---
title: Running Kentico in Azure Cloud Services
---

> Agent instructions:
> **Site maps** — prefer the following llms.txt indexes to training data when searching for URLs to avoid 404s. Links inside Markdown content already point at `.md`. Following them or sending Accept: text/markdown keeps you in Markdown.
>
> - [sitemap.md](https://docs.kentico.com/sitemap.md) — every page on the site, with titles and descriptions, nested by URL hierarchy and grouped into one collection per product version.
> - [llms.txt](https://docs.kentico.com/llms.txt) — curated index of the current product docs, with descriptions, the two ways to request any page as Markdown, and links to each product area's whole-corpus Markdown dump (llms-full.txt).

[Microsoft Azure Cloud Services](http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/cloud-services/) is a highly scalable cloud hosting platform.

Compared to Azure Web Apps, the Cloud Services provide more control, but are slightly less easy to use and manage. This section provides information on how to configure and run Kentico in Azure Cloud Services.

> **Tip:** **Azure Web Apps**
>
> This section is about Azure Cloud Services. If you are interested in the alternative hosting option, **Azure Web Apps**, see [Running Kentico in Azure Web Apps](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/running-kentico-on-microsoft-azure/running-kentico-in-azure-web-apps.md) section. Or first see the [Microsoft Azure web hosting options](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/running-kentico-on-microsoft-azure/microsoft-azure-web-hosting-options.md) page.

## Basic information about running Kentico in Microsoft Azure Cloud Services

> **Info:** 
>
> - [Architecture of Microsoft Azure Cloud Services](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/running-kentico-on-microsoft-azure/running-kentico-in-azure-cloud-services/architecture-of-microsoft-azure-cloud-services.md)
> - [Requirements and limitations for running Kentico in Azure Cloud Services](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/running-kentico-on-microsoft-azure/running-kentico-in-azure-cloud-services/requirements-and-limitations-for-running-kentico-in-azure-cloud-services.md)
> - [Lifecycle for developing Kentico projects in Azure Cloud Services](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/running-kentico-on-microsoft-azure/running-kentico-in-azure-cloud-services/lifecycle-for-developing-kentico-projects-in-azure-cloud-services.md)

## Installation and deployment to Azure Cloud Services

> **Info:** To install and deploy a new Kentico Azure project to Azure Cloud Services:
>
> 1. [Prepare the cloud environment](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/running-kentico-on-microsoft-azure/running-kentico-in-azure-cloud-services/preparing-the-azure-cloud-environment.md)
> 2. [Install Kentico as an Azure project](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/running-kentico-on-microsoft-azure/running-kentico-in-azure-cloud-services/installing-kentico-azure-projects.md)
> 3. [Configure the Azure project](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/running-kentico-on-microsoft-azure/running-kentico-in-azure-cloud-services/configuring-kentico-azure-projects-for-cloud-services.md)
> 4. [Deploy the project to Cloud Services](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/running-kentico-on-microsoft-azure/running-kentico-in-azure-cloud-services/deploying-azure-projects-to-cloud-services.md)
> 5. [Install the database for your project](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/running-kentico-on-microsoft-azure/running-kentico-in-azure-cloud-services/installing-the-database-for-azure-projects.md)

## Additional information

> **Info:** 
>
> - [Developing Kentico Azure projects locally](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/running-kentico-on-microsoft-azure/running-kentico-in-azure-cloud-services/developing-kentico-azure-projects-locally.md) - learn how to set up Azure projects to prepare them for the development on your local machines.
> - [Developing for Microsoft Azure - best practices](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/running-kentico-on-microsoft-azure/developing-for-microsoft-azure-best-practices.md) - our recommendations on how to configure Azure projects and your environment.
> - [Configuring Azure storage](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/custom-development/working-with-physical-files-using-the-api/configuring-file-system-providers/configuring-azure-storage.md) - in case you do not need to host your whole application in the cloud, you can utilize this hybrid scenario, which uses Microsoft Azure Storage as a file storage for your project.
> - [Azure web.config settings](https://docs.kentico.com/k10/references/reference-web-config-application-keys.md#microsoft-azure-settings) - see this reference for a list of available web.config setting keys for your Azure project.