Lately I’ve been attempting to try out a number of different techniques for publishing web applications – both websites and web APIs – to the cloud. I’m being purposely vague when saying “the cloud” – it could be Windows Azure, AWS, or even a traditional hosting provider. It’s likely you saw a great post by Michael Washam that provides a solution for using Windows Azure virtual machines along with Web Deploy and a few PowerShell scripts. What’s below is a technique adapted from Michael’s post and detailed for each of the steps. What I like about this approach is that, aside from the machine preparation, the deployment technique is consistent across different platforms.

There are certainly a few things missing below: scripts for scaling up/down, scripts for running Windows update, and so forth. I’ll tackle these in future posts. My point here is to highlight a different way to look at tackling a common problem.

What are some of the advantages to this approach?

• Near instant deployment.
• Fully automated.
• Consistent development model with other platforms.
• Consistent deployment model with other platforms.

I’m sure there are more. There are some limitations as well – in particular, you’re bound by the number of roles you can have in your Cloud Service, which today is (I think) 25. This means that, at most, you can only scale out to 25 virtual machines. I imagine this limitation will be removed at some point (or perhaps you could get around it by using virtual networks).

Regardless, give it a try.

Note: You can find the PowerShell scripts used below in this gist here: https://gist.github.com/wadewegner/5080142.

Image Preparation

In this first step you’ll create and customize a virtual machine that you’ll then sysprep and turn into a disk that we’ll use later on.

Create the Base Virtual Machine

This first part takes the longest. This is because you’re preparing the disk you’ll use moving forward. Note that you only do it once – this is not something you have to do over and over again.

1. Create a Virtual Machine.
 

2. Enter the VM information. Use the default “Windows Server 2012 Datacenter” image. Size doesn’t matter. This VM will sysprepped and used as a disk image for creating future virtual machines.

• Be sure to note the location you use.
• Be sure and remember the password. You’ll need it.

3. Start the VM.

• Note: Notice that VMs create a Cloud Service. Each VM is actually a role within

4. RDP into the VM once it has provisioned and started.

5. Click to Add roles and features.

6. Leave defaults and click Next until you get to Server Roles.

7. Choose Application Server and Web Server (IIS). Click Next.

8. Under Features be sure to select ASP.NET 4.5.

9. Click Next until you get to Role Services under Web Server Role (IIS).

10. Add ASP.NET 4.5 under Application Development. This will add the other default values.

11. Click Next until you get to the last step. Click Install. Wait until the operation completes.

Install and Use Windows Azure PowerShell Cmdlets

12. From the machine, download the Windows Azure PowerShell Cmdlets. These can be found at: http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/downloads/.

13. Install the cmdlets. This can take 5-15 minutes.

14. Create the folder c:\\Scripts.

15. Run the following script in Windows PowerShell ISE to download your publish settings file:

Get-AzurePublishSettingsFile

16. Save or move this file into the c:\\Scripts folder and rename to credentials.publishsettings.

17. Run the following script in Windows PowerShell ISE to change the execution policy:
Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted

Setup Web Deploy

18. Download Web Deploy 3.0 from the following link: http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/B/3/1B3F8377-CFE1-4B40-8402-AE1FC6A0A8C3/WebDeploy_amd64_en-US.msi. Do not install. To simplify, download to C:\\.

19. Open a Command Prompt.

20. Run the following command:

C:\\>msiexec /I webdeploy_amd64_en-us.msi /passive ADDLOCAL=ALL LISTENURL=http://+:8080/

Configure Firewall Settings

21. Run Windows Firewall with Advanced Security.

22. Select Inbound Rules and click New Rule.

23. Select Port and click Next.

24. Level TCP selected and enter 8080 for the Specific local ports.

25. Keep the defaults and click Next until prompted to give a name. Choose a name (e.g. Web Deploy Port) and click Finish.

