Migrate an application to Azion
Move an application from another provider to Azion, from the connector and the workload to the DNS change, with a test before the switch.
An application that runs on another provider has an origin, a domain, and rules that shape its traffic. Migrating it to Azion means rebuilding that chain on the platform and moving the domain last, so the application keeps serving while you work. You register the origin as a connector, serve it through an application, expose it on a workload, and point the domain at the workload.
If you are leaving one of the providers below, follow its guide instead. Each one maps the provider’s services to their Azion equivalents.
| Provider | The guide covers |
|---|---|
| Akamai | Properties, EdgeWorkers, Cloudlets, redirects and headers, cache, load balancing, image and media delivery, EdgeKV, NetStorage, databases, WAF, DDoS protection, bots, rate limits, monitoring, mPulse, certificates, and DNS |
| AWS | CloudFront, Lambda, API Gateway, Step Functions and EventBridge, cache, load balancing, images, Bedrock, DynamoDB, ElastiCache, S3, RDS and Aurora, WAF, Shield, bots, rate limits, CloudWatch, X-Ray, certificates, and Route 53 |
| Cloudflare | Pages, Workers, redirects and headers, cache, load balancing, images, Workers AI, Workers KV, R2, D1, WAF, DDoS protection, bots, rate limits, analytics and logs, certificates, and DNS |
| Fastly | Services, Compute, VCL, redirects and headers, cache, load balancing, Image Optimizer, streaming and WebSockets, KV stores, Object Storage, Next-Gen WAF, DDoS protection, bots, rate limits, logging, and certificates |
| Vercel | Projects, functions, redirects and headers, cache, images, AI routes, Edge Config, Blob, firewall, bots, rate limits, account access, observability, Speed Insights and Web Analytics, certificates, and DNS |
Prerequisites
- An Azion account. To open one, refer to Create an account.
- The address of the current origin: a host name, an IPv4 or IPv6 address, or an Object Storage bucket.
- Access to the DNS records of the domain at your DNS provider.
- (Optional) The Azion CLI, for local development and deployment.
Register the origin as a connector
A connector tells Azion where to fetch the content and code of the application. To create it in Azion Console:
Access Azion Console > Connectors.
In Connector Type, select HTTP for a host name or an IP address, or Object Storage for a bucket.
In Address, enter the origin address. If the origin answers to a virtual host that differs from that address, enter it in Host Header.
The connector is ready to be set as the origin of the application. For the remaining connection options, refer to Connectors.
Create the application
The application holds the rules, the cache settings, and the functions that serve the content. To start from a template, open Templates and Integrations and deploy one; the Azion Starter Kit gives you a basic project to explore the platform, and the full list of templates covers the common frameworks. To start from your own code, refer to Applications quickstart.
To route the application to the connector:
Access Azion Console > Applications > your application.
Edit the default rule, or add a rule for the request phase.
In Criteria, set If ${uri} starts with /, so the rule covers the whole application.
In Behavior, select Set Connector and select the connector.
Requests that reach the application are now fetched from the connector. For the other settings, refer to Applications.
Expose the application on a workload
A workload gives the application its Azion domain and receives the custom domain later. To create it:
Access Azion Console > Workloads.
Enter a Name. In Infrastructure, select Production. This choice cannot be changed after the workload is saved.
In Subdomain and Domain, enter the host name the application answers to. For example: www and example.com.
In Applications, select the application.
In Firewall, select the firewall that protects the application.
In Digital Certificate, select the certificate for the domain, or the Azion SAN certificate to use the workload domain.
Azion generates the workload domain, in the format xxxxxxxxxx.map.azionedge.net. It is the address the custom domain will point to.
Test the application before moving the domain
While the public DNS still points to the current provider, your computer can reach the application on Azion through its hosts file. This is where a misconfiguration from the migration shows up before any user sees it. To stage the application:
-
Resolve the workload domain to find the addresses that serve it:
The response lists the domain and one or more addresses:
-
In the
hostsfile of your computer, add a line that maps the custom domain to one of those addresses. -
Open the custom domain in a private browser window, so a cached DNS answer does not send you to the current provider.
The application loads from Azion under its own domain. For the location of the hosts file on each operating system, refer to Test an application through the hosts file.
Point the domain to the workload
The DNS change is the switch: once the domain resolves to the workload, users reach the application through Azion. To point the domain:
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Sign in to your DNS provider and open the records of the domain.
-
Create or edit the CNAME record of the subdomain, pointing it to the workload domain:
Name Value Type wwwxxxxxxxxxx.map.azionedge.netCNAME -
Save the record.
DNS changes take time to propagate. To check what the resolvers answer, refer to How to look up DNS servers with Dig command.