Windows service equivalent

Question

Hi,

I have to create new windows service in .net that should always be running and interact with some webAPI. So now instead of going for .net windows service and am looking for its equivalent in Azure. I came across Web jobs and Azure functions. Can someone help me with which one is best suited for my requirement here .

Answer 1

You can probably look at continuously-running web jobs. 

Refer to Running Background tasks with WebJobs on Microsoft Azure

Some other alternate options include PaaS cloud services worker roles and Azure Service Fabric reliable services - but these are likely overkill if you just want a basic service.

Comments

And how about using Azure functions? Does it has limitations for developing such services?

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Azure functions seems like a good option when your use case involves something like migrating windows services into something cloud based. These azure functions can be triggered by a timer and so like a windows service can be scheduled at a certain time of the day.

Hope this helps!

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There are actually a lot of ways to achieve your use case. You could probably choose any of these to achieve your goal.

• Install your service as you always have, in a Windows Server VM

• Run your code, without the Windows Service wrapper, in a VM (either Windows or Linux, depending on language)

• Pull your core code out of the service, and run it within a web/worker role (cloud service).

• Run your code in a WebJob.

• Run your code in a Web App (you'd need to add some way to get to it, like a REST API sitting in front of it.