ASP.Net Core Azure

I’m a big fan of Azure and the Web Apps especially. I know how easy it is to deploy an ASP.Net or Node app. I assumed that deploying an ASP.Net Core app would be as easy, turns out I was wrong.

There are a few steps to complete before the app will work in Azure.

But I got it working in the end, and here it is!

global.json

Firstly you need to set the SDK version in the global.json file, so your local version will match the one being used in Azure.

{
    "projects": [
        "src",
        "test"
    ],
    "sdk": {
        "version": "1.0.0-preview2-1-003177"
    }
}

You can get your local dotnet version by;

dotnet --version

Thanks to Scott Hanselman for getting me over the first hurdle.

Configuring your app to run in IIS

For your app to work in Azure, you need to configure it to work with IIS and there are a few steps to this. The detail on them can be found here

project.json

Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.IISIntegration needs adding as a dependency in project.json.

There are a few additions needed to the file as well.

"tools": {
  "Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.IISIntegration.Tools": "1.1.0-preview4-final"
}

"scripts": {
  "postpublish": "dotnet publish-iis --publish-folder %publish:OutputPath% --framework %publish:FullTargetFramework%"
}

Any files that will need to be deployed with your app, such as the now required web.config will need to go in the publishing options. The publishOptions docs are here

"publishOptions": {
    "include": ["wwwroot", "Views"],
    "includeFiles":["web.config"]
}

web.config

Now we are setting the app up to run in IIS we will need a web.config. This is my basic web.config, just the processPath dll will need to be updated;

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
  <system.webServer>
    <handlers>
      <add name="aspNetCore" path="*" verb="*" modules="AspNetCoreModule" resourceType="Unspecified" />
    </handlers>
    <aspNetCore processPath=".\Site.dll" arguments="" forwardWindowsAuthToken="false" stdoutLogEnabled="true" stdoutLogFile="\\?\%home%\LogFiles\stdout" />
  </system.webServer>
</configuration>

WebHostBuilder

In the webHostBuilder in Program.cs you need to call .UseIISIntegration()

var host = new WebHostBuilder()
    .UseKestrel()
    .UseContentRoot(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory())
    .UseIISIntegration()
    .UseStartup<Startup>()
    .Build();

Troubleshooting Azure

There was a lot of hair pulling to get this up and running, but on the bright side it was good practice trouble shooting Azure.

Logging

To turn on logging in Azure, go to Diagnostic Logs and turn on Application Logging and Failed request tracing.

Kudu

Kudu has some very useful tools for an Azure web app. To reach Kudu, go to {your app name}.scm.azurewebsites.net

One of the things I find very useful in Kudu is the Process explorer. It shows which process are running on your instance.

Another useful tool is Debug Console. From here you can explore the files that have been deployed for your app, but also any logs. You can also access the command line, very helpful in investigating any issues.

And if all else fails, under Tools you have the Diagnostic dump. This downloads all your logs in one zip file.