Windows Azure + SQL - Hobbyist website

Question

I was wondering whether or not Windows Azure is a viable option, now that they offer 10 free websites, for hosting a simple website with a database and domain name etc.. or is more traditional web hosting still the better option?

The database won't be that big, so the $5 for the 100MB database option will be plenty. I guess a few dollar's would be needed for traffic too?

Answer 1

I think it is a viable option. However, to get your own domain name you must change the website from free to shared or reserved mode. Heres description and link how to do this!

"When you create a web site, Windows Azure provides a friendly subdomain on the azurewebsites.net domain so your users can access your web site using a URL like http://.azurewebsites.net. However, if you configure your web sites for shared or reserved mode, you can map your web site to your own domain name."

http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/net/common-tasks/custom-dns-web-site/

Answer 2

Custom domain names can only be used in Shared or Reserved modes which are not free.

The free websites would be under [yourSubdomain].azurewebsites.net

So, it depends whether having your own domain matters to you and, if so, whether you are willing to pay for the website.

Notwithstanding this, Azure websites is a perfectly good cloud solution offering quick deployment of numerous CMS systems including WordPress, Joomla, etc.