Windows Azure Virtual Machine with GoDaddy Custom Domains

Question

I asked this question (on SO by accident):

I am having problems setting up a custom domain (purchased on GoDaddy.com) with an Azure virtual machine (on which I plan on running multiple websites.) I've setup some Endpoints (80 for Http and 443 for SSL) I am using the CNAME of myvm.cloudapp.net and I set the binding in the VM IIS to my Azure VM INTERNAL IP ADDRESS. Voila, it all works. The problem is that Azure will change this IP every once in a while...so my question is, is there a better way to set this up so that I don't have to worry about IP address changes?

The very helpful reply I got was about "dynamic DNS"

However, this only deals with a part of the problem. The second part is the Bindings inside of IIS on the Azure server, how to I make sure those always have the correct IP?

Answer 1

You will want to setup a virtual network in Azure prior to provisioning the Virtual Machine. This will give you a set of internal IPs to map your sites in IIS.

Then, follow the instructions in this article to do what you are asking:

Configuring a custom domain name for a Windows Azure cloud service

I currently have a physical server running several web sites but I plan to move them to a new virtual machine in Azure so I setup a few sites on a test VM.

My Azure subscription is currently running on an MSDN account that gives me $100 per month free. Recently while testing other Azure services, I went over the $100 credit amount and my subscription was disabled. This seems to have caused my orignial public IP address to be recycled. When I recieved my next set of monthly credit dollars, my subscription re-enabled but my IP had changed. I had to go back into DNS and change my A records to the new external IP address.

I am not sure if there is a way to retain an IP address in a situation like this but be aware of that type of scenario.

Hope this helps, Brian

Answer 2

Rather belatedly - Azure does now offer "Reserved IP Addresses", which may help - however because of the use case you're after they may not help:

The pricing of these is currently¹ listed as:

First 5 Reserved IP addresses (in use)
£0 per hour per IP

Unused Reserved IP addresses
£0.0025 per hour per IP (~£2/month per IP)

And an unused IP address is defined as (emphasis added):

[...] a Reserved IP address that isn't used in a running deployment

So if you turn off a VM that is using a reserved IP, that IP becomes "unused", and you'll start being charged for it - however if your VMs are disabled because you're out of credit you won't have any credit to pay for the reserved IPs either.