System Preparation

26. Open a Command Prompt as an administrator.

27. Change the directory to: %windir%\\system32\\sysprep

28. Run sysprep.exe.

29. Ensure the following options are selected:

• Enter System Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE)
• Generalize
• Shutdown
  

Capture the Virtual Machine

30. Return to your Virtual Machine Instances tab in the portal: https://manage.windowsazure.com/#Workspace/VirtualMachineExtension/vms.

31. Wait until you see that the status of your virtual machine is Stopped.

32. Capture the image by clicking the CAPTURE button below.

33. Select an image name (e.g. WS2012-WebFarmImage) and check that you have sysprepped the machine. Click the button.

34. When the capture operation completes you’ll see the disk image available under Images in the portal: https://manage.windowsazure.com/#Workspaces/VirtualMachineExtension/images

Virtual Machine Deployment

You’ll run these steps from your own PC.

1. Open the Windows PowerShell ISE to run the following scripts. It’s always a good idea to save them somewhere to use later.

2. You might need to import your publish settings. If so, download your publish settings file, save it, then import it.

Get-AzurePublishSettingsFile

Import-AzurePublishSettingsFile C:\\credentials.publishsettings

3. Get the subscription name to which you’ll deploy. Run the following script:

Get-AzureSubscription -Current

4. You need to get the storage account that contains your disk image. You’ll need to use the same storage account for the disks attached to the web servers in your web farm. Select the Images tab under Virtual Machines on the portal. Find your image and look at the location. The first part of the URL is the storage account name.

5. It’s now time to deploy your web farm using the disk image you created in the previous section. Review the following script and update appropriately.

$imgname = 'WS2012-WebFarmImage'
$cloudsvc = 'DemoWebFarm'
$pass = 'Password'
$subscriptionName = 'Windows Azure MSDN - Visual Studio Ultimate'
$storageAccount = 'portalvhds9dvbvvff5hdg3'
$location = 'East US'

Set-AzureSubscription -SubscriptionName $subscriptionName -CurrentStorageAccount $storageAccount

$iisvm1 = New-AzureVMConfig -Name 'iis1' -InstanceSize Small -ImageName $imgname |
    Add-AzureEndpoint -Name web -LocalPort 80 -PublicPort 80 -Protocol tcp -LBSetName web -ProbePath '/' -ProbeProtocol http -ProbePort 80 |
    Add-AzureEndpoint -Name webdeploy -LocalPort 8080 -PublicPort 8080 -Protocol tcp | 
    Add-AzureProvisioningConfig -Windows -Password $pass
    
$iisvm2 = New-AzureVMConfig -Name 'iis2' -InstanceSize Small -ImageName $imgname |
    Add-AzureEndpoint -Name web -LocalPort 80 -PublicPort 80 -Protocol tcp -LBSetName web -ProbePath '/' -ProbeProtocol http -ProbePort 80 |
    Add-AzureProvisioningConfig -Windows -Password $pass
    
$iisvm3 = New-AzureVMConfig -Name 'iis3' -InstanceSize Small -ImageName $imgname |
    Add-AzureEndpoint -Name web -LocalPort 80 -PublicPort 80 -Protocol tcp -LBSetName web -ProbePath '/' -ProbeProtocol http -ProbePort 80 |
    Add-AzureProvisioningConfig -Windows -Password $pass    
    
New-AzureVM -ServiceName $cloudsvc -VMs $iisvm1, $iisvm2, $iisvm3 -Location $location

Notes on script:

• $imgname: This is the name of the disk image you created.
• $cloudsvc: When you deploy it will create a cloud service. This is the name for the cloud service.
• $pass: This is the password for the virtual machine you created.
• $subscriptionName: This is your subscription name.
• $location: The datacenter you want to deploy into. Note: this has to be the same data center as your storage account.

It is important to note that the setup for $iisvm1 is different than $iisvm2 and $iisvm3. That’s because we’re adding an additional endpoint named webdeploy on 8080. We’ll use this public port for deploying via web deploy. It is not opened on the other machines.

