Deploying to azure web sites
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This document describes how to deploy an EPiServer CMS site to run on Azure Web Sites. It outlines the steps to create the site and necessary Azure resources like storage, databases, and services. It then details configuring the site and CMS for deployment through tools like FTP or continuous deployment from source control. The goal is to enable running the EPiServer site elastically on Azure.
Deploying to azure web sites
- 1. Deploying to Azure Web Sites Introduction ThisdocumentdescribeshowtosetupanEPiServerCMSsite to run onAzure WebSites.Formore informationsee Azure WebSites.Here anemptysite iscreatedfromVisual Studiointegrationbut the most stepsdescribedappliestoothersitesaswell. Create site In Visual Studioselectcreate newProjectandchose EPiServerWebsite (eitherMVCor WebForms). Note that thisrequiresEPiServerVisual Studioadd-ontobe installed. Project references Install NuGetpackagesEPiServer.Azure andEPiServer.CMS.Core tothe project(the referencesforthe projectwill automaticallybe updatedtouse the NuGetpackagesinsteadof GACinstalledassemblies whichisrequiredforpublishingthe site). Create Azure resources Create Azure Web Site Openthe Azure managementportal andselectoption“WEBSITES” inthe leftmenu.Select“NEW”in the bottomleftcornerand inthe dialogselect“CUSTOMCREATE”. Give an URL foryour website and selectaRegionof your choice.Selectalsotocreate a new SQL database.Indatabase settingseither selectanexistingseverorcreate a newone and give a login userandpassword. Create Azure Storage WhenrunningonAzure the media(forexample images) shouldbe storedinAzure blobstorage to enable elasticscaling.Tocreate a blobstorage account go to the Azure Managementportal and select“STORAGE”from the leftmenu.Select“NEW”in the bottomleftcornerandin the dialogselect “QUICK CREATE”. Give an URL forthe storage andselecttocreate the storage account. Tip: Create twoblobstorage accounts, one fordevelopmentandone forproduction,tomake iteasy to switchbetweenthemusingjustthe connectionstring. Create Service Bus To be able toscale the site to run on several instanceswe needtosetupa Service Busto handle messagesbetweenthe site instances.Tocreate a service busgo to Azure Managementportal and select“SERVICEBUS” fromthe leftmenu.Select“CREATE”inthe bottommenuandin the dialog selectanamespace name anda region. Tip: Create twoservice busaccounts,one for developmentandone forproduction,tomake iteasy to switchbetweenthemusingjustthe connectionstring. Install database schema OpenDeploymentCenterandchoose option“InstallSQLServerdatabase”.Inthe dialogthatopens enterthe name of the SQL serverinAzure,the database userandpassword.The settingscanbe foundinAzure Managementportal underthe createdAzure WebSite tothe right under“View connectionstrings”.Indropdownselectthe database thatwascreatedduringcreationof Azure Web Site.
- 2. Update configuration EPiServer.Framework.config OpenupEPiServer.Framework.configandaddthe followingblocktomapblobandeventprovidersto Azure: <blob defaultProvider="azureblobs"> <providers> <add name="azureblobs" type="EPiServer.Azure.Blobs.AzureBlobProvider,EPiServer.Azure" connectionStringName="EPiServerAzureBlobs" container="MySiteMedia"/> </providers> </blob> <event defaultProvider="azureevents"> <providers> <add name="azureevents" type="EPiServer.Azure.Events.AzureEventProvider,EPiServer.Azure" connectionStringName="EPiServerAzureEvents" topic="MySiteEvents"/> </providers> </event> Attribute containerforblobproviderand topicforeventprovidershouldbe unique persite within the same storage or service busaccount. connectionStrings.config In connectionStrings.configchange connectionstringEPiServerDBtothe connectionstringfrom Azure Managementportal (see Install databaseschema).Rememberthoughtokeepsetting MultipleActiveResultSets=true. Adda connectionstringnamed“EPiServerAzureBlobs”(aname thatmatchesthe settingin EPiServer.Framework.configforthe provider).The connectionstringtothe blobstorage shouldbe in format: connectionString="DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;AccountName=<name>;AccountKey=<key>" where <name>iswhat wasgiveninsection“Create Azure Storage”.