title: Deploy Web API to Azure Websites or Azure Mobile Services?
body: <p>I have a Web API running locally in a DEV environment that I would like to deploy to Azure and I'm trying to figure out if I should deploy it as an Azure Website or if I should use Azure Mobile Services now that .Net/Web API is supported.</p>
  
  <p>I don't want to re-write the API - it is almost fully implemented and relies on custom models, DTOs and business logic.  It is not a RESTful API and it uses custom API methods for sync and other functionality - in other words, not a CRUD API.  It is my understanding that this should all work under the latest version of Azure Mobiles Services, but I am not certain.</p>
  
  <p>I'm considering this approach over Azure Websites in order to take advantage of the built-in authentication support and to have one less piece to worry about managing.  However, with the .Net support in Azure Mobile Services being fairly new, I am having a hard time finding good information on how to go about taking my existing API and integrating it into Mobile Services.</p>
  
  <p>I also want to be sure that I can develop, run and debug this application locally without any connection to Azure. Again, I believe this is possible but I would like some confirmation.</p>
  
  <p>Two questions:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>How can I take an existing Web API and integrate it into Azure
  Mobile Services without major modifications or should I just use Azure Websites?</li>
  <li>Can Azure Mobile Services applications run in a local development
  environment with no connection to Azure online?</li>
  </ol>