# Deploying ASP.NET Core to the Cloud (Azure, AWS, Docker)

You’ve built your app — now it’s time to **ship it**. In this post, we’ll explore how to deploy your ASP.NET Core app to the cloud using Azure, AWS, and Docker — all with real-world simplicity.

---

## ☁️ Option 1: Deploy to Azure App Service

### 🔹 Step 1: Publish Locally

```bash
dotnet publish -c Release -o ./publish
```

### 🔹 Step 2: Deploy via Azure CLI

```bash
az login
az webapp up --name MyAspNetApp --resource-group MyResourceGroup --runtime "DOTNET|8.0"
```

Azure will:
- Provision the web app
- Upload your files
- Generate a public URL

### ✅ Best for:
- Rapid deployments
- Built-in scaling, logging, SSL

---

## ☁️ Option 2: Deploy to AWS with Elastic Beanstalk

### 🔹 Step 1: Install EB CLI

```bash
pip install awsebcli
eb init
eb create MyAspNetEnv
eb deploy
```

### 🔹 Step 2: Configure `.ebextensions` for ASP.NET Core

```yaml
commands:
  01-install-dotnet:
    command: |
      curl -sSL https://dot.net/v1/dotnet-install.sh | bash /dev/stdin --channel 8.0
```

### ✅ Best for:
- .NET shops on AWS
- Auto-scaling, managed infra

---

## 🐳 Option 3: Deploy with Docker

### 🔹 Step 1: Create `Dockerfile`

```Dockerfile
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspnet:8.0 AS base
WORKDIR /app
EXPOSE 80

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:8.0 AS build
WORKDIR /src
COPY . .
RUN dotnet publish -c Release -o /app

FROM base AS final
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=build /app .
ENTRYPOINT ["dotnet", "YourApp.dll"]
```

### 🔹 Step 2: Build and Run

```bash
docker build -t my-aspnet-app .
docker run -d -p 8080:80 my-aspnet-app
```

### ✅ Best for:
- Portability
- DevOps automation
- Kubernetes deployment

---

## ⚙️ CI/CD with GitHub Actions

Create `.github/workflows/deploy.yml`:

```yaml
name: Build and Deploy

on:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - uses: actions/setup-dotnet@v3
        with:
          dotnet-version: '8.0.x'
      - run: dotnet build
      - run: dotnet test
      - run: dotnet publish -c Release -o out
```

You can add deploy steps to Azure, AWS, or Docker Hub.

---

## 🧠 Final Thoughts

You don’t need to be a DevOps guru to ship to production. With tools like Azure, AWS, and Docker, deployment is no longer scary.

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## ✅ Up Next

Let’s wrap up the series with something cool: building and consuming reusable **.NET SDKs**.

➡️ [Building & Using .NET SDKs →](./building-dotnet-sdks)

Time to go live 🚀