6. It’s time to run the script. Note: the script does not rollback. If you have values that are incorrect you’ll have to clean them up manually. If all goes well, you’ll see progress indicators like the following:

7. You can now look in the portal and you’ll see the following machines Running/Provisioning.

8. You can browse the URL, for example: http://demowebfarm.cloudapp.net. You’ll get the standard IIS page:

Setup Synchronization across Virtual Machines

1. Remote into iis1. From the portal, select iis1 under Virtual Machine Instances and click the CONNECT button. This will download an RDP file. Save this and use it for connecting to the machine later.

2. Open Windows PowerShell ISE.

3. Click New to create a new script.

4. Copy the following script and save it as C:\\Scripts\\Sync.ps1. DO NOT RUN IT.

$subscriptionName = 'Windows Azure MSDN - Visual Studio Ultimate'
$storageAccount = 'portalvhds9dvbvvff5hdg3'
$cloudsvc = ' DemoWebFarm' 
$publishSettings = 'C:\\Scripts\\credentials.publishsettings'

Import-Module 'C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft SDKs\\Windows Azure\\PowerShell\\Azure\\Azure.psd1'

Import-AzurePublishSettingsFile $publishSettings
Set-AzureSubscription -SubscriptionName $subscriptionName -CurrentStorageAccount $storageAccount

$publishingServer = (gc env:computername).toLower()

Get-AzureVM -ServiceName $cloudsvc | foreach { 
    if ($_.Name.toLower() -ne $publishingServer) {
       $target = $_.Name + ":8080"
       $source = $publishingServer + ":8080"

       $exe = "C:\\Program Files\\IIS\\Microsoft Web Deploy V3\\msdeploy.exe"
       [Array]$params = "-verb:sync", "-source:contentPath=C:\\Inetpub\\wwwroot,computerName=$source", "-dest:contentPath=C:\\Inetpub\\wwwroot,computerName=$target";

        & $exe $params;
    }   
}

Create a Scheduled Task

5. Open Task Scheduler.

6. Click Create Task …

7. On the General tab set the Name and Run wehather user is logged on or not.

8. On the Triggers tab click New. Create a Daily trigger and Repeat task every 2 minutes. Click OK.

9. On the Actions tab click New. Set the following values:

Program/script: C:\\Windows\\System32\\WindowsPowerShell\\v1.0\\powershell.exe
Add arguments: -File C:\\Scripts\\Sync.ps1

10. You should now see this as a scheduled task.

11. You can wait for this to run or run it manually. It should run successfully.

Deploy a Website through Web Deploy

1. Create a new ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Applications. (In actually it can be anything.) Choose an Internet Application.

2. Update the HomeController.cs code:

public ActionResult Index()
{
    string machineName = Environment.MachineName;
    ViewBag.Message = "Computer Name: " + machineName;

    return View();
}

3. Right-click on your application and click Publish.

4. In the dropdown select New.

5. Give your publish profile a name. Click OK.

6. Update all the fields:

• Server: This is the DNS name of the cloud service with port 8080.
• Site name: This needs to be “Default Web Site”.
• User name: This is the administrator account.
• Password: The password you set.
• Destination URL: The same as server without the ports.

7. Click Publish.

8. In Visual Studio you should see that it deployed successfully.

WARNING: Don’t be alarmed if the browser opens and you don’t see your site. Remember that we set synchronization at two minutes and you have a 66% chance of hitting iis2 or iis3.

9. If you go back to your RDP session with iis1 and browse to C:\\inetpub\\wwwroot you’ll see all your content has been deployed.

10. Either way two minutes or manually invoke your synchronization task. Hit the website again and start refreshing:

That’s it!

Yeah, that might seem like a lot but realize that most of the work detailed here – such as the image preparation – you’ll only have to do one time. The rest of the time you’re using tools like PowerShell and Visual Studio.

Enjoy!