<key>can be foundinAzure Managementportal under“Storage”if youselectthe name and thenselect“MANAGEACCESSKEYS” inthe bottommenu. Adda connectionstringnamed “EPiServerAzureEvents”(aname thatmatchesthe settingin EPiServer.Framework.configforthe provider).The connectionstringtoService Buscanbe foundin Azure Managementportal under“SERVICEBUS” if you selectthe name thatwas giveninsection “Create Service Bus”and select“ACCESSKEY”in the bottommenu. Tip: Connectionstringscanbe definedonanAzure WebSite underthe tab “CONFIGURE”whichis a convenientwaytohave differentconnectionstringsforstagingandproduction. episerver.config In episerver.configchange the settingsiteUrl onelementepiserver/sites/site/siteSettingstothe site that wascreatedundersection“Create Azure WebSite”.The URL can be foundinAzure Managementportal under“WEB SITES” if you selectthe createdwebsite andselectdashboardin the top menu.Thenthe site URL is giveninrightcolumn. Web.config The database schemafor Workflow3.5 (thatis the versionEPiServerCMScurrentlyuse) isnot supportedinAzure database.Therefore the configurationforWorkflow persistence service mustbe
- 3. removed(thatisthe entrywithtype SqlWorkflowPersistanceService under workflowServices/runtime). The ASP.NETbuilt-inschemaformembership,role andprofile providersare notsupportedonSQL Azure,therefore the configurationforthose SQLprovidersshouldbe changedtouse ASP.NET Universal Providers(those are addedautomaticallytothe projectwheninstallingthe EPiServer.Azure package).Change the providerstothe followingnew typesinweb.config: System.Web.Providers.DefaultRoleProvider, System.Web.Providers System.Web.Providers.DefaultMembershipProvider, System.Web.Providers System.Web.Providers.DefaultProfileProvider, System.Web.Providers Create an admin/edit user Before deployingtoAzure create auserthat have access to adminandeditmode.Youdo thisby configuringMultiplexingRoleProviderandMultiplexingMembershipProviderasdefaultprovidersto enable Windowsauthenticationlocallyonyourmachine.Thenbrowse the site locallybutwiththe database connectionstringsetupagainstthe database inAzure.Thengotoadminmode and under “AdministerGroups”create twogroups WebAdminsandWebEditors.Thencreate auserthat is memberof boththe createdgroups.Configure the site withSQLmembership/roleprovidersas defaultprovidersandensure thatthe createdusercan loginandaccess adminmode. Deployment using FTP In Azure Managementportal youcan downloadapublishprofile forthe website byselectingthe site and dashboardfromtop menu.Thenyoufind“Downloadthe publishprofile”inthe rightmenu.You can use thisprofile lateronto publishyourtemplatesdirectlyforwithinVisualStudio. If you openthe settingsfile youcanfindFTPaccesssettingsthere.OpenupaFTP client(forexample FileZilla) andconnecttoyourAzure WebSite usingthe settings. Navigate intowwwrootfolderonthe ftphostand sendoverfilesfromyourlocal site root(itis enoughtosendfilesnecessarytorunsite like forexample bin,modulesbinetc.if youare uncertain youcan sendall files). Thennavigate one level uponftphost(foldercalledsite) anduploadappdatafoldertothat location. Tip: Increase the numberof maximumparalleluploadsinFileZillatothe maximumof 10 to increase uploadperformance whenyouuploadalarge amountof filessuchasappdata. Deploying Content The recommendedwaytotransferdatato an EPiServersite runningonAzure WebSitesistouse EPiServerCMSExport/Importfunctionality.There are howeverotheroptionslike the migration wizardto migrate an existingSQLServerdatabase. Deployment through source control It ispossible toconfigure Azure WebSitessoitusesacontinuousdeploymentfromsource code control.It supportsforexample Git,GitHubandTFS. Fora full descriptionsee PublishfromSource control. Basicallyitworksinthe way that whenyoudoa committo yoursource control WindowsAzure will getthe latestcode fromthe source control builditand deploy the outputtothe website(when workingwithalocal git repositoryyoucaninsteadpushyourchangesto Azure WebSites).
