title: Setting up Umbraco as separate front/back end in Azure
body: <p>I've asked on the Umbraco forums but they're a bit less active there than over here so thought I'd give here a go too.</p>
  
  <p>I've got a requirement to set up Umbraco in Azure. I've read the <a href="https://our.umbraco.com/documentation/Getting-Started/Setup/Server-Setup/azure-web-apps" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Azure Web Apps documentation</a> which led me on to the <a href="https://our.umbraco.com/documentation/Getting-Started/Setup/Server-Setup/Load-Balancing/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Load Balancing documentation</a> and eventually the <a href="https://our.umbraco.com/documentation/Getting-Started/Setup/Server-Setup/Load-Balancing/flexible" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Flexible Load Balancing documentation</a>.</p>
  
  <p>It's quite clear through the documentation that the recommended setup is to have separate Azure App Services for the front and back end, both pointing to a single Azure SQL database.</p>
  
  <p>The bit I feel is missing is the part that actually explains how this is wired up. How does the front end Azure App Service know that it is only responsible for the front end? How is it configured so that back end access not available? </p>
  
  <p>I've read the <a href="https://our.umbraco.com/documentation/Getting-Started/Setup/Server-Setup/Load-Balancing/flexible-advanced" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Advanced Load Balancing Techniques documentation</a> but I don't really understand how this works. It talks about executing some of the code on the master server and some on the replica servers. Does this mean two different code bases for the front/back-end?</p>
  
  <p>I can very easily create two App Services and deploy the Umbraco website to both of them but I'm not clear on how to make each of them aware of their responsibilities and put in place the infrastructure to create this separation.</p>
  
  <p>If it's explained in the documentation somewhere, please feel free to point me towards it because I haven't been able to find it.</p>
  
  <p>Any help would be greatly appreciated.</p>
  
  <p>Cheers</p>