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I've been reading a few tutorials now on deploying Web Apps and API Apps to Azure. However, I am still a little unsure as to why you would use one over another.
I can create a new .NET solution with API controllers and deploy this as a Web App, so why would I specifically require an API App? Are these optimized specifically for ASP.NET Web API, where as Web Apps are for delivering HTML?
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What Is an API For Mobile Apps? An API — application program interface — is used in mobile apps just like it is in web apps. It allows developers to access another application or platform. APIs are the foundational element of a mobile app strategy.
Web service is a collection of open source protocols and standards used for exchanging data between systems or applications whereas API is a software interface that allows two applications to interact with each other without any user involvement.
The API is not the database or even the server, it is the code that governs the access point(s) for the server. An API is not a database. It is an access point to an app that can access a database.
What is Web API in Azure? Azure Web API Apps, one of the Azure App Service features that offers a rich platform and ecosystem for building, consuming, and distributing APIs in the cloud and on-premises. The key accomplishments using Azure API Apps are as follows: Integrate with SaaS and enterprise applications.
Updating the answer to current state of Azure,
App Services now replaces all Mobile, Api and Web Apps flavors as a single app framework with all the functionality rolled over to make things more accessible across application types. Currently all of Web, Mobile and Api Apps are collectively called App Services. We still offer customer to be able to create a Mobile App and a Web App in the gallery but that is basically resolve into an App Service App.
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/app-service-api-apps-why-best-platform/
Features for Mobile work for Web App as well such as Easy Tables and Easy API. And features for API apps like API Cors and API definitions now work on web apps as well. A customer can host a single web app to act as any mobile service or an api with all the features offered through the app services.
We also have a new service in preview particularly targeting API Apps by offering a management experience for your APIs, Basically you can control the generate try API pages, gather execution analytics, throttle and much more. Check out the feature blog to learn more about the Azure API Management Features. And yes you can host the APIs as a App Service App and hook things up with API Management.
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/api-management-get-started/
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