- 4. Azure will buildyourprojectandpublishthe filesreferencedbythe projectinthe same wayas a publishfromvisual studioworks.ForanEPiServerCMSsite there are some additional resourceslike folderappdata (containsforexampleprotectedadd-ons) andfoldersmodules/modulesbin(that containpublicadd-ons) thatare neededtobe able torun the site. Here there are some optionsonhowto handle this additional resources.The synchronizationof files whenAzure deploysfilestothe Azure WebSite worksso that it keepstrackof filesthatare inthe code repositoryandonlythose filesare changedduringdeployment.Thatmeansthatmanually transferredfileswillnotbe modified/deletedduringcontinuousdeployment. No modules in source control One optionisto not include those additionalfoldersinthe source code repositoryandinsteaduse FTP to transferthe files. Additional add-onscanthenbe installeddirectlyonthe site runningon Azure. Modules included in source control The other optionistohave the resourcesincludedinthe source code repository.Thenadd-onscould be handledinthe waythat theyare firstinstalledonalocal site.Thenwhenverifiedthatthe add-on workas expectedthe resource folderis committedandthendeployedtothe site runninginAzure. Since the deploymenttothe website inazure onlyincludesfilesreferencedbythe projecta modificationtothe deploymentneedstobe done sothe additional resourcesare includedinthe deployment. Duringthe deploymentprocesstoAzure website the “deployer”willlookforafile named .deployment,if itexistitwill use itfordeploymentotherwise itwillcreate adefault.deploymentfile. To be able tohandle additional resourcesthe .deploymentfile(oractuallythe dependent deploy.cmd) needstobe modified.The firststeptodois to generate the fileslocally,how todothat isdescribed here.The files.deploymentanddeploy.cmdshouldbe addedtosource control inthe root (fora normal CMS projectthe source code repositoryrootshouldbe the foldercontaining wwwrootandappdata). Afterthat the deploy.cmdneedstobe modifiedsoitincludessynchronizationof appdata,modules and modulesbinfolders. Asanexampleof amodifieddeploy.cmdfirstsome variablesare addedin the setuppart afterthe onesalreadyinthe file,like: SET NEXT_APPDATA_MANIFEST_PATH=%NEXT_MANIFEST_PATH%appdata SET PREVIOUS_APPDATA_MANIFEST_PATH=%PREVIOUS_MANIFEST_PATH%appdata SET NEXT_MODULESBIN_MANIFEST_PATH=%NEXT_MANIFEST_PATH%modulesbin SET PREVIOUS_MODULESBIN_MANIFEST_PATH=%PREVIOUS_MANIFEST_PATH%modulesbin SET NEXT_MODULES_MANIFEST_PATH=%NEXT_MANIFEST_PATH%modules SET PREVIOUS_MODULES_MANIFEST_PATH=%PREVIOUS_MANIFEST_PATH%modules setcurrent=%DEPLOYMENT_TARGET% pushd.. setDEPLOYMENT_ROOT=%cd% popd
- 5. Andin the deploymentpartsome additionaldeploymentcallsare addedlike: call %KUDU_SYNC_CMD% -v 50 -f "%DEPLOYMENT_SOURCE%<wwwroot>modulesbin"-t "%DEPLOYMENT_TARGET%modulesbin"-n"%NEXT_MODULESBIN_MANIFEST_PATH%" -p "%PREVIOUS_MODULESBIN_MANIFEST_PATH%" call %KUDU_SYNC_CMD% -v 50 -f "%DEPLOYMENT_SOURCE%<wwwroot>modules"-t "%DEPLOYMENT_TARGET%modules"-n"%NEXT_MODULES_MANIFEST_PATH%" -p "%PREVIOUS_MODULES_MANIFEST_PATH%" call %KUDU_SYNC_CMD% -v 50 -f "%DEPLOYMENT_SOURCE%appdata"-t "%DEPLOYMENT_ROOT%appdata"-n"%NEXT_APPDATA_MANIFEST_PATH%" -p "%PREVIOUS_APPDATA_MANIFEST_PATH%" Note that itusesa tool kuduSyncinsteadof forexample xcopy.kuduSyncwilluse manifestfilesto keeptrack of whichfilesthatare presentina deployment.Thenatnextdeploymentitwill compare the current state withthe previousmanifestfile andcanthendetermine whichfilesthathave been added/deletedetc.