended
Even RDP port should be closed in production.

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🛡️ The Right Solution – Application Gateway

Instead of exposing the VM:

• All traffic should enter through Azure Application Gateway
• Gateway validates and filters requests
• Only safe traffic reaches the web app

✅ Benefits

• Web Application Firewall (WAF)
• DDoS protection
• SSL termination
• Central entry point
• No direct VM exposure

🧠 Architecture Idea
Internet → Application Gateway → VM Web App
NOT → Internet → VM directly

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🧩 Final Thoughts

You have now learned:

• How to convert a VM into a web server
• Host an ASP.NET Core app in IIS
• Why local access ≠ public access
• The dangers of exposing VMs
• The importance of Application Gateway

🚀 Real-world rule:
Never expose VMs directly—always use a